POTUS must have style. JFK had oddles, FDR was gifted. Harry Truman, Ike, even LBJ had some. Bill Clinton, absolutely. "Sex appeal" might be a relevant synonym, or "charisma."
Sad to say, Joe ain't got it.
4
Every single person who has thrown their hat into the ring for the Democratic primary is flawed. Every. Single. One. They are all guilty of being selfish, narcissistic, holier than thou, or just plain mean at various times during their careers. And I hate to say it, but the worst of the stories haven't even come out yet. Keep that in mind if you're thinking about writing off Joe Biden because his affectionate style is suddenly now verboten.
11
I cut some slack to men over 60 who are having to learn that today's women won't put up with patronizing, entitled to touch you as I'm the superior sex, behaviour.
Maybe Mr Biden has learned to be a bit more reserved with people if he doesn't have a personal relation. Hopefully his campaign advisors have pointed out that it's a whole new world.
Ms Flores should be ashamed of herself for making this public complaint, 5 years after the fact, about a man who was trying to help her.
14
The point of #metoo is not that this behavior is not suddenly unacceptable. It's that this behavior was never acceptable and women of today no longer want to go along with the compromise previous generations made to go along with the behavior. To say we are in a "#metoo era" belittles the point of the movement and beguiles those who wish to dismiss #metoo claims. Pointing out that Biden has a history of missing the mark is just part and parcel to the overall conversation about his absolutely abnormal, paternalistic, and patronizing behavior towards women. He can both behave abnormally and support a violence against women act. Supporting the VAW doesn't mean that his behavior is completely and utterly quesy to even look at, much less experience. This is the crux of #metoo. Someone may be a rock star in so manyways, a genius in others, yet still be completely and utterly inappropriately behaved towards women. The question some wonder is where is the line? The line is uninvited touching.
15
The disrespect, snark, side comments, and judgement of a man who spent his life serving this nation...just never ends.
Almost every editorial columnist in this paper has piled on, with a couple of exceptions.
I guess Donald Trump really has ruined us; no one has any respect for a man who served decades as a Senator and Vice President of the United States.
So, the guy's a little goofy. And, he's an enthusiastic and affectionate man. He makes gaffs.
Yup. He's older, with that comes maturity, experience, and wisdom. Yep. He's a human being, a real, live, flawed human being. One who has spent 40+ years working for the people of this country...in earnest.
It would appear our advertising, media, marketing, technology obsessed nation has no respect for men anymore...even the former Vic President.
Being a social media darling or dillettante has replaced our humanity.
Congratulations...Trump's plan is working. We're now stooping lower and lower every day.
25
So for those of you who have never followed Joe Biden, his behavior might be new to you. And when shined upon by today's #MeToo sensibilities, he comes off as a creep. And most certainly, those women who were offended by his contact deserve to let Joe know that he inappropriately made contact with them.
But they do so with peril if they purpose is to spoil his run for office. They smear the #MeToo campaign if their only purpose is to tar an otherwise good public servant. And they should be ashamed, more than Joe, for knowingly using a political moment to damage the non-political actions of an otherwise well meaning person.
So if this is the only pile of dunk that can be thrown in front of the current Democratic front runner, I suggest that Joe should and must simply plow through it. Yes the Democrats have a well of well qualified candidates out there, none better than say Mayor Pete, but I simply am not sold on the thought of Bernie, Warren, Betto or any other that can pull voters who voted for Trump in 2016.
Let us keep our eye on the ball this time. Who can best win the middle of middle-America? I suggest Biden has a good shot at it as long as we Democrats stop shooting him in the foot for the sake of our preferred candidate.
It is not like the women coming forward are Republican. They are one of us! And their motives are most certainly suspicious.
12
Whether Biden is or is not ___________ (you fill in the blank), is beside the point. He should not have to answer such accusations dredged from an earlier and different time, accusations that appear by their timing to be politically motivated.
The voters know Biden's record as a touchy-feely kind of guy. It's up to them to decide whether he's fit for the office, not an opportunistic press or a few attention-seeking individuals, who just happen to be supporting other candidates.
This is no way to conduct a primary contest. It smells of McCarthyism. It is not the American way.
11
A thousand times, this.
2
Biden is a disaster for all the same reasons Clinton was a disaster (Iraq War vote, anyone?) and then some (early-career racism & sexism).
But the real question in all this is: Where is Gillibrand? Why the Biden/Franken double standard? Is sexual harassment okay now that she's a candidate?
Biden has sealed his own fate by being creepy, and it appears that Gillibrand has sealed hers with her deafening silence.
