The following are direct quotes from a Daily Kos top-recommended diary, an extremely popular one at that (115 recs in just over 75 minutes), speaking about a woman who has made an accusation of sexual harassment:
I reserved some judgment when she first stepped forward contrary to what my gut intuition was screaming. I did so to appease some of the crazed 3rd wave feminists demanding women are to be believed no matter what, but I am walking that back right now. I do not care what any of them think or say because this isn’t the first time ethnic minorities have been shoved aside in the name of gender politics.
And now, speaking of the person accused:
I do not care how many SJWs get offended by my defense of [PERSON ACCUSED] —you are the same group of women who harassed and dogpiled me via hashtag.
These comments could have been ripped straight from a Reddit thread or some other noxious right-wing forum. Notice the use of “3rd wave feminists” and “SJWs” — these are flat-out right wing talking points. Why on earth are they here?
And why are they being used to go after two women who are making accusations of sexual harassment, just as the right wing would?
Look, I understand. I really do. Al Franken is a good Democrat, and before this all started I was hoping he’d run for president (look through my comment history, there’s proof). It’s natural for us to rally around him, and there’s plenty of legitimate points to make in his defense. For one, what he’s accused of, while bad and not acceptable, is nowhere near what Trump is accused of (which in turn is nowhere near what Moore is accused of), and so the false equivalencies are ridiculous. For another, it’s not clear exactly how bad his behavior was — he’s apologized for the crude, violating photo, but the facts surrounding the rest of the matter aren’t perfectly clear. As is, he’ll likely be able to stay in office unless more shoes drop.
But can we please, please defend Franken without trashing his accusers with talking points straight out of the Breitbart playbook? Because what’s happening in that diary is wrong. There’s no other way to put it.
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P.S. Yes, I’m aware that Tweeden is a conservative who holds or has held some truly disgustingly awful views. Fine. Does that mean her accusations are automatically false? More to the point, does that mean the accusations of person #2, who does not seem to be politically active and has contemporaneous documentation of her accusations, are false?
Come on. We’re better than this.