Joe Biden responds
The MSM has been pressed to finally cover the Tara Reade accusations, either because – as happened with the John Edwards scandal way back when – the clamor reached a volume that could no longer be ignored, or because the Democratic Party is getting ready to replace him.
Either way, in the next six months or so we will be seeing a full court press to defeat Donald Trump in November. I don’t think the details of the final approach have been fully formulated yet, but it will be well-coordinated and it will be grimly determined, and truth will have no part in it if truth is seens as getting in the way of the goal.
Biden himself is of little interest to me. I’m not so sure he’s of much interest to anyone at this point except as a tool, a means to reach a certain end. As a tool he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but perhaps that’s what’s wanted, as well, because he knows the score and will do what’s needed and what he’s told to do by his advisors.
At any rate, his interview this morning received wide coverage online. I’m going to link to some of the discussion rather than get into the details myself:
Ace.
About Mika.
Are the records at the National Archives?
The silence of the women’s groups (completely unsurprising, for anyone who was around for Bill Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal).
Today Scott Adams pointed out that Biden inadvertently confessed to the event when he continued his response with ” … I don’t know why after 27 years all of a sudden this gets raised.”
What is THIS? THIS is the event, and he accidentally confessed that THIS took place 27 years ago.
If something did not happen, you just deny and do not say what I quoted above.
Edward:
I disagree.
Someone could raise that point to indicate that the person making the accusation recently came up with it and the entire story is to be discredited for that reason. He’s not saying it took place. He’s saying “it” or “this” – meaning the alleged incident as alleged by the accuser – supposedly, according to HER report, took place that many years ago. Why didn’t she make a stink at the time, if it really happened?
I have no idea whether Biden did it. And of course, there is decent evidence that his accuser DID tell people all those years ago, so his defense on those grounds isn’t strong. But I don’t see how his raising the point I just described is a concession that it in fact happened. It’s not.
Joe is innocent. All he has done is sniff hair and let prepubescents stroke his golden leg hair. What male over 50 hasn’t done that?
Biden should just say, “I don’t remember.”
Everyone would believe him.
We all know that democrats are incapable of committing any wrongs; they are moral clones of Mother Theresa and Mary, mother of Jesus, and Moses.
On the other hand, without a doubt, ALL republicans are guilty, irrespective of their actions. Their mere existence is proof of their guilt.
Based on these irrefutable facts, we know with 10000% certitude that Biden is innocent.
I just do not understand why everybody doesn’t realize this.
Since Biden has denied the allegation the next step is a Congressional hearing where Senators question him sternly about what teen-agers wrote in his High School yearbook, right? I mean, that is the established protocol.
Joe had no problem with Blasey-Ford’s accusations surfacing further than 27 years after the alleged event.
These people are loathsome.
I think the “THIS” is a tell. Kavanaugh’s response was along the lines of, “I did not do what CBF is alleging and have NEVER done ANYTHING like it.” Biden’s response is “This particular thing didn’t happen,” delivered with an abundance of nervous blinking. We already know he’s a sniffer.
But there are the times to consider. In those days, I am perfectly willing to believe that the described behavior was de rigueur among Congresspeople (probably not the women because there weren’t enough if them yet – but maybe now?), as power is strangely aphrodisiac.
The question for today is, is a person’s character, which tends not to evolve a whole ton for most people, important? I’m not a big fan of Trump’s character with regard to his treatment of the personal relationships in his life, whether casual or serious… but he has been shown to be a capable boss and executive who knows when, and is not afraid, to cut his losses, and has demonstrated repeatedly that he’s not hidebound by tradition or others’ expectations – and at this particular juncture that skillset seems very very important.
On a related subject: when I was young, I did something morally reprehensible. One of my closest friends, rather than making excuses for me as other friends did, called me out – unfairly, I thought at the time, because only I had been living the life that led to my bad moral decision; she could not truly understand why I had done what I had done. A few years later, she did the same thing. I did show compassion for the quandary she found herself in, but (because I only try to be a good person) also asked, “So, do you remember when I…?”
She did, and she apologized to me. Now, decades later, I can easily see that she was right the first time. But I so appreciated, and still appreciate, her willingness to admit that when she found herself in a similar situation and made a similar choice, she realized she’d judged me harshly.
