The one person who I thought could beat Trump in 2020 falls to the "Me Too" movement. The rest of the Democrat field is weak and does not have a chance in hell of beating Trump in 2020. So who or what will Democrats blame for the 2020 loss? Russia? Bernie Sanders? None of the above, the new enemy will be The Electoral College. And now, back to Creepy Uncle Joe.... An Awkward Kiss Changed How I Saw Joe Biden By Lucy Flores Joe Biden. Photo: Leigh Vogel/2017 Leigh Vogel In 2014, I was the 35-year-old Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Nevada. The landscape wasn’t looking good for my party that year. There were no high-profile national races to help boost turnout, and after the top candidate bowed out of the governor’s race, “None of the Above” ended up winning the Democratic primary. So when my campaign heard from Vice-President Joe Biden’s office that he was looking to help me and other Democrats in the state, I was grateful and flattered. His team offered to bring him to a campaign rally in an effort to help boost voter turnout. We set the date for November 1, just three days before election day. In a state as large but sparsely populated as Nevada, it takes nonstop travel to connect with all its residents. You’re lucky to get properly fed, much less look properly coiffed as female candidates are often required to do. I was exhausted and short on time, so decided to not to wash my hair the morning of the rally. I sprayed some dry shampoo in my hair, raced off to the Reno airport, and flew back to Las Vegas. The event proceeded as most political events do: coordinated chaos with random problems that no one can predict. I found Eva Longoria, co-founder of the Latino Victory Project, roaming the parking lot trying to figure out how to get inside the union hall. My staff was running around town trying to purchase ferns because according to Biden’s team, no other vegetation was acceptable for the stage. LEARN MORE » I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, “I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual fuck? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?” He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, “tragame tierra,” it means, “earth, swallow me whole.” I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience. By then, as a young Latina in politics, I had gotten used to feeling like an outsider in rooms dominated by white men. But I had never experienced anything so blatantly inappropriate and unnerving before. Biden was the second-most powerful man in the country and, arguably, one of the most powerful men in the world. He was there to promote me as the right person for the lieutenant governor job. Instead, he made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused. The vice-president of the United States of America had just touched me in an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners — and I felt powerless to do anything about it. Our strange interaction happened during a pivotal moment in my political career. I’d spent months raising money, talking to voters, and securing endorsements. Biden came to Nevada to speak to my leadership and my potential to be second-in-command — an important role he knew firsthand. But he stopped treating me like a peer the moment he touched me. Even if his behavior wasn’t violent or sexual, it was demeaning and disrespectful. I wasn’t attending the rally as his mentee or even his friend; I was there as the most qualified person for the job. Imagine you’re at work and a male colleague who you have no personal relationship with approaches you from behind, smells your hair, and kisses you on the head. Now imagine it’s the CEO of the company. If Biden and I worked together in a traditional office, I would have complained to the HR department, but on the campaign trail, there’s no clear path for what to do when a powerful man crosses the line. In politics, you shrug it off, smile for the cameras, and get back to the task of trying to win your race. After the event, I told a few of my staff what happened. We all talked about the inexplicable weirdness of what he did, but I didn’t plan on telling anyone else. I didn’t have the language or the outlet to talk about what happened. Who do you tell? What do you say? Is it enough of a transgression if a man touches and kisses you without consent, but doesn’t rise to the level of what most people consider sexual assault? I did what most women do, and moved on with my life and my work. Time passed and pictures started to surface of Vice-President Biden getting uncomfortably close with women and young girls. Biden nuzzling the neckof the Defense secretary’s wife; Biden kissing a senator’s wife on the lips; Biden whispering in women’s ears; Biden snuggling female constituents. I saw obvious discomfort in the women’s faces, and Biden, I’m sure, never thought twice about how it made them feel. I knew I couldn’t say anything publicly about what those pictures surfaced for me; my anger and my resentment grew. Had I never seen those pictures, I may have been able to give Biden the benefit of the doubt. Had there not been multiple articles written over theyears about the exact same thing — calling his creepy behavior an “open secret” — perhaps it would feel less offensive. And yet despite the steady stream of pictures and the occasional article, Biden retained his title of America’s Favorite Uncle. On occasion that title was downgraded to America’s Creepy Uncle but that in and of itself implied a certain level of acceptance. After all, how many families just tolerate or keep their young children away from the creepy uncle without ever acknowledging that there should be zero tolerance for a man who persistently invades others’ personal space and makes people feel