> > > https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/who-are-you-kidding-the-democratic-party-and-the-joe-biden-fiasco/ > > May 13, 2020 > Who Are You Kidding? The Democratic Party and the Joe Biden Fiasco > <https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/who-are-you-kidding-the-democratic-party-and-the-joe-biden-fiasco/> > *by* *Gabriel Kuhn <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/frudr4kazuzuwed/>* > > Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair > > The accusations against the projected Democratic Party presidential > nominee, Joe Biden, trouble and confuse U.S. liberals. As a result, they > say surprising and, at times, outrageous things. I suppose this is the > consequence of deeming Joe Biden to the most likely candidate to oust > Donald Trump from office, something so important that you’re ready to > sacrifice both reason and compassion. > > We are told that this is a “messy affair.” If that means that any > accusation of sexual misconduct is messy without witnesses or independent > evidence, it is but a truism. If it means that the Joe Biden situation in > particular is messy, it is false. > > I am neither a U.S. citizen nor resident. I lived in the country for > several years and received some of my formal education there, but I haven’t > been allowed to visit since 2005. I follow the political developments in a > manner that anyone with political interest is forced to do, no matter where > they live, because what happens in the U.S. is highly relevant for us all. > But, emotionally, I feel rather detached at this point and the ins and outs > of U.S. realpolitik are of little concern to me. Maybe that is why the > Biden affair doesn’t look particularly messy to me at all but rather > clear-cut. What follows is a short sketch of what it looks like to me from > the safe distance of northern Europe. > > If Joe Biden did what Tara Reade accuses him of, anyone who doesn’t share > the Trumpian notion of personal morals being nothing but inconvenient > baggage on the way to personal success would have to consider him unfit to > occupy the highest public office in the country. As, in all likelihood, no > one will ever know for sure what happened between Tara Reade and Joe Biden > except for Tara Reade and Joe Biden, it means that everyone endorsing him, > campaigning for him, and joining his team must give him the benefit of the > doubt. Sadly, the script has been all too familiar: First, you remain > silent and hope that the accusation will just go away. When it doesn’t, you > deploy longtime allies as character witnesses: “Joe Biden? Can’t be!” Then > you say loud and clear, but without providing any explanation, that you > didn’t do it. If you’re a liberal, you might have learned to add some lip > service, emphasizing the accuser’s right to “be heard” or to “speak her > truth” – all the while missing the irony that these generous concessions > are entirely meaningless when you’ve already called the accuser a liar. > Regardless, if the accusation doesn’t go away at this point, you sulk. > > The fact that it is hypocritical of conservative pundits to call Joe Biden > and his supporters hypocrites doesn’t change the fact that they are. Given > the reactions of prominent Democrats to similar accusations of political > opponents, they have exactly two options in this case if they want to > maintain at least some level of integrity. The first is to give the benefit > of the doubt to Tara Reade, not Joe Biden. The second is to concede that > matters such as these are messier than what they made them out to be under > different circumstances. I have not seen much of either in Democratic Party > ranks, and none in the “establishment.” Instead, we are served a mixture of > denial, hand-wringing, and verbiage. > CLICK ON THE LINK FOR THE REST
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