theweek | Now, one could make an argument that Reade is likely telling the
truth, but Biden is still worth nominating. One could say, for instance,
that his platform is so good that Democrats will simply have to look
the other way this time. But to quote George Orwell,
that kind of argument is "too brutal for most people to face" — and it
would make Democrats look like staggering hypocrites, given how they
have wrapped themselves in the mantle of #MeToo.
Instead, Democratic partisans have thus far tried to relieve their
cognitive dissonance by casting doubt on the story or attacking Reade.
In The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg argued
that, while the accusation can't be dismissed out of hand, Reade's
praise of Vladimir Putin and changing story also cast doubt on her
story. Joan Walsh came to the same conclusion in The Nation: "Her allegation against Biden doesn't stand up to close scrutiny." Ben Cohen of The Daily Banter went further along the same lines,
saying the allegation was "falling apart" and she was almost certainly
lying. (To be fair, all these articles were written before the latest
corroborating stories came out, and at time of writing Goldberg at least
has expressed dismay over the news.)
The posture is quite similar to the one Republicans assumed in
response to the accusations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett
Kavanaugh back in 2018.
They attacked the integrity of accuser Christine Blasey Ford, nitpicked
the story, and denied it had happened. It was a shameful episode.
However, it's worth noting that what Biden is accused of is, if
anything, even worse than the Kavanaugh story. Kavanaugh was 17 years
old when he allegedly drunkenly pinned down Ford and tried to take her
clothes off. While awful, minors are generally not liable for normal
prosecution because they are not fully responsible adults. Biden, by
contrast, was a sober, extremely powerful, 50-year-old United States
senator when he allegedly committed his crime — and unlike Kavanaugh, he
is accused of actually raping Reade.
The effective strategy of #MeToo is to create a new social norm
around sexual misconduct. Since the criminal justice system has so
obviously failed to stem the abuse, social sanction can take up the
slack. Exposing and punishing powerful people who exploit their position
to harass and assault others might make other elites think twice.
This progress will be grossly undermined if Democrats choose to look
past Biden's allegations for political reasons. Republicans already
basically dismiss sexual assault allegations against their co-partisans
out of hand; if Democrats do the same for the leader of their party it
will do a great deal to move us back to the pre-#MeToo past, when far
too many people looked the other way at abuses committed by powerful
politicians. One cannot create a broad political norm against sexual
misconduct if the issue becomes a partisan football for both parties.
What's more, this story gives Donald Trump a huge weapon in the
general election — either to dismiss the even more numerous accusations
against himself, or to attack Biden as the real predator, or both. It
was criminally irresponsible of Biden's primary opponents not to attack
him vigorously on this issue.
However, it is not too late. Though all his opponents have dropped
out, Biden has still not been officially nominated. He could still drop
out for the good of the party, and arrange for someone else to take up
his delegates. Or the Democratic establishment could bull ahead with a
damaged, unfit nominee, whose opponent will gleefully exploit their
shameless hypocrisy, and dramatically set back the feminist causes they
claim to believe in. It's up to them.
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