I do not know whether the sexual assault allegation by Tara Reade is true or false. (And neither do you.) I do not know whether the blanket denial by the Biden campaign is true or false. (And neither do you.)
The double standard being applied by this community to what are credible (albeit unproven) allegations compared to what we demanded of the media and our leaders when the accusations were made against Kavanaugh or Trump or a host of other Republican figures is deeply disturbing and unsettling. It also HURTS US as a Party. We can and MUST demand better answers from Biden. AND we can do so in a way that allows him to rebuild his reputation without destroying hers.
I understand the importance of this election. I will vote for our Democratic nominee because to not vote would be to enable a madman to continue killing thousands of Americans in support of his delusional ego. But I am deeply troubled to see that our response has been just as “tribal” as theirs.
When the accusations are made against one of their leaders, we have insisted that there must be an investigation and the leader must be asked to answer the allegation. And we have insisted that women should be listened to and not silenced.
Now that the accusation is being made against our nominee we are exhibiting the same tribalism and the same circle the wagons response — and the same destruction or indifference to the woman accuser.
I will not repeat the facts. They are well known. There is no question that Reade worked for Biden, and that she and he were in the same place at the same time with no witnesses. Which means there are ONLY two people in the world who know what happened. Reade and Biden. There is also some corroborating evidence that she spoke to others at the time. There is enough evidence to make her claim sufficiently possible so as to require Biden to personally address the issue and do so in a detailed manner. A standard campaign operative response is not sufficient. How is Biden’s campaign response any different than Trump’s deny deny deny response to any and all claims made against him?
There is also evidence having nothing to do with the assault itself that suggest that Reade is not an unflawed person. It is possible that she at some point tried to scam some horse sanctuary that she had worked for to get them to pay horse related expenses, and she may also have lied or been something other than a paragon in other dealings. I’ve stopped reading the many diaries that “prove” she’s a liar because she’s lied about SOMETHING! None of that “proves” that she lied about what happened in 1993.
There are multiple instances of Biden lying or shading the truth about things like meeting Nelson Mandela or marching with the civil rights movement or a host of other lies I can’t remember. Those lies don’t “prove” that he’s lying now when he denies this incident. But they also don’t “prove” that he is not capable of lying.
We are ALL flawed human beings. We are ALL capable of lying to protect ourselves. We are all capable of good and bad at different moments in our lives.
Those who point to Reade’s imperfections conclude that those events mean she MUST be lying about what happened in 1993. But we can’t know that. Her credentials were good enough to get her hired as an intern by Biden. She went to law school and had plans for a career. For all we know maybe the sexual assault triggered the descent into whatever she is now. Or maybe not. The point is WE DON’T KNOW, and because we don’t know we have no right to try and silence her and no right to destroy her so that she stops speaking out.
Too many members of this community — which represents itself as being progressive and pro-women — have jumped on the “destroy the accuser” bandwagon. I can’t continue to come to this site and see diary after diary crowing about what a liar she is and how truthful Biden is. Neither is accurate. Reade has lied. Biden has lied. YOU AND I HAVE LIED AT SOME POINT IN OUR LIVES TO PROTECT OURSELVES OR TO HIDE THINGS OF WHICH WE ARE ASHAMED. DOES THAT MEAN THAT NOTHING WE SAY IS EVER TRUE?
This diary is not about determining whether Reade or Biden is lying. I don’t care. It’s not OUR job as progressives to protect every member of our Party from being held to account for past misdeeds, no matter how “nice” they are or how much we agree with their policies. (Remember Al Franken?) I do care about the double standard and the vitriol and the attempts to destroy the character of a woman (or a man) without a full investigation BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND BY OUR OWN LEADERS. (Is there anyone who doubts that the support from Pelosi and Gillibrand and Abrams etc. is anything other than a political calculation that it’s politically more advantageous to throw Reade to the wolves in order to protect Biden than to ask Biden to personally answer the allegations?)
These allegations have been around for several weeks, and it is ONLY now that the mainstream media has even deigned to look into them. Why? because everyone is terrified that to prove them true would be to give the election to Trump. So we circle the wagons and tell ourselves “well he’s not as bad as Trump, who has dozens of such accusations and has never had to answer for them, so why should Biden?”.
