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FRANKEN’S NEWFOUND OUTRAGE OVER RAPE: WHERE’S THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA?

By Luke Hellier | December 2, 2009

If you remember during the 2008 election, it was revealed that Senator Franken* had previously written a skit for SNL that used rape as a joke.

Here is the except below from the Associated Press Story:

In the 1995 New York magazine profile of “Saturday Night Live,” Franken is described among a group of show writers sounding out a spoof of Andy Rooney centered on a sedative pill bottle found in the “60 Minutes” essayist’s desk. Franken and fellow writers Norm MacDonald and Jim Downey kick around fictional Rooney responses to the discovery of the bottle.

The article quotes Franken putting an edgy twist on the discussion: “And ‘I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then when Lesley’s passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her.’ Or `That’s why you never see Lesley until February.’ Or, `When she passes out I put her in various positions and take pictures of her.”

MacDonald takes it a step further, suggesting that the Rooney rape comment be directed at other “60 Minutes” icons Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley. Franken chimes in: “What about `I drag Mike into my office and rape him. Right here! I guess that makes me bad.”‘

The skit never saw air after the final product got weak laughs in dress rehearsal, the magazine article said.

Nonetheless, Republican state Rep. Laura Brod said the quotes combined with the Playboy piece shows “a pattern of behavior which is not suitable for a U.S. senator.”

“Rape, a joke. Just think about it. Rape is not a punchline and it certainly is not funny,” Brod said, adding, “To thousands of women in this nation who are raped and sexually assaulted, the prospect that a man making a living joking about these things would be a U.S. senator is absolutely horrifying.” (Source Star Tribune 6/5/08)

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Now, Senator Franken* has been pushing legislation to attack his colleagues in the Senate.   Politico says  “Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes. The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn’t doing much to stop them.

‘Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape —and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing,’ Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an interview.” (Source Politico 12/2/09)

Further, Politico goes on to report:

“Franken’s office contends that the bill language is narrowly tailored to affect situations in which employers mandate that employees’ sexual assault claims go through arbitration. But critics say the language was loosely written and could cover a wide range of employment-related disputes and flood the court system with tens of thousands of additional claims. The Defense Department raised concerns about the enforceability of the Franken amendment, as well as its potential to unravel contracts — and urged senators to vote against it. It now awaits its fate in the conference committee.

Given the nuance of the debate, Republicans argue that Franken should make it clear that GOP senators don’t support assault or rape — especially since the amendment deals only with civil claims, making it possible for alleged rapists to be prosecuted criminally.” (Source Politico 12/2/09)

“I think it would be helpful for Sen. Franken to come forward and say, ‘I’m not suggesting that anybody who votes for my amendment is indifferent to crimes against women or anybody else,’” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted against the amendment.

Larry Jacobs alluded to Franken’s hyper-partisan tactic earlier this year:

“Franken’s amendment may make sense for national Democrats in laying down lines of attack heading into the 2010 campaign — but this is not what Franken needs to build a base in Minnesota,” said Larry Jacobs, an expert in state politics at the University of Minnesota. “Being a poster boy of a hard-hitting campaign against the Republican Party is the opposite of what he needs in Minnesota.”  (Source Politico 11/12/09)

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