It’s Time for Joe Biden to Address the Tara Reade Allegations

If he wants the accused to carry the burden of proof, he should act as if it’s his job to disprove the current claims against him

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One of the problems with politics these days is that it’s increasingly difficult to hold a single line of argument without veering out of that lane and ramming into something else.

The pundits and politicians fighting over Tara Reade’s accusations against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden often careen around like drivers without brakes or steering. Start talking about the case against Biden and you can suddenly find yourself talking about the media’s grotesque mishandling of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings or the sexual harassment accusations against Donald Trump. Those who desperately want to defeat Trump come close to arguing that we can’t take the Reade allegations seriously if they derail Biden’s chances in November or increase the likelihood that Bernie Sanders will be the nominee. 

It’s fine to berate the media for its shifting standards for Democrats and Republicans accused of sexual harassment, or to point out that Trump has his own credible accusers. Biden supporters can worry about helping Trump or Sanders. But none of that stuff touches on the questions at the heart of the matter. 

The most obvious question, and probably the hardest to answer: Did he do it? 

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  1. Avatar photo
    JohnF

    "If Biden wants the accused to carry the burden of proof, he should act as if it’s his responsibility to disprove the Reade allegations."
    How do you do that with a 27-year-old allegation? Particularly one that has changed over time? Other than Biden and his accuser, there are no witnesses. It's highly doubtful that anyone who might have seen the two of them together that day is going to remember that. Even less likely that anyone would be able to definitively say that they were not in contact that day.
    As for opening up his sealed papers, there are two potential scenarios: 1) A written complaint from Tara Reade is found and 2) No written complaint is found.
    #2 doesn't necessarily get him off the hook because right-wing conspiracy theorists will immediately seize on the lack of evidence as proof that it was surreptitiously removed or destroyed at some past point.
    #1 also isn't going to prove anything because Tara Reade herself doesn't try to claim that she filed a complaint that alleged the details she is providing now. As the WaPo reported a few weeks ago:
    "Reade, now 56, said in recent interviews that she was afraid to report the assault or talk about it publicly last year, when she accused Biden of unwanted touching in online posts and media interviews. In those accounts, she said she complained to supervisors about the alleged neck and shoulder contact and a request from a supervisor that she serve drinks at a reception. She said the supervisors later ostracized her and told her to look for another job." That same article says that "She said that … she complained about feeling uncomfortable — but not the alleged assault — to two other supervisors in the Senate office: Dennis Toner, deputy chief of staff; and Ted Kaufman, chief of staff. Toner and Kaufman said in interviews that they had no specific recollection of Reade and no memory of such a complaint."
    So … even if a written complaint was found, it would not prove or disprove anything about the current allegations, because Reade admits she did not reveal these details until this year.
    As for the people who are now claiming that they remember the exact details of a conversation that took place 27 years ago (and call me skeptical of that) how do you disprove their statements without having them undergo formal cross-examination?
    This is why statutes of limitations exist.

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    George.Skinner

    "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

    As amusing as it is to watch partisans of both sides contorted into pretzels by their respective hypocrisies, it's enough to make one despair that this is the quality of political leaders and dialog in the middle of a global pandemic and economic crisis.

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    Paul Reichardt

    I really liked Andrew Sullivan’s take on the Biden allegations; it made the most sense to me:

    1. Biden’s actual culpability in the charge is not clear, but he is absolutely guilty by the same standards he himself has championed in the past
    2. Biden’s not necessarily wrong presently about his due process concerns in regards to the Tara Reade story, but it goes to underscore just how very wrong he’s been about due-process before. In addition to the specifics of the allegations, it’s vital that he should be made to answer for that as a candidate for high-office.
    3. “Believe all women” (as opposed to shaming them or dismissing them out of hand) as a necessary corrective cultural instinct in regards to sexual assault and harassment of women is a good thing. A fair, sympathetic hearing is part of the due-process that alleged victims in a liberal society should enjoy, but it shouldn’t offset or negate the due-process rights of the accused.
    4. Regardless of whatever the Biden allegations are likely to reveal, [Sullivan] will still vote for him over Trump because he’s so, so, so much worse. He just is going to be honest about it.

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/andrew-sullivan-by-bidens-own-standards-he-is-guilty.html

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      Phil H

      I totally agree, Paul -- with all but point #4. Notwithstanding the accusation, there are reasons either one is bad. And if Justin Amash gets the Libertarian Party nomination he is now seeking, there will be an alternatives to Trump and Biden.

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      Logical

      I don't recall ever Biden saying trust the accuser in spite of the facts. His take was to give benefit of doubt to the accuser which was historically and culturally denied.

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    Pat Riot

    I made a point before about the Biden/Reade issue and I'll make it again:

    "If it was discovered that Abraham Lincoln owned slaves 30 years before, he would *still* garner 100% of the African American vote (if there was such a thing then) after he signed the Proclamation and for good reason".

    What the Republican campaign spin machine is missing (quite intentionally in their case) is that this is about *values*.

    Biden has said in word in deed that, in effect, "This is a terrible thing, but I didn't do it".

