Well, at Least He's My Accused Sexual Assaulter!

Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and double standards, as discussed on the Reason Roundtable podcast.

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

Well, at Least He's My Accused Sexual Assaulter!

How should we think through the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden? Turns out it's damned hard to without running smack into not just with Biden's own situational ethics when it comes to believing women but the entire intellectually corrupting two-party mindset that poisons politicians and journalists alike.

So conclude panelists Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch on today's Reason Roundtable podcast. The group tackles thorny issues of due process and double standards, and it also gets into some discussion about the nascent presidential campaign of non-accused Rep. Justin Amash (L–Mich.) before debating the best personal strategy for coping with coronavirus: buying a car, learning to cut hair, or just dropping a bunch of MDMA in Central Park.

Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.

Music Credit: 'Ether Oar' by The Whole Other.

Relevant links from the show:

"Joe Biden Denies Sexual Assault Accusation, Fails To Explain Why 'Believe Victims' Doesn't Apply to Tara Reade," by Robby Soave

"Justin Amash: If Biden Assaulted Tara Reade, He Is Disqualified From Being President," by Nick Gillespie

"On Biden Sexual Assault Allegation, Silence Then Hypocrisy," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"New York Times Editor Excuses Paper's Slow Tara Reade Coverage: 'Kavanaugh Was a Running, Hot Story,'" by Robby Soave

"Trump Says Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll Isn't His Type," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"Will Public Discourse Ever Recover from the Kavanaugh Hearings?" by Nick Gillespie

"Justin Amash: People Want a President 'Who Is Normal, Honest, Practical, Capable,'" by Nick Gillespie and John Osterhoudt

"Justin Amash Becomes the First Libertarian Member of Congress," by Matt Welch

"Justin Amash Is Running for President as a Libertarian," by Matt Welch

"Trump Administration Projects 200,000 American COVID-19 Deaths by June 1," by Ronald Bailey

"Lockdown Is Ending, Whether Governments Approve or Not," by Eric Boehm

"Reopening States Aren't Faring So Well. Neither Are the Ones Staying Closed," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"Coronavirus Stimulus Has Cost $3.6 Trillion, but Oversight Is Still Severely Lacking," by Eric Boehm

What are we consuming this week?

Matt Welch

• The Wind Rises

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

Peter Suderman

• Tunnel in the Sky, by Robert A. Heinlein
• The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel

Nick Gillespie

• Waco

---

Comments

[lap83]

The Democrats, who are all deeply shallow people, should be more concerned with how Biden looks. Then they should think about how much worse he would look after 8 years of the presidency.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

What are you talking about; the DNC chairman already admitted Biden's guilt.

"This is like the Hillary e-mails"

-Tom Perez, DNC Chairman.

[Rich]

ZINGGG!!

[American Socialist]

You prefer that fat turd who looks like something that came out of my dog’s butt two weeks ago?

[John]

WAAAA Cry some more.

[Agammamon]

Sanders? At least he's coherent.

[BigT]

Bloomberg dropped out. Please try to keep up.

[Sevo]

"You prefer that fat turd who looks like something that came out of my dog’s butt two weeks ago?"
Your mirror doesn't lie, shitstain; that's YOU who is a turd.

[Fats of Fury]

Your Mom's running?

[myquickcents]

yupp! cry for some more time

[What's that smell?]

We're not talking about your Mom this time.

[Mother's lament]

"looks like something that came out of my dog’s butt two weeks"

True story.
AmSoc keeps intricate and detailed field notes on his dog's every bowel movement. They're a source of endless fascination for him.

[jack murphy]

FUNNY!

[Eddy]

"How should we think through the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden?"

Must we? Ewww.

[Rockstevo]

I believe this is going to build until they force him out of the race, which is what they wanted all along. Then it will be too late for Bernie to mount a comeback, and he will be tainted by his endorsement anyway. When outlets like MSNBC and the New York Times are now sort of backing the accuser the days are numbered, my prediction is they will “convince” Michelle Obama to run…for the good of the party.