For most of us likely Dem voters, this is a positive thing, as it thins out the herd even before debate season starts.
2
Biden said this: "the rules of social engagement can change over time — along with perceptions of how much physical contact is appropriate, and where the boundaries of personal space lie."
No, they don't change over time, women NEVER wanted men in their personal space stroking their hair, putting their hands on their shoulders, waists etc. Thank God for #MeToo!
9
It's really quite simple. Which guy would make the better president, Biden or Trump? Gee, which is better for breathing, air or carbon dioxide?
9
“I am so sorry if she believes that … I am so sorry that she had to go through what she went through.”
oh, that's ok then, forget it.
2
Biden should have apologized and taken responsibility for invading personal space not say he would do it different next time.
Biden's time has come and gone and we don't need him to run for President.
6
He wouldn't even be under consideration if the Democratic party weren't still regretting 2016. The If Only Syndrome.
5
I have read many of the comments here and can see that there are varying opinions of Joe Biden. In light of the recent news of his actions in showing his affection for women (and some men, according to commenters) in ways that are uncomfortable for some women, let me tell you a story that illustrates his love of people in general. I think it shows his love of humankind and human contact.
I have a friend in a state in the Midwest who runs a women’s shelter. She does it so well that she won an award several years ago. To her great surprise, who should call her to congratulate her but the vice-President Joe Biden. He talked to her for quite a while and when he discovered she had family in Wilmington, Delaware, and had lived there, too, he couldn’t have been happier and the conversation continued. He was as happy for her and grateful for her good work as if he had been one of her relatives in Wilmington. My point is that he likes people, likes to be with them, is curious about their lives and enjoys getting to know them. He is genuine.
I’ve been going back and forth in my mind about him as a candidate and about Warren, Buttigieg, Harris, even Landrieu from Louisiana, and all the others. I sometimes feel like I’m ricocheting from one to another. For now, I’m content to listen and watch and see how it all plays out. But I’m not ruling out Biden on account of his age or his warm exuberant personality.
18
With you attitude we are sure to have trump for 6+ years. I am reminded of all those who felt that their vote was 'golden' and in effect voted for trump by either not voting or voting for someone who had absolutely no chance. A really big problem with the dems is finding ways to pick apart anyone for the absolute slimiest of reasons. And clearly you are right there with them.
6
Biden would make a grand and invaluable mentor and offer great advice to any number of possible Democratic candidates, should they be elected. Just think of the role Teddy Kennedy played in charting the nation’s course without serving as president. Biden has an honorable, vital future, if he will just recognize the possibilities that await outside the Oval Office.
6
I like him.
But not for president.
He's at the end of a great, big road.
6
Being the same age as Joe, I find his past behavior with women over the line that I set for myself.
Still I can understand it in a different way than people want to interpret it these days. I think to find him a heinous sexual masher is just wrong.
There are lots of other reasons he ought not run.
He's too old for this campaign, he's not so much a leader as a follower, and tends to always follow the buck.
Most importantly I cannot see him overcoming Trump in any forum. And removing Donald is all that matters in the end.
If we cannot accomplish that with a Dem candidate now on the slate (some 20 it seems) we will have lost our democracy and entered a feudal mega state like Russia.
The sheer number of runnng candidates is a really big problem. What happens when the cutting starts? Then all weaknesses will be carefully parsed by the great Divider and none will win against him because he will have turned each contender into cartoon characters to mock and vilify.
Someone please tell me how that will NOT happen.
6
I’ve never had any problem telling someone not to touch me. It’s as easy as saying, “Please don’t do that”. And if they don’t get the message, just move away.
7
Biden's persona is all he's got. He doesn't really have political positions or initiatives to discuss. The country definitely needs more.
4
The times have really not changed all that much. As a young woman, in the late 1970's, I can still remember being extremely creeped out by my (then future) father-in-law's occasional request for 'a little smooch'. Which never happened, as I would more or less politely avoid him. But according to most commenters here, his strategy was just not up to speed, he should have simply 'leaned in' like Biden, gotten his 'smooch' and that would have been fine. (Except to me, but by most of today's commenter standards I'm just oversensitive).
Have to say, I don't get it ! Why does Biden get a pass ?
41
@irene
Yeah I remember several of my aunts who did the same to me. I am severely damaged emotionally for life.
27
@irene
I think Biden gets a pass because you would have to be pretty tone deaf to fail to realize that what he has done has nothing to do with sex, prurient interest, harassment, or abuse.
