Eighteen months ago, America’s brave, firefighting journalists were very eager to dig up allegations of sexual assault by a powerful man. They were drooling for it: “If you’ve been raped by Brett Kavanaugh, my DMs are open.” But that was then. Now they need to be dragged kicking and screaming to report on a credible allegation of sexual assault, because it might help Trump.
Now CNN needs to figure out how to appear as if they’re reporting on Tara Reade’s allegation against Joe Biden, but without making things any worse for him. They need to maintain a facade of journalistic integrity without actively helping Donald Trump win reelection.
So this morning, CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota had to do a bit of a balancing act. She had to press a prominent Democrat on an issue neither of them particularly wanted to talk about, but she also didn’t want to do anything to keep the Democrats from winning in November. It’s tricky.
How do you think she did?
.@SpeakerPelosi defends @JoeBiden on sexual assault allegations: “He’s a person of great values, integrity, authenticity, imagination … He understands the kitchen table issues of America’s working families, his father lost his job when he was a boy …” pic.twitter.com/kZNfgQoxkd
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 30, 2020
Alisyn Camerota: Speaker, I also want to ask you about former Vice President Joe Biden, and about this allegation that is being made by one of his former Senate staffers. Do you think that it is time for Vice President Biden to address this head-on himself?
Nancy Pelosi: Well, I have great sympathy for any women who bring forth an allegation. I’m a big strong supporter of the #MeToo movement. I think it’s been a great, made a great contribution to our country. And, in… and I do, uh… uh… support Joe Biden. I’m satisfied, uh, with how he has, uh, responded. I know him. I was proud to endorse him the other, on Monday. Very proud to endorse him. Uh, and so I’m satisfied with that.
Camerota: I mean, he hasn’t, to be clear, he hasn’t addressed it. His campaign has addressed it, but he has not directly addressed it. Should he directly, publicly, address it?
Pelosi: You know, it’s a matter that he has to deal with. But I am impressed with the people who worked for him at the time, saying they absolutely never heard one, uh… uh… iota of information about this. Nobody ever brought forth a claim or had anybody else tell them about such a claim. But again, we have a, um… an important election at hand. One that is, I think, one of the most important ones that we’ve had. We say that every election, but I think this one is the most crucial. And I supported him because he’s a person of great values, integrity, authenticity, imagination, uh, and connection, uh, to the American people. He understands the kitchen-table, uh, issues of America’s working families. His father lost his job when he was a boy. He knows what that feels like for a family. How they’re going to pay their bills, their health bills, the education of their children, supporting seniors and their families and the rest. Uh, it just, uh… he’s the personification of hope and optimism for our country, and I was proud, uh, to endorse him. America needs a person like Joe Biden, with his, again, his integrity and his vision for the future.
Oh.
Hey, have you guys ever seen The Manchurian Candidate?
First things first: As Camerota notes, Joe Biden has not responded to this allegation. His campaign has issued written denials, but he has not addressed it himself in any way.
Second things second: As Camerota fails to note, Biden hasn’t even been asked about this in any of the interviews he’s given since Tara Reade stepped forward on March 25. It took five weeks for Camerota to ask Pelosi that question. CNN hasn’t asked Biden about it. MSNBC hasn’t asked him about it. NBC, ABC, CBS, NYT, WaPo, HuffPo, BuzzFeed, Daily Beast… Biden has given 19 interviews in the past five weeks, and none of them have asked. They’ve been hoping this will go away. It hasn’t, so now they’re forced to pretend to report on it.
Which is why Alisyn Camerota is allowing Nancy Pelosi to filibuster with a Joe Biden campaign speech instead of answering a direct question about an allegation of sexual assault. Hey, did you know Joe’s dad lost his job?
Remember when “credibly accused” meant “accused of absolutely anything by absolutely anybody, whether or not it’s even remotely credible”? Those days are over now. But hey, at least the burden of proof is back on the accuser again. And so it shall remain, until the next time the accused is a Republican.
In these uncertain times, there’s something comforting about the Democrats banding together to defend an alleged sexual predator. Feels like the good ol’ days!
P.S. I just realized… Camerota didn’t actually say Tara Reade’s name, did she?
P.P.S. None of these fearless journos want to go down in history as the reason Trump won in 2020.
Curious scoop in a story with many from @benyt's latest: Vanity Fair turned down @RichMcHugh's explosive story featuring Tara Reade's former neighbor corroborating on the record that she said Biden sexually assaulted her just 2 or 3 years after the fact. https://t.co/RnmWqzBw72
— Quarantiana (@TianaTheFirst) April 30, 2020
