I believe Leeann Tweeden.
I believe her because a woman happens to reside across the ideological or partisan aisle of a man she accuses still has the same right to being believed as any other woman regardless.
I believe her because I think that the proportion of women afraid to come forward out of fear that they won’t be believed far, far outweighs the proportion of women who come forward with false allegations, whatever the motive. YMMV on how many fars are appropriate.
I believe her because, as Sarah Silverman so eloquently said regarding Louis CK, if it’s mentionable, it’s manageable — even when someone we might otherwise like, respect, or even love does something bad.
I’m as aware of Roger Stone’s clairvoyance as I am Ms. Tweeden’s politics — but I also believe that if this were to later be proven a concoction, I believe I’ll be able to survive the egg on my face.
I commented last night that I didn’t think it necessary to yet denounce nor defend Al Franken and I also still believe that.
However, here’s the important point — Ms. Tweeden wrote:
Not just because 2017 is not 2006, or because I am much more secure in my career now than I was then, and not because I’m still angry.
I’m telling my story because there may be others.
I want to have the same effect on them that Congresswoman Jackie Speier had on me. I want them, and all the other victims of sexual assault, to be able to speak out immediately, and not keep their stories –and their anger– locked up inside for years, or decades.
I want the days of silence to be over forever.
Barely 12 hours later, the orange elephant in the room weaponized her violation, disgust, anger and humiliation in yet another of his cheapshot sideshow squirrels.
For purposes of Al Franken, maybe having to keep his tongue bitten when the orange elephant in the White House takes after him is appropriate penance for the picture, if nothing else.
If Leeann Tweeden had come forward and said “I’m coming forward now because I want to show that liberals and Democrats aren’t so holy either” she would still be entitled to my belief.
But that is not why she said she came forward.
I recognize the peril is heaping the broader responsibilities on victims. However, Ms. Tweeden explicitly said that this is a responsibility that she wants to embrace. She stated clearly that it is the reason she came forward.
There are 20 women — and let’s be honest, I think we probably know that there are plenty more — who are still not believed. I suspect a lot more people know Ms. Tweeden’s name today than even know their names. I’m certain this is especially true of people that share Ms. Tweeden’s politics.
Ms. Tweeden now finds herself in a unique point of nexus — for a limited amount of time, any comment she wants to make about any instance of sexual assault or harassment is going to be taken seriously, widely reported — and clearly, we know the orange elephant in the room is listening, too.
I would be hesitant to say that Ms. Tweeden owes the country a response — directly and unequivocally — now that the orange elephant in the White House has weighed in…. if not for the fact that she said this is why she came forward.
The orange elephant in the room has verbally presented pictures many times over every bit the equal of Al Franken’s picture. The Billy Bush interview alone all but constitutes a short video clip in comparison to the still shot.
The orange elephant in the room has excused it all as locker room talk and the jibes of an entertainer. Ms. Tweeden also wrote:
Senator Franken, you wrote the script. But there’s nothing funny about sexual assault.
I agree. But — it can’t be not funny for Al Franken, but funny for the orange elephant in the room.
This nexus of time and circumstance — to no small end, coupled with Ms. Tweeden’s place on the ideological spectrum — presents an extraordinarily unique opportunity to do precisely what she said she wanted to do in coming forward.
I still want to believe Leeann Tweeden.