On Friday, a bombshell tape emerged from 1993 of Tara Reade’s mother calling in to CNN Larry King Live to ask about what her daughter who had been working for a “prominent Senator” could do other than going to the press to report a “problem” that she had with the Senator. According to Reade, the problem was that she had been sexually assaulted and harassed by Biden. To be fair, the caller was anonymous. and did not mention Biden by name, but Reade had told reporters that her Mom had called into Larry King Live back in the 1990s, the call was from San Luis Obispo (where Reade’s mother lived) and it took place in August 1993 (the same month that Reade left Biden’s Senate office after abruptly quitting). Thus, the evidence is fairly strong that this is indeed a tape of Reade’s mother and it provides very compelling corroboration that Reade timely reported the assault charge. Biden’s campaign has unequivocally denied the allegations but, so far, Biden has not been directly asked about the claims.
The problem for Democrats is that this is considerably stronger evidence of misconduct than ever existed against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Recall that Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford had no evidence that she had ever actually met Kavanaugh, that she did not know at whose house the alleged incident occurred, that none of the other teenagers who were allegedly at the party — including her best friend from high school — could remember the party or incident, and that she told no one at the time of the incident about what occurred. In short, she had no contemporaneous, corroborating evidence of any kind, yet still 48 out of 49 Senators said they believed her and voted against Kavanaugh. How can these same Senators endorse Joe Biden when he has been credibly accused by Reade? Compare Reade’s story v. the Kavanaugh story. Reade worked for Biden. In contrast, there is no evidence that Kavanaugh ever met Ford. Zero. Reade abruptly left working for Biden’s office in August 1993 after working for only 8 months. She told her brother, mother and a close friend about the incident in 1993. Reade’s mother called CNN and describes the problem with a prominent senator. In contrast, Ford did not tell anyone about the alleged incident until more than 30 years later.
Having anointed Biden as their presumptive nominee, the DNC and Democrats have a huge problem on their hands. If they circle the wagons and push forward, they forever ruin their credibility on caring about sexual attacks on women. The Democrats are already the party of Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton. If they proceed with Biden, future attacks on Republicans similar to the Kavanaugh allegations will ring hollow and partisan. So far, few prominent Democrats have broken ranks and called for Biden to drop out. Perhaps the most prominent have been certain backers of Bernie Sanders. For example, former Clinton aide and Sanders supporter, Peter Daou, has called on Biden to step down. But for now, the number of prominent Democrats who have called for Biden to step down can be counted on one hand.
If Reade remains the only female accuser of Biden, we expect prominent Democrats to circle the wagons and come out with tortured explanations about why they believe Biden rather than Reade, while emphasizing Biden’s decision to select a female running mate. We also believe that Biden may move up his VP selection to try and divert attention to a female VP. That said, we are not sure that this approach will work. If there is a second credible claim, we think Biden will have no choice but to step down, throwing the entire nominating process into chaos. So for now, we wait to see if a second story emerges. If it does, look for the party to pick Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris, rather than Bernie Sanders, as the Presidential candidate.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 