‘It’s not clear whether or not Biden’s personal silence is being rethought amid the ongoing Reade controversy. But here’s what is clear: It should be…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) The backlash against left-wing media who have been complicit in the cover-up of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden‘s rape scandal is starting to take hold.
The Washington Post faced sharp criticism for its recent attempt to discredit rape victim Tara Reade by suggesting her accusations against Biden related to a 1993 assault were being “amplified” by “Trump allies” for political purposes.
Developments in allegations against Biden amplify efforts to question his behavior https://t.co/OWXvnKzvvN
— Post Politics (@postpolitics) April 28, 2020
According to Fox News, the paper falsely claimed that recent scoops were being promulgated by supporters of President Donald Trump when, in fact, they had hailed from two journalists with notable left-wing ties.
Leading the way were The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, most famous for his reporting on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden; and Business Insider’s Rich McHugh, who had worked with Ronan Farrow on the stories that brought down Hollywood rapist Harvey Weinstein.
The Post‘s lopsided coverage, largely sympathetic to Biden, echoed an earlier “investigative” effort at the New York Times, which also was severely scorned for its lackluster attempt to downplay the charges.
Both stories insisted on painting a false equivalency with allegations against Trump, while glossing over the double-standards that they applied in their own aggressive coverage of uncorroborated accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Times later was caught stealth-editing its piece to omit references to prior Biden accusations of sexual misconduct. The paper admitted that the Biden campaign had pressured it to do so.
Breaking Rank
Meanwhile, some liberals, realizing their position vis-a-vis Biden and the earlier #MeToo movement is unsupportable, have spoken out against media outlets, politicians and celebrities for maintaining radio silence even as several different sources have corroborated Reade’s credible account.
CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza was the latest to disavow his own network’s editorial policy of selective outrage.
“[O]ver the last few days, Reade’s claim appears to have jumped to a new level,” Cillizza wrote in a opinion piece, making reference to a newly revealed archival tape of Reade’s now-deceased mother calling in to Larry King Live for advice.
#BREAKING: HERE is the video from August 11,1993’s ‘Larry King Live’ described by @TheIntercept (and Tara Reade) as allegedly featuring her mother calling in and alluding to Reade’s sexual assault claims against @JoeBiden (blog here by @ScottJW) https://t.co/fCgEqBnX7n pic.twitter.com/V5FGHskv56
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 24, 2020
“It’s not clear whether or not Biden’s personal silence is being rethought amid the ongoing Reade controversy,” Cillizza went on to say. “But here’s what is clear: It should be.”
Cillizza managed to work in yet another reference to the unsubstantiated claims against Trump. Unlike with Reade’s accusation against Biden, none of those against Trump appear to have been reported at the time, complicating efforts to prove that the alleged incidents, if true, were non-consensual.
But Cillizza recognized that regardless of whether the Left could gain any moral high ground by attacking Trump’s conduct, the decision to reject their own set of newly fashioned standards made the entire effort seem disingenuous and politically motivated.
Further complicating matters, he added, was Biden’s own past grandstanding on the issue of sexual assault, which threatened to expose him as either a liar or a hypocrite, regardless of whether Reade’s account withstood scrutiny.
Joe……I would like to nominate Tara Reade. https://t.co/M463n1fMXJ
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) April 27, 2020
Cillizza noted that Biden had pledged to set a higher bar for leadership, despite the longstanding evidence that he has repeatedly engaged in corrupt business practices throughout his five decades in Washington, D.C.
“We need presidential leadership that’s honest, trusted, truthful and steady,” Cillizza quoted Biden as saying. “If I’m given the honor of becoming your president, I promise you I’ll strive to give the nation that leadership every day.”
That, Cillizza insisted, meant doing more than just meeting the bar set by Trump—who, in turn, was meeting the bar set by Bill and Hillary Clinton and other past Democrat elites.
“At the core of Biden’s messaging in this campaign is the need to bring respect and dignity back into the White House and the country,” Cillizza claimed, “to rid America off the cynicism and hypocrisy of Trump’s presidency, to expunge the idea that the President doesn’t have to follow the rules.”
A Troubling Track Record
In addition to his rape accusation, Biden has been criticized repeatedly for his inappropriate touching of women and girls, often in plain sight.
And he has been implicated in several personal scandals involving his family members who have used their status for personal gain or to avoid serious accountability.
Among them, most notably, is his son Hunter, who even while dealing with a serious drug and sex addiction, was offered millions of dollars to serve on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company.
Hunter has been involved in at least two police episodes, including a serious car crash while under the influence, that he avoided consequences for. He has admitted to having bought crack in Los Angeles’s skid row while being held at gunpoint by a homeless man. And he was forced to settle with a former Washington, D.C., stripper who sued him for child support after Hunter denied the love-child was his.
Meanwhile, Biden has helped his brother Frank avoid paying a million-dollar wrongful death verdict to two girls whose father was killed while Frank and a young companion were speeding under the influence on a dark, unmarked California road.
Frank, who was in his 40s at the time, picked up a 25-year-old grocery clerk named Jason Turton, whom he had just met, as well as two female companions. Turton was behind the wheel of Frank’s rented Jaguar going more than 80 mph in a 35 zone. After Frank told him to “punch it,” they hit Michael Albano, a single parent with two teenage daughters. Both men were heavily intoxicated at the time.
Joe Biden has refused to involve himself in the legal settlement, claiming when confronted that Frank does not have the financial means to pay. However, Frank—now a Florida attorney—has been involved in several other profitable business ventures using his brother’s name and political ties to cash in. He is believed to keep his assets in offshore accounts.
While Cillizza conveniently ignored these problematic episodes, he did acknowledge that the presumptive Democratic nominee himself had faced prior serious accusations from other women about his creepy behavior.
“Given both his pledge to do better than Trump—in every aspect of being president—and accusations of improper touching that have surfaced in the past, the allegations by Reade are not the sort of thing Biden can or should be allowed to deny via a senior female campaign staffer,” Cillizza said.