42
Biden is a creature of the liberal establishment, which fears above all any political revolution that would threaten the establishment. The establishment disagrees on how to handle opposition; the liberal establishment believes in sharing the wealth up to a point and a certain amount of appeasement, while the conservative establishment believes in increasing income disparity and giving losers the sort of tough love that inspires them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
Our establishment is no longer capable of dealing with income and wealth inequality, or getting the sort of mobilization needed to deal with global warming. The liberal establishment is winning culturally, but at the cost of losing in economic matters, and the universe of not-outside-the-box political discussion has been moving rightward for a generation now. Biden would fight a good rearguard action but is not the guy to come up with a winning offensive to reverse this movement.
3
A Biden presidential candidacy would almost assure a repeat of the 2016 election. I do hope the Dems realize that soon enough to avoid it. Trump barely beat Clinton, but that was before he had ever been elected to anything. Now, from the platform he has, he will be very difficult to beat. The Democratic nominee cannot be someone who is a blast from the past. I think your average 6th grader could work this out.
7
I'm voting for Biden if he runs. I don't care much about the side show produced by democrats. His behavior does not seem atypical to me. There must not be enough disasters, floods, hurricanes etc to entertain the media at the present time.
7
Baby boomers need to chill. It’s time to defer to the next generation that will govern for a world they will actually be around in. Biden will be a Hillary repeat of 2016. An Obama era associate with three decades of political baggage to needlessly harp over, a centrist message that will turn off the Bernie bros who voted for trump etc etc.
we need to do better.
6
Joe Biden and Bill Clinton have something in common. For Bill, it was the dress and then the lie, " I did not have sexual relations with that woman." For Joe, it is whole photo books filled with pictures of him doing all sorts things that demonstrate the actions his accusers are saying he did. He followed by declaring, “Not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately.” That is a person that believes he is entitled to touch, rub noses, snuggle their hair, hug etc., and they will accept everything with glee. Joe is all about himself. He bragged shortly after the election that he would have won. In the Senate, during his committee questioning, he spent most of his time with sentences filled with "I" or "Me." The reason most of the Democrats are excusing him is not because of a love-fest. It is that there are a lot of candidates but they don't think any of them can beat Trump. So, they cling to Good Old Joe. He represents the past they yearn for. This group of candidates may not win but they are vocal and don’t hold back. The chances are they will tear him to shreds in the debates. If he is the candidate, he will proclaim, as Hilary did, “Now it’s my turn.” Trump will say to his supporters, “The government is yours and I won’t let them take it away from you again.”
7
It's a shame Tracy Flick was forced down our throats in 2016, but now I fear it's too late for Joe. I also think the wolf crying has gone too far. Some people are touchy and huggy, others aren't, and Joe's described transgressions don't sound aggressively sexual.
5
Did New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish ever, in private, strongly tell Richardson to *stop* touching her? If not, I can't see why not. This was not some powerless employee worried about her job.
8
Joe Biden has more class than any of those frantic women who claim to have been harassed by him many years ago. Perhaps not enough men were nice enough to them back in those days and now they're still trying to get attention in any way they can. Perhaps they need to spend more time on browsing Facebook or Twitter, but please, ladies, quit yelling that you've been attacked. It's the silliest damn mess I've ever heard of. Go to The Price Is Right or somewhere to get on TV other than the news channels!
2
Forget Rep. Flores, the primary video fueling this controversy (and referenced in this op ed) is "Creepy Uncle Joe" No doubt it's a political hit piece, but the footage of perhaps a dozen meet-and-great/photo-ops, wherein the Senator, paws, nuzzles, fondles, kisses, pets and whispers odd and disturbing asides to a series of pre-pubescent girls-not women- makes him utterly and completely unelectable. Remember who he'd be running against for pete's sake. Big Orange would have a field day.
2
65 yo white woman progressive Democrat here.
I started out thinking the issue about Biden and touch was unnecessary. I dislike the behavior but wondered if it politically motivated? The ensuing discussion has been most helpful.
The woman who have raised the issue have been in a professional setting with the VP of the US. It is unprofessional, to say the least, to press your forehead up against someone, kiss the back of the head etc in those circumstances. Same applies in a social setting but can be easier to address.
I also learned about "Benevolent Sexism" which seems to be an apt description of Biden's behavior. It's a kind of friendly, oh so supportive, parental/rescuer type of behavior. It still communicates "I have the most authority or influence", "You're still dependent on me for my protection or recognition." "We're not equals and I'm letting you know in a really friendly, affectionate way."
Another possible explanation is that sometimes people who initiate physical contact with lots of people do it because in truth they want the contact.
I have never wanted Biden to run so this has no impact on my choice.
