"So, Should We Believe Her?"

Former Vice President Joe Biden now stands accused of sexual assault. The allegation comes from Tara Reade, who worked as a staffer to Biden when he was a senator and previously accused him of inappropriately touching her.

This situation has brought forth so much hypocrisy it’s difficult to know where to begin. Let’s leave Biden for last.

The article published by the New York Times detailing this new accusation originally contained the following paragraph: “No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable.”

Read that last sentence again. One has to wonder what would constitute a pattern of sexual misconduct for the purposes of the New York Times. After pressure from the Biden campaign, the New York Times changed that last sentence to simply read, “The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.” And just to remind us who the real villain is, the Times ends their article about a women accusing Biden of sexual assault with three paragaphs discussing the allegations made against President Donald Trump. Behold, the paper of record.

And now we turn to the esteemed former vice president. 

“For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you've got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she's talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it's been made worse or better over time. But nobody fails to understand that this is like jumping into a cauldron.” So spake Biden about the sexual assault allegation levied against Justice Brett Kavanaugh by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in 2018. In other words, it was Biden’s contention just a year and a half ago that a prominent man being accused of sexual assault on the national stage should be presumed to be guilty. I suspect this is no longer Biden’s position, now that he himself stands accused of sexual assault.

But of course, one of the most important laws of political physics is “turnabout is fair play.” When Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault with no evidence or possibility of corroboration, I wrote in the Marist Circle that due process and the presumption of innocence should be defended—even though he wasn’t my first or second choice to be Justice Anthony Kennedy’s replacement. If I’m ever accused of a crime I did not commit, or even a crime I did commit, I expect to be treated as if I am innocent until I am proven guilty and afforded a fair hearing; because that is the standard I apply to other people.

On the other hand, Biden believes that we should determine whether or not his political opponents are guilty of sexual assault the same way the people of Salem used to determine whether a women was guilty of witchcraft. If you are so innocent, why are you afraid of being dunked in water so we can see if you float?

 Biden says we should presume that women making sexual assault allegations are telling the truth. Fine, then let's presume that Reade is telling the truth. After all, there is far more reason to believe Biden is guilty than there ever was against Kavanaugh. As Charlie Cooke, the editor of National Review Online, so perspicaciously pointed out, we at least know that Biden and Reade met, which is far more than we can say about Kavanaugh and Ford.

Will Biden bow out of the race? Every Democrat I know insisted that the Christine Blasey Ford allegations were reason enough for Kavanaugh to withdraw from the nominating process. Does the same principle apply here?

And what about Biden’s supporters? I have no doubt that all of Bernie Sanders supporters will be quick to throw Biden under the bus as a way to avenge the fall of their savior, but how many of Biden’s core supporters will apply the same standard to him that he would apply to others? I suspect that a lot of prominent feminists and progressive journalists are about to discover the virtues of nuance. Who knows, maybe #BelieveAllWomen will change to reflect what it's architects always meant but never said: #BelieveAllWomenWhenIt’sConvenient. Until then, I look forward to Biden calling for an FBI investigation into himself, as Democrats expected Kavanaugh to do. 

There are some lessons to be learned here. First, the New York Times’ coverage of this episode has been abhorrent and disgraceful. This is the same newspaper which crafted a headline to imply that outlandish allegations against Kavanaugh were somehow more credible because of his race and socioeconomic status, and which now seeks to qualify and downplay the allegations against Joe Biden into obscurity. The Times (and much of the national press) is not just biased against certain political dispositions, policy positions, and demographics, it is openly and nakendly partisan. Do not forget that the New York Times, at the behest of the Biden campaign, changed language in its original report on the Biden allegation to soften the blow to his image.

This would not be proper behavior from a small-town newspaper, but it is completely unacceptable from a paper with as much national influence and public confidence as the Times. In this case and in others, the New York Times (and many other mainstream media outlets) has revealed itself to be petty and obsequious. Far from comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, the New York Times has chosen to comfort a powerful former vice president and mislead millions of comparatively less powerful readers. It ought to be ashamed of itself.

Second, as I have written before, Biden is not worthy of the office he seeks. Any man who would see his adversaries presumed guilty and himself presumed innocent is either too morally bankrupt or too stupid to ascend to the presidency. I suspect Biden is both.

Finally, I urge you to reject the political nihilism that pervades Washington and the press. In 2018, virtually every elected Democrat and left-wing journalist in view of a news camera insisted that the mere allegation of attempted rape leveled against Kavanaugh was disqualifying. A year and a half later, there will no doubt be plenty on the right who will say much the same thing about the allegation against Biden. 

All thinking and well-intentioned Americans must look past these partisan hacks who are willing to jettison bedrock American institutions like due process and the presumption of innocence to score political points. This way lies the road to ruin, and I refuse to take another step.