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Celerity

(43,107 posts) Mon Apr 20, 2020, 08:12 PM Apr 2020

Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden Is Falling Apart

Political activists urged the media to investigate Tara Reade's allegations against Joe Biden. They did, and Reade is not faring well.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/tara-reades-sexual-assault-allegation

The Smearing Of Joe Biden Part 1: Why His #MeToo Accuser Is Not Credible

This is a difficult topic for me to write about for a number of reasons. The first is that I was sexually assaulted as a teenager in boarding school, then torn apart in court several years later over inconsistencies in my story. I had originally not revealed the extent of what happened to me due to extreme embarrassment and fear the situation would escalate dramatically at a time when I was emotionally not equipped to do so. Years later, others came forward to reveal abuse at the hands of the school master (far more serious than my own), and I agreed to testify and tell my story in front of a jury. I decided to tell the whole truth even though I knew it could derail the case. The defense lawyer tore me to pieces, and on that basis the teacher got off and was able to continue a career teaching children. It was a truly humiliating, deeply unpleasant experience that I would not wish on anyone. As a result of my experience and the stunning uncovering of sexual trauma in the wake of the #MeToo movement, I believe there be an enormous amount of latitude given to survivors of sexual assault. They may misremember details, change their story for extremely complex reasons, and not be deemed “reliable” witnesses due to past transgressions. When survivors speak out, they must be listened to, and they must be taken seriously.

Joe Biden’s #MeToo Accuser

Recently, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden was shockingly accused of sexual assault by a woman named Alexandra Tara Reade (pictured above), who briefly worked for him in the Senate in the early 90’s. The assault was said to have taken place in 1993, where Biden allegedly pinned her up against a wall on Capitol Hill, and penetrated her with his fingers. I was stunned by the allegation and immediately took it very seriously. I did as much research as I could into the story and began thinking Biden’s history of inappropriate touching was far, far more serious than we had been led to believe. Perhaps he wasn’t just an older man who didn’t understand social boundaries in the same way we do now — perhaps he was a sexual predator who had assaulted women he had power over. Was this the man Democrats wanted facing off against Donald Trump? Would we be voting to replace one sexual predator with another? The more I looked into the case however, the more troubled I became by Reade and the timing of the allegation. I do not necessarily believe Reade is lying, but there are several factors in this story that severely undermine her credibility as a witness. Joe Biden has strenuously denied the allegations made against him, and in this case I think it is clear that he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Warning Signs

What immediately caught my attention when Reade’s story broke was where the story broke. The pro Bernie Sanders media has a long, long track record of dishonest reporting, and the fact that they were promoting this story so feverishly gave me pause. I have learned over the years to immediately distrust journalism coming from ideological outlets on all sides of the spectrum in America. The far left and far right have ideological axes to grind, and their reporting should be scrutinized meticulously. Reade had made an earlier claim to about Biden’s inappropriate behavior in April of 2019 in The Union, a local California newspaper. She originally stated that Biden had made her feel uncomfortable when she worked as his Senate aide in 1993. Biden would, Reade claimed, “touch me on the shoulder or hold his hand on my shoulder running his index finger up my neck during a meeting." There was no mention of digital penetration or no hint that Biden had sexually assaulted her. A year later, Reade dramatically changed her story in a podcast interview with journalist and ardent Bernie Sanders supporter Katie Halper. Reade’s new charges against Biden were far, far more serious, and immediately propagated by far left (and far right) activists who believed them without vetting Reade or investigating her past.

The fact that mainstream outlets did not pick up the story was also apparently proof that centrist liberals were covering for Biden and shamefully silencing Reade:

Link to tweet

(deleted, screenshot right below)

While I was extremely sympathetic to Reade and wanted to believe her story, the militancy with which far left activists were running with the accusation troubled me. I’ve been covering the far left and far right for so long now that whenever they claim have an airtight story proving malfeasance on the part of Democrats/the media/centrists etc, etc, you can be assured that it is almost never the case. I began looking into Reade’s history to see whether there were any issues that would undermine her story. Unfortunately, there were so many it became almost impossible to take her at her word.

Reade is not a reliable witness...........

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