    Kavanaugh's words and deeds would be the same.

    Trump's words and deeds should a distinctly *different* set of values wherein he is *unrepentant* of his words and deeds against women and has utterly *exuded* misogyny all of his life starting with him being a fixture on Howard Stern.

    In other words, for Biden this is a bug and for Trump it's a feature.

    (And I suspect that Trump's campaign number-crunchers might even be somewhat *threatened* by these revelations pealing off at least some small slice of his base because they get to vote for another bubba like Clinton and Trump without the daily shit show).

    I would gladly hand my keys over to a valet who was ex-convict who completed 10 years in prison for stealing cars if I understood he was repentant and reformed. I would not do so to a young punk who thought stealing cars is a great way to impress his friends and was totally okay regardless if there was any evidence of him ever doing so.

    Women who don't want their bleeps bleeped will vote for Biden, not Trump.

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    1. John M

      This argument only works with people who are otherwise going to vote for Trump. I'm not going to vote for Trump. Democrats are confused when they assume that this means I'm going to vote for Biden. Pointing out how bad Trump is does nothing for me in this regard. Prove to me that you're actually better and not just comparatively better. This is an election of a political leader, not somebody who's going to date my sister. While how he treats women is important, surely the way he governs is also relevant to the overall conversation.

      This brings me back to the issue of the Title IX standards he supported and seemingly still supports. This is an opportunity to correct the mistake by owning up to that as well. Maybe he didn't intend the implementation of that policy to be so terrible, but as a leader he owns it.
      While he does a good job being reasonable and measured in interviews on the topic lately, he had a duty as a leader of "his side" to counter the excesses of those within his party actively in the past. He didn't. He can do that now. Courage is calling out your own side. I'm not hysterical about this, so he can take his time, but November is approaching.

      This matters because I want assurance that he can actually run to the center on something meaningful and address the whole country instead of just his constituency. I want to know that when he's in office, that his party's desire for revenge for the past four (or forty) years isn't going to catch the rest of us in the crossfire. Biden needs to prove that he's above pride. That would set him unequivocally above Trump.

      This schoolyard fight is getting old. If I don't see something inspiring this election, then you all can continue tearing the country apart without my help.

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        rlritt

        I agree that if Biden is elected he shouldn't take revenge. That is why I would vote for Biden because I believe that he is not that kind of politician. He will doggedly work to the benefit of his constiuents. He doesn't have an ax to grind and he is not going to try to remake the country.

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        Pat Riot

        He did do a pretty darn good job of *crushing* the idea of MFA in the last debate with Bernie (saying that Italy has the equivalent to MFA and it didn't help them dodge the virus). That looked pretty darn centrist to me.

        The "revenge" they are going to take out on Trump and the Republicans will be to simply unblock all of the documents and testimony that Trump is currently pulling out all of the stops to block. That's *all* they will need to do to make Trump look like a nightmare and the Republicans to look bad to have supported him.

        I don't think most Americans are going to notice anything in the way of policy whiplash though. Bernie was the "burn it all down" candidate and he went down in flames himself. I think Biden will have a great opportunity to bring the country together. It's a *lot* to ask of him to do this with a *personal* issue like this *right now* though.

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        1. John M

          I can appreciate the sensitivity of the timing, and that it could be perceived as self-serving. I just take due process very seriously. It's the base code of our civilization. Screwing around with it is at least as reckless as suggesting that people should ingest household chemicals. The potential negative effects are certainly more lasting.

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            Pat Riot

            Yes, I agree. By far the most damaging thing Trump has done to our country in the last three years is denigrate our system of criminal justice.

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    Bruce Mamont

    I think the most sincere demonstration of our commitment to our standards is to enforce them on fairly on everyone, especially those (like Joe Biden) who've assaulted those standards. If we think the Title IX standards were abused, we should not insist that they be applied to Joe Biden, even if (perhaps especially if) he championed them despicably. Having said that, I understand the temptation of payback in the face of hypocrisy. There's an element of cosmic (or karmic?) justice to it. But it compromises our commitment to standards and undermines our case for those standards and their just administration.

    We should also draw a distinction between evidentiary standards for crimes and how we use our judgement. Joe Biden may have committed a crime, but he is guaranteed the presumption of innocence and due process. It doesn't appear to me in this instance that there's sufficient evidence for the state to prosecute, seeking to deploy deprivation of liberty and the other sanctions it's empowered to apply to a person convicted of a crime. However, we can make our own judgements about behavior without requiring the state to pursue a criminal prosecution. Loss of reputation and opportunity are also punishments, and not trivial. The standard for our collective and informal judgement is not as high as in the case of a criminal prosecution, but still needs to be fairly applied. The presumption of innocence and the benefit of the doubt must be granted, but the standard isn't necessarily "beyond reasonable doubt".

    Let's treat Biden the way that we insisted Kavanaugh should have been treated.

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      rlritt

      I like Biden and I don't want him treated the way Kavanaugh was treated because I disliked the fact that they gave such credence to something a teenager did at a party, which by the way was not a crime, 40 years ago. And even though I don't like Kavanaugh but thought those accusations were wrong.

