The Minnesota Star-Tribune’s editorial board isn’t buying Democratic Sen. Al Franken’s half-hearted apology.
In a Tuesday editorial, the newspaper said Franken’s response to sexual misconduct claims against him “falls lamentably short in several respects,” adding that “Franken’s apology is less a statement of accountability and more akin to ‘I’m sorry for what you think I did.'”
The Star-Tribune suggests that “Franken may just be trying to ride out the storm.”
“He said he does not recall groping and said he ‘would never intentionally’ squeeze or grope a woman but often hugs people,” the editorial board writes. “Is he suggesting these women could not distinguish between a friendly embrace and groping? Or that at his age he somehow groped unintentionally? Can one credibly apologize for acts without acknowledging they occurred?”
The editors are also critical of Franken’s apparent double-standard with women, reminding readers that the senator has stressed how it was necessary “that we listen to women” but then apparently didn’t want to listen to the story of Leeann Tweeden, the Los Angeles radio host who first accused Franken of sexual misconduct.
As for Franken not remembering ever groping anyone and that he “would never intentionally” do so, the Star-Tribune asks, “Is he suggesting these women could not distinguish between a friendly embrace and groping? Or that at his age he somehow groped unintentionally? Can one credibly apologize for acts without acknowledging they occurred?”
The editors conclude that “With a Senate ethics investigation looming, Franken remains on politically shaky ground. It’s debatable whether he is, as he said, ‘holding myself accountable.’ Without saying he didn’t do it, he nevertheless has countered every allegation except the one that carries indisputable proof — the infamous photo of him appearing to grab at Tweeden while she slept.”