Joe Biden, Marinated Memories and The Media
Joe Biden is a lucky man. If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic the sexual assault allegations against him would be relentless front-page news.
Or would they?
When it comes to accusations against powerful men the press has a laughable double standard.
Here’s an example: In October 2018, when sleazy lawyer Michael Avenatti trotted out Julie Swetnick with a far-fetched 30-year-old tale about seeing then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (when he was 15) at parties where punch was spiked and girls were gang raped, the New York Times immediately ran with the story.
But when Tara Reade, a former Biden Senate staffer, went public on March 25 with a graphic allegation of an alleged 1993 assault allegedly committed against her by her boss, The New York Times sat on that story for 19 days.
Here’s a word salad from The Times’ executive editor, Dean Baquet, attempting to explain the different treatment. In essence, he claims that the Kavanaugh allegations were part of a “live, ongoing story.”
As if choosing a Democratic candidate for president isn’t a live, ongoing story.
It’s worth noting that Reade leveled her allegations while Bernie Sanders was still in the race. The Times published them on April 12, four days after he’d dropped out.
Wait. There’s more. Remember the breathless coverage Christine Blasey Ford got from almost every corner of the mainstream media when she told a 36-year old story about an alleged teenaged assault involving Kavanaugh that contained everything but details? Not only did Ford never tell anyone about the alleged incident until 2012 (and then without a name) but she couldn’t remember where or when the alleged assault occurred. The one “witness” she was able to produce - one of her girlfriends - had no memory of it. In fact, Ford could not even prove that she’d ever met Kavanaugh.
That didn’t stop the left treating Ford like a Girl Scout. And it didn’t stop the slobbering members of the media from hungrily accepting her story.
Believe all women, was the mantra.
Oddly enough, women on the left don’t seem to believe Biden’s accuser. Strange, since she at least worked for Biden 27 years ago and allegedly told a friend and her brother about the incident at the time. She claims Biden shoved her up against a wall, pulled her skirt up and sexually assaulted her with his fingers.
For instance, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who grilled Kavanaugh during his Senate hearing and voted against his confirmation, essentially shrugged off Reade’s allegation. When asked, she pointed out that Biden had a stellar record on domestic violence.
Sigh.
This is going to surprise some of you: But I have as much trouble believing Reade as I did believing Ford and Swetnick.
We should all be skeptical of marinated memories that materialize only when the alleged bad guy is a candidate for the most important job of his life.
That happens. A lot.
Sexual assault is real, traumatic and leaves lasting scars. Many girls and women are reluctant to report attacks when they happen for fear of not being believed. Trouble is, they’re even less believable decades later.
On the other hand, men also deserve to be believed. How exactly does a man defend himself from such scurrilous allegations?
A similar situation arose with Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax in Virginia last year just as he seemed poised to move into the Governor’s Mansion. Two women came forward in 2019 with sexual assault accusations against him as every Democrat in the country was calling for Gov. Ralph Northam to resign over that infamous yearbook photo of him in either blackface or Klan robes.
Once Fairfax was damaged goods, the Democrats piped down and Northam stayed put.
“Does anybody think it's any coincidence that on the eve of potentially my being elevated that that's when this uncorroborated smear comes out?" Fairfax snapped at the time.
Yet Fairfax is still in office and reportedly planning on a run for governor next year.
The problem for the left and the left-leaning media is that they want us to believe all women only when they level charges against conservatives.
They can’t have it both ways.