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      Pat Riot

      Totally agree. Certainly the Conservative response to this is to use the Kavanaugh debacle as an example of what *not* to do rather than an opportunity for payback in kind.

      The Republican party--which is not in any way Conservative--won't have that compunction, but alas they can't bring this broader subject up in a general election context because it will remind everybody of utterly unremorseful illegal porn star payoffs, etc.

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        rlritt

        So true. They are hoisted on their own petard. They thought the hatchet job against Kavanaugh was unfair so now they're going to do it to Biden.

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      Chris Jenkins

      Jonah's on the record as agreeing with you on the point you're making. I think he's making a different point in this column - that Biden himself should be consistent in his beliefs on how those accused should be treated in these circumstances. If he really believes all that stuff he's said for years, he should respond to Reade's accusations differently than he has to this point.

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        JohnF

        What if it really never happened?

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          Chris Jenkins

          Well, that's Biden's conundrum, isn't it?

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            JohnF

            Do you want him to respond to the accusation itself? Or to the situation he finds himself in where he has to defend himself against an accusation that cannot be proved or disproved? ("Karma's a Bitch, Buddy!)

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    Logical

    "Biden’s Disgraceful Hypocrisy on Sexual Misconduct"

    Just a sampling of titles popping up on conservative sites all over the web. I just don't see where the hypocrisy is.

    He didn't say she is lying. He didn't say she is not his type. He just said he didn't do it and urged the world to investigate.

    But I am trying to make a different point. The conservatives, including the never Trumpers, see the handwriting on the wall. Their disgust for Dems outweighs their repulsion for Trump. All of a sudden, they found a path to reclaim parity on sexual morality and are shamefully exploiting it.

    They are pulling out their perfunctory pearl clutchings of the past to say they have been even handed with Trump too; BS.



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    Ckirk

    This question is not about Biden. I am listening to "Liberal Fascism" have you written a book that is about what government should do? If so please give me the title. Or please recommend one. Thanks.

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  8. Simon Michau

    As expected, Biden came out with a sadly ironic statement that women’s « stories should be subject to appropriate inquiry and scrutiny ». What remains to be seen is whether the Democratic Party will stoop even lower than the Republicans in abandoning their values for the sake of electoral warfare.

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      rlritt

      Well so far there is no proof. He said she said. Women are being used as weapons now to bring political opponents down. Its sad.

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      Pat Riot

      So Biden is lower than Trump?

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      1. Simon Michau

        Not my point at all. Not Biden’s biggest fan, but overall it’s obvious he’s be a better president (though that’s admittedly a low bar). The point is that Democrats stand (mostly rightly so) for believing women, speaking truth to power, and not tolerating any form of sexual abuse. If these allegations had been made against the Republican equivalent of Biden, day a Romney or a McCain, Democrats would be vocally falling for him to step aside and allow a full fledged investigation (the Kavanaugh claims). That the only words coming out from Pelosi et al. are about his « great personal character » is pathetic and an abandonment of normal Democratic values (it’s also what everybody used to think about Cosby or even Bill Clinton). The Democrats are stooping very low on this precisely because they’re abandoning their regular moral tests, just like Republicans stooped low when they elected a porn-loving adulterer to the highest office in the country.

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          Pat Riot

          As Jonah pointed out in his other column yesterday, the standard of simply "believing" was never going to be workable. I don't think this became "normal" for the Democrats until a few years ago when Trump was elected.

          That is *different* than treating women as equals, treating sexual assault as a crime, and so on. The allegations against Biden *are* specious, and they *are* full of holes, and they *do* not fit in with Biden's life-long record. Truth is truth, evidence is evidence. Democrats abandoning *that* to get at Kavanaugh was a mistake. It leads to precisely where we are now.

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    Peter A

    Nicely stated, I agree and now I'll just be angry.
    Thank you for clearly stating the upcoming hypocrisy that a Democrat will never have to answer for.
    Simply asking Biden to state his position on the Title IX reforms and then apply them to the current accusations absolutely will never happen. The whole "do unto others" is just never really addressed.
    I keep thinking that all I wanted when this came up was a simple apology to Kavanaugh for dragging his name through the mud. That the opinion writers that talk about a "cloud" over the Supreme Court and that two sexual offenders sit on it would at least stop saying that. I know it won't stop.
    So, just another frustrating example.
    Oh, and Trump is the worst. He really deserves every criticism of his crimes against women. Kavanaugh deserves an apology.

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    Kevin Johnson

    Clear, concise, and on the money. All the “but what about...” can’t hide it. If we are to bury the outrageous abandonment of fairness to both accused and accuser exemplified by Obama administration policy in universities and assault on Kavanaugh, we must speak up. Holding Trump to these standards is necessary, but not sufficient. Biden and his supporters must face the whirlwind they created with “believe all women”. Accusers need to be taken seriously and protected, AND the accused need to be presumed innocent and protected until something is proven. Fairness and rule of law for liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, men and women. What is hard about this?

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