Tara Reade Biden allegation megathread

[DrScholl]

Whatever one may think of the veracity of Tara Reade's sexual harassment claims, does anyone think this scandal will be to Biden what the State Department email servers were to Hillary Clinton in 2016 with non-stop media coverage?  

I don't think that the FBI will start investigating Reade's claims.

Under normal management with a normal Attorney General, sure.  With Donald Trump eager to use every apparatus of government to dig up dirt on his political enemies, and an Attorney General more than happy to cater to his every whim, who knows...

There's not enough evidence to initiate an investigation, plus the hypothetical statute of limitations has run out. If they did this it would only magnify the sketchiness of Reade's story and remind people of what Trump did with Ukraine. Plus Reade's article about Putin would make such an investigation look even worse.

[DrScholl]

Whatever one may think of the veracity of Tara Reade's sexual harassment claims, does anyone think this scandal will be to Biden what the State Department email servers were to Hillary Clinton in 2016 with non-stop media coverage?  

That's my worry too. Though unlike the email scandal which was damning due to how it backed up perceptions of Clinton being corrupt, nothing about this allegation compares to Trump's many indiscretions towards women. If the GOP and Trump bring this up, Biden has every right to deflect it right back at their hypocritical asses. Clinton didn't really have the ability to do that with Trump being a political outsider (even though he is still more corrupt than most politicians, even before getting elected). That said, they should still have another defensive strategy ready to go too.

The opposearch route just might be the route they’re going: https://medium.com/@eddiekrassenstein/biden-accuser-tara-reade-allegedly-stole-from-a-non-profit-organization-e276cac68a2b?fbclid=IwAR331g6auF73KpO4YY_qQz1Qb_fqmAgh50bh-w4H0FsdLML1nKVm2dhsM0o

This doesn't seem like a good idea, even if it is true. *Gulp*.

Why isn't is a good idea? If she lied to obtain money from a non-profit of all places, then she is capable of lying about other things. That represents a pattern of dishonesty.

It seems overly confrontational and defensive to the point of appearing like they are covering up for Biden's guilt. I don't think it's very relevant to the allegation. They need to be as sensitive to Reade as possible while still proclaiming Biden's innocence.

It's relevant to the allegation when Reade changed her story and then made edits to her original claim to make it looks like she had more to tell. She has an honesty problem.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Whatever one may think of the veracity of Tara Reade's sexual harassment claims, does anyone think this scandal will be to Biden what the State Department email servers were to Hillary Clinton in 2016 with non-stop media coverage?  

That's my worry too. Though unlike the email scandal which was damning due to how it backed up perceptions of Clinton being corrupt, nothing about this allegation compares to Trump's many indiscretions towards women. If the GOP and Trump bring this up, Biden has every right to deflect it right back at their hypocritical asses. Clinton didn't really have the ability to do that with Trump being a political outsider (even though he is still more corrupt than most politicians, even before getting elected). That said, they should still have another defensive strategy ready to go too.

The opposearch route just might be the route they’re going: https://medium.com/@eddiekrassenstein/biden-accuser-tara-reade-allegedly-stole-from-a-non-profit-organization-e276cac68a2b?fbclid=IwAR331g6auF73KpO4YY_qQz1Qb_fqmAgh50bh-w4H0FsdLML1nKVm2dhsM0o

This doesn't seem like a good idea, even if it is true. *Gulp*.

Why isn't is a good idea? If she lied to obtain money from a non-profit of all places, then she is capable of lying about other things. That represents a pattern of dishonesty.

It seems overly confrontational and defensive to the point of appearing like they are covering up for Biden's guilt. I don't think it's very relevant to the allegation. They need to be as sensitive to Reade as possible while still proclaiming Biden's innocence.

It's relevant to the allegation when Reade changed her story and then made edits to her original claim to make it looks like she had more to tell. She has an honesty problem.

That could be true and get exposed, but I don't think the Biden campaign should be the ones taking on that duty themselves. That's the real issue here. Others doing the risky heavy lifting of that in the midst of this sensitive situation would be preferable.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Who thought that it would be a brilliant idea to nominate the person who threw Anita Hill under the bus?

Maybe if Bernie didn’t listen to the a-hole/Chapo/Rose Twitter wing of his campaign over the moderates who were telling him after Nevada to pivot by comparing himself to FDR to win over more mainstream democrats he’d contest SC harder to keep Biden’s margins down and actually win Texas and NC on ST like he was polling to do. All resulting in him at this point running full steam to the WH

[°Leprechaun]

Who thought that it would be a brilliant idea to nominate the person who threw Anita Hill under the bus?

[MR DARK BRANDON]

This thread is about 1163 replies longer than it needs to be

[Bojack Horseman]

If you read through Tara Reade’s Twitter, you’ll see that she’s very spiteful and vindictive. After the story went public, Reade tweeted that she had reported the veterinarian who accused Reade of stealing from her to the county for animal abuse as an act of retaliation.

[Suburbia]

This thread is about 1163 replies longer than it needs to be

Biden needs to come out and speak.

[Progressive Pessimist]

This thread is about 1163 replies longer than it needs to be

Biden needs to come out and speak.

He'll have to address it at some point, but he is probably better off letting it stay relatively below the radar in the midst of the pandemic.

[Yellowhammer]

I just wish this didn't have to happen...

They would come up with something else anyways. It's always like this. If there isn't a scandal, make one up.

