Win/Win for the GOP
1 May 2020 16:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nwhikerSeems like Bernie supporters Tara Reade and Rebecca Traister are going to be instrumental in giving us four more years of Trump.
And killing the #MeToo movement.
It should be one OR the other but it will end up being one AND the other.
If Dems eat their young (and we always do!) and continue to support Biden, we're rape apologists, and we were lying when we say we believed Dr Blasey Ford. Never mind that the difference between the two women's stories, and their believability is extreme. Reade has changed her story many times, goes back to edit her prior posts to make them concur with her current story. One piece of writing that was published at a site that she could not change agrees with her initial story of 2019, that Biden touched her shoulder, it wasn't sexual, she didn't like it. Her current rape story? Doesn't pass the smell test, and many people online have documented her numerous inconsistencies. I mean, the friend who corroborated? Didn't remember it until Reade called to remind her. The desperate efforts of the Bernie faction to get Biden to drop out and #ComeBackBernie are probably going to cost us the 2020 election.
If Dems, otoh, don't believe Reade, the Republicans spin it as "Believe all women" is only when the accused is a Republican. We lose credibility, victimized women lose credibility, and this damages both women and Democrats. It turns the MeToo/Believe Women into a hit squad, used only against people "we don't like" and not a supportive framework in which to allow women to tell their stories. TBH, btw, "Believe Women" probably should have been "Listen to Women".
The thing is... the media and the bros? Don't have to destroy Biden. They just have to hurt him enough to depress turnout just a bit in key areas, enough for the Electoral College to work it's evil magic, and BAM! four more years of Trump.
Rebecce Traister, Chris Hayes, Ryan Grim, and Tara Reade are Bernie supporters, some of them still hope to force him on the majority of voters who do not want Sanders. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were instrumental in pushing Trump's candidacy in 2016. None of these people are acting in good faith.
One of the reasons this story is advancing is that it's being pushed from both the left and the right. The left because #ComeBackBernie and because there is a large contingent of Bernie supporters online who truly want Trump to win, so they can say "We told you so! Bernie woulda won! Too bad!". There is, btw, a significant overlap between these folks and the people who was screaming "Bend the knee!" when it looked like Bernie would be the nominee. The right because duh, Trump. This story isn't going to die.
Four more years of Trump. A SCOTUS at 7 to 2. Climate change cemented in. Health care? LOL. It's isn't going to be pretty.
The things that inform my bias:
-- by all accounts, Biden is a toucher. Blech. I HATE that type of man. I've known men like that and none of them was a sexual toucher/predator, but as someone who likes my space not to be violated, I have a hard time with that type of man. Oh. I also met a woman like that. Same reaction. Just made me uncomfortable. I've read that Biden has gotten better since he's been warned about this. I'd peg him as handsy but not predatory, something most of the women who've complained about him except for Tara Reade, have said.
-- Of the serious candidates, Biden was third from the bottom on my list, being only above Liz and Bernie. Yeah, I'd have preferred Mayo Pete to him. But eh, he's the candidate the majority of the voters clearly wanted.
-- I believed Dr Blasey Ford, the women who came out against Weinstein. I thought the initial photo of Al Franken pretending to grab LeeAnn Tweeden's breasts while she slept was disgusting and would have been enough for me to think he should resign. I did not, however, believe her further accusations, though I did believe those of the other women who came forward. I err on the side of believing women in most circumstances. I do not think that "Believe Women" means every single woman, every single time. Especially not those who tweet to a scummy man (Ryan Grim, who also outed Blasey Ford after she wrote a letter to Dianne Feinstein) that "tic toc timing is everything" before making her new! and! improved! accusations against Biden.
And killing the #MeToo movement.
It should be one OR the other but it will end up being one AND the other.
If Dems eat their young (and we always do!) and continue to support Biden, we're rape apologists, and we were lying when we say we believed Dr Blasey Ford. Never mind that the difference between the two women's stories, and their believability is extreme. Reade has changed her story many times, goes back to edit her prior posts to make them concur with her current story. One piece of writing that was published at a site that she could not change agrees with her initial story of 2019, that Biden touched her shoulder, it wasn't sexual, she didn't like it. Her current rape story? Doesn't pass the smell test, and many people online have documented her numerous inconsistencies. I mean, the friend who corroborated? Didn't remember it until Reade called to remind her. The desperate efforts of the Bernie faction to get Biden to drop out and #ComeBackBernie are probably going to cost us the 2020 election.
If Dems, otoh, don't believe Reade, the Republicans spin it as "Believe all women" is only when the accused is a Republican. We lose credibility, victimized women lose credibility, and this damages both women and Democrats. It turns the MeToo/Believe Women into a hit squad, used only against people "we don't like" and not a supportive framework in which to allow women to tell their stories. TBH, btw, "Believe Women" probably should have been "Listen to Women".
The thing is... the media and the bros? Don't have to destroy Biden. They just have to hurt him enough to depress turnout just a bit in key areas, enough for the Electoral College to work it's evil magic, and BAM! four more years of Trump.
Rebecce Traister, Chris Hayes, Ryan Grim, and Tara Reade are Bernie supporters, some of them still hope to force him on the majority of voters who do not want Sanders. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were instrumental in pushing Trump's candidacy in 2016. None of these people are acting in good faith.
One of the reasons this story is advancing is that it's being pushed from both the left and the right. The left because #ComeBackBernie and because there is a large contingent of Bernie supporters online who truly want Trump to win, so they can say "We told you so! Bernie woulda won! Too bad!". There is, btw, a significant overlap between these folks and the people who was screaming "Bend the knee!" when it looked like Bernie would be the nominee. The right because duh, Trump. This story isn't going to die.
Four more years of Trump. A SCOTUS at 7 to 2. Climate change cemented in. Health care? LOL. It's isn't going to be pretty.
The things that inform my bias:
-- by all accounts, Biden is a toucher. Blech. I HATE that type of man. I've known men like that and none of them was a sexual toucher/predator, but as someone who likes my space not to be violated, I have a hard time with that type of man. Oh. I also met a woman like that. Same reaction. Just made me uncomfortable. I've read that Biden has gotten better since he's been warned about this. I'd peg him as handsy but not predatory, something most of the women who've complained about him except for Tara Reade, have said.
-- Of the serious candidates, Biden was third from the bottom on my list, being only above Liz and Bernie. Yeah, I'd have preferred Mayo Pete to him. But eh, he's the candidate the majority of the voters clearly wanted.
-- I believed Dr Blasey Ford, the women who came out against Weinstein. I thought the initial photo of Al Franken pretending to grab LeeAnn Tweeden's breasts while she slept was disgusting and would have been enough for me to think he should resign. I did not, however, believe her further accusations, though I did believe those of the other women who came forward. I err on the side of believing women in most circumstances. I do not think that "Believe Women" means every single woman, every single time. Especially not those who tweet to a scummy man (Ryan Grim, who also outed Blasey Ford after she wrote a letter to Dianne Feinstein) that "tic toc timing is everything" before making her new! and! improved! accusations against Biden.
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