The Bubble: Time for another look at Trump's accusers, liberals say

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Women of 'SNL' release statement of support for Al Franken 36 women who worked with Al Franken on Saturday Night Live stepped forward to lend him support

Each week, USA TODAY's OnPolitics blog takes a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to a political news story, giving liberals and conservatives a peek into the other's media bubble.

This week, another politician was hit with allegations of past sexual misconduct. Sen. Al Franken was accused of groping and kissing Leeann Tweeden, a fellow entertainer during a 2006 USO tour, prompting an ethics probe and calls for the former comedian's resignation.

There was agreement across the political spectrum that the Minnesota Democrat's behavior was unacceptable and the calls for him to step down came from both sides of the aisle. But that didn't stop anyone from accusing the other side of hypocrisy. Liberals attacked conservatives for their support of President Trump and beleaguered Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, while conservatives slammed liberals for their decades of defending former president Bill Clinton.

Last week: Roy Moore the victim of an 'orchestrated hit,' Bannon says

From the left: 'Al Franken must go'

Despite the odor of "Republican skulduggery," Salon's Amanda Marcotte said she hasn't wavered in her belief "that the right move, both morally and politically, is for Franken to resign his Senate seat immediately."

Tweeden is a conservative and frequent guest on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, Marcotte said, but the photographic evidence makes it impossible to "dismiss the whole thing as a stunt," she said.

"Now any Republican who is asked about Moore can simply deflect the question by invoking Franken and suggesting that both sides do it," Marcotte wrote. "Every day Franken remains in the Senate as a visible symbol of liberal hypocrisy, Republicans get a free pass to grope, harass and abuse women. Any effort by journalists or Democrats to hold them accountable will be met with, 'What about him?'"

More: Congress has been warned for years it is not doing enough to stop sexual harassment

From the right: Franken 'never deserved a place in public life'

The Weekly Standard's Jonathan Last said, "Anyone who has followed the career of Al Franken should be unsurprised to learn that he was a jerk to Leeann Tweeden."

Citing excerpts from Tom Shales' Saturday Night Live oral history, Live from New York, that discuss cocaine use, Last described Franken as a "lying, drug-abusing (and disturbing) jackass." In addition to the drugs, Last cited an incident in which Franken was disrespectful to former vice president Spiro Agnew, and another where he allegedly pitched a joke about raping CBS News' Lesley Stahl, as examples of the Minnesota senator being "even worse than you think."

"Al Franken isn’t the monster Harvey Weinstein was," Last conceded. "But he should never have been let into American public life, either. Having him lose his seat over what he did to Leeann Tweeden would be like getting Al Capone for cheating on his taxes."

Analysis: Trump mocks Franken, reticent on Moore, despite his own history

From the left: It's time for new scrutiny of Trump allegations

President Trump "opened the door to a new scrutiny of his conduct" by attacking Franken on Twitter while maintaining his support of Roy Moore, wrote Think Progress editor Judd Legum.

Legum listed 14 women who have accused Trump of sexual assault and said that in contrast to Franken, "Trump has not acknowledged any of these incidents or apologized for his behavior." Rather, he threatened to sue them and implied one of his accusers wasn't attractive enough to assault.

The news of those accusations fell off the front pages after Trump won the election, but getting elected president "does not diminish the seriousness of fourteen credible allegations of sexual assault," Legum wrote.

More: President Trump appears to back Roy Moore: 'We don't need a liberal' in Alabama Senate seat

From the right: Going after Franken heightens harassment hysteria

"Who could suppress at least a smirk of pleasure at the news of Senator Al Franken’s being caught up in the sexual-harassment scandals that have been breaking ever since Harvey Weinstein crashed the world?" asked Douglas Murray in the National Review. "Yet conservatives, like everyone else, should pause before playing this game."

Although there are many hypocritical liberals who think "rape is not rape if it is committed by a leftist" and who refused to condemn former president Bill Clinton, conservatives should avoid piling on Franken because it will further blur the lines "between bad manners and rape."

Murray also said condemning Franken legitimizes "third-wave feminism," which he defines as the view that "men are all rapists or proto-rapists and that women in our society tread a constant and violent minefield their entire lives when dealing with the male sex."

More: Sexual harassment and worse will plague politics until we get past tribalism

From the left: Franken shows that Dems must nominate another woman in 2020

The allegations against Franken are likely just the beginning of a wave of sexual misconduct accusations that will hit Capitol Hill politicians, "Republicans and Democrats alike. And it’s safe to assume that all of the accused will be men, " said the New Republic's Jeet Heer. "That is one of many reasons — in fact, the least of the reasons — why Democrats should resolve right now to nominate a woman for president in 2020. Bernie, Biden, Brown, Booker — sorry, guys. You’re all sitting this one out."

Sexism was one factor that hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016, Heer said, but more important was the degree to which she was hobbled by having a "dirtbag ex-president for a husband." The country was ready to elect a woman, just not that woman, Heer said. And the top players on the Democratic bench for 2020 are all female.

Electing a woman in 2020 "is ultimately crucial as a rejection of the 2016 election."

For the women who are the heart of the Democratic coalition, it’s a personal affront to have as president — the embodiment of the nation — a man who is so openly contemptuous of their humanity. Trump’s election ripped wide a wound in America, and only a woman president can heal it.

More: Lawmakers push for tougher sexual harassment standards on Capitol Hill

From the right: 'Let's all savor the Democrats' Pervgate pain'

Conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter doesn't see anything wrong with taking pleasure as "the heroes of the Democrat Party are all being exposed as handsy, tonguey creeps" and in having a laugh at the "hilarious comeuppance these hypocrites are suffering."

In an article for Townhall, Schlichter acknowledged that conservatives "have an issue of our own" with sexual harassment, but goes on to list accusations of misconduct against Democrats from Franken to Ted Kennedy to argue that "Democrats never actually believed all that stuff they shovel about women."

Schlichter said the allegations against Franken are painful to Democrats because it splits the party between the "crony centrist Clintonish contingent" who "don't actually care" about women and the progressives who "continue to pretend to care about women because their faux outrage is a weapon they can wield in trying to win the party civil war."

But while the Democrats may abandon Franken, conservatives may still elect Roy Moore (whose alleged misconduct occurred when he was a Democrat, Schlichter twice points out) because "Republicans refused to allow their morals to be weaponized against them again," Schlichter said. "Alabama voters might very well choose the guy who dated babies over the one who wants to kill them."

More: Sexual harassment troubles mount in statehouses around the country

More: Americans agree sexual harassment is a problem. They just don't always agree on what it is

More: 'Weinstein effect' is boosting inquiries about workplace harassment