Seriously, how long will it take women and feminists to realize that repeatedly and transparently using sexual assault and sexual harassment accusations as suspiciously timed political weapons undermines the credibility of legitimate victims and their cause generally?
In fact, why has it taken this long?
We have now seen this scenario so many times: accusers haul out old and unsubstantiated alleged episodes of sexual misconduct conveniently timed to do maximum damage to an individual who has become a problem for the Left. Chris Matthews. Brett Kavanaugh, the most obvious example. Now, the same week in which President trump’s ratings rise, Joe Biden’s bunker broadcasts have even the most dedicated deniers wondering about his acuity, and New York governor Andrew Cuomo is being whispered about as a promising last ditch replacement for Joe if only there were some way to pull it off, and this happens (From Reason):
Despite his public pronunciations on the subject of never touching women without their explicit verbal consent, Biden has previously faced accusations that he was too handsy with people. But now the former vice president is facing a much more serious accusation of sexual assault, from an alleged former staffer named Tara Reade…Reade says she worked for Biden in the early 1990s and asserts that she was unambiguously assaulted by him in 1993. According to Reade, he began kissing her without her permission, pushed her against a wall, reached under her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers.
“He said ‘come on man, I heard you liked me,'” Reade recalled to Halper in the interview. “For me, it was like, everything shattered. I looked up to him, he was like my father’s age, he was this champion of women’s rights, in my eyes. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was surreal.”
…She said she once tried to talk to a supervisor about what had happened, but this person shut her down before she could tell the whole story. She also said she filled out an official form detailing her assault, but does not know what became of it.
A year ago, Reade—who supported the campaigns of Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.)—attempted to come forward with stories of sexual harassment in Biden’s offices. As detailed in an Intercept piece, she reached out to Time’s Up, a project of the National Women’s Law Center that provides support to alleged #MeToo victims. Time’s Up declined to assist Reade; the organization’s official excuse was that a feud with a national political candidate could jeopardize their status as a 501(c)(3) non-partisan group. But as The Intercept also notes:
“The public relations firm that works on behalf of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is SKDKnickerbocker, whose managing director, Anita Dunn, is the top adviser to Biden’s presidential campaign. A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment. The SKDK spokesperson assigned to Time’s Up referred questions back to the NWLC.”
Hey, nothing to see here, move along!
At the same time, these late hits using #MeToo as the bludgeon are awfully convenient. Yet I have been saying since the minute Biden was declared the frontrunner for the 2020 nomination almost a year ago that his long time and photographically documented dead ethics alarms when it came to workplace harassment was inevitably going to become as issue, and possibly a fatal one to his candidacy.
Random observations:
- Who do you root for here? Biden has been a shameless serial harasser while claiming otherwise. He deserves this, if anyone does.
- Yet nobody deserves politically motivated late accusations that wreck reputations and careers. Defending oneself against a 27 year old tale that had no witesses is nearly impossible….which is, perhaps, the whole idea. [See: Kavanaugh, Brett]
- Are Reade’s claims credible? Sure, they’re credible, but credible accusations can still be made up. The Democrats and their captive Get Trump at any cost media have alraedy tried to make “credible” the standard of guilt. [See: Kavanaugh, Brett]
- Notes Reason’s Robby Soave: “Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, has made it no secret where he stands: automatically believe women. “For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real,” said Biden during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh…but whether Democratic primary voters and the mainstream media are willing to air it out as they did Kavanaugh’s will tell us a lot about what “believe all women” actually means.”
- There is a strong tendency to want to grab the popcorn and just enjoy the carnage.
The Democrats asked for this, by willfully ignoring Biden’s history as a groper. Biden asked for this by taking the unethical position of “believe all women,” especially when he knew, or would have known if his brain wasn’t Swiss cheese, that his pandering could easily be turned against him. The American public, however, does not deserve to see its Presidential election process warped by dubious and unproveable accusations, and the important mission of weakening the culture of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace does not deserve to be set back a decade by cynical misuse. [See: Kavanaugh, Brett]
And just maybe, Biden, Joe.
