I know Al Franken, I love Al Franken

When I first moved to New York City in 1981 (just out of college, hoping to be an actor) I met Al and he befriended me. He actually got me an agent. I felt nothing but kind-hearted decency from him and his beautiful wife Franny. Even then, he was talking about the need for those who benefited the most from our great US economy to 'give back'. Al knew that I was from the conservative deep south and he took time to explain to me that Democrats didn't want to create a 'welfare state' but instead invest in the health and education of all Americans, knowing that a 'healthy and happy neighbor is a good neighbor' to paraphrase him.
I have never known a kinder or gentler soul than Al Franken and this scandal has hit me like running into a wall. I honestly never knew him to say or do anything that was in any way sleazy or sexist. The only way I can begin to understand or explain the dichotomy between the Al that I knew and the Al (as he is portrayed) in the news today, is to say this... I too am a man who has at times let my dick take over for my brains and it has always gotten me into trouble, deservedly. I am so sad and ashamed of a few things I have done that are reminiscent of this sad chapter of Al Franken on a USO tour. I have learned to accept that I am accountable for this ugly side of my personality and to battle it and, as best I can, make ammends. Horrible, especially illegal, behaviour is never justified, but I am certain that the Al Franken we see on the front page of the newspapers today, is not the real Al. What we're reading about is Al at his ultimate worst and I'm betting this is a unique occurence. 

I imagine that on the USO tour, where these events unfolded, Al saw himself in the role of Donald Sutherland or Elliott Gould in the movie M*A*S*H, playing sexually provacative pranks on 'Hot Lips Houlihan' Sally Kellerman and trying to 'get in her pants'. I know how vulgar that sounds and how wrong it is, but I'm just trying to comprehend how such a good person could have fucked up so badly. What we're reading about today is a small fragment of the true Al Franken and I am positive that he will learn from this and pay his dues and make ammends. I still love you Al.