I have to say some of the pics are cringe-worthy. And finally public figures....when taking pics with women and girls your hand belongs on their shoulder not their waist.
5
His time has come....and gone!
Too late there Pappy. Should have run in 2016, but that ship has sailed and your moment has passed.
9
Unfortunately Biden is not a viable candidate. The democratic party is no longer a party for old white males. Today's democratic party is about young, female, non-white, non-heterosexual. A minimum of 2 of these attributes, preferably 3, will be required to be a viable democratic candidate in 2020.
26
@bored critic
I'd prefer a good candidate with good ideas and a way to make them work to the demographic smorgasbord you outline.
Ideas first, please!
44
@bored critic
If what you say is correct---and I vehemently dispute that it is---the democratic party is in real trouble. Voting for the messenger instead of the message will lead to Donald Trump v2.0.
28
@bored critic - Sadly, you have about nailed it. I don't think the Dems have any idea how many voters they are going to force into staying away from the poles in 2020 if they insist that the primary qualifiers be race, sex, gender, and age as opposed to things that actually matter, but it will be more than enough voters to lose them the election, and guarantee four more years of Trump.
22
We love Joe Biden because of his years of public service, his devotion to family and his sincerity. That said, he's an icon of another generation, time and place. He was wrong about Anita Hill but so was almost every man who'd ever laughed at a dirty joke and a lot of women, so used to denigrating comments in the workplace that it didn't register or was a feeling of get over it.
He's run before and not won even the primary. Because we love him now has more to do with his not challenging Hillary Clinton, a mistake. Maybe had he been the candidate then we would not have Donald Trump now.
Joe Biden is nostalgia but that will not win this election. He hasn't even entered the race and he's stumbling. If he can't make it a week without stepping on his message he's not going to make it through.
That said, he has the most foreign policy experience, most world leaders on first name basis and could undo a lot of the damage inflicted by Trump's total ignorance of the world outside his own interests. I had hoped he'd figure out how to talk to the new voters and fix this mess but maybe he can be secretary of state.
5
I just cannot make up my mind on Joe Biden. I’ve admired him for decades. I think he is a genuine, unpretentious, good human who is male and white....and old. He has the bandwidth to heal this fractured country and the hugging skills to let us know he means it. But I’m also of the mind that the younger generations need to have a voice and leadership icon to plan and provide for the next several decades. Joe can help us heal, but do we need more? We certainly need an alternative to our current leader who is hemming in our future viability on a daily basis. 1950 wasn’t that great but 2050 has the promise to be great if planned for with vision, intelligence, compassion, imagination, empathy, and good engineering!
5
Consider the absurdity of a candiate who's trying to grasp current social mores while we have a right-wing Hugh Hefner running the free world. Comedians get paid good money for this stuff.
Biden has done more for this country than Trump ever will. But so has my letter carrier. She served in the military, she's 100% reliable and she collects food donations on her days off. She's working class, every bit as nice as Joe and most of all, young enough to be around when the climate change catastrophes Trump doesn't believe, kick in.
130
@JR
I don't think there is any point in comparing candidates to Trump. "Not as bad as Trump" can't be the standard.
I'm for forgetting this administration ever existed, let's go back to trying to locate the best we have for the Presidency.
19
Why do all these humanly flawed, yet very capable Democrats feel the only way they can help our country escape from the past two plus years of trumpism is by being president? Whomever is the Dem president in 2020 has a lot of critical and important posts to fill. The cabinet positions are waiting for capable, relatively honest people to take up the tasks of bringing intelligence back to these job. The new Dem president will have a huge job of cleaning up the messes left by the current administration. Every one of the Democrats running, or going to run, could find a position that could seriously aid in that endeavor. Almost a fun activity to think of which current Dem runner could best fill the WH and Administration slots now being so miserably ruined by trump’s people.
5
JOE’S Best By date has expired. But he’s had a long run, kind of like IKEA’S lamp left on the sidewalk; no need to feel sorry for him. Obama, love him, has moved on. Time for Joe to follow his lead.
7
My own dream ticket would be Buttigieg/Biden. Much as I would love to see a woman on the ticket, it seems to me that we will need a healer -- someone who can connect with Americans across the political/economic/education-level spectrum. Someone who can de-escalate the passions that are tearing us apart from one another. I think Buttigieg is that person. I lurk on the Fox News Facebook page, and have even noticed that commenters there seem impressed with Mayor Pete, and I pray these aren't Russian or other bots. On the bottom half of my dream ticket, I see Biden as the wise statesman who can not only be the President's close advisor, as Biden was with Obama, and also someone who can smooth ruffled feathers in Congress.