[Agammamon]

Come August he'll either be booted out of the convention - assuming they have a decent backup to slot in - or we'll know their real Presidential candidate (whoever is Biden's 'VP' pick).

[BigT]

Kamala Harry has the right cv: blackish, feminish, authoritarianist, regressive, puppet.

[HackJackerson]

It'll be Andrew Cuomo, riding in to save the DNC on the back of his position as "savior of the nation" and "vanquisher of COVID"

[Earth Skeptic]

Great. Turn the election into a subway series, with two different flavors of NYC assholes.

[ElvisIsReal]

Hopefully by then, people are asking why NY fucked this up so bad while everybody else was fine.

[jack murphy]

they didn't fuck it up...they simply called every death for weeks a covid death so they could bilk the feds for hospital fees dollars. is ANYONE surprised that new york was the best of the schemers and the first to the party? really, would we expect anything less of that smelly whores twat of a city

[Rockstevo]

I disagree, still would go with Michelle Obama. She has three advantages over the others:
She will get the black vote out.
She has a likable personality, something Hillary never had and Cuomo does not have outside of New York
She has a connection to the good old days of the Obama years.
The conspiracy side of me started thinking about this back in a few months ago when she gave an interview and she talked about how much she got along with the Bush’s. That will give her some popularity with the centrists but not too upset the far left. Just my take on it.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

I wonder how many dems think Reade should just shut up and take one for the team because getting rid of Trump is more important?

I ask because I've already seen one person say this in my facebook feed.

[John]

Lisa Bloom, Gloria Aldred's daughter said that in so many words. Yes, Reid is telling the truth but we have to beat Trump and she is really sorry about that.

I think that is where they will end up. This is all just a dog and pony show to get this out of the way so this fall they can just "move on" and insist the Republicans are evil for even talking about it. I don't think they are getting rid of Biden.

[Rockstevo]

I don’t know, if you watch the Mika interview (Viv Frei has a good take on it) and see the way he stumbles and fumbles you can see he is not able to withstand a serious interviewer much less a hostile one, something Trump has 4 years of experience with now. Like him or not, you have to admit he thrives with the attention.

[darkflame]

I just found Viv Frei last week, really like his stuff. I'd be interested to see Biden in front of a hostile interviewer, I think Mika started to become a little more hostile as the interview went on because (like Viv Frei mentioned) Biden kept trying to talk down to her as a way to get out of answering stuff.

[Marshal]

he is not able to withstand a serious interviewer much less a hostile one,

Why would this matter? Once it's clear he cannot answer basic questions the media will stop asking them.

[creech]

The Republicans should just stop talking about this if Trump really believes he can whip Biden in the debates. Let the DNC sort it out or not. If Biden survives, then Trump or surrogates can talk about it during the campaign. If Biden doesn't survive, and Trump can't beat the substitute, then he doesn't deserve to win re-election.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""The Republicans should just stop talking about this if Trump really believes he can whip Biden in the debates. """

That's not how politics works. The republicans are well aware that the dems will dog pile on them in a heartbeat.

""Let the DNC sort it out or not. ""

You call it sort it out, most of us call it sweeping it under the rug.

[Commenter_XY]

After the Kavenaugh spectacle, that ain't happening = The Republicans should just stop talking about this

No, Team D has poisoned the well. Now they will drink the water.

[A Thinking Mind]

"And I don't care about the power disparity between a boss and his secretary, Monica Lewinsky is SUPPOSED to want to give the man blowjobs on demand."

[Joe Emenaker]

If you're trying to frame it as "Dems are fine with sexual assault in exchange for their policies being forwarded", then I call foul, because, if we are to give accusers the benefit of the doubt, we've got two pussy-grabbers on the ballot. So, those two things being equal, we can move on to other aspects of the candidates.
Even trying to say that Dems are just as bad as Republicans were in 2016 when they stuck by Trump is shaky because, in 2016, there was a non-pussy-grabber on the ballot (and don't start with third-party candidates. I'm talking about who can actually win).
Likewise, trying to draw parallels to Kavanaugh ring hollow because, then, the choice wasn't even binary. Trump could have nominated any of dozens of justices who weren't one of the misogynist, jock-douchebags that we all knew of in high-school and college.

