By Joshua Weigert
April 17, 2020
In a shocking turn of events, the Democrats and the mainstream media are largely ignoring or questioning Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden’s sexual assault accuser.
Unfortunately, if you’ve been paying attention to politics over the last number of years, this really isn’t shocking.
In an interview with podcast host Katie Halper, Tara Reade, a former Biden staffer in the 90s, described the sexual assault allegation.
Reade claims that in 1993, Joe Biden pushed her against a wall and placed his fingers between her legs and penetrated her. She eventually pulled away and Biden allegedly told her that he thought she “liked” him (1).
Reade was one of several women who came forward publicly last year alleging Biden had kissed or touched them in uncomfortable ways. When asked why she waited a year to reveal her more serious allegation, she claimed it was because no one else witnessed the incident. She does claim that others saw Biden harass her on different occasions, though (1).
In January, Reade approached the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund looking for assistance. Reade was told that they were unable to provide assistance to her because Biden is a candidate for federal office and that pursuing a case could jeopardize their non-profit status (2).
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement that “Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims. We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false” (1).
So, what happened to #BelieveAllWomen? What happened to #MeToo? What happened to #TimesUp?
Politics and Agendas. That’s what happened.
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post claimed in a tweet in September of 2018 that Brett Kavanaugh didn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt because the Supreme Court was on the line. Now, she seems to put the burden of proof on the woman’s allegation. Is the President not as serious of a job than a Supreme Court Justice? It’s likely the President will have to nominate a new justice within the next 4 years.
What about Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times? In her article in September of 2018, Christine Blasey Ford was a hero. The villains in the Ford article are the Republicans and Brett Kavanaugh. In Goldberg’s article of Reade, the villains are “bad faith” trolls who have the nerve to hold the #MeToo crowd to the same standards they had for Kavanaugh and conservative men.
Then we have Joan Walsh of the Nation. She had no problems writing deeply emotional articles about the plight of women when Ford was accusing Kavanaugh, but has a critical and skeptical take on Reade’s accusations against Joe Biden. She seems to only want women to tell stories that get conservative men in hot water.
When the New York Times finally decided to publish the story about Reade’s allegations against Biden, the headline of the article read “Examining Tara Reade’s Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden”. Again, an odd headline in the era of #MeToo. It does get worse, though.
The New York Times tweeted that they found “no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable”. In other words, “we found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond the documented history of sexual misconduct”. The New York Times’ tweet is like if the police arrive at the scene of a suspected burglary and say “we found no pattern of burglary, beyond shattered windows, forced entry and expensive china and diamonds missing”. The tweet has since been deleted, but the line “we found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden” is still in the article (3).
In the same piece, the authors wrote (in regards to Reade filing a police report) “Ms. Reade said she filed the report to give herself an additional degree of safety from potential threats. Filing a false police report may be punishable by a fine and imprisonment” (3).
May be punishable by a fine and imprisonment? Have the New York Times ever written that while reporting on any other sexual assault allegation? If no one is accusing her of filling a false police report, why is this line even in the article, then? This is the disgusting way the mainstream media frames allegations against left-wing figures in a positive way towards the figure. The mainstream media knows what they’re doing.
The media’s cover and protection of their candidate, Joe Biden, isn’t just in the framing of their articles and stories, it’s even more evident by the lack of coverage in general.
What is the justification behind CNN not having a single article mentioning Tara Reade? What’s the rationale behind CNN host Brian Stelter, an apparent truth seeker, to tweet about Ford 44 times but completely ignore Reade’s story?
Are Reade’s allegations against Biden any less credible than Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh?
Ford did not tell a single person about her assault and no one was able to corroborate the story. Reade claims she told people about Biden’s assault and inappropriate touching and kissing.
Ford remembers virtually nothing about when it happened or specific details of the assault. Reade remembers almost all the details pertaining to the incidents.
Ford accused a man who has no established history of inappropriate behaviours, besides a few beers during highschool. Reade is accusing a man with a recent history of inappropriate behaviour and who just recently had seven other women accuse him of inappropriate behavior. We can even see recent video footage of Biden smelling women’s hair and touching them in inappropriate ways. It isn’t enough for the mainstream media, however, as President Trump must be stopped at any cost.
Former President Barack Obama and former Democratic Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have come out this past week to endorse Joe Biden. All three politicians have claimed to be supporters of the #MeToo movement and against the silencing of women who have experienced sexual assault.
Obama has always claimed to be a champion of women’s rights. In a speech in September of 2018, Barack Obama said “If you support the #MeToo movement, you’re outraged by stories of sexual harassment and assault, inspired by the women who have shared them, you’ve got to do more than retweet a hashtag” (4). He’s right, you have to do more than retweet a hashtag. I don’t think endorsing and trying to get the accused into the White House was what he had in mind, though.
What about Michelle Obama? She had strong words to say in 2018 in support of the #MeToo movement. What does she have to think about her pal Joe Biden being credibly accused of sexual assault?
In an interview with the Cut, Senator Elizabeth Warren said:
“the #MeToo movement is grassroots at its most powerful. It’s the reminder that we are stronger when we stand up for each other. The first women who spoke up in the #MeToo movement inspired a wave of women who spoke up, and they in turn inspired another wave and another wave and another wave until the world no longer looks the same.” (5)
Tell me, Warren, did you “stand up” for Reade? Did Reade inspire another wave of women? Or did victims become unmotivated to share their experiences because of the way they see the media and Democrats treating and ignoring Reade?
Bernie Sanders claims to be a champion of the people, fighting against the establishment and the 1%. Where is Bernie in championing for Reade? Instead of tweeting platitudes, why not take action? Bernie could take a stand against sexual harassment by condemning Biden. But instead, Bernie endorsed him knowing full well the allegations against him.
The mainstream media, the Democrats, they’re all hypocrites. They never supported women who’ve experienced sexual assault. They only supported those accusations against conservatives because it was politically convenient at the time.
These people don’t care about women. Don’t let them fool you.
SOURCES:
(1) https://www.vox.com/2020/3/27/21195935/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation
(2) https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/31/tara_reade_joe_biden_sexual_assault
(3) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-sexual-assault-complaint.html
(4) https://qz.com/work/1382861/obama-voting-can-make-workplaces-better-for-women/
(5) https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/elizabeth-warren-interview.html
PR(OOF) 