Cuomo Resigns

 

I have no reason to defend a prominent Democrat, but I find Andrew Cuomo’s defense against charges of sexual harassment plausible: that it’s just an Italian thing. Of the eleven accusations, most seem to be unwanted comments, perhaps boorish, but no more. It should not be a crime to be socially awkward. Only three sound like touching with sexual intent, beyond just being Italian and accordingly touchy-feely. One woman says that, during a photo shoot, he touched her buttocks. Another said he “touched her chest.”

It is at least possible that a touch on the buttocks during a photo shoot was inadvertent. Cuomo would have been looking at the camera, not down; did he know what he was touching? And “chest,” as opposed to “breast,” is ambiguous. It might have been somewhere on the rib cage, say, and still not sexual in intent; just a friendly embrace aimed too high.

Leaving one accusation that sounds serious: “groping one of her breasts under her bra by reaching under her blouse.” Not okay, and not plausibly inadvertent.

Yet it is also true that, for any prominent politician, or even prominent figure, there is a built-in incentive to make false charges of sexual impropriety. Except under exceptional circumstances, nobody can prove you’re a liar, so there is no cost. It is a good way to tarnish the reputation of, or perhaps even get rid of, a political rival. And it is a way for woman can draw attention to herself, as someone an important and desirable man found irresistibly attractive. 

Accordingly, I find it more than plausible that one accusation could simply be a lie. 

If it were real, I would expect more than one woman coming forward wiith an accusation of comparable gravity. If someone is genuinely inclined to giving in to sexual temptation so egregiously, it is unlikely they gave in to the temptation only once. Police departments count on this: they can generally recognize an “M.O.” Pedophiles do not stop at one child, and gropers do not stop at one woman.

I suspect the man is innocent.