[John]

Trump is on tape saying "that is how it works in Hollywood". He never said he did it himself. There hasn't been a single allegation of sexual assault against him that had any credibility or that the woman didn't walk back on. There is no equivalent of Tara Reade for Trump.

[Paulpemb]

Also, though Trump's language was pretty vulgar, it's obvious that he was talking about something consensual: "When you're famous, they let you do it."

[Agammamon]

If you’re trying to frame it as “Dems are fine with sexual assault in exchange for their policies being forwarded”, then I call foul, because, if we are to give accusers the benefit of the doubt, we’ve got two pussy-grabbers on the ballot. So, those two things being equal, we can move on to other aspects of the candidates.

Biden is not the only person in America - hell, he's not even the only person on their own ticket - that the D's could run for President.

If they're seriously saying that getting Trump out of office is important enough to put another sexual assaulter into it - then they're saying 'Team D' is more important than women. Leading to even more sexual assault among the D politician ranks. And that gives lie to all their Progressive rhetoric.

Hell, even the fact that it came down to Sanders and Biden - two old white men who have been part of the status quo for longer than Progressivism has existed - shows that their 'principles' are 'win at all costs'.

[Agammamon]

Likewise, trying to draw parallels to Kavanaugh ring hollow because, then, the choice wasn’t even binary. Trump could have nominated any of dozens of justices </blockquote.

Exactly my point, the Democratic party could have nominated any of dozens of candidates - some of them even women of colour! - but chose to run with the pussy-grabber anyway.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

The dems just want another Bill Clinton in office.

[creech]

"Democratic party could have nominated any of dozens"
And, we were reliably informed, the polls showed that any one of them was running ahead of Trump in the polls. So why go with Biden?

[darkflame]

Because the polls were lies and the Dem leadership wanted someone they party easily could control

[BigT]

in 2016, there was a non-pussy-grabber on the ballot

Assumes facts not in evidence.

Huma may disagree.

[Sevo]

"...we’ve got two pussy-grabbers on the ballot..."

And we have one more lying TDS victim commenting here.
Fuck off and die, shitbag.

[Mother's lament]

"in 2016, there was a non-pussy-grabber on the ballot"

*chuckle*
Not if rumors going back to the 70's are true.

[jack murphy]

nyuk nyuk!

[Longtobefree]

Please take a six month vacation from facebook.
It will do wonders for your disposition.

[jack murphy]

tara needs a bumper sticker that says "honk if joe biden finger blasted you"

[Rich]

How should we think through the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden?

"But we don't think through them."

[American Socialist]

I see only one standard on the part of the GOP knob polishers here. Weaponize any allegation of sexual assault against any Democratic lawmaker to inoculate themselves from criticism that they’ve been perfectly willing to demonize and threaten anyone who has leveled an assault accusation at Team Red. See Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Dear Leader, etc.

[John]

Cry some more loser. Really, your tears are lovely.

[Ra's al Gore]

FYI John, I found some numbers

Whole Foods has 87K employees. They have had 260 C19 cases and 2 deaths as of the end of April. They aren’t sheltering; they are out dealing with 100s of people every day.

For the same time period, the UFCW (grocery store, etc, employee union) with 1.3 million members has had 5322 cases and 72 deaths.

This from a union, not Fox News. I don’t think they’d undercount.

[Don't look at me!]

Why do you suppose whole foods death per million half that of the union?

[Trainer]

Essential oils?

[lap83]

I worked for a small UFCW grocery store when I was 20, the average age was like 60

[lap83]

age of employees

[MatthewSlyfield]

"This from a union, not Fox News. I don’t think they’d undercount."

No, they wouldn't under count, but they might be over counting.

[Frank Thorn]

"...Whole Foods has 87K employees. They have had 260 C19 cases and 2 deaths ... UFCW (grocery store, etc, employee union) with 1.3 million members has had 5322 cases and 72 deaths..."

Deaths per cases = 0.76% AND 1.35%, respectively. About the same as the seasonal flu.

[Sevo]

American Socialist
May.4.2020 at 5:09 pm
"I see only one standard on the part of the GOP knob polishers here..."

