Discussion: Why Does Creepy Uncle Joe Biden Get A Pass From Liberals?

counter_coulter · January 8, 2015, 2:37pm

I saw the video of Biden and I got the same impression as yourself. I thought Biden was incredibly personable, real and all around delightful.

It definitely seems that this author had a narrative to fill and wrote this article accordingly.

rawr · January 8, 2015, 2:28pm

The commentariat is the only thing keeping me here. Between the body language analysis, humble braggarts and Sahil… I just don’t know. The odd occasion I read something and feel informed, it’s usually an article written by Dylan Scott.

matthew1961 · January 8, 2015, 2:28pm

Come on, he wears aviators and leather jackets! He had a picture of him taken eating an ice cream cone! And that was not just any old lady that he said was beautiful–that was the mother of a senator!

Seriously, though, you’re exactly right. There is not one clear example of–anything whatsoever. Or is the justification for calling him “creepy” and sexist that only women can decide what makes women uncomfortable, and the woman who makes the decision is the one who wrote the article?

I do still like TPM, but I think Josh has a problem in recognizing good “edgy,” thought-provoking “cultural” writing. Yesterday there were those two ghastly examples–the MIT blond engineer and the woman who wanted to be recognized as a black gentrifier. I know for a fact that there are a fair number of really good writers out there who can actually pull off what those writers were trying to do. Is Josh incapable of finding them?

captaincommonsense · January 8, 2015, 2:30pm

The phony paid stories from pHRMa and the Natural Gas industry are pissing me off as well.

If only they’d let us comment on them…

sardu · January 8, 2015, 2:32pm

Alana must be really gunning for a permanent job at TMZ or Gawker with drivel like this.

josh_m · January 8, 2015, 2:32pm

Criticism is welcome in the comments. Feeling the need to accuse anyone who disagrees with you of being a sock puppet is infantile and frankly unacceptable. Grow up.

navamske · January 8, 2015, 2:35pm

Alana Levinson is the engagement editor at TPM.

What is an engagement editor?

captaincommonsense · January 8, 2015, 2:35pm

You’ll pardon me if I find the sudden appearance of an extremely low-volume poster to white-knight this wreck of a “story” to be suspicious.

Then again, I hardly ever see you comment on stories either, Josh.

yankeeclipper · January 8, 2015, 2:37pm

“I was a 20-year-old-liberal during the 2008 election—you know, the one about Hope and Change.”

You were a liberal, what are you now?

captaincommonsense · January 8, 2015, 2:38pm

I would imagine “a 26 year old liberal”.

I can see how it would seem to read wrong, though.

hellslittlestangel · January 8, 2015, 2:39pm

Sounds like something out of the 1920s, when newspaper had a “society page.”

daveyjones64 · January 8, 2015, 2:39pm

Ignorant because they disagree with the author and you?

Interesting comment coming from someone on a civility crusade here…

mattand · January 8, 2015, 2:41pm

Yes, you’re right. I’m a low volume poster. It’s pure happenstance that I just happened to click on this comments section.

I’m really sorry I did now. There’s some nasty pieces of work here.

Also, just so we’re clear, did you just accuse the site owner of sock puppetry?

ottnott · January 8, 2015, 2:41pm

OMG yes! A lot of the other “culture” pieces have just been peeks into the minds of people with egocentric tendencies, but the reasoning displayed in that piece tortured multiple fields of science and left my mouth agape.

hellslittlestangel · January 8, 2015, 2:43pm

I love Joe Biden. Best Vice President ever.

hellslittlestangel · January 8, 2015, 2:47pm

Also, just so we’re clear, did you just accuse the site owner of sock puppetry?

He clearly didn’t, but feel free to have someone fetch your smelling salts anyway.

josh_m · January 8, 2015, 2:47pm

I see the charm and genuine warmth too. But not everyone sees it that way.

josh_m · January 8, 2015, 2:49pm

I mainly comment in the Hive. But I make exceptions for assholery and when people are taking potshots at members of our staff.

josh_m · January 8, 2015, 2:50pm

An engagement editor is primarily involved with managing our social media accounts and social media policy but also does other tasks tied to working with readers, helping with site issues, improving readers experience of the site.

rskillion · January 8, 2015, 2:50pm

And now in the Editor’s Blog - TPM doubles down and goes even further, Joe Biden is now self-evidently “lecherous” and “sexist.”

Uncle Joe Biden: Charming Or Creepy?
Alana Levinson asks an uncomfortable question over at Cafe today: Do liberals excuse Joe Biden’s lecherous, sexist behavior just because we like his policies? — Nona Willis Aronowitz

I’m speechless. This has now become a truly repulsive smear on Joe Biden. By the editors of TPM.