Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s assumed nominee to face President Trump at the ballot box in November, is now facing a real, detailed allegation of sexual misconduct from a former staffer. This goes further than the “creepy Uncle Joe” narrative that is laughed off by Democrats, Republicans and members of the media. Tara Reade, a former aide to then-Senator Biden (D-DE), alleges that Biden “began kissing her without her permission, pushed her against a wall, reached under her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers,” during an encounter on Capitol Hill.
Time’s Up Legal Defense, a nonprofit designed to help women combat sexual assault struggles from a legal stand point, is said to have declined Reade’s plea for help, per The Intercept. Time’s Up allegedly told Reade that their nonprofit status, and Biden's political stature, prevented them from helping her come forward with her story. The Intercept also pointed out that a top official at the public relations firm tied to Time’s Up is advising Biden’s campaign. Reade says that she brought her story to the campaigns of Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), but was given no help.
The latter sentence embodies the hypocrisy entwined within the handling, at least thus far, of this graphic allegation against the presumptive Democratic nominee. Sens. Harris and Warren, alongside other Democratic colleagues, were at the forefront of the blisteringly partisan fight against the confirmation of soon-to-be Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Before the allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Kavanaugh became public knowledge, Democratic Senators were determined to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination. Their opposition had little to do with Dr. Ford's allegations, and everything to do with preventing a Conservative jurist from sitting on the Supreme Court. Democrats in the upper chamber saw the misconduct allegations from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as an avenue to do so, and their allies in the mainstream media absolutely crucified Kavanaugh before he was even able to testify.
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Wore black today in support of all survivors of sexual assault or abuse. We won't let them be silenced or ignored. #BelieveSurvivors pic.twitter.com/immVdGsepx
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 24, 2018
#BelieveSurvivors pic.twitter.com/Q32B20YxHY
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 24, 2018
Last year the Kavanaugh nomination was rammed through the Senate without a thorough examination of the allegations against him. Confirmation is not exoneration, and these newest revelations are disturbing. Like the man who appointed him, Kavanaugh should be impeached.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 15, 2019
Democratic Senators were very obviously using Dr. Ford’s visibly painful allegations as a delay tactic on Kavanaugh’s nomination, in hopes of taking back the Senate majority in the November midterm elections. Fortunately, their partisan endeavor failed; now-Justice Kavanaugh was given his well-earned seat on the bench and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remains Majority Leader of the upper chamber.
The hypocrisy that I previously alluded to is this: the same Democrats who wasted no time trying to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination as soon as the misconduct allegations were made public, have remained silent on the allegation against Biden nearly a week after Reade went public. Many of these Democrats have endorsed Biden for president. Leading up to and during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation, the Left invented the “Believe All Women” standard for the handling of sexual assault allegations. This nonsense standard, which holds no legal standing, very obviously violates due process and goes against the fundamentals of fair jurisprudence, but this standard is embraced by Democrats.
Here is Biden's campaign manager, Symone Sanders, lambasting Senate Republicans for not taking Dr. Ford's allegations seriously; at the time, she was an aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders' (D-VT) presidential campaign. Senate Republicans bent over backwards to accommodate Dr. Ford, and allow her to tell her story.
Here's what Joe Biden's campaign manager @SymoneDSanders used to say about the urgency of treating sexual assault allegations against powerful men seriously (when the powerful man in question was Brett Kavanaugh):pic.twitter.com/SPzMBhZnVx
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 31, 2020
"They are sending a message that they care more about putting a Supreme Court Justice on the bench that will do what they want them to do, as opposed to seriously, and, investigating, and taking a woman's charges seriously," she said on CNN during the Kavanaugh confirmation battle.
The mainstream media has also been oddly quiet after Reade's allegation against Biden became public, given their complete crucifixion of Kavanaugh when Dr. Ford came forward, as Robby Soave of Reason highlights:
To name names: The New York Times wrote about Ford's allegation before she was public, without naming her, or interviewing her. Reade is out, on the record, and naming herself, but The Times hasn't mentioned her.
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 30, 2020
CNN interviewed Biden on Friday, but didn't ask him. NBC interviewed him Sunday, and also didn't ask him.
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 30, 2020
I mean, I actually support proceeding extremely cautiously with these things, but again, the Kavanaugh case is very analogous. And in fact what Reade has accused Biden of is significantly worse.
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 30, 2020
Reade's allegation against Biden comes with corroboration of familiarity with the story, from two family members, as The Federalist points out. No friends of Dr. Ford, nor witnesses present at the alleged party in the summer of 1982, could corroborate Dr. Ford's story, but her word alone was enough for Senate Democrats. Almost a week after these allegations against Biden, which appear substantive and graphic on the surface, the same Democratic Senators and pundits who wasted no time calling for Kavanaugh to rescind his nomination are silent on Tara Reade’s story. This is not Democrats' first instance of silence when one of their own is accused. Democrats ignored graphic allegations of domestic violence against former Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice-chair Keith Ellison, and have historically turned a blind eye to the multitude of sexual misconduct allegations former President Bill Clinton.
The “Believe all Women” standard has no legitimate legal standing, and even makes the "Preponderance of Evidence" standard present in former President Obama's "Dear Colleague Letter" appear constitutional by comparison. No one who is pressing allegations of such a heinous sexual crime should be believed at face-value on the sole basis of their gender, let alone without evidentiary support or witness corroboration. Women, and men, who come forward deserve to be heard, as does the accused party, but this very basic tenet of due process via the Fifth Amendment has been put on the back-burner by the Left. The "Believe All Women" standard actually does a disservice to real victims of these heinous sex crimes; by pledging to believe anyone who makes a single charge of a crime of this nature, real victims are burdened and discouraged from coming forward.
Biden himself has embraced the “Believe all Women” standard, which goes against our fundamental legal fabrics, per National Review:
What should happen is the woman should be given the benefit of the doubt and not be, you know, abused again by the system. I hope that they understand what courage it takes for someone to come forward and relive what they believe happened to them and let them state it, but treat her with respect.
Former Vice President Biden deserves the due process and fair treatment that Justice Kavanaugh was not fully afforded, just as Tara Reade deserves the opportunity to tell her story, as Dr. Ford was able to because of Senate Republicans. Senate Democrats made it clear that evidence and witness corroboration have no role to play in the handling of misconduct allegations, at least if the accused is a Republican. By their own legal facade, Biden should be unqualified to be the Democratic nominee; unless, of course, the "Believe All Women" standard was invented to derail a qualified Conservative jurist's nomination, with an otherwise spotless record, via unsubstantiated misconduct allegations.
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