1
@Jubujoy. Obviously you don’t know what Mayor Pete’s proposals are.
1
Many of his proposals are worthy of consideration. Many would be watered-down in the final version. I can see why a "Me, Me, ME!" Conservative or religious extremist wouldn't like them, though.
@Jubujoy
I saw Buttigieg on tv. He was charming and articulate and said nothing that hadn't been said a hundred times by a hundred people before him. I read the hype in the comments and expected something spectacular or at least original. Nope. He showed me nothing that indicates he's qualified to be president. You folks who are over-hyping him need to dial it back.
1
I, too, love Joe Biden and I am a woman of his age. I love Joe Biden but it is time for our generation to bow out and let the next one guide the country. Our day has come and gone. I love you, Joe Biden, but PLEASE don't run.
I'd add that the current attempt to sully his reputation is a disgrace. He comes from a time when men were courtly and deferential to women (yeah I know, tell that to Anita Hill) and that is how Joe Biden still treats women. Yes, he is behind the times.
I have a question and some advice for these women who are complaining about him now: why didn't you say something at the time? The way to get respect from men is to refuse to allow them to treat you in a way you don't like. I'm a woman and I know this for a fact.
12
I'm trying to comprehend why any Democratic voter, anywhere in America, would actually want Joe Biden to be president ... like, even if he wasn't a serial groper.
He spent his career representing banks, the military-industrial complex, health insurance companies, Wall Street ...
He has been and remains a corporate Democrat par excellence.
There isn't one substantive reason for any Democrat or non-Republican independent to vote for this guy.
Biden represents the Clinton era of the Democratic Party: selling out to corporations, voting for wars of aggression, opposing Single-Payer healthcare, not caring a wit about wealth and income inequality, not serious about climate change, appointing Goldman Sachs to Cabinet positions, etc and so forth.
13
I love Joe Biden. Hard stop. He can win states we need to win. More importantly, people don't seem to have any idea the decimation that has occurred with government agencies under the current reign. We will need someone seasoned, well-versed and well-connected to begin what it will take to rebuild what was essentially a nuclear bomb that has destroyed our federal infrastructure. Like everyone else, I would vote for a hard boiled egg over Trump, but when people talk about a 37 year old wunderkind with ZERO federal experience, I shake my head in dismay at how far we have lowered the bar. And, while I voted for him in the 2016 primary, I sure hope Sanders is not our hard boiled egg. Lucy Flores is a Sanders supporter which makes this whole situation a little rotten in Denmark. I mostly like his politics, but he's got more than a little Nader in him. Not looking out for the good of the country. I really don't want to vote for that egg.
12
Never mind the creepy hands, just him thinking of running indicates he's lacking common sense.
5
Joe Biden is actually qualified for the job, and I think everyone knows that. I love him, and I want him to have the job. Our country is deeply misogynist, and I personally do not want the heartache of watching another woman lose and feeling so viscerally how much this country hates women. He should have it, and then we all need to work on clearing a path to victory for a woman next time. It will take work, and we have to get this actual criminal out of the WH first. But one thing that is clear is that Joe Biden is a good human being, smart, and qualified.
10
Why no mention of his flip-flopping over the years on reproductive rights? That is a critical policy issue, especially with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and a very real danger of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
5
Note to democratic party. Please, please do not nominate someone who is over 70 or will turn 70 in less that 4 years. Senior citizen can be useful advisors but they just do not have the stamina nor are their brains all that sharp any more. Sorry to say that but I am 78 and I know it is true.
18
Agreed - it's time to purge the American gerontocracy, which has resembled the Soviet Politburo of the 1970s for some time now. If your local Representative or Senator is over 70, write and tell thank them for their service, and request that they step-aside to give a younger person a chance. Call me ageist, I don't care. There's no reason that anyone in their eighties should be clinging to their job. It's pure selfishness.
9
There is little doubt that the accusations by the #metoo activists against Joe Bidden are politically motivated. For many of these activists, Bidden probably represents a moderate "Democrat" that they no longer want in the leadership of the party. These people are far more interested in supporting a candidate that personifies their personal "enlightenment", than actually winning the next election. They are flocking to marginal candidates like Buttigieg, who, despite being really nice and articulate, has no chance of winning in 2020. For them, for all the "Berners" before, winning is not important, their intellectual pretensions are. At the end, their antics are far more destructive than the touchy-feely Biden.
10
@adretzios
In far too many ways the Bernie Bros and Broettes have not a dimes worth of difference between those on the rabid right.