Ethics Alarms 
Sorry, triggered by the Inigo Montoya post
Joe Biden for a hands on President!
Sorry couldn’t resist,
But nether could he it seems!
He could always claim that it was the other Biden.
I saw posts on Fakebook about Andrew Cuomo as a competent leader today, based on giving calm, factbased press conferences. I was wondering what planet they were living on (he also told Trump to choose which 26,000 people would die).
Apparently they live on the planet where they need need someone “credible” at the last minute for president. But as you say, credibility can be fabricated.
I saw large chunks of a couple of Cuomo’s press conferences, and they really were quite impressive — calm, factual, focused on accomplishing the task at hand. But it sounds as if the past couple of days, his emotions have been getting the better of him.
“calm factual focused on accomplishing the task at hand.”
He may be giving factual data but not factual history.
He was warned several years ago that his state would be unable to deal with a pandemic and he ignored the warnings. Part of his pandemic plan was to ration medical services. He was willing to pay for people to choose who would live and who would die but not for equipment and supplies that would serve to aid more people.
So, his pandemic group was the same as Obama’s pandemic group? Just hold meetings and file the reports, don’t actually do anything.
let me guess? you are a republican.
That’s not considered a respectable comment here. Just dismissing an opinion because of presumed bias is a cheap shot, and a version of ad hominem. If you have an argument, make it.
Do better. Next response like that gets dinged.
The erstwhile Chris would give a spirited effort why Fords story was completely believable but this lady is full of shit. Who is here to take up the mantle?
“He said, ‘Come on man, I heard you liked me.'”
Not convinced it was Biden yet. Did he go on to say, “Gimme a break, man. I’m fired up like a bean in a boxcar over here, as they say in Texas. Now let’s do, you know, the thing.”
What I mean to say is, that’s horrible and it should be taken seriously and I hope if it’s true that she gets closure.
The sword of #BelieveAllWomen, much like Truth, cuts both ways.
The more these accusations come up attacking Democrats the more likely you will see cracks in the wall the leftists built to divide men and women.
As it relates to Cuomo. People have forgotten that the cool as a cucumber governor of NY ignored the report on pandemic response that stated NY was woefully under resourced in having too few ventilators and instead chose to spend available resources on solar cells. Why is no one asking him about those decisions as he complains that the feds are failing his state. Sorry, if that’s presidential I don’t want it.
”Defending oneself against a 27 year old tale that had no witnesses is nearly impossible.”
He’d do well to audit Paula Deen’s experience, because this does meet the 27 Year Look Back precedent.
‘Hands on Leadership’ in pale Democrat blue on a dark blue field (image of smiling Joe Biden above text using mosaic technology of images of him fondling people). Put that on 14′ x 48′ billboards all over the country.
This woman accuser is behaving unethically and would have never come forward if his pandemic-side chats were going well.
THAT drew an open guffaw, Jim.
And like my Dear late Father always said: “Paulie; a good laugh’s better’n a pill!”
Glad to be of service!
I disagree. If her account in Reason is true, then she tried to report him immediately, was deterred from doing so, and then understandably gave up until more recently when Biden was actually running for something. Then the Democrats and their allies suppressed the story again.
I’m a bit confused about one thing, though: Is her accusation now being endorsed by the Axis of Unethical Conduct (because now it’s convenient), or are only conservative, moderate, and independent sources picking it up?
It just occurred to me that this isn’t the first time Biden is running for something. I’m not sure when the most ethical time to accuse him earlier would have been.
Exactly. Biden’s been running for President for a bit now. Her accusation comes out now that it’s clear he’s the front runner. It is a little too close to how Dr. Ford didn’t make a public accusation against Brett Kavanaugh through the years she knew he was a judge rising through the Justice system until he was a Supreme Court nominee.