This is what I want from the principle-deficient #metoo crowd.
It is hilarious that Joe Biden has the notoriously corrupt and dishonest Chris Dodd defending him. That’s like Genghis Khan getting a character reference from Atilla the Hun.
I don’t know the best approach here, the absurdity is strong in this one. The left seems intent on moving this whole conversation away from Kavanaugh, insisting there is nothing to compare to, and into Biden’s head, where motivations can never be proven or disproven.
But this is a guy who supposedly insisted on swimming naked in front of his SS detail, which included women. This is a guy with a slew of photos across the timeline, showing him grabbing women from behind in photo opportunities, and in some of them he’s even getting in a grope, and in many of them, the women are clearly expressing discomfort, embarrassment, chagrin. For crying out loud, what does it take?
I think the right way is to confront the media at every opportunity to re-ask the question, demand an answer: Why would a candidate for high office be treated differently in this #MeToo age depending on their political affiliation? All while bringing up ALL of the old true stories and allegations, in detail. A dozen pictures a day.
“It is hilarious that Joe Biden has the notoriously corrupt and dishonest Chris Dodd defending him. That’s like Genghis Khan getting a character reference from Atilla the Hun.” — Ray on May 1, 2020 at 7:26 pm
ICYMI
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/04/corrupt-lecher-to-help-select-female-running-mate-for-biden.php
Trump’s campaign staff is on the case:
https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/05/01/right-over-the-target-trump-campaign-drops-a-bomb-ad-on-joe-biden-over-the-sexual-assault-allegations/
There are other aspects I could post about, but Ace covered most of them.
So, here’s the $64K question, this time by John Hinderaker:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/04/the-reade-allegation-can-joe-keep-on-biden-his-time.php
John Tyler channels the Bee – unless he wrote this story?
https://babylonbee.com/news/judge-dismisses-sexual-assault-allegations-against-biden-on-grounds-that-he-is-not-a-republican
Chris Hayes got into trouble with the Democrats yesterday for interviewing a woman who wrote a story about the dilemma facing any woman who becomes his VP nominee. Her points were well made (although there is the obligatory reference to murderous vile Trump — she is surely among the 81% in the poll Neo linked elsewhere today), and the Democrats should definitely be discussing the issues she raised, if they aren’t already.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/the-biden-trap-woman-vice-president.html
I looked at a couple of other stories at that venue. One tells the bare-bones of the “Denial” story, leaving out most of the essential elements that Neo, Ace, LI, and RS bring up, of course, but at least it is not totally full of spin.
Just another case of misleading by omission.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/joe-biden-denies-tara-reades-sexual-assault-allegation.html
This article kind of surprised me though, as it certainly gives more “fodder” (in Joe’s words) to the Trump campaign.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/joe-biden-accuser-accusations-allegations.html
I’m guessing that writers for NY Magazine are 100% Democrats, 99% Progressives, 98% feminists (when speaking in public), and very conflicted right now.
The Intelligencer (another subdivision of the mag) bears that out.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/feminist-groups-and-activists-respond-to-biden-interview.html
There is a lot or boiler-plate rhetoric supporting The Woman Who Must Be Believed, but mixed with enough Anybody But Trump to show they are going to take Joe’s denial at face value.
Andrew Sullivan is more exact, more skeptical, more honest, and more outraged, but in the end the charges won’t lessen Biden’s votes, and he knows why.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/andrew-sullivan-by-bidens-own-standards-he-is-guilty.html
The charges may not lessen Biden’s votes from his base supporters, but they may not add many others. There are several posts around the web on Bernie’s Bros, but since we’re at Ace’s place anyway —
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/387069.phpMay 01, 2020
lol: Nearly One Quarter of Bernie Sanders Supporters Will Not Vote for Sneakyfingers Biden in Election
In a previous poll, 11% said they’d vote third party, or for Trump, or not vote at all.
Or are undecided. Which isn’t great for Biden.
And now that’s doubled to 22%. From USAToday:
AesopFan @ 8:02 pm: Re: The Hinderaker suggestion that Biden might be forced to withdraw after the convention, in favor of “a viable candidate–someone who is neither senile nor an open socialist.” Have the Democrats got one who would actually attract Democrat voters?