Because, to both these camps people are just pawns in a game of ideological oneupmanship.
Which makes it more important to recognize and support moderate candidates in the mold of Joe Biden that want to work for all of us and not those political extremes.
3
Joe's time has passed. I hope the Dems don't make the mistake of thinking his time has come. That's what the respective parties thought about Hillary and Mitt.
7
Although Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are opposites in personality (one is genuinely likeable, the other is "likeable enough"), as candidates in this millennium they are Tweedledum and Tweedledee - bogged down with political baggage; culturally and temperamentally out of step with the millions of younger voters who personify the future. In considering Biden for 2020, Democrats must look hard at how Clinton was received in 2016 - with a great yawn. Biden has all the makings of Hillary redux. The model for Democrats in the next go-around should be John F. Kennedy in 1960 - a young, vigorous, fresh leader who shaped a generation.
5
I love Joe Biden. Most people he’s touched love him too.
6
Thanks, Gail, for not Al Frankening him this time around. Trouble is Franken --who was tough, competent, intelligent, interesting, and unlike the staid automatons you usually see in Congress--had a critical position to lose.
7
@Mark D You are not wrong about that. At some point, we actually have to consider Political Reality.
2
Sorry Joe: you lost your chance for the presidency.
Jerks are not good presidents: look at Trump; the worst president since the foundation of the world.
9
I had an aunt, let's call her Sophie. Every time aunt Sophie saw me she rushed over and pinched my cheeks, hugged me tight, kissed my forehead. Not in a sexual way, of course.
My wife has some friends who hug and kiss me every time they see me. Not in a sexual way, of course. More like a motherly way.
So consider if Joe Biden was a woman who embraced you when you met. Placed her hand on your shoulder in support. Rubbed your back. Hardly a raised eyebrow.
Is it so difficult to believe that in the #metoo era a man can have the same kind of feelings as a woman? Can be "motherly," even supportive?
I never stopped liking my aunt Sophie, though I was a bit "uncomfortable" with her attentions. Some of us need our personal space more than others. Maybe men shouldn't be held to a higher standard than women.
17
@Michael Epstein
Nailed it.
2
this is a political hack job by certain opponents to keep him out of the race! after 15 years the lady decides to come forward??
15
@BOB SEIDMAN totally agree. Yes, I will vote for him if he makes the primary. But Bernie Sanders makes me sick.
4
If the party wants to self-implode, it will push Biden or Beto. Have we really reached this low? That men are the default front runners for being men --and there is no other way to parse this fixation on two people whose names happen to begin with "B" who also happen to receive twice the coverage of all of the women combined in the race--while extremely talented women have to take a back seat suggests we've learned nothing over the past few years. And it may cost us another four years of DJT.
Biden has a history too hard to explain away. In the year 2019, it's hard to defend having taken a stand against busing and having aligned with the pack of misogynistic hounds who tormented Anita Hill. Make that impossible. We are currently dealing with the Sexist-in-Chief. We need to open continental space between that office and that problem.
Though Biden is not remotely akin to DJT, the judgment he demonstrated during the Anita Hill trial suggests he's not ready to lead with a truly equitable hand. And, no, "avuncular" is not synonymous with "emancipated."
Beto, also highly likable, lacks any qualifications for the job. Charm and charisma are no substitutions for craft and commitment. Currently, every woman in the race can run intellectual rings around Beto. If any one of them took to a skateboard to make a point, she'd be hounded from the stage.
We have a problem in this country. To riff on an old political meme: It's the sexism, stupid. Look to the midterms and learn.
5
Sorry, Joe. You lost me when you characterized Mike Pence as "a decent guy."
9
While we're at it, let's outlaw handshakes, an act that passes disease. How about we just stay in our own pods from which we can monitor everybody else's behavior.
The chances are slim that our species will last another 50,000 years or so, but if we do, maybe we will at last be all be one color and one sex. Maybe then, at last, we can stop with the "who touched who and where were they touched" sideshow.
Biden is not my choice but not because of this kerfuffle.
6
So Mr. Biden is unqualified because he touched somebody's shoulder ten years ago but the Dem's should not impeach Trump, an avowed ________________ [insert preferred term] but rather should "beat him at the ballot box".
Yeah sure. With who?
By the time the Democratic Circular Firing Squad is out of bullets, the Dems will have no one.
9
Mr. Biden is a lightweight. We can do better, I hope.
6
No one is more like Trump than Biden. Biden is older, more experienced, only slightly less inclined to resort to fisticuffs to settle a personal disagreement, and equally likely to keep his feet near his face, in case he wants to push a foot onto his great dental work.
