from Jeff Bezos’s Fishwrap News

‘Allegation against Biden prompts reexamination of “Believe women”, Annie Linskey, Sean Sullivan, May 2, 2020 (?), washingtonpost.com

“On Friday, facing his own accusations, he stressed on MSNBC [< Mika on Morning Joe] the importance of “taking the woman’s claims seriously when she steps forward — and then vet it, look into it.”
That shift in Biden’s tone reflects the way a former staffer’s claim that he assaulted her 27 years ago is raising new questions for the #MeToo movement. Democrats and women’s activists, eager to unseat a president they consider deeply misogynistic, are facing tough decisions over whether to stick by Biden or distance themselves — and whether to redefine what emerged as a stark rallying cry after centuries of injustice: “Believe women.”

Among those publicly wrestling with such issues is Alyssa Milano, an actress, #MeToo activist and Biden supporter. “How do progressive women choose between the p—y grabber in chief who has done so much damage to our country and a man who has allegations made against him?”  “Believing women was never about ‘Believe all women no matter what they say,’ it was about changing the culture of NOT believing women by default.”

Now ya gotta love this; it’s not just about seeking the Truth, no, but:

“Some longtime women’s rights activists warn that downplaying former staffer Tara Reade’s claims could undermine the movement’s credibility by suggesting it only targets men whose policies it dislikes.

“I think that this could potentially signal the end of MeToo,” said Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor who heads the Enough is Enough Voter Project and has called for an investigation. “The failure to investigate, and the failure to live by our principles, will become silencing.”

Then the authors note Republicans crying hypocrisy because: Brett Kavanaugh 2108.  Then corroboration by Reade friend Lynda LaCasse, confirmed by the WaPO, but leaving out Reade’s mum having called in the accusations to Larry King Live, Reade having confirmed her voice later on Twitter, iirc.

““He looks very believable, too,” LaCasse said Friday in an interview with Democracy Now!, an independent news program. “But I’m hearing this today, and I heard Tara a long time ago telling me that. So, I’m struggling with it, with the election now.” She still intends to vote for Biden, she said.

Yes, we well remember the Pink Pussy Hats marches in DeeCee and other venues, and the oft-heard: ‘We felt so empowered!’

The authors note that none of the women who hope to be Biden’s VP choice including Klobucahr and Kamala Harris have raised a peep against Biden, whose pointed interrogations of Kavanaugh raised their political profiles and helped to fuel theirown Presidential bids.

Sen. #MeToo firebrand Gillibrand is quoted as saying “Vice President Biden has vehemently denied these allegations, and I support Vice President Biden.”  Pelosi?  ““I want to remove all doubt in anyone’s mind — I have great comfort level with the situation as I see it, with all the respect in the world for any woman who comes forward, with all the highest regard for Joe Biden.”  What Solomonesque bullshit!

They’d also contacted “the Squad” who were outspoken in their condemnation of Kavanaugh. None responded nor provided a comment. before Biden’s appearance on Morning Joe, and guess what?  None responded or provided a comment.

Alleged anti-Trump Republican Ana Navarro-Cardenas who’s on the board of Time’s Up, an organization dedicated to combating sexual harassmen and assault is quoted as saying:  

“Every accused, whether president of the United States or president of the Hair Club For Men, should be held accountable and expected to directly respond to the allegations with seriousness and transparency; “Joe Biden did just that with his one and only accuser, though he should have done it sooner. Donald Trump has yet to do that with his dozens of accusers. Given what we know today, it’s Joe Biden by a mile for me.”

Now I suppose the Bezos rag just might see the possibilities of Dementia Joe’s failures to know which office he’s running for, inability to even read a teleprompter, and the fact that Trump would wipe the floor with him in any debate…as a big ‘Uh-Oh!’ So who would offer to step in for Biden even if he sustains another brain aneurysm?  Hellary Clinton or Michael Bloomberg? 

OTOH, and FWIW 4now:  from thehill.com, May 3, 2020, this  logical fallacy  sophistry:

“Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez on Sunday stood by the group’s decision not to form an investigative panel to look into a sexual assault allegation against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“If Barack Obama had any indication that there was an issue, Barack Obama would not have had him as his vice president. Barack Obama trusted Joe Biden,” he said. “I trust Joe Biden. And those investigations have been done.”

Perez told ABC’s “This Week” that there have been “so many investigations” into Biden, including the vice presidential vetting process, which he called the “most comprehensive.”

The DNC chairman was defending his communications director’s response to The New York Times editorial board, which requested the DNC create an investigative panel to examine a sexual assault allegation made by former Senate aide Tara Reade.

The DNC called the concept “absurd” on Saturday.”

(cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)