May 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – As questions about whether former Vice President Joe Biden sexually assaulted former Senate staffer Tara Reade lead some liberals to consider attempting to replace the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee with a last-minute substitute, others have doubled down on their support for Biden, regardless of the truth about Reade’s allegations.
Reade alleges that in 1993, then-Senator Biden assaulted her in a “semi-private” stairwell on Capitol Hill. “He had me against the wall,” she says. “And then his hands were down my skirt and up my skirt. And I was wearing – I wasn’t wearing anything underneath. And then, with his hand, he went from there and entered me – with his hand – and as he was trying to kiss me, and saying things to me.”
Reade, who has a history of criticizing Biden and championing socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders on social media, added that she “was in a very difficult position because he was my boss and he was like my dad’s age at the time,” and that beforehand she admired Biden as “this champion of women’s rights in my eyes and I couldn’t believe it was happening. It didn’t seem – it seemed surreal. I just – I knew – I just felt sick.”
The Biden campaign has vociferously denied Reade’s claims. Reade has called on Biden to unseal the University of Delaware’s records of his time in the Senate, which she says may still contain a copy of the complaint she filed with his office (The left-wing Washington Post has backed that call.)
In response, some liberals such as New York Times columnist Liz Bruenig have urged Democrats to “begin formulating an alternative strategy for 2020 — one that does not include Mr. Biden,” and others have tried to simply downplay the matter with declarations of trust in Biden or token statements about “addressing” the allegations.
A few, however, have been strikingly candid about their indifference to whether or not Biden assaulted Reade.
“I don’t want an investigation. I want a coronation of Joe Biden,” declared Martin Tolchin, a former New York Times journalist who helped found The Hill and Politico. “I don’t want justice, whatever that may be. I want a win, the removal of Donald Trump from office.” Tolchin expressed fear at the possibility of an investigation revealing “damaging information concerning (Biden’s) relationship with Tara Reade or something else,” such that he was forced to drop out in favor of a weaker Democrat. “Should we really risk the possibility?”
Lisa Bloom, a trial lawyer who previously represented women who claimed President Donald Trump sexually harassed them, wrote on Twitter that she believes Biden assaulted Reade, but will support him anyway in order to “fight Trump”:
I believe you, Tara Reade.
You have people who remember you told them about this decades ago.
We know he is “handsy.”
You're not asking for $.
You've obviously struggled mightily with this.
I still have to fight Trump, so I will still support Joe.
But I believe you. And I'm sorry https://t.co/eMUBrkkVFE— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) May 1, 2020
Esquire, meanwhile, published a piece by Kelly Stout titled “I'll Vote for Joe Biden, But I Won't Be Cool About It.” In it, Stout criticizes the implicit request of Biden supporters to “just let this go,” and declares the idea that “it doesn't ultimately matter if he did” is “making me lose my cool.” Even so, she still admits, “I’m going to vote for Biden, and I hope he wins. But I’m going to be annoyed about my choice right on through to the end.”
Though what little evidence exists in the case is far from conclusive, details supporting Reade’s include the fact that she has filed a police report (opening herself up to legal consequences if she’s found to be lying), the fact that a handful of former Reade associates say she told them about the incident in the 1990s, and the discovery of a 1993 clip of Reade’s mother calling Larry King’s CNN show to discuss her daughter’s “problem” with a “prominent senator.”
Last week, Biden told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski that he won’t unseal those records because personnel files would not be among them anyway (Reade says she’s seeking any corroborating notes from Biden staffers, not just a copy of the complaint), and that he fears the release of other documents pertaining to diplomacy in the Obama administration that could give him unrelated political headaches. Instead, he has called the National Archives & Records Administration to identify and release any record pertaining to Reade’s alleged complaint (NARA says records are not with them, but with the General Services Administration).