There are many men who have good accomplishments relative to women who are also immoral pigs. If so, then they cannot remain in a position to abuse women any longer. If they are leaders, then they cannot continue their example of piggishness. Or, their actions were so awful that, despite statutes of limitations, they must be punished.
When you say that Franken has to go, you add him to these categories. I disagree with that conclusion.
Over four dozen women who have known him for his whole career say he is righteous in his treatment and respect for women. This is not the 'open secret' of Matt Lauer being known for bad attitudes about women. This is the opposite.
The things Franken has been accused of are all minor infractions in any other time, even if they are true as expressed. More importantly, they are all one-off events of a sort that can easily be misconstrued.
Sure, Tweedon felt like his kiss during rehearsal was out of line but we have often seen kisses of an elaborate tongue-slurping sort on Saturday Night Live. Which was it? If Franken's fifty defenders are to believed, it was not him trying to get sexual pleasure from her, nor him trying to dominate her, nor him creating a demeaning environment. They all say that he never does that.
An easier, albeit less 'au courant', explanation is that he is actually a decent guy and she misconstrued the situation.
Franken interacts with zillions of people. What would cause him to decide to be a horny abuser for these few people out of those thousands. Was there something amazing about the two USO women that caused him to, after being fine with a zillion excellent looking women on his many USO tours decide that 'Today I will abuse!' The weight of the evidence is that he is decent with women, not the reverse.
I have friends whom I have known for many years. If someone came and told me one of them had raped someone, I'd take his side until someone showed me a movie of it happening and then I'd start investigating whether someone could have a stroke that caused violent behavior.
For Al Franken, his lifelong, frequently expressed reverence for his wife, his intense support for women's issues, his obvious decency, and THE TESTIMONY OF FIFTY WOMEN who know him as I do my friends, tells me that in any situation where there is doubt, he gets the benefit.
I'd be skeptical that Franken is a bad guy based on my life knowledge of him. However, we have had (as of today) fifty-six women way things about him. Six have told stories of brief interactions that could be interpreted in various ways. Fifty have talked about long-term experience that is unambiguous. The current zeitgeist (of which I approve) is that we have to believe what women say, then we have to eventually figure out what to believe when they say contradictory things.
Until the accusations are about things that cannot be so easily misconstrued, I will balance the testimony of fifty women against that of the six in his favor.
I'd be skeptical that Franken is a bad guy based on my life knowledge of him. However, we have had (as of today) fifty-six women way things about him. Six have told stories of brief interactions that could be interpreted in various ways. Fifty have talked about long-term experience that is unambiguous. The current zeitgeist (of which I approve) is that we have to believe what women say, then we have to eventually figure out what to believe when they say contradictory things.
Until the accusations are about things that cannot be so easily misconstrued, I will balance the testimony of fifty women against that of the six in his favor.