Yesterday, we discussed the astonishing tweet from Lisa Bloom that she believes that Joe Biden is a rapist and continues to lie about raping a former staffer, but she still will endorse him for President. Now Linda Hirshman in the New York Times has run an opinion piece entitled “I Believe Tara Reade. I’m Voting for Joe Biden Anyway.” It is a chilling example of how feminist writers are retaining their “women must be believed” position from Kavanaugh and simply declaring that they will support someone they believe to be a rapist. Imagine if a Republican senator said he believed Dr. Ford that Kavanaugh was clearly a rapist but we need a reliable conservative on the Court.
Many Democratic politicians and commentators have struggled with the clearly hypocritical position of declaring Biden innocent while previously insisting that women “must be believed.” The problem is that, if you declare that no one has a right to be simply believed, it requires a full and fair investigation. However, Biden has refused to open up his records to look into any allegations of sexual harassment or sexual abuse by Reade or others. Thus, you can either declare Biden to be innocent without such a review of this papers as has Speaker Nancy Pelosi or you have to call for his records to be reviewed. The alternative is to just accept his guilt as a rapist (thus avoiding the need for an investigation in that and other claims) but say it really doesn’t change anything.
Hirshman declared “Let’s be clear: I believe Tara Reade. I believed Anita Hill, too,” Hirshman added “Democratic primary voters knew all about Mr. Biden’s membership in that boys’ club when there was still time to pick someone else. Alas.”
That “Alas” led to the surprising conclusion: “I’ll take one for the team. I believe Ms. Reade, and I’ll vote for Mr. Biden this fall.”
As with Bloom, it is notable that the nomination still has not occurred, but Bloom and Hirshman are still lining up behind someone who they believe is a rapist and someone who is continuing to lie to the public about his raping a female staff member. That moral flexibility and relativism allows for highly convenient positions but little principle. It is not clear how many women they would have to believe Biden raped to change that calculus. However, since there is no call for a full investigation of all of the Biden papers (including those at the University of Delaware) for any allegations of sexual misconduct by anyone, there is little risk of facing that choice.
Happily most women will have the image of Creepy Joe with his hand up their skirt and will decline the opportunity to vote for this senile has been
“The MK Interview: Tara Reade”
May 8, 2020
More proof we are in #whoresnation!!!
Things are shaping up to be a choice between Biden, accused of digitally raping one woman, and Trump, accused of raping 20 women, one as young as 12. Wonder who the other parties are nominating?
“accused of raping 20 women, one as young as 12.”
Making up stuff out of whole cloth huh?
@bill53, Instead of assuming that anonymouse is “Making up stuff out of whole cloth,” just ask her/him for evidence of the claim.
I’m not anonymouse, but here are two attempts to list the many women accusing Trump of sexual assault and/or sexual harassment, neither of which is comprehensive (hence the differences between the two, although there’s also considerable overlap):
* https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-running-list-of-the-women-whove-accused-donald-trump-of-sexual-misconduct_n_57ffae1fe4b0162c043a7212
* https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-sexual-assault-allegations-all-list-misconduct-karen-johnson-how-many-a9149216.html
Most aren’t rape allegations, but more than one is. The youngest was 13.
It’s ludicrous for Turley to call out Democrats on this without also calling out Republicans. Anyone with any integrity would hold both to the same standard. And despite my having already called Turley out for suggesting that Biden “open up his records to look into any allegations of sexual harassment or sexual abuse by Reade or others” without saying **who** would look into it and how all of the other info in the records would be safeguarded (a comment I noted in his previous blog about this, jonathanturley.org/2020/05/07/lisa-bloom-yes-biden-is-a-rapist-but-i-endorse-him/ ), he still isn’t bothering to say. And now he’s adding a false dichotomy, “you can either declare Biden to be innocent without such a review of this papers … or you have to call for his records to be reviewed.” No, those aren’t the only two options, so don’t invoke that fallacy. It’s an exceptionally sloppy argument for an academic to make.
Personally, whenever a politician like Biden or Trump — or, for that matter, a nominee to a high position, like Kavanaugh — is accused of a crime and/or serious moral failure, I’d like that politician, the accuser, and anyone else with relevant information to be questioned under oath, regardless of whether the statute of limitations has expired. I think that’s a better way for people to judge the accusation, given the importance of these positions.
“there is no call for a full investigation of all of the Biden papers.”
And I’d argue that there shouldn’t be a call to investigate only Biden’s papers while ignoring the accusations against Trump. Hold all candidates to the same standard.
CommitToHonestDiscussion,
You might not have been aware but this website only permits two hyperlinks per comment. I delinked the last one so that your comment would post. If you would like the viewers to see more than two hyperlinks, this may be accomplished by using multiple comments of two or less links each.
Thank you. I wasn’t aware of that restriction, and I appreciate your taking the time to let me know and for editing my comment so that it could be posted. Since I see that you like painted ladies, if you visit San Francisco in the future, there are many lovely ones. Here’s an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_ladies#/media/File:Haight_Ashbury11.JPG
Please provide a sources for the stories about these rapes, especially the twelve-year old.
No response yet.
The socialist party is full of them. Victimizers of women every one. Miss Stupid failed to acknowledge she is supporting evil by justifying her opinion of the degree of evil. But like all stupid party people fails to realize she just admitted to being a supporter of evil. What a Dem Ass.
Getting desperate, calling Biden a rapist in 2 articles yet no such condemnations of tRump. Sorry but Ginsburg will outlive this regime.
Who did the President rape?
It is not up to to educate you; plenty of news reports but as all tRumpsters you prefer to be ignorant. I yam it works for you.
…to me to…
Please provide your sources that Trump is a rapist. If you cannot, then tell us. Just say it. It’s easy to do…
This article in Guardian is more than 3 months old.
Notice served to Trump attorney for ‘analysis and comparison against’ DNA on dress Carroll says she wore during encounter.
E Jean Carroll is the easy answer, sealion.
E. Jean Carroll told an outlandish story cribbed from the script of a Law & Order episode. You’re stupid.
This is a turd has his panties in a bunch. BTW, it is actually the opposite — L&O takes their story from the papers. Like everything you say, it is ass backwards.
They took their story from a fantasy Jean Carroll was flogging seven years after the episode aired? I see you have a first class mind.
Interesting. Democrat aren’t even trying to pretend there is a double standard anymore.
Behind every double-standard is an unconfessed single standard. You can read Peter’s posts and Gainesville’s posts and Natacha’s posts to see what not-confessing looks like.
But that could not be applied to you, This is a turd. self reflection isn’t your strength unless your proud of being baseless. And yeah I know what all these words mean and their conveyance.
… unless you are …
ynot i recommend you stick to 15 words or less, otherwise your grammar deteriorates and you become incomprehensible
Well, it appears you agree then that This is a Turd has no self awareness— mission accomplished.
Then if you know all this, please cut the insulting language.
Debate fairly and recognize facts, Kurtz, and cut the sock “ puppetting” if you aren’t ashamed of yourself.