so, is al franken doing this right?

well, he knows he can't stand there and call people liars. and, he's right: he can't do that. i can do that. his friends can do that. but, he's a senator - he can't do that. it's maybe a little counter-intuitive, but it's absolutely correct. he'd get eaten alive if he tried that.

i still kind of think he should do it, though. to me, that is a matter of principle: to call a spade a spade. and, maybe somebody else could do it convincingly. but, this isn't a politically palatable option for most politicians, and i didn't expect him to do it.

instead, he needs to say things like "i don't remember it that way" and "i'm sorry if she felt that way" and let people connect the dots.

what he's saying is he needs to be more careful. and, he's right about that, too. all his opponents need is a picture of him touching somebody to fabricate an anonymous accusation. and, there's no doubt thousands such pictures out there. nor are the people out to get him likely to stop, either. he needs to ensure that he isn't handing his opponents any more 'evidence' they can use against him. he needs to be walking around in an imaginary ten foot bubble for the rest of his political life.

the rest of the world should realize that they need to be more careful, too - any picture of anybody touching anybody could be framed this way.

so, is he doing this right? from the perspective of his brand, maybe. but, in the end, there might not be a way for al franken to do this right.

at least, it should be acknowledged that he's mostly produced a set of tautologies, and that these are tautologies that almost everybody can learn something from.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.