Not to mention Senate and Vice Presidential runs for office. She’s a bit, too politically and conveniently, late to the party.
It is the first time since the #MeToo/No tolerance/#TimesUp/ “Gee, there sure are a lot of photos of Biden groping and sniffing long women…” phenomenon, though.
The question is can Karma be unethical.
It would be very interesting, and make this a substantially different case than most all of the previous “famous” cases of late-hit accusations if the aforementioned supervisor could be found and/or a copy of the “official form” that she says she filled out.
If she actually DID TRY to take action at the time when it happened but was shut down because of his power and political connections, then it’s not really a “late-hit” case, right?
We’d be more in the zone of her possibly being the first of several to come forward today who couldn’t come forward at the time, a la David Letterman, Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods, . . . even Bill Clinton.
If true, then the unethical parties in this case are really the various people who shut down/ignored her reports at the time, and not Tara Reade.
. . . unless, of course, the accusation is actually a lie. (And now I’m a pariah for suggesting such a thing!)
–Someone other than Dwayne
Any resemblance between me and that guy above is purely coincidental.
I’m talking to YOU, Twitter Mob!
–Dwayne
The charge of sexual assault is rapidly becoming the 21st century equivalent of the 20th century charge of communism or the European monarchy-era charge of treason – a catchall way for the powers that be to get rid of people they don’t like. It can be pulled out of thin air, it is very hard to defend against, and, even if it doesn’t destroy the person, it will weaken them to the point they can do nothing further. Anonymous accusations are nothing new, although they used to be used sparingly (see: Clarence Thomas, and see also John Tower, whose nomination as Secretary of Defense was scuttled by anonymous and provably false accusations that he had been seen drunk in Washington when in reality he was not even in the United States). Even then they could be turned back when cooler heads prevailed and all the evidence was looked at (Tower partly lost the vote because he’d made some enemies in the Senate who saw this as a chance to get even).
Sometimes the public would look past them, or even be encouraged to look past them. Not to beat a dead horse, but the party doing this also told the nation to look the other way on Bill Clinton’s disgraceful behavior with Monica Lewinsky. It is also the same party that COVERED for Biden up to now, saying all those pictures showing him getting handsy didn’t mean a thing, or were taken out of context, or some other excuse. We won’t even mention its toleration for Ted Kennedy’s messy personal life…oh the hell we won’t. Despite that, it had no problem trying to gin up outrage against Trump based on an 11-year-old conversation recorded on the sly or gossip from a woman who made her living taking off her clothes for money. It had no problem throwing the relatively expendable Al Franken under the bus (another Democrat would just be appointed) to show its feminist bona fides. It also had zero problems with trying to slime Brett Kavanaugh for something that supposedly happened 30+ years ago. Yet a good half of this country either doesn’t get or ignores this transparent hypocrisy.
I’d like to think that most people, left or right, have good enough memories that they can remember what someone said once and when they say the exact opposite. Even if they claim they don’t and can’t (If I had a nickel for every time I heard a lawyer or judge say “I can’t remember what I had for breakfast,” I’d be doing very well), there are plenty of web resources and bloggers on both sides who’ll remind them, and at least give them the opportunity to read it, put it in context, and make an informed decision of their own. However, even with these resources, most won’t bother. Like trash-talking, Vince-McMahon-era WWF pro wrestling managers, they’ll shout and rail against the side they disagree with, cherry pick favorable facts, ignore unfavorable facts, and generally gaslight.
The Democratic Party and its supporters have one goal – unseating President Trump in November. Hey, did ya hear that President Trump is like a jack o’lantern? They’re both orange, both hollow, and they’re both going to be thrown out in early November! So hilarious. To that end, they’re going to do anything and everything above board and below, and that includes exploiting this crisis, after all, didn’t Rahm Emanuel say you work 25/8 to never let a good crisis go to waste?