Just like the malicious charade Democrats pulled to try and torpedo Kavanaugh

[VPH]

He should release his papers from that time just to clear his name.

[pppolitics]

He should release his papers from that time just to clear his name.

There are no papers to release.

[Roronoa D. Law]

My bets on CNN being the first major outlet to give her a live interview.

[Bomster]

Please tell me this won't tank our chances for 2020...

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Please tell me this won't tank our chances for 2020...

People are dying and the economy is tanking... I find it hard to believe that a questionable sex assault claim will decide the 2020 election.

[DrScholl]

My bets on CNN being the first major outlet to give her a live interview.

Would she actually do a live interview? Seems to me that she'd rather keep this going through tweets and random quotes online rather than going on television where she could look like the total loon at that she is.

[Bomster]

Please tell me this won't tank our chances for 2020...

People are dying and the economy is tanking... I find it hard to believe that a questionable sex assault claim will decide the 2020 election.

Alot can change in 6 months... and voters can be fickle...

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

This article does a good job with explaining why Reade is not credible.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/29/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation-tara-reade-column/3046962001/

Here are some of the points she makes that are shaping my perspective.

1. Changed story multiple times.
2. Biden's staffers at the time of the alleged incident are firm in their denial that Reade ever made a complaint.
3. The nonexistent formal complaint.
4. Lied about losing her job.
5. Past tweets praising Biden's work fighting sexual assault.
6. Her emphatic support for Sanders.

[roxas11]

This thread is about 1163 replies longer than it needs to be

Biden needs to come out and speak.

I agree Biden needs to speak..........................more about his plans for the economy



Some on here are delusional if they think that the american people are going to care more about Tara Reade  than they will about the fact that Today the US GDP contracted to 4.8% in the first three months of the year —  the largest since the Great Recession.

The Dems could make Bill Cosby the nominee and trump would still lose just based on where the economy is headed lol

Sorry Tara but by the end of the Day it's the economy stupid and Biden would be fool if took his attention off of the Recession just to try to win over trump supporters and Bernie bros on twitter.

If I was him At best I would put out documents from 1993 and leave it at that
but beyond that I would keep talking about the economy from now until election day.

[VPH]

He should release his papers from that time just to clear his name.

There are no papers to release.

His Senate records from the time? I believe Biden didn't do anything alleged, but it's good to get it out there so people know that.

[pppolitics]

He should release his papers from that time just to clear his name.

There are no papers to release.

His Senate records from the time? I believe Biden didn't do anything alleged, but it's good to get it out there so people know that.

He is not stupid enough to release his senate records.

Reporters would get a tons of controversial things to report that has nothing to do with the allegation.

[CellarDoor]

This article does a good job with explaining why Reade is not credible.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/29/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation-tara-reade-column/3046962001/

Here are some of the points she makes that are shaping my perspective.

1. Changed story multiple times.
2. Biden's staffers at the time of the alleged incident are firm in their denial that Reade ever made a complaint.
3. The nonexistent formal complaint.
4. Lied about losing her job.
5. Past tweets praising Biden's work fighting sexual assault.
6. Her emphatic support for Sanders.

Very thorough and convincing.  Thank you for posting this.

[Beet]

What I don't get is why Tara Reade waited until Biden had the nod wrapped up to do this. I can understand victims waiting to go public if, for instance, their assailant is about to get a big promotion, or if other people's coming out with testimony make them more credible (we've seen that a lot). But the point is to do it when it'll have the intended impact, no? At this point it mostly helps Trump. Had she gone public at any point in 2019, it would've had a much bigger impact on the D primary.

[7,052,770]

This article does a good job with explaining why Reade is not credible.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/29/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation-tara-reade-column/3046962001/

Here are some of the points she makes that are shaping my perspective.

1. Changed story multiple times.
2. Biden's staffers at the time of the alleged incident are firm in their denial that Reade ever made a complaint.
3. The nonexistent formal complaint.
4. Lied about losing her job.
5. Past tweets praising Biden's work fighting sexual assault.
6. Her emphatic support for Sanders.

Good article and a good blueprint for what Biden surrogates need to be saying out there in the media, although they should probably skip the "memory lapse" section because that can happen in a traumatic event.

I didn't realize that one of the people Reade claims to have told about the rape in 1993 is a woman, Marianne Baker. Baker vehemently denies that Reade ever told her this. It would be effective to have her speaking publicly countering this on TV and in print.

Another area to tread lightly in general is saying that victims can't appear with abusers later (for example, showing a picture of the two of them together after an alleged innocent necessarily makes the accused innocent). However, Reade's outright praise of Biden as late as 2017, in particular in the area of fighting against sexual assault, is such an unbelievable thing for a victim to say about her own attacker that I think it's fair game to point that out. It greatly hurts her credibility for her to have done that, and I don't think that's establishing a dangerous new precedent.

Also, somebody's got to change the media narrative that the Larry King call is bad for Biden. It's not just consistent with something a mother would say about her daughter's rapist, sorry. It should be painfully obvious even to a hack that Reade's mother had not been told anything about a rape when she made the call. Again, that doesn't exonerate Biden by itself, but it at least shows that Reade isn't being honest when she says she told her mother the story before she went on Larry King. It's sad to see the media running with the idea that it's something it's not - I'm guessing journalist are afraid of backlash from the Bernie diehards?

[Meclazine for Israel]