That is a fair point. The phone call is compelling evidence of something, but not of everything.
The call does make the denial from Biden's office look very bad, though:-
Quote:
Originally reported in The Intercept
The Biden campaign released a statement from Baker, which said that neither Reade nor any other employee had ever complained about improper behavior. “In all my years working for Senator Biden, I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period — not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone,”
I am assuming that the DNC is convinced that Biden is in the clear and Reade's charge has no merit. It seems to me there is no other justification for discounting the damage that Reade's accusation is doing to Biden's candidacy and to the Democratic Party.
I'm not optimistic in that assumption. I'd be far happier if Biden were asked to step aside now in line with "Believe the Victim".
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... it's just an idea
Last edited by mickthinks; 04-28-2020 at 08:38 AM.
Toothlessly missing its mark you might think, given that Biden stands accused of assaulting adults, except that it feeds on and into a conspiracy theory trenchant in those circles, that the Democratic Party is a paedophile ring run by the Clintons. Remember Pizzagate?
Toothlessly missing its mark you might think, given that Biden stands accused of assaulting adults, except that it feeds on and into a conspiracy theory trenchant in those circles, that the Democratic Party is a paedophile ring run by the Clintons. Remember Pizzagate?
Literally any candidate running against Trump or his allies will be in exactly the same position. No one is more or less vulnerable to the fever swamps, because they are fever swamps.
It doesn't seem to me that that phone call really supports her more serious allegation as opposed to her original allegation.
The quote "My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him" seems more consistent with her original allegation of creepy but possibly/seemingly non-sexual touching than it does with an assault which could bring criminal charges.
Unless you have some extensive experience or expertise with the behaviour and decision-making of sexual assault survivors post-assault please don't try to make inferences based on their behaviour/statements in the aftermath.
It doesn't seem to me that that phone call really supports her more serious allegation as opposed to her original allegation.
The quote "My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him" seems more consistent with her original allegation of creepy but possibly/seemingly non-sexual touching than it does with an assault which could bring criminal charges.
Unless you have some extensive experience or expertise with the behaviour and decision-making of sexual assault survivors post-assault please don't try to make inferences based on their behaviour/statements in the aftermath.
That was her mother speaking, not her, but point taken. Either way, it doesn't distinguish the two stories.
Not directly, but the existence of this piece enhances Reade's credibility, along with the reports from her brother and friend. That credibility applies to the the more serious claim as well as the lesser one.
Even by current standards, I don't know what the outcome of the formal report and investigation of such an incident would be. Unless it was on camera, or witnessed... what?
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
And they did not offer the standard, noncommittal “I don’t remember any such complaint.” The denials were firm. “She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her,” Kaufman said. Toner made a similar statement. And from Baker:“I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct (by Biden), period." Baker said such a complaint, had Reade made it,"would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager.”
Biden’s staff seems pretty firm.
Anyway, I said what I thought of the situation already, but I read this piece today which I think makes good points.
I’ve written a number of sentences about this case and deleted them because I was dissatisfied with them, but suffice it to say I smell a rat(fuck). Adam Silverman at Balloon Juice and Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns, & Money have a couple good overviews of a number of the red flags with the case.
Of course, some sort of ratfuck operation was bound to happen regardless of who our nominee was, as Silverman himself pointed out back in March 2019; Sanders is probably also compromised, as Silverman pointed out in February of this year. This is a particularly ugly ratfuck, though.
This is just the world we live in now, it seems. Foreign countries just regularly interfere in our elections. We live in the Bad Place.
As my signature says, there is no option left but to destroy the Republican Party.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
The decision by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Analisa Torres puts the primary back on for June 23.
Andrew Yang, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race in February, filed the lawsuit that prompted Torres’ decision.
Go Judge, Go Yang! Damn right, democrats don't go around cancelling elections. What was the election board thinking?
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
I've read quite a bit of bad tweet press for Biden since his latest gaffe with Charlemagne, but I think this is a bit of counterpoint. It seems sincere. I don't know who the writer is, but I feel she has a fairly profound observation.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
"If you have done/think [this thing] you're not black!" is definitely something I've said to my long time (black) friend. It's something we can talk about, and laugh about together because we've known each other for umpteen years. Umpteen decades now.
I feel like I have a passing familiarity with the black experience because of this friendship. I sometimes leverage this familiarity at work with other black people (people with whom I work with and talk with about random, surface stuff). But not random black people I may know at work, strangers on the street. And definitely not in mixed groups of people who do not know me.
Now. I don't know what Joe's experience is in his long and political life. I have some guesses, sure. My most favorable judgement of his You're Not Black answer is very much along the lines of something I might be able to get away with at work in a very joking manner about some trivial ass thing. I can definitely laugh at the idea of Joe saying this to Barack about some trivial ass thing sitting around the dinner table.
It's not something a white guy with all of his real and perceived privilege should say to the media about what should be his lock-down constituency.
But also.
As faux pas go, he's still so many miles ahead of dipstick in chief. (in my opinion)
And also, also.
I can judge both white guys for their respective idiocies.
Folks, tonight we secured the 1,991 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. I'm going to spend every day fighting to earn your vote so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation. https://t.co/sl3wFGabpg