Nobody besides your daddy gives a shit about your homoerotic fantasies, shitstain.

[Case of the Mondays]

Amsoc: "See Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Dear Leader, etc."

See Clinton, Biden, Kennedy, Hart, Weiner, Franken, Conyers, Hill, Hastert, Edwards, Condit, Frank, etc.

Plenty more Democrat rats who harass women and lie about it.

But your eyes are still sticky from last night. We get it.

[Case of the Mondays]

My bad: Frank was a faggot like you AmSoc

[jack murphy]

in fairness you need to delete franken...he doxed himself that putz. his crime was being too stupid to just do nothing until something more scandalous pushed him aside

[H. Farnham]

Props to Suderman for the "Tunnel in the Sky" recommendation. Probably in my top 3 Heinlein reads.

[Ken Shultz]

If we see a turning point in the power of SJWs to drive the news cycle and intimidate people, It won't be because they threw themselves on their swords for Joe Biden. If we ever hit a turning point, I think it first became apparent when Elizabeth Warren accused Bernie Sanders of saying that a woman couldn't be president--and then lost in New Hampshire and Massachusetts because of it.

Making those kinds of accusations is supposed to work for the candidates making them. Elizabeth Warren ran the wokest most SJW campaign of all the Democratic candidates*, and she came in fourth in her home state of Massachusetts--not in spite of that but because of it.

Trump winning in 2016 made it clear to Democrats that Republican "deplorables" could not be dissuaded by the accusations made by SJWs. Warren losing so badly among registered Democrats in Massachusetts--despite being the poster-person for an SJW campaign--may have made it clear to Democrats that their party members aren't so different from Republican voting "deplorables" in that respect.

In fact, if the news media went full out anti-Biden over this accusation of sexual harassment, it might help Biden's campaign. After all, if the social justice warriors hate Biden, average people will think the same thing they thought about Trump--that if the social justice warriors hate him, then he can't be all bad.

[Jerryskids]

I don't really see very many people talking about the sexual assault allegations against either Biden or Kavanaugh - the real issue is in how the media and the usual suspects the media go to for commentary and analysis have treated the allegations.

The idea that Kavanaugh is a drunken serial rapist who has no business holding high office just because maybe once back in high school at a party he tried fooling around with some girl is retconning this whole idea that unless you've gotten a signed and notarized document giving consent to even looking at somebody, it's rape. At worst, he was at a party, she was at a party, we all know what goes on at parties, don't act like you were a passing nun who stopped by the house to borrow the phone to call Dial-A-Prayer and had no idea those 4 bottles of Kool-Aid you drank were actually wine coolers and then suddenly this wild lecherous beast attacked you. We've all been there, you're young and awkward and inexperienced, you get together for a little fun and a little alcohol to lower your inhibitions and you do a little awkward and inexperienced fumbling around with somebody who's just as awkwardly and inexperiencedly fumbling around as well. Sometimes signals get crossed. The whole thing was just silly and juvenile and, frankly, embarrassing for grown-ass adults to treat as a serious matter. Jesus Christ, grow up, stop acting like you need a fainting couch upon which to swoon and clutch your pearls, you're not fooling anybody with this political theater.

And we know it's political theater because look at how you're reacting to the same sort of allegation against one of your own when the allegation isn't about something he might have done as a high-school student but as a 50-year old Senator, abusing his power against a 29-year old adult. Old enough to know better and old enough to expect better.

This isn't about Kavanaugh and Biden, it's about how nakedly partisan and activist the media have become. That fig leaf they're trying to hide behind fell off long ago and it's stuck to the bottom of their foot.

Of course, Trump doesn't even enter into it - he's a gross pig of a human being and we've all known that all along, he's never pretended to be otherwise.

[Eddy]

This rant won't get you on MSNBC, but if it did I might watch.