Joe Biden is the Mister Bluster of 2020. Still a puppet. Still made of balsa wood.
(the second half of my comment at 8:29 should have been in blockquotes – although I hope that most of you can tell me from Ace — but maybe not….)
Might as well add this one.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/387058.php
Ray @7:26 PM, I love your comparison of Biden and Dodd to “That’s like Genghis Khan getting a character reference from Atilla the Hun.”
However, given the behavior at issue here, maybe a better way to put it would be: “That’s like Caligula getting a character reference from Nero.”
“Have the Democrats got one who would actually attract Democrat voters?” – Kate
They had a huge primary field that very few people were interested in.
Hard to see how someone out of, um, left field would grab their votes.
The grooming of Cuomo to be their White Knight (wonder what the SJWs say?) hit some snags when we found out that his admin was deliberately sending infected people to convalesce in nursing homes, which he claims he didn’t know — which I think makes it even worse.
We shall see.
Good point in support of the Democrats cutting Biden out of the game.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/05/01/in-tense-interview-msnbcs-mika-brzezinski-grills-biden-on-tara-reade-allegations/
Of course, Mika is getting flak from those very Democrats, 81% of whom still believe that the Mueller report found collusion by Trump and the Russians — so it will be interesting to see if their new propaganda beats out their old propaganda about Joe being the best thing since sliced bread.
It worked for the communists when Hitler turned on Stalin.
And that’s no malarkey.
The democrats have to carry him until the convention. If they do not nominate him and they don’t pick Bernie even the marginal Bernie people will feel cheated even more than they do and they will retaliate. After the convention once he has a running mate that can logically be moved to the top of the ticket it is anyone’s guess.
At this time I assume that Biden will be the nominee and will be top of the ticket in November. Almost anything else will break the Democrat party. The fractures in their coalition of interest groups are many. If not for a hatred of Republicans and President Trump in particular, not much holds them together now.
An interesting article from CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/opinions/biden-transparency-allegation-tara-reade-stewart/index.html
I think this is pretty even handed, in saying it doesn’t matter that you think Reade is wrong, the same deal as Brett Kavanaugh got is the minimum.
I forget which British spy series it was I saw this portrayed in, but in this series, set in around the 1950s or so, they had very tight control over the classified documents they used.
These classified documents were segregated on a separate floor, there was a person in charge of these documents who was always the first person you encountered, seated at a desk in front of the files, when you got off the elevator.
You were always asked to justify why you needed the files you requested, and you had to personally sign each individual file folder out and then in again, when you returned it to the file room.
This kind of tight control apparently ain’t what we are dealing with here.
I’ve seen reports that Biden’s operatives have already been trolling through whatever papers Biden might have deposited in the University of Delaware Archives, so–if there ever were any incriminating documents there—I’d bet that they aren’t there now.
As for whatever relevant documents there might be in the National Archives, you might remember just how secure the classified documents they held from the Clinton Administration were in the face of Clinton Administration National Security Advisor Sandy Burger’s being able to walk in, easily get access to them, stuff Top Secret documents into his pants and socks–all this apparently unobserved–and just waltz outside, undetected, to destroy them.*
So, I hold no real hope for finding any relevant documents there either.
The National Archives may have been called the “Nation’s Memory,” but they are apparently just too trusting.
* I’ve read accounts by researchers working on a history of American Communism who said that, when they requested the files in the National Archives that were supposed to contain the records of things like the questioning/interrogations that were done, under oath, of suspected American Communists which the Archive’s Indexes said they had, in a notable number of instances they found that, when they got them, those file folders no longer contained the key documents they were supposed to contain, they were empty.
Someone—and, over time, probably a lot of interested someones–had gotten hold of and cleaned out, had “sanitized” these files.
P.S.–As we are discovering, the Obama Administration operatives who were framing General Flynn created what looks like it will be a robust and very incriminating “paper trail,” but they only did this because they thought that Hillary would inevitably win, and that those records would never see the light of day, would, in fact, redound to their credit.
Even so, it has taken three years to get public access to documents which should have, by rights, been produced several years ago.