uneasy and gross? In this case, it shows a lack of empathy for the women and young girls whose space he is invading, and ignores the power imbalance that exists between Biden and the women he chooses to get cozy with. For years I feared my experience would be dismissed. Biden will be Biden. Boys will be boys. I worried about the doubts, the threats, the insults, and the minimization. “It’s not that big of a deal. He touched her, so what?” The immediate passing of judgement and the questioning of motives. “Why now? Why so long after? She just wants attention.” Or: “It’s politically motivated.” I would be lying if I said I didn’t carefully consider all of this before deciding to speak. But hearing Biden’s potential candidacy for president discussed without much talk about his troubling past as it relates to women became too much to keep bottled up any longer. When I spoke to a male friend who is also a political operative in Biden’s orbit — the first man who had heard the story outside of my staff and close friends years ago — he did what no one else had and made me question myself and wonder if I was doing the right thing. He reminded me that Biden has significant resources and argued points that made me question my memory, even though I’ve replayed that scene in my mind a thousand times. He reminded me that my credibility would be attacked and that I should be prepared for the type of “back and forth” that could occur. (When reached by New York Magazine, a representative for Vice-President Joe Biden declined to comment.) I’m not suggesting that Biden broke any laws, but the transgressions that society deems minor (or doesn’t even see as transgressions) often feel considerable to the person on the receiving end. That imbalance of power and attention is the whole point — and the whole problem.
Everyone knows that Biden is not electable without putting a woman- preferably of color- on the ticket. No one is interested in him without some kind of sidekick who clearly does not look like Joe or act like Joe. So, the other thing going on with the orchestrated hit job- more to come- on him is to make him radioactive so that he can't prop himself up by playing games such as saying he will have Stacy Abrams on the ticket or some other woman. Suddenly they all start distancing themselves from Joe even if they do not diss or condemn him. That causes a major part of strategy to go flaccid. They will do a series of hits on him. He is not going to stop being white anytime soon. Just from a lefty strategy point of view, that was a decent hit on Joe. Timing was excellent, and it was not over the top. They are establishing a framework in voters minds so that they can keep adding to it as we go along. The problem with big scandals is that sometimes you force people to take sides and you lose some. But if you just trickle out reminders that Joe is a creep, that works fine over time.
I agree. Also, none of the Democrats on this message board seemed into Joe Biden for some reason? He is an old white guy and that is not appealing to them. Biden tried to appeal to them by making it clear that he would have a black woman as VP but that is not working. Who's next? I wonder when Beto or Bernie will be shown the door? Operation Purge Whitey:2020 continues.
Joe is out before he is in. Not because watching him and Trump awkwardly trading jabs over their sexual past would be a wash he could not outlast, but because he no longer represents what the democratic party has become. He simply cannot endure and win their primary.
LOL, supporters of pedophile Trump with numerous accusations against him along with his own confession of grabbing pussies are outraged by Biden's kiss. Any comments on allegations of child rape against Trump or was that MAGA?
So Biden actually touched the women... and Trump is the pervert just for using some words. So much for any sense of balance on the left.
Great, Biden will not win the nomination now- now what are you guys going to do about Trump who has done much worse? And just using words? Do you have any idea on things Trump has done and women and children who have accused him? That's the real question while you fake outrage over Democrats.
What's better, a head kisser or a pussy grabber? Inquiring minds want to know. How about dressing room interloper checking out teen-aged girls? Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing. "I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,’ " said Mariah Billado, the former Miss Vermont Teen USA. Trump, she recalled, said something like, "Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before." Three other women, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of getting engulfed in a media firestorm, also remembered Trump entering the dressing room while girls were changing. Two of them said the girls rushed to cover their bodies, with one calling it "shocking" and "creepy." The third said she was clothed and introduced herself to Trump. Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting, I want to make sure that everything is good. You know, the dresses. ‘Is everyone okay?’ You know, they're standing there with no clothes. ‘Is everybody okay?’ And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that. But no, I've been very good. https://www.politifact.com/wisconsi...tions-about-donald-trump-and-miss-teen-usa-c/
I don't like Biden at all, he's the worst sort of professional hack pol, with no principles and no integrity, but seriously, WTF is this drama queen woman so upset about? She should spend some time around Bill Clinton. If this is all it takes to throw her into years long turmoil, she had no business running for important offices. You only need to look at New Zealand to see what happens when you have a deranged woman as your leader.