Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon claimed on CNN Friday that Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken “took responsibility” after being accused of sexual misconduct.
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Avlon, appearing on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” said, “Look, Al Franken in his case, he took responsibility. He blamed himself. The Trump/Moore playbook seems to blame the women, blame the accusers.”
He continued, “And what Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing is trying to institutionalize that standard. If you play offense against the women who come forward you’re somehow magically exonerated despite a preponderance of evidence, whether it’s eight accusers or being caught on tape in ‘Access Hollywood.’ What Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing is clearly its pure politics, she’s trying to avoid the obvious, she’s saying the American people have spoken.”
“But it really is kind of institutionalizing some of our worst instincts. It used to be that hypocrisy was the unforgivable sin of politics. We‘ve gone a long way from that. Situational ethics is the coin of the realm in Trump’s Washington,” he added.
Franken did not, in fact, take responsibility at first, and his first two statements were called “absolutely awful” by CNN’s Chris Cillizza.