This Is How You Do It

Yeah, that's the picture.

So Al Franken releases a statement:

NEW: Statement from Sen. @alfranken: “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it.”

— Tom Weber (@webertom1) November 16, 2017

Which Charlie Pierce does not approve of at all:

Not even close to it. Jesus, Senator, there’s a picture!
....
But, really, that statement is wholly useless.

The problem is not with the statement per se, it's with the internet age, where outrage and our ability to respond immediately sometimes means the news has to catch up with what we just said:

“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women,” Franken said.

The Minnesota Democrat said he was “ashamed” that his actions could give anyone a reason to doubt his respect for women, but he said the recent wave of harassment claims against public figures has given men a new perspective on their behavior.

“I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse,” he said. “I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn’t funny. It’s completely inappropriate. It’s obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what’s more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it — women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.”

"The intentions behind my actions aren’t the point at all,” he said. “It’s the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come to terms with that.”

Franken said he doesn’t recall the incidents described by Tweeden in the same way she does, and he called for a Senate ethics investigation and promised to “gladly cooperate.”

“What people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories,” Franken said. “They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.” 

Not meaning to get up in Mr. Pierce's face, because his response was justified; but the instant ability to broadcast that opinion isn't always the best thing about this brave new world.

And as apologies go, that's the way you do it.  Lessons could be taught from what the Senator from Minnesota said, especially if he is true to his word.

ADDING:

I have to extend my remarks a bit further because, as TPM reports, there are already calls for an investigation into Sen. Franken's conduct.  Compare and contrast with the stories swirling around Roy Moore, and consider another adage of mine:  "There is no power without resistance."  Sen. Franken is not resisting calls for an investigation, nor resisting claims that his actions are indefensible.  I don't mean that Sen. Franken has rendered his accusers powerless, but he has refused to empower himself by resisting the claims.  Sen. Franken's is an example of service, no matter how the Senate investigation comes out.  Roy Moore's example is all about his power to resist; the stronger the force against him, the more he resists and seeks to accrue power to himself.  He wants to store it, like a battery, and release that power against his enemies, against those who accuse him or block his efforts to impose his views on the country and its laws.  "There is no power without resistance" recognizes that power is not a good, not even when employed for ostensibly good ends.  Sen. Franken is emptying himself of power in order to be a public servant; Roy Moore is trying to accrue as much power as he can, in order to serve Roy Moore.

On a practical note, Sen. McConnell has called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Sen. Franken's actions.  It will be interesting to see if the same calls are made for Sen. Moore, if it comes to that.

It's an interesting contrast.  Between Franken and Moore who, in the end, is truly "powerful"?