Democrat 2020

**Hooahguy** · 03-27-2020, 17:55

I'm skeptical of the accusation. The accuser praised Biden for years, suddenly deletes her Twitter and creates a new one with a fake last name for Bernie praising, writes blog posts professing outright love for Russia while calling U.S. "the bad guys", makes allegation that he touched her on the neck while explicitly saying she wasn't assaulted, later changes the allegation to be more extreme, deletes pro-Russia blog posts, story is only picked up by a podcast host from Rolling Stone (the publication that lost a suit for publishing a false rape allegation). Something doesn't add up here. That being said, it should be fully investigated.
Edit: an interesting thread

**Tuuvi** · 03-28-2020, 03:20

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I'm skeptical of the accusation. The accuser praised Biden for years, suddenly deletes her Twitter and creates a new one with a fake last name for Bernie praising, writes blog posts professing outright love for Russia while calling U.S. "the bad guys", makes allegation that he touched her on the neck while explicitly saying she wasn't assaulted, later changes the allegation to be more extreme, deletes pro-Russia blog posts, story is only picked up by a podcast host from Rolling Stone (the publication that lost a suit for publishing a false rape allegation). Something doesn't add up here. That being said, it should be fully investigated.
Edit: an interesting thread

I dunno, wasn't the message of #MeToo that it is incredibly difficult for woman to come forward when they are assaulted and they should be believed even if they denied being assaulted in the past? These things are difficult because on the one hand, yea, she could be lying, but on the other hand, being sexually assaulted or raped is deeply traumatizing and could cause the victim to act irrationally, not be honest about what happened out of fear of not being believed or being attacked for coming forward, etc.

Reade's opinions on Russia and Putin have nothing to do with the allegations and shouldn't be used as evidence that she is lying. She is entitled to her own political beliefs, even if they fall outside the liberal mainstream. In fact I think using her pro-Putin blog posts to damage her credibility is disgustingly misogynist.

**Hooahguy** · 03-28-2020, 03:38

The #MeToo movement does not mean that allegations should be automatically considered true without evidence either. Thats why I support an investigation, as all I have seen so far is hearsay.

As for the blog posts and stuff like that, the point was that it was part of a pattern of erratic behavior that casts doubt on the situation.

**Montmorency** · 03-28-2020, 20:52

Yes, one is entitled to maintain nutbar politics in the context of this being a free country, but the more important consideration is that no matter how improbable it seems that this allegation wasn't uncovered or publicized years ago, it would be at least as improbable for a person to fabricate them against a major presidential candidate in the capacity of ideological pawn. Therefore we afford the benefit of the doubt.

Any number of media outlets would be salivating to get a scoop like this over Joe Biden, so if there's a story it will all come out. Let's see if further claims come forward, the environment for them having been primed.

**Hooahguy** · 04-01-2020, 00:30

I think this is a very balanced review of the details of the accusation:

Salon - A woman accuses Joe Biden of sexual assault, and all hell breaks loose online. Here's what we know

No matter how it may be interpreted, "believe women" has never been an injunction to publish every allegation of sexual abuse without hesitation or reservation. It's about taking these stories seriously on their own terms, instead of dismissing them as women's attempts to manipulate people and public opinion. For journalists, it means we must take stories of sexual abuse seriously and treat them carefully and thoroughly; as Rebecca Traister said on Twitter in 2017, that means publishing stories that are "reported, investigated, fact checked & backed up by the outlets reporting on them."

What can be said is that Reade's story is credible and compelling in some important ways, and also comes with a number of troubling red flags. For a variety of reasons it has not been taken seriously on a national level, but those reasons do not include a mainstream media conspiracy to protect Joe Biden. Rather than becoming the subject of serious investigation, this has instead become an occasion for die-hard supporters on both the Sanders and Biden sides to score points on one another online. Actual facts have been supplanted by reckless conspiracy theories spun by enthusiasts of both candidates. Whatever the facts of this case may be, the #MeToo movement deserves better than to be dragged into the sleaze like this.