Are we hypocrites?
In the post-"me-too" era, is it acceptable to vote for a Democratic candidate with sexual assault allegations levied against him? I mean, when we look at the huge number of male celebrities brought down by the corrected ethical standard, Al Franken, Charlie Rose, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer... the list goes on and on... to say nothing of the more egregious offenders like Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, and Bill Cosby, I can't help but wonder what we're doing in settling for Joe Biden. No one disputes we're settling, but how much are we settling? And are we compromising our principles for doing so?
First, let me point out that there is a threshold where we are willing to forgive. We were willing to finally forgive Neil DeGrasse Tyson after allegations were brought against him. Scott Baio took an initial hit with allegations brought against him, but he seems to have recovered. (Hollywood is less likely to forgive his conservatism than his on-set affair.) And Al Franken seems to be on the verge of obtaining forgiveness and staging a comeback. So I can't help but wonder, does Joe Biden sneak underneath that threshold? Or are we simply willing to overlook his sins in order to get rid of the End Times Antichrist, Donald Trump?
In my debates with conservatives on social media, my response to complaints about Joe Biden's past behavior is to label Biden "Trump Lite." This is both funny and brings home the point rather sharply. So far, no conservative has dared argue with the label - truth is truth! No matter what allegations are brought against Biden, Trump's are far worse. But is that enough?
I'm about to argue that it is not hypocritical to render Biden as "passable." Not forgiven, and not even forgivable, just passable. I cannot over-emphasize enough that Biden's past behavior of "handsiness" is disgusting, creepy, and wrong. I also can't over-emphasize enough that Biden needs to knock that shit off going forward. But this bad behavior does not meet the threshold of ruling Biden out as a candidate, nor does it make liberals hypocritical for voting for him. And I'm going argue this in the most effective way I know how: by comparing Tara Reade's accusations with those of Christine Blasey Ford.
Charlie Sykes, the retired king of conservative talk radio in Milwaukee, and current never-Trumper, pointed out in his newsletter that the real reason conservatives are so white-hot mad over the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden has little to do with Uncle Joe. Rather, it has do do with the accusations brought against Brett Kavanaugh, who conservatives insist was unjustly demonized while being 100% innocent. In their minds, the accusations brought against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford are exactly the same as the accusations brought by Tara Reade against Joe Biden. But as you will see, this is not quite the case.
There are a few parallels between the two. Both women have brought their accusations after decades of silence. Both women have stories which cannot be corroborated directly by witnesses, and have only what was told to friends afterwards to back up their timelines. Both women could not verify the exact date, time or place, but could only generalize. And both men who stood accused were in the process of auditioning for jobs whose repercussions on national policy were/are breathtakingly huge. But there are also some stark differences between their two stories which I will now highlight.
Michael J. Stern, in his opinion piece in USA Today, pointed out the reasons I'm about to list here in more detail. Although it is merely an opinion piece, it was written by a victims' rights advocate lawyer, and one who's observations are quite astute. If anybody knows what a good plaintiff's story should be, it's him. He did not truly contrast Reade's story with Blasey Ford's so I shall. Here are some of his points, and my contrasts with the accusations brought against Brett Kavanaugh:
First, and most importantly, Tara Reade's story changed. Blasey Ford's did not. Jack Brewster in Forbes magazine provides a concise timeline of how Reade's story changed from 2019 onward. Her initial complaints were of Joe Biden touching her inappropriately in a way which made her feel uncomfortable. On social media throughout the 2010's and 'teens, her posts on social media showed that she was very supportive of Biden. For example, in 2017, on multiple occasions, Reade retweeted or “liked” praise for Biden and his work combating sexual assault. In the same year, Reade tweeted other compliments of Biden, including: “My old boss speaks truth. Listen.” It seems unlikely that Reade would publicly praise Biden for fighting sexual assault without bothering to mention anything about Joe assaulting her.
In March of 2019 she told her local California newspaper, The Union, that while Biden “used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck,” she didn’t feel she was a victim of sexualization, instead comparing it to being treated like an inanimate object, like a lamp. At the time she gave this version of her story, she was one of what eventually would become eight women who accused Biden of essentially the same thing.
By January of 2020, she went all in for Bernie Sanders, and started saying negative things about Biden. By late March, Biden had announced that he was re-evaluating his campaign, and that's when Reade went all-out on her accusations. In a podcast with Katie Helper, she accused Biden, for the first time, of "digitally penetrating her." She said she hadn't said this before out of fear of retribution, and it's fair to say that women often delay telling their stories for many years out of such fear, but her story matched that of several other women before this radical shift in her story took place. Biden has been accused of inappropriate touching on numerous occasions, and been caught on video doing so. Why, suddenly this accusation of such out-of-character behavior, timed perfectly with the Sanders campaign being in serious trouble?
Second, Tara Reade's story cited documents which turned out not to exist. Blasey Ford's story did not. Reade told The New York Times she filed a written complaint against Biden with the Senate personnel office. But The Times could not find any such complaint. When The Times asked Reade for a copy of the complaint, she said she did not have it. It is difficult to imagine how a woman as competent as Reade, who held many government jobs, could have neglected to keep any legal document, much less one of this importance. Furthermore, while Christine Blasey Ford was visibly rattled by her trauma, as all her friends noted, and made clearly verifiable career choices based on her traumatic experience, no similar track record of career behavior is seen for Tara Reade.
Third, Reade lied about how she was fired by Biden. Reade told The Union in April of '19 that Biden wanted her to serve drinks at an event. After she refused, "she felt pushed out and left Biden's employ." This is vastly different from the story she told the Times a year later, about filing a sexual harassment claim with the Senate personnel office, and being fired in retaliation. The disparity between the two versions, told only a year apart, raises questions. By contrast, Blasey Ford was not caught in any lies. Her story had a lack of evidence, but nothing was flatly contradictory.
Preliminary conclusions:
Of course, I always reserve the right to change my mind. But I think the evidence is fairly clear that Tara Reade's original story was the correct one. Joe Biden touched her inappropriately on her shoulders and neck, and made her uncomfortable. She later left on the pretext of refusing to serve drinks. I believe the phone call made to Larry King Live by Reade's mother is genuine - but does not tell a tale of outright sexual assault. I believe that Reade has been intentionally trying to damage Biden in a style which we have seen all-too-often from a minority of other desperate Berniecrats, and that Fox News and OAN are now eating it up like candy.
We all know Joe Biden is handsy, creepy, and inappropriate, but at least all his sexual harrassment happened with everyone's clothes still on. I again, cannot over-emphasize how unacceptable Joe's behavior is. It is imperative Joe does not do any more creepy crap like that. But Reade's latter accusations do not seem credible. There is no true parallel between Blasey Ford and Tara Reade, and Joe Biden is no Brett Kavanaugh.
Joe is not forgivable. But he'll do in a pinch. And we're in a real pinch.
Eric
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