[My first diary in nearly two years.]
Today, Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post provided a detailed summary of Tara Reade’s allegations of a 1993 sexual assault by then-Senator Joe Biden.
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Two key paragraphs follow:
“This column represents a good-faith effort to grapple with the seriousness of, and flaws in, the Reade allegations. My conclusion is that while Ford’s allegations are on balance stronger, those who took Ford’s complaints seriously cannot simply dismiss Reade’s claims out of hand. I don’t think what Reade claimed happened, yet the evidence is murky.”
“The likelihood of definitive proof one way or another seems frustratingly low. My gut says that what Reade alleges did not happen. My head instructs that it is within the realm of possibility, and fairness requires acknowledging that. And there is another point to bear in mind: Double standards work in both directions. Those who disbelieved and diminished Christine Blasey Ford face the challenge of explaining why they seem so much more eager to credit Tara Reade’s account.”
I found the following passage impossible to believe:
“Reade says she told her mother, who has since passed away. When contacted recently, her brother initially recalled Reade telling him in 1993 that Biden had behaved inappropriately by touching her neck and shoulders; it was only several days after providing this account to The Post that the brother reached out to add that he remembered her saying Biden had reached “under her clothes.””
So, her brother remembered being told about an uncomfortable encounter 27 years ago, and then came up with much more damning information days later? I don’t buy it.
I have no idea if Reade is telling the truth or not, but she called Biden a champion of women in 2018. That's just two years ago. In 2019, she said he touched her inappropriately on her neck, but stressed nothing sexual was implied between them. Now the story has changed again. And why was nothing said in 2008, when Biden was being vetted for the VP slot on Barack Obama's ticket?
Reade is a Bernie Sanders supporter and has written a series of admiring letters about Vladimir Putin. Neither of these facts disproves anything she said, of course, but it does go to motive. But the biggest problem I have with Reade’s account is that it changed over the years. For example, here is an account from 2019. Not exactly good for Joe, but it looks nothing like the current allegations.
www.theunion.com/…
By all means, let's get to the bottom of this. If Joe is innocent — which he maintains unequivocally — he needs to fight this vigorously, and if he isn't he needs to take his lumps and put it behind him. I do not want him to drop out; after all, he is running against a man who bragged about much more than this on camera. Trump has no right to raise the issue, and neither do Trump supporters because we already know they are OK with worse. But I'll make them a deal: If Joe is guilty as charged, I'll insist he drop out as soon as Trump does the same.