No other Democrat matches up, point by point, talent by talent, like Joe Biden vs the new version of Grande Orange. (Sorry, Rusty.)
Trump voters might fall all over themselves to vote for Unca Joe,
Then Gail, how about Howard the ...? That's another column.
1
My advice to the Democratic party is that it keep a deck of white business friendly war mongering old men at hand at all times. One will turn out creepy, another will have a wandering eye and some will have a habit of receiving checks from the wrong sort of people while being recorded, but if your portfolio is big enough, there will be one or two who can continue being the man while pretending to be a prole.
4
Between Biden's obvious, decades- long inability to understand boundaries when it comes to women (has anyone ever seen him rub noses with a man? Kiss his head?) His involvement in Ukraine where he facilitated his son's lucrative Burisma board membership is another questionable activity. I find him not just "creepy", but smarmy. If the Dems nominate him - it's curtains for the party.
Watch young people move to more liberal parties in droves, never to return again - or ever join in the first place. Biden = 4 more horrific years of Trump.
3
Do we need a reformed well-intentioned old timer to provide a model for middle America ? Is that Biden's true appeal--not too unfamiliar ?
If he weren't so vulnerable to the Trump smearmeisters with his past plagarism, bad policies, gaffes & snugglings, he might be a trusted down-to-earth guy with loads of experience & common sense. But is extremely likely to be put on the defensive from day one. His likability is mostly soft, unlike Trump's defiant, aggressive bluster that apparently holds his base tight. Mr. Nice Guy lacks that grip.
Don't run Joe!
2
He's only ahead in some polls due to misdirection from Republicans hoping to go up against the weakest possible opponent !!!
@Andy Hain. Um, apparently you didn’t pay attention as to who was polled.
1
And therein lies the difference. Republicans will put up a guy who has admitted to touching women’s private parts and they will win. Democrats will put up somebody squeaky clean, and they will lose.
4
@Tommybee They don’t have anyone who is squeaky clean. But I would love to have the press investigate Hunter’s business in the Ukraine so we can all scream “collusion”.
I'm puzzled by all the focus on the adult females who've received unwanted touching, sniffing, and who knows what else from the former VP. Because the deal-breaker to me is seeing him pawing little girls. He can't keep his hands off them. It is highly disconcerting, but almost worse is the fact that people aren't citing that as the real offensive behavior.
I don't give a hoot about how "likable" the guy is. He's an out-of-touch centrist who seems to think his privilege extends to unsolicited, unwanted touching of the bodies of minors as well as adults--all female. Look at the videos. How would you feel if this guy was a first-grade school teacher? Would you want him teaching your children, or grandchildren? I doubt it.
We don't need to have anyone under consideration for the highest office in the land who has obvious, documented boundary and propriety issues. We've done that, and hopefully will be done with it in 2021. Enough already.
3
Uncle Joe is toast. If Iowa doesn't finish him off, the #metoo gang will defenestrate him (if they haven't already). And some radical, eager-to-please-the-fringe goof will squeeze through our absurd nominating "process," and, bathed in the purity of the utopian left, they will lose. Remember "the new Nixon?" All Trump will have to do is slightly clean up his act and Fox News will do the rest.
3
"In 2007, he described one of his opponents, Barack Obama, as the “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
He didn’t mean it the way it sounded, "
How do you know? And what was he saying about Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King W.E.B. Dubois, Frederick Douglas and many others . Words matter. But he's a Dem so he gets a pass
2
I wouldn't vote for any person that old for the presidency. The electoral college isn't a blast from the past neither is having the oldest generation alive cling to power. "No fool like an old fool." My grandmother would say it a lot.
As of today, there are 19 Democratic candidates running for president. Six of them are women: Tulsi Gabbard, Kristen Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson; four are in the US Senate, one is a member of the House, and one is a businessperson and writer; all have put out significant policy ideas.
With so many candidates and ideas to write about, why continue to focus on Biden (who hasn't announced), Buttigieg and O'Rourke?
4
3 more women have stepped forward today with complaints about Joe Biden. That makes 7 in a week.
His obvious ambivalence about running would seem to have been well-founded.
3
I wonder how many people there grew up on stories like "The By Who Cried Wolf". And I also wonder how many more of these grasping, politically ambitious Me-Too moments will be enough to completely discredit the legitimate protests it has spawned. Notice how Flores' isn't even mentioned once in this article, that's how irrelevant her weak charge really is. So if you don't like Biden vote for Biden if Anita Hill is your issue, or his Senate record for voting in favor of Iraq (only one senator didn't). But don't clutch at some weak mindless sexual harassment story, because... Feminism, that even the self-described victim doesn't, and can't, call it harassment.