It appears that in our political system, government and, indeed, pretty much everywhere else in our society, it is often just SOP, and far too easy, to have computer “glitches” that destroy key information/documents, and key documents which “can’t be found,” have been “lost,” are blank, have “not been filed,” or which have mysteriously just “disappeared.”
“I’ll vote for him anyway, because Trump.“
That’s not honesty. That’s decadence. Sullivan lies to himself by bringing up Trump’s alleged behavior but, as he himself points out, this isn’t about the mistreatment of women. This is about elites like Biden enforcing standards on others that they refuse to live by themselves. This is about justice, fairness, equality…heck, it is about the very principles of democracy itself.
And Sullivan is willing to throw all that on the trash heap, not because Trump has done an exceptionally bad job as President but so Andrew can maintain his own personal position in polite society.
Mike
so Andrew can maintain his own personal position in polite society.
RawMuscleGlutes is lobbing medicine balls from his pink crystal palace.
And now we have Democrat politicians who are also now anatomical experts.
Who knew?
See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/democrat-lawmaker-claims-tara-reade-lying-joe-biden-position-female-vagina-metoo/
Let’s get real.
If the demokrate elites want Biden out, he will be out; their “rules” are meaningless and are readily modified to suit the whims of the demokrat elites.
Sanders, if not given the nod, can bitch and complain all he wants, but so what.
What is he going to do??
Have his supporters vote for Trump?
No way; recall that Sanders and the dem elites consider Trump an english speaking clone of Adolph Hitler (minus the Charlie Chaplin mustache).
The dem elites will produce the candidate they wish to put forward; if not Biden, then somebody else.
The ends justifies the means.
Simple justice would demand that we get to the bottom of this. But politically the truth or falsehood of the allegations won’t matter.
John Kennedy was portrayed as young, hip, idealistic, articulate, and “visionary”, with a “common touch”. In actuality, JFK was in many ways less progressive than the much-less-popular LBJ, who actually passed the kind of legislation that JFK talked about, but that didn’t matter; what mattered was the image, the narrative.
Democratic candidates for decades took that image as a model, and some of them were elected based on it, including Barack Obama.
Joe Biden can’t do that, because he doesn’t fit the model in any way. He’s not young, he’s not hip, he’s not idealistic. He’s certainly not articulate – based on recent performances, he’d have trouble reciting the alphabet without messing it up.
His chief qualification, from the Party’s POV, is that he’s not Trump. But EVERY Democratic candidate is not Trump.
So the Party leadership, and the MSM, are caught on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, Biden’s not the kind of candidate that they want; on the other hand, he IS the candidate selected by the primary process that they created. The process obviously failed.
They can’t remove him without admitting that they screwed things up; they have to make it look as if HE screwed things up.
Of course, the truly pathetic thing is that Democrats could basically make this whole thing go away if they would just admit that they treated Kavanaugh badly and were wrong to deal with the situation that way. It’s not like they’re ever going to get Kavanaugh off the court anyway, and they could still whip up a decent amount of hysteria the next time a woman accuses a Republican.
But like a Planet of the Fonzies, they just can’t admit they were wrong. They would rather blow up their Presidential nomination six months before the election.
Mike
richf:
Biden was only chosen to be the nominee (chosen by the DNC, that is) after a number of primaries failed to produce a frontrunner other than Sanders. It was Sanders who was on a path to win the nomination, or at least to be the clear leader on the first ballot. They knew that he did not have a good chance of beating Trump, and so they engineered the dropping out of all serious contenders but Biden. Biden was chosen for various reasons, but the main one was that they felt he had the best chance of beating Trump, and that he would continue Obama’s agenda. I believe that Obama was a big player in these machinations to be rid of Sanders. My recollection is that the whole thing was kicked off with a public statement by Obama to the effect that Sanders was too radical. Then some phone calls were made and voila! A lot of candidates dropped out, and Biden beat Sanders in the south. That did it. If those people hadn’t dropped out, would Biden be the frontrunner today? I very much doubt it.
Snow on Pine:
But many of those papers in that record of what they did to Flynn occurred after Trump’s election. They may have thought they could still take him out, but they didn’t think Hillary would win.
I tend to believe Joe’s statement when he says, “I did not have sex with that woman – Miss Lewinsky.” But then, I don’t believe Joe knows what century he’s in.