Imagine my surprise when I was on Twitter on Monday afternoon and saw that Al Franken was trending. Word is that he’s plotting a political comeback. This wasn’t so surprising; he’s been hinting at a possible return to politics for some time now, but what was really surprising is how many on the left are welcoming his return.
Franken resigned from the U.S. Senate in disgrace back in 2018 after being accused by radio news anchor Leeann Tweeden of kissing and groping her backstage at a USO show in 2006. A photo of Franken groping Tweeden while she was asleep quickly spread like wildfire, prompting many in his own party to call for his resignation. But since then, at least nine Democratic senators have expressed regret for calling for his resignation, and it seems that many on the left would welcome his return.
Sadly, I do not doubt that Al Franken, should he make a return to politics, will pick up right where he left off, as a darling of the political left, with his past sexual misconduct merely a faded blot on his otherwise stellar record as a rabid leftist member of the U.S. Senate.
Al Franken is hardly the only Democrat accused of sexual misconduct who thinks he can return to politics successfully.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign in disgrace less than a year ago, and he’s already looking to get back in the game. In fact, after managing to avoid criminal charges for sexually harassing multiple women, the gropey governor feels vindicated and anxious to return to his former glory. What office will he run for? Who knows? But Cuomo undoubtedly has presidential aspirations and had been the media golden boy in 2020 during the pandemic, even though he basically killed a whole bunch of people.
And then there’s former congressman Anthony Weiner, who sent lewd photos to an underage girl and served 18 months at the Federal Medical Center at Devens for it. One would think a sleazebag like that would be a pariah upon his return to society. But no, he is actually in the process of his public rehabilitation. He and Guardian Angels founder and former Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa have a new weekly show on WABC Radio called The Left vs. The Right.
Who at WABC thought hiring Anthony Weiner was a good idea? While Weiner says he has no intention to return to “public life,” it wouldn’t surprise me if, after the passage of enough time, Weiner will find himself pulled back into running for office.
The disturbing thing about all three of these Democrat perverts is that I do not doubt that they will ultimately succeed in restoring their images enough that their falls from grace will just be minor inconvenient detours of their political and personal crusades. Al Franken will probably run for Senate again, and, blue states being blue states, he’ll get elected. Andrew Cuomo will eventually succeed in positioning himself for a presidential run.
Because Democrats don’t care.
Related: 17 Democrats Who Weren’t Held Accountable for Scandals by Their Constituents
This is the same party that stood behind Bill Clinton despite his shocking abuse of authority by diddling with a White House intern. This is the same party that let former Virginia governor Ralph Northam survive his blackface/KKK scandal, or that elected Alcee Hastings to Congress despite being an impeached judge, that reelected Gerry Studds six times in the ’80s and ’90s despite having an affair with underage congressional page, and reelected Mel Reynolds after he was indicted for sexually assaulting an underage campaign volunteer. Barack Obama illegally fired an inspector general to protect a child rapist, but did any Democrat care?
So, yeah, is there any reason to doubt that Franken, Cuomo, and Weiner will ultimately rehabilitate their reputations within the Democratic Party and leave their scandalous behavior in the dust?
They’re Democrats. Of course, they will.