Ok, I didn't really want to reply to all this, especially with the lengthy response to follow, but I think that it does require some more detail then just the She said, He said.
As I've said before, I was a victim of sexual assault at the age of 5. This will come up later in my response to certain facets of this story. My wife was also a victim in her teens, so I have some background and frame of reference for what we are talking about.
I will also begin by saying that I believe Tara Reade's initial claims of feeling uncomfortable and Biden touching her neck and shoulders. This lines up with others that have come forward and gives me no reason not to believe that this likely happened.
But I am still very skeptical of the new allegation, and here is why:
1. Her actions and public display toward Biden from 2009 to 2018
* In an article Reade wrote in 2009, she commended Joe Biden for action he had taken against domestic abuse, writing: I should know what an abuser looks like. After all, I was working for then Senator Joseph Biden, who sponsored the Violence Against Women Act. Domestic violence is an equal opportunity offender.
* Between September of 2016 and May of 2017, Alexander Tara Reade used a Twitter account, under the name Tara McCabe, to spread praise of Joe Biden via tweeting, retweeting and liking various Tweets. Including his action in stopping sexual assault.
* In November of 2016, a few weeks after the election, Reade liked a tweet made by President Obama, wishing Joe Biden a “Happy Birthday,” and calling Biden “the best Vice President and friend” that he could have had.
* In January of 2017, Reade liked a tweet by the Obama, congratulating Joe Biden for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
* In April of 2017, Reade liked a tweet by the Huffington post that praised the former Vice President for helping men realize how important they are in the fight against sexual assault. It commends Biden for the steps he has taken to encourage men to take responsibility in stopping assaults against women.
* Also in April of 2017 Reade tweeted - “My old boss speaks the truth. Listen”
This is where I will step in about my history. In no universe would I or my wife or any other assault victim that I know of personally, would ever praise, or congratulate, or praise someone else's praise of my abuser. This just does not square at all with me.
Then comes in Reade's changing story.
* When she left DC, she said at the time it was because her husband got a job offer.
* Then she said it was because she got another job offer
* Then in 2018 she said she left DC and politics because she was tired of America’s wreckless Imperialism and xenophobia against Russia that she loved so much.
* Then in 2019 right after Biden joined the race, she changed the story for the fourth time saying she left because of Joe Biden, and that she had felt uncomfortable because he touched her neck and shoulders (this would be modified again later to include touching her hair) That she had gone to staffers and to Senate personnel and no one helped.
* In April of 2019, Reade originally said that Joe Biden’s handsiness made her feel uncomfortable when she worked as a Senate aide in 1993. At the time, however, she said that she did not consider Biden’s actions to be sexualization, instead comparing her experience to that of being a beautiful lamp.
* Further - Reade said she told four Biden aides, including Dennis Toner, a senior staffer, and then-chief of staff Ted Kaufman, about inappropriate behavior by Biden but not the alleged digital penetration. Afterward, she said, she was stripped of most of her duties, and later given a month to find another job at the instruction of Kaufman, who denies her account, along with Toner and two others in the office. No Biden staffers have corroborated the assault and harassment allegations to the media.
“She did not come to me. I would have remembered her if she had. And I do not remember her,” Kaufman said.
Side note – The NY Times and AP has interviewed all staffers, over 24, and the individuals in Senate Personnel that she said she told, and have found that they have all strongly denied any such reports from her happened.
* Her brother's story has also changed, first stating that she told her that she felt harrassed, to later saying she said he touched her under her clothes. Yet at the time, according to Reade, and her brother, he told her to "let it go and move on" A response that might fit the first story, but certainly not the latter.
* Later in December of 2019 she seems ok with Biden:
Tweeting: Whoever the democratic front-runner is for the 2020 Presidential run; Beto O’Rourke, the Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams ticket, Kamala Harris, or Bernie Sanders. We should urge these candidates to elevate the national conversation to more important matters.
* In January of 2020 her tone switches yet again. - Reade wrote that she was telling her story because of a picture the media has drawn conveying Joe Biden as a “champion of women’s rights.”
The reason I am writing about it is the hypocrisy that Biden is supposed to be the champion of women’s rights. Also, watch how the media coddles him.
Yet as noted above, just a little over two years prior, SHE was on twitter praising Biden for his work on women’s rights and domestic violence.
* Then on March of 2020 (one week after Super Tuesday) the story changed again, now saying that Joe Biden harassed and fired her.
* Then at the end of March 2020 the story escalates one more time when she goes on a podcast and says that Biden sexually assaulted her.
Also troubling, is that Reade has not been able to identify where or specifically when this took place.
As a child, I could tell you every last detail of where this happened to me, and over almost 40 years, it would have never even crossed my mind to give some milder version of what happened. Oh he only rubbed my back and kissed my head, would not be something I would ever dream of saying, when it was actual sexual assault.
I will reiterate that the story my wife has told me about her assault, has never changed, and she can recount exactly where it took place and has never given me any milder version. The same goes for my own experience, and friends that I have spoken to about their experiences.
Also, the video of the Larry King call, only backs up my original feelings. That yes she felt uncomfortable, and had problems at the Biden office with him. But the lack of any mention of sexual assault or going to authorities leaves me thinking this backs up her initial claim, but not her recent claim.
I'll close with a couple excerpts from Joan Walsh. A woman that was very critical of Biden when the first group of women came forward about being uncomfortable at times with Biden, and also was on record saying he shouldn't run.
But her feelings on the new allegations closely follow mine and she can probably state it better than I. One of the main points being that a man in a powerful position doesn't just do this once. Someone that would do this, would almost certainly be a repeat offender.
In his closely documented, almost 50-year career, there have been no other similar claims against Biden. The Times interviewed the other seven women who came out last year to accuse Biden of touching them against their will; none said his behavior crossed the line to sexual assault. After many dozen interviews, with Reade and her friends, along with lawyers and two dozen Biden staffers, the writers concluded: “The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.” Men who do what Reade says Biden did tend to do it more than once (see Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and Donald Trump). Also, once an allegation like Reade’s surfaces, others usually follow. They have not, at least so far.
“Believe women” was never that simple; nobody ever said, or meant, “Believe every woman, no matter how incredible or undocumented her claim.” The point was to give women’s accounts of sexual assault a fair and respectful hearing: first, hopefully, by police; or, if she made her claim to the media, by reporters.
Reporters have done just that with Tara Reade. Her allegation against Biden doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny.