Biden’s record on these matters is far from 100 percent but of course being lovably irrepressible as he is he can’t help but pontificate as if it weren’t.
Never been a huge fan, obviously. He was an OK veep but that’s as far as I’d like to go.
What a fucking hypocrite… But then again he probably doesn’t remember Anita Hill. Time for Biden to GO
Yeah.
Apparently he does remember, AMD regrets his behavior. "He claimed he had always believed Hill was telling the truth during hearings, which he later apologized for how he handled."0
I was a mother of two young women entering college during the Anita Hill testimony and remember it well. Think of the lineup of senators Anita Hill faced and what we know about them now. Biden was thoughtfully the most sympathetic to Hill among them and he wore a condescending glare and his questions were uncomfortable to watch with their sheer irrelevance and nonsensical minutia. Specter was cruel and blatantly harrassed Hill. Her performance was professional and I marveled at her ability to follow their inanity with composure and answer what seemed like constant badgering and nonsense. Also in the lineup of white male senators was Strum Thurman (let that sink in).
Biden will never survive that politically, particularly today. Every time I see him put his hands on a woman’s shoulders as if he is a gift frim god, I cringe.
Biden, we all grow and learn, and that is what you have done. good. But I’m not forgetting your performance during those hearings. Be the grand old man of the party if you wish, but it is your duty to raise women of all ages to positions of power within the party, and stay on the sidelines now. Give a speech. Find a part of the Smokey Mountains to preserve and make PSA’s and fundraise, but don’t get back into the thick of it please.
That’s right.
He always believed Anita Hill was telling the truth!?! Huh, coulda fooled me!
This is why I find Biden less than sincere on this issue. He can’t apologize full-throatedly for this. It’s be easier if he acknowledged making a mistake, but he’s trying to minimize his culpability here and it’s gross.
Joe sounds like a guy that knows men, and women, well. Himself included even if he doesn’t acknowledge it.
Maybe I’m reading too much into the word presume, but I’m not sure I agree with Biden on this.
I don’t think we should presume women who make allegations are telling the truth – at least not any more than we would think any victim who reports a crime is telling the truth. I think the real problem is that women who come forward with sexual allegations are viewed with a level of suspicion that would not be applied to anyone else who made allegations of any other type. It is this initial bias against women in these situations that enables those who attack their credibility.
I may seem to be splitting hairs, but I’m not. I’m concerned about presuming the truth-telling of a particular class of witness because it degrades the truth-finding process. We see this frequently in police testimony, where the jury often presumes the police officer is telling the truth and the defendant (or accuser) is lying. It’s not supposed to be that way, but it is. Just look at the string of acquittals in police violence cases.
A woman’s testimony should be judged like anyone’s testimony, without the additional burden of suspicion that society inflicts. I can’t believe I have to say that, but women have historically been prejudged negatively in these cases. We won’t cure that by demanding that they be prejudged positively. People will just end up taking sides.
I’m probably going to be sorry I posted this…
His recent Hillary comments will not ingratiate him with her voters, all 64m.
His possible run in 2020 might no longer be possible. He really messed up on Hill/Thomas and now everyone is reminded of it. He needs to speak out a LOT more about this.
And he’s got this long and much-photographed habit of being really handsy around women of various ages when they’re at ceremonies and stuff, kneading their shoulder muscles and weird stuff.
Odd, but that doesn’t bother me. My Irish Catholic Mom would have seen it as the high point of her life if she got a Biden hug. I don’t get weird vibes from him (your mileage may vary)