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An op-ed in The New York Times has called on the Democrats to go with a plan B, namely, dump former Vice President Joe Biden while they still can and run another candidate to take on President Trump in November due to the sexual assault allegation from Tara Reade.
Written by Elizabeth Bruenig, the piece fairly lays out both the pros and cons in Tara Reade’s accusation against Biden before concluding that Reade’s account is just too credible for the Democrats to ignore without seriously harming the agenda they set when Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Though the author doesn’t outright believe Tara Reade, she does admit that arguments against her credibility are shoddy at best.
“Ms. Reade’s account is not nearly as incredible as some have argued,” writes Bruenig. “In the course of my reporting, I have worked closely with many survivors of sexual assault. It isn’t unusual, in my experience, for survivors to exhibit behavior that seems unstable or erratic to others. They may initially disclose to investigators or journalists only a fragment of what happened, and then reveal more over time — some even falsely recant, either because they sense the police don’t believe them, or because they fear the consequences of pressing their claims. And victims often maintain relationships with their attackers or harbor mixed feelings about them.”
Scott Berkowitz, the founder and president of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), added that “it’s not at all uncommon for someone to still have positive feelings about aspects of the person who assaulted them, or to admire or respect them. With people who work for politicians, there’s usually a strong measure of loyalty or respect in that relationship. So it’s not indicative that someone wasn’t telling the truth.”
With that in mind, Bruenig gets to what’s really at stake for the Democrats if they continue to brush off Tara Reade: complete and total loss of the moral high ground.
“Conservatives, like my colleague Bret Stephens, can see the plain gulf between how Democrats have approached sexual assault in politically advantageous cases versus Ms. Reade’s, and the evident hypocrisy threatens to discredit the entire enterprise,” writes Bruenig.
Fearing this loss, other feminists have quickly changed their tune and come to the support of Tara Reade, such as Jessica Valenti and Rebecca Traister. Even the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has called for further investigation into the matter. However, even a thorough investigation, argues Bruenig, will not be enough to sway the doubt that already lingers in people’s minds. In the end, Biden will be a credibly accused candidate going up against President Trump in the general election; that just simply will not do the situation justice, according to her.
“It is also possible that this won’t just go away, and that it will demoralize voters and place Mr. Biden at a disadvantage against Mr. Trump in the general election, despite the fact that Mr. Trump has a damning list of accusers alleging sexual offenses,” writes Bruenig. “For a candidate mainly favored for his presumed electability and the perception of empathy and decency, that’s a serious liability.”
In order to “preserve the strides made on behalf of victims of sexual assault in the era of #MeToo” and give themselves the best chance of winning, the Democrat need to dump Biden, she concludes.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.
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