DNC Chair's Re-Discovered Comments on Sex Assault Spell Disaster for Joe Biden
Comments made by Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez three years ago about women who are victims of sexual abuse are coming back to bite Democrats as former Vice President Joe Biden faces a sexual assault allegation.
After then-Minnesota Sen. Al Franken was embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal in 2017, Perez called for the Democrat to resign in a statement that excoriated elected officials accused of sexual improprieties or crimes.
“Sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault have no place in the Democratic Party, the United States Congress, the White House, or anywhere,” Perez said in a statement that has suddenly gained new relevance.
“For far too long, our society has looked the other way and allowed men to continue this behavior in virtually every industry. We must do better. We must step up and fix this immediately. Regardless of party, we must live up to our values by holding ourselves accountable and leading by example,” the DNC chair continued.
Perez, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, also touted Democrats’ supposed moral superiority on the issue of sexual misconduct allegations.
“There are big differences between Democrats and Republicans and this is just one of them. Instead of standing up for women and confronting the problems of misconduct within their own ranks, the Republican Party has chosen to pursue power and push their radical far-right agenda at any cost,” Perez stated. “And they’ve continued to champion a president who has a long and disturbing history of misconduct with women.”
The Democrat concluded from his far-left ivory tower that his party would demand any elected or public official behaving inappropriately would be essentially ousted.
“The Democratic Party will stand up for women and for what is right. Public service is a public trust. If you are a candidate for office or an elected official who has engaged in sexual misconduct, you should step aside – whether you sit in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, or the Oval Office,” Perez concluded.
Oddly enough, a Democratic candidate for the Oval Office is now facing a very credible allegation of sexual assault, and Democrats have been almost entirely silent on the issue.
Tara Reade, who worked on Biden’s Senate staff from late 1992 to August 1993, has accused the then-senator from Delaware of kissing, groping and digitally penetrating her during an unwanted sexual advance more than 25 years ago.
The allegation was first made public in March, but new developments this month have finally made the accusation a campaign topic, and establishment media outlets have been forced into reporting the story.
NewsBusters unearthed a 1993 phone call to then-CNN host Larry King from a woman who asked for advice on how to handle an incident involving her daughter and a “prominent senator.”
#BREAKING: HERE is the video from August 11,1993’s ‘Larry King Live’ described by @TheIntercept (and Tara Reade) as allegedly featuring her mother calling in and alluding to Reade’s sexual assault claims against @JoeBiden (blog here by @ScottJW) https://t.co/fCgEqBnX7n pic.twitter.com/V5FGHskv56
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 24, 2020
Reade has stated that the voice of the caller on the show is that of her late mother.
This is my mom. I miss her so much and her brave support of me. https://t.co/okU80kqWAI
— taratweets ( Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) April 24, 2020
A former neighbor of Reade has joined Reade’s brother in claiming Reade told her of Biden’s alleged behavior shortly after the incident.
It’s important to note that Biden’s campaign denies the allegation, and Biden deserves the presumption of innocence Democrats would never afford a Republican facing similar accusations.
Still, the fact remains that Democrats have largely remained silent on the allegation, despite Perez’s vow that his party would take action to stand up for “women in every industry and workplace.”
Senate Democrats were asked to comment on the accusation over the weekend, when The Daily Caller contacted each senator individually, but no Senate Democrat would even acknowledge Reade.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York broke that silence Tuesday when she essentially described Reade as a liar.
“So when we say believe women, it’s for this explicit intention of making sure there’s space for all women to come forward to speak their truth, to be heard,” the senator told reporters, according to The Hill.
“And in this allegation, that is what Tara Reade has done. She has come forward, she has spoken, and they have done an investigation in several outlets. Those investigations, Vice President Biden has called for himself. Vice President Biden has vehemently denied these allegations, and I support Vice President Biden,” Gillibrand added.
Gillibrand was correct in stating that mainstream news outlets are beginning to dig deeper into the Reade allegation — albeit with a skepticism they never showed in 2018 when it came to accusations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But she left out that every development so far seems to lend further credibility to Reade’s story.
Gillibrand was among Democrats who voted against Kavanuagh after accuser Christine Blasey Ford claimed he groped her when the two were in high school in a vague allegation that never seemed believable.
The silence from Democrats, such as Perez, and particularly Biden, is deafening at this point.
Now that Perez’s comments about “sexual harassment” allegations from 2017 have resurfaced, the Reade story is quickly turning into a disaster for Biden’s campaign — regardless of the merits of the accusation itself. Taken together, they put the hypocrisy of liberals— and the Democratic Party they support — on full display.
To the chagrin of Democrats and the establishment media, the Reade story has gotten too big, and it is not going to vanish into thin air. They are going to have to address it at some point.
But in not addressing the allegation, they’re revealing to the American public once again what conservatives already know: Democrats don’t care about due process for female victims, as long as that due process could potentially impede their road to the taking back the White House.
If Democrats didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all.
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