Sexual assault is a crime committed behind closed doors, in private; our legal system currently finds these cases difficult to prove even when victims choose to report. Of course, no one can know with absolute certainty if Reade's story is accurate. But as Biden himself once said, "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."
When women accuse powerful men of sexual assault, the consequences are usually severe and horrific; Christine Blasey Ford had to move four times and keep a security detail due to death threats. We took Blasey Ford seriously (not seriously enough) on the basis of similar verification and compelling testimony. We must take Tara Reade seriously, too. [UPDATE: Tara's story has now broken into the mainstream press, with a full report in Newsweek.]
In fact, we shouldn't be surprised at all by Reade's accusation. Joe Biden has long been considered a MeToo scandal waiting to happen. He had already been accused by seven other women of inappropriately touching them and violating their boundaries.
A female Democratic fundraiser told Harper's last year that Biden "has a bit of a Me Too problem" We never had a talk when he wasn't stroking my back." Based on the previous allegations, and Biden's documented history of sniffing the hair of women and girls, anyone could have thought that a more serious allegation might drop sooner or later. Now it has, and nobody is saying: "Surely not Joe Biden, it seems so out of character."
[I have heard and read about some strange sexual and semi-sexual predilections but sniffing adolescent and even pre-pubescent girls' hair is way beyond my comprehension, but I am an art dealer and occasional alternative journalist, not a psychiatrist nor a criminal prosecutor, so what do I know? I do know that dogs do things like that...]
Lucy Flores, who had been a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Nevada, said Biden came behind her, put hands on her, smelled her, and kissed her without her consent. And if that's what Biden did to a prominent politician in public, is it implausible he would do worse to low-level staffers in private? Powerful men with boundary issues aren't exactly well-known for stopping at hair-sniffing. They tend to do whatever they feel they can get away with. Lucy Flores, despite being a major state-level Democratic politician, was mocked and ignored, her accusation treated as trivial.
Tara Reade came forward in April 2019, after she heard people saying things like "well, if what Lucy Flores says is really true, why aren't any of his former staff members complaining?" At that time, Reade only came forward to confirm what Flores was saying about Biden's general handsiness. But, after being subjected to online smears, and seeing the media was not taking claims against Biden seriously, she didn't pursue the matter further or tell her full story. Reade says she approached numerous reporters and prominent people, including Elizabeth Warren (whom she supported at the time), but nobody helped.
But in January, Reade tried again, contacting the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, which was set up by the National Women's Law Center to provide legal aid to MeToo victims. And they shooed her away, not because they disbelieved her but because she was accusing Joe Biden. They said they could not handle a claim against a candidate for office because legally they would risk their nonprofit status, a highly dubious assertion. Finally, Reade found her way to left podcaster Katie Halper, the only one who would listen, who interviewed her at length.
I think the cynical view will be that while Reade's allegation is serious, it won't hurt Biden, because the press won't cover it and no one will care.
[And there lies the heart of the problem, which will remain if acquiescent American media consumers continue to languor and do nothing, like not even write a letter to the editor of their hometown paper, let alone the big boys like the Washington Post, USA Today, or the New York Times! Right after Super Tuesday, I I was so distraught that I sat down and stopped everything I was doing and wrote to a bunch of papers, and only USA Today and the Santa Fe New Mexican published it, located here, although watered down quite a bit, which is something that USA Today seems to like to do to generalize everything for their 4.4 million readers, but, hey, I am not complaining... Inspired and Alarmed by Super Tuesday
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