Sooner or later this country is going to wake up and realize all we know is what we don't want, and not what we do, and live another four years with another Trump.
3
It looks like "Me Too" is being used as either a cover for misanthropy, a political hit job, or both.
3
I think this is somehow an effort to systematically discredit every Democrat running for office.
“She said her grandmother told her she was Native American.”
“He touched women on the shoulders.”
“There’s a picture of her at a party in college.”
I think the pundits should not declare who is and isn’t fit and let the voters decide.
3
Biden has Anita Hill, it's on tape, and it is bad. He's a hugger and he likely has made hundreds of women - and men - squirm over the years, and because he is powerful Joe Biden, they let it pass. As a democratic candidate, is all this history just "too much", given our changed norms for proper and appropriate behavior? I stress here - Democratic Candidate. Look at the other side, the Republicans, and ask what would be acceptable behavior a Republican candidate. The Biden frenzy seems to ignore this context. Supposedly a Republican candidate could denigrate those who oppose him with constant name calling (Pencil neck), lie almost as an art form, tweet out the most ridiculous, mean, misinformed, and bizarre "stuff" almost on a daily basis for consumption by his base and "bait" for the media. Back in the Anita Hill days, what was Trump doing? How was he behaving. If you are going to cover Biden's behavior, why not also compare his behavior to the candidate for 2020 on the other side? You know, just for a little balance. Thank you.
3
Good for you. Etiquette has not changed. It has always been repulsively impermissible to paw the voiceless gender. All that’s new is the voice.
4
Joe Biden has tried to be more feminist than thou for decades. He was the one who introduced the Violence Against Women Act, which put men in jail (preventive incarceration) who women thought might commit crimes, before the actual crimes were committed. At first some concerned with constitutional rights were concerned that this went to far.
But liberals have gone much further now. It is now politically incorrect the sexist statement that "women can never lie" or "60 women cannot lie" even though literature is replete with stories that women lie at about the same rates as men.
Joe Biden liked to be affectionate with colleagues. Nowadays, I should instead sue the woman who told me that my beard looked nice. That bordered on sexual harassment.
Liberals seem not to understand that you cannot fully legislate good behavior. So they legislate good behavior towards minorities even though people find ways to be mean to people who are just "different" whether or not they belong to a recognized minority.
The result is that bad behavior still goes unpunished in most cases. I had a colleague who was harassed for decades by members of the in-group. His career suffered but he was a white male.
We all "know" that such people benefit from "white privilege."
The feminists are the true bigots in our society. And their extreme positions have led to the rise of Trump, who worst characteristic is his incompetence.
Liberal pundits are partially responsible for America's decline.
1
Before 'this' man -- on this, 'his' 70th birthday -- 'says' he hopes Joe Biden doesn't run for president, let 'him' say that he DOESN'T love Joe Biden. (He's O.K. -- sometimes.)
Now then: "I hope Joe Biden doesn't run for president."
2
People arguing the "it's no big deal!" aspect of Biden's behavior are missing the point (and making transparent excuses).
The outrage isn't just about Biden's perceived entitlement to touch and kiss women and girls as he pleased, but that lots of men behave this way, and lots of women don't like it. It's disrespectful. That video clip of Bush grabbing Angela Merkel's shoulders is a perfect example of what I mean. I wonder what would have happened had he done the same to Putin. And why didn't he?
Lots of men clearly believe that the rules of respect are different regarding women and children, and THAT folks, is the real problem here.
As they used to tell us in kindergarten (in the 1970s), keep your hands to yourself.
This is about respect.
5
I almost always appreciate your columns and generally agree with your perspective. Not in this instance. Nothing else matters but voting Trump out of office. This will require maturity, strength from having risen above adversity, intelligence, almost universal respect, the ability to stabilize an unstable country and indeed world, sincerety, a conscience, a moral compass, integrity, and a genuine ability to connect with fellow human beings. With all of this in mind, I think I would prefer to periodically roll my eyes to "goofy" than to deal with a second four years of amorality and the systemic destruction of our democracy and civil society.
3
Joe Biden has world-class political skills. You do not get to where he is without being a skilled politician. But he is not presidential material. He's fine as a senator or a vice president. Those offices don't matter (much) in our national government. You don't need to do anything in those offices but practice politics.
The presidency is different. You need to perform as president. You need to do things. And the road to the presidency shows who can do things well and who cannot. Sooner or later, Joe Biden is going to fail. Probably sooner rather than later.
We have seