Tara Reade
Since I’m an author, one would imagine my blog posts would be about reads, right? So this post is about a read — sort of. It’s about a Reade. Tara Reade, to be exact. Herewith:
Did Joe Biden sexually assault Tara Reade? I’ve doubted it, but haven’t been totally convinced. Now I am. I think this woman had an agenda. What convinced me was a column by Mona Charen on Monday in the Palm Beach Post. Until probably less than a year ago, I loathed the ultraconservative pundit. But as Donald Trump’s performance personally and as president further degenerated, she began to modify her right-wing orientation. However, she always has been a staunch opponent of Trump – as are all of the conservative pundits except, of course, the radicals on Fox News, the repulsive radio guy Hugh Hewitt, and such wacko wingnuts as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
Here are the parts of her column that pushed me over the top:
Bernie Sanders
“In 2019, Reade claimed that Biden had made her “uncomfortable” by touching her neck and shoulders 27 years ago. But in March of this year, Reade, a Bernie Sanders acolyte, suddenly changed her story to one of criminal sexual assault. Her Twitter feed revealed a highly suspicious motive. In response to Ryan Grim, who speculated that a matchup between Sanders and Biden would bring extra scrutiny to Biden, she tweeted “Yup. Timing … wait for it … tic toc.”
Rush Limbaugh
Glenn Beck
Whoa! I hadn’t been aware of that. Some of Sanders’ supporters have been irrational disciples, on the other side of the equation from Trump cult followers. Reade appears to be in that camp. She wanted extra scrutiny of Biden to hurt him. When did she make the assault claim? In March, as Biden’s star began to climb, and threaten Sanders’ candidacy. Biden needed to be brought down. “Timing … wait for it … tic toc.” Before that, her complaint was merely of touching.
Charen continues, “So many details of her account strain credulity. In her telling, the sexual assault took place after she had already filed a sexual harassment claim. So we are expected to credit that Biden, knowing this, still elected to push her up against a wall and reach into her underwear – in a public place. Biden has been rebuked for being too physically affectionate with women and men. But in his long career, he has never been accused of sexual misconduct of any kind. As with (Brett) Kavanaugh, this is critical evidence. Predators don’t pounce just once.”
Brett Kavanaugh
Christine Blasey Ford
What Charen didn’t mention was that Reade told conflicting stories about who in Biden’s Senate staff asked her to resign 27 years ago. If you’re being fired, you damn well are going to remember the person who fired you.
The gist of Charen’s column was a call to conservatives to treat Biden the same as they did Kavanaugh, when they insisted he was innocent of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford until more evidence would show otherwise. Here is the link to the entire column: https://www.creators.com/read/mona-charen
