Lulled

So, this news about Al Franken.

I'm surprised because it happened so recently (just 11 years ago). If it were a story from his Saturday Night Live days, I wouldn't be. That's my biggest disappointment, honestly. This man was not just a husband, he was the father of a daughter and son. (Now he's also a grandparent.) He was 55 years old!

However, if (and I emphasize the "if") Leeann Tweeden makes the only allegation, is the only woman who comes forward with something, it is nowhere near the league of reprehensibles we've been hearing about lately. Crass and sophomoric (the photo) and beyond unacceptable, especially for a man his age, but since he was not touching her, it is not assault. He didn't distribute the photo, either.

The kiss... well, that seems harder to classify. Clearly, Tweeden had a problem with it. But again, relative to Moore, Weinstein, Trump... it's not in the same order of magnitude, and may even be a misunderstanding.

Investigate it, sure. If more women come forward, yes, Franken should resign (as should all others, including two Minnesota state legislators, one Democrat and one Republican, who have been accused of multiple harassment and/or assault instances).

But for now, Franken deserves more time and due diligence. I knew what he was when I voted for him — there are very few male comedians I've been subjected to over my life who weren't sexist jerks — so I have been pleasantly surprised by his performance for our state since then. In a way, I've been lulled by his steadiness and, quite frankly, lack of show biz as my senator.

Most Minnesota voters agreed with me, upping their support for him between 2008 and 2014 from barely over even to 11% in his favor (from a margin of just 215 votes up to 202,978). We like him. We really, really like him.

Let's see if there are other shoes to drop.

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I may live to regret writing this, but I think at this point it's a fair assessment of the situation.