[creech]

I believe Thomas used off-color language, Kavanaugh tried to get around third base in high school, and Biden groped Ms. Reade. I bet most males have been in Thomas' shoes, and not just a few in Kavanaugh's. But Biden's? No way. What's disappointing is the 29 y.o. didn't scream, kick him in the nuts, or - according to her - file a complaint that was more explicit about what Biden allegedly did to her. Grown-ups have to speak up in a timely manner, whether it's telling Joe Paterno exactly what you saw Sandusky doing in the shower, or what some real estate tycoon did, or what a powerful Senator thinks he can get away with.

[Frank Thorn]

Kavanaugh may have tried to get around third base in high school, however there is NO evidence Christine Blasey Ford was on the playing field.

[H. Farnham]

"the allegation isn’t about something he might have done as a high-school student but as a 50-year old Senator"

Holy shit, that really drives home just how old he is now. Back when I was in grade school, nearly 3 decades ago, Biden was already an old man of 50 years.

[Eddy]

That was back when he had to quit the race because of plagiarism.

See what happens when you plagiarize, kids? You may have to defer your presidential campaign for...32 years!

[Eddy]

OMG, back in the 80s when he ran he hadn't even (allegedly) assaulted Tara Read yet!

[H. Farnham]

It was a simpler time... Let's make America gr… oh wait!

[Eddy]

Make America Grope Again.

[H. Farnham]

(*golf clap*)

[Jerryskids]

Yeah, I had to go back and check my math on that, even I had to think "that can't be right" but, nope, the Dems are actually running a guy so ancient he can legitimately say "Okay, boomer" when he talks down to people collecting Social Security checks.

[Eddy]

I'd be happy to elect an old guy if he was a brave healthy mountain man with a yuuge white beard, a Gadsden flag, and a platform of keeping everyone off each others' lawns (figuratively speaking).

But I've already given away too much of the plot of my forthcoming bestseller.

[ElvisIsReal]

Ron Paul 2020?

[Eddy]

If he gets that beard.

[DenverJ]

He's too short. He'd trip on the beard.

[Brian Dixon]

"What are we consuming this week?"
Nothing, apparently.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

"and it also gets into some discussion about the nascent presidential campaign of non-accused Rep. Justin Amash (L–Mich.)"
Pussy grabbers to the left of me. Pussy grabbers to the right. Here I am. Stuck in the middle with Amash. (Sooo dreamy)

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Ha!

Assuming Amash has not been accused, will that get him the #metoo vote?

[Eddy]

If he *does* get accused, the New York tabloids will have a ready-made headline:

MONSTER AMASH!

[Gaear Grimsrud]

OK that was funny. I don't care who you are.

[AlmightyJB]

No one cares. The teams will back their own. The end.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Don't know if the Libertarians have backed any sexual predators. An accused murderer yes. But pussy grabbing is where they draw the line.

[Fats of Fury]

I think most Libertarian candidates would be self abusers.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Probably why Amash waited so long to join up. He's just too dreamy for the nerd party. Now that he's a celebrity it won't be long til women start throwing him their dirty panties from the gallery as he gives impassioned speeches about the federal deficit on the house floor.

[DenverJ]

Lol.

[Fats of Fury]

The Powers That Be running the Democrats campaign this years have already manipulated the process by kicking Sanders to the curb. They got all those other shlubs to drop out on Super Tuesday Eve. Then they realized what a loser they got in Babbling Biden. They didn't want to talk about the graft that turned Biden from the poorest member of congress to the multimillionaire he and his his family are today. Too many arrows point back at them. So they pumping up the #metoo allegations to get all the suburban wine moms riled up. If they can hold Biden's delegate count below an outright win, Joe wont survive the convention. If they want to get him to drop out before the convention all they need to do is record Joe parking in a handicapped spot or tossing a kitten through the air.

[DenverJ]

And whose the candidate then? Sanders is the only other person still technically in the race.

[Fats of Fury]

Whoever they want.

[BigT]

Al Gore?
Nancy Pelosi?
Tulsi Gabbard?
Buttegieg?
Stayer?

So many great names!

[Knutsack]

Fucking flag button. Sorry. That was unintentional. I guess there's no way to retract. A "Are you sure you want to do this?" button would be nice.

[lap83]

You think the ease of which we can accidentally flag each other is unintentional on Reason's part? They know we all deserve it.