If we want to be as tribal as the GOP, if we want to give up all our principles in order to silence a woman because she is accusing “one of ours.” then we need to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask what makes us so different from them? Is it just numbers? Biden has “only” one accusation of grabbing someone by her pussy as opposed to Trump bragging about it?
THERE IS A BETTER WAY, THAT ALLOWS US TO HOLD BIDEN TO ACCOUNT IF HE DID THIS, TO MAKE HIM A BETTER CANDIDATE WITHOUT DESTROYING HIS ACCUSER. THERE IS ALSO A WAY FOR US TO HEW TO OUR SUPPOSED PRINCIPLES AS PROGRESSIVES WHO ARE ACTUALLY COMMITTED TO CREATING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR A WOMAN TO SPEAK UP.
Reade’s statement about what Biden is alleged to have said (and done) could well describe a situation where he saw her adoration as something other than platonic. That someone had told him that she “liked him” ; that he mistook that as an invitation; that the culture of 1993 was different and he succumbed in a moment of weakness.
His stonewalling and refusal to address it head on is not what one hopes for in a leader.
If we want to have any credibility on these issues in the future, if we want to avoid the inevitable “both sides do it” media narrative, then WE SHOULD COME TOGETHER AND SPEAK IN ONE VOICE AND TELL BIDEN THAT HE NEEDS TO MAN UP AND SPEAK UP PUBLICLY WHETHER OR NOT HE DID IT. IF HE DIDN’T, HE NEEDS TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THE MEDIA HAS BEEN TOO RELUCTANT TO ASK. IF INDEED THIS HAPPENED, HE NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE TO READE AND ANY OTHER WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY HIS INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR IN THE PAST, AND PLEDGE TO MAKE EFFORTS TO CHANGE THE CULTURE IN OUR COUNTRY THAT SAYS IT’S OK TO GRAB SOMEONE WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU FEEL THEY WERE SENDING SIGNALS THAT HE MISREAD.
BIDEN NEEDS TO “MAN UP” AND SPEAK UP. ADMIT IT IF HE DID IT, APOLOGIZE TO HER, TO HIS WIFE, AND TO US, AND PLEDGE TO BE A BETTER MAN THAN HE WAS IN 1993. AMERICANS ARE WILLING TO FORGIVE ONE (OR EVEN MORE) TRANSGRESSIONS. REMEMBER CLINTON? IT’S THE COVERUP THAT DOOMS, NOT THE CRIME.
Yesterday when I decided to take a break from this community I was going to just stop coming, stop commenting, stop posting without saying why. But I didn’t feel that was fair to me or to this community. I have been saddened in the past months to see the attacks on other members for any number of things not considered to be unquestioning support of our nominees. I understand the importance of this election. But if we act the same as “they” do when a woman speaks up against “one of ours”, then we are not much better than they are. Our policies may be better, our intentions may be good, but the actions we take will speak louder than our words.
I will vote for Biden. But I will ALSO continue to speak up (though not in this forum) to make sure that women who step forward are given a safe space and a fair hearing. This community has not done that for this woman.
In my youth I was the target (I don’t like the word “victim”) of several different rape attempts by someone I knew, had met at school or somewhere supposedly “OK”. Every assault was by a “nice” guy who then acted as if “nothing happened” so I was “OK”.
I don’t know if Reade is lying, but I also don’t know that Biden is telling the truth. AND NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE. THAT’S WHY BIDEN HIMSELF NEEDS TO COME FORWARD AND EITHER EXPLAIN WHY IT’S NOT POSSIBLE (maybe he has a calendar showing he was somewhere else) OR ELSE ADMIT THE IMPROPRIETY, APOLOGIZE, AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.
THAT’S HOW WE SHOW WE ARE DIFFERENT, NOT BY CIRCLING THE WAGONS AND DECIDING THAT ONE WOMAN SHOULD BE SACRIFICED FOR THE GREATER GOOD. THAT’S NOT HOW TO WIN IN 2020.
I will not be responding to uncivil comments, and hope that any discussion among those who choose to respond be civil, thoughtful, and compassionate.