Unfortunately, they seem to have run out of halfway decent candidates. Elizabeth Warren failed to gain traction, Mike Bloomberg, despite all his money, lasted about as long as a fart in a hurricane, America’s made it very clear it WON’T accept a socialist like Bernie Sanders, so Joe Biden is the man. He was the O-man’s VP, he’s been in Washington forever, so he knows how it works, he’s strong on women’s rights, he’s progressive, but just moderate enough to keep the centrists in, he can’t lose to that orange big mouth who everybody hates, right?
Right, or you’d probably have been right in 2016. He still would have been the oldest candidate to win the White House, and he still had the issue of getting handsy, but at least then he was still somewhat with it. Now he’s almost 80, would be 80 in his first term, and sometimes doesn’t even know where he is or what he’s talking about. He called the governor of Massachusetts Charlie Parker recently. Yeah, Joe, the governor of Massachusetts is a black jazz saxophonist who’s been dead for 65 years. It doesn’t matter what his flunkies tweet for him. It doesn’t matter that he’s promised there will be estrogen on the ticket (because there are no men qualified to be Vice President). It doesn’t matter how many slings and arrows he lobs at the president’s handling of this crisis. Even the people who’d normally vote for a ham sandwich if it had a D next to it have pause when they look at him and listen to him. They see him and they see great-uncle so-and-so, who nods off in his chair after Sunday dinner and doesn’t get up until it’s time to go home. They see grandad in his twilight years, who might have once been a powerful intelligent figure, but is now a frail shadow of his former self, who can barely find his way home. Some might also see old whoever, who gives his high school age cousin once removed more than familial kisses, tugs on his nine-year-old niece’s shorts, and then tries to play the part of the guileless, jocular old man just having a little harmless fun with some family members, it’s not his fault they can’t take a joke. The first is a harmless, but useless figure. The second is usually a figure of pity or sorrow for the loss of what was. The last is a figure you might look the other way on to keep the peace, but secretly can’t stand. None of these are folks you’d trust to lead a family, leave alone a nation, in a crisis.
So what to do? Ah, let’s recruit one of these governors responding to the crisis. Murphy? Nah, his health’s too questionable. Newsom? Nope, too out there like Sanders. Whitmer? Are you kidding? After her response to the State of the Union? Cuomo, that’s it. He’s governor of a huge state, he has been for 10 years, he was in the Clinton administration, he has the leadership chops, and he’s capable of standing up to Trump and calling him out for the idiot he is. He’s just who we need. Now, the problem is, how do we manage this? OK, we’ll have our allies in the media play him up as the best and most responsible one from every angle. Then we’ll play up how bad things are in his state, and sound dire warnings as to what will happen if the president doesn’t give him all he wants. After that, we’ll criticize whatever help the president does send as too little, too late. Meantime we’ll run a whole bunch of heart-wrenching stories about old people dying just as their grandkids were starting to get big, kids getting left without parents, healthcare workers catching the virus themselves and dying, veterans who fall victim because they’re already injured, and so on, and say their blood is on the President’s hands. Meantime, a few of the DNC powers that be will go have a heart-to-heart with Joe, tell him the facts of life, and tell him he needs to step aside, while a few others recruit Andrew. As the pandemic subsides, we call a HUGE press conference in which Joe steps aside for the good of the country, and Andrew reluctantly accepts the nomination, promising to lead this nation out of this disaster and into a progressive future where things like this don’t happen. Is there time?
Can’t happen? Don’t be too sure.
It can’t happen, and there’s no indication that Cuomo wants it to happen. He didn’t run for a reason: he has more baggage than Hillary. he’s a thug, and his pay-to-play schemes are well documented. He’s also a nasty guy. If Biden goes down, the Bernie supporters would demand that Sanders is next in line. Flipping to Cuomo would guarantee a nasty split. All this accomplishes is to demolish the myth that Joe is a capable and competitive candidate.
I hope you are absolutely right. No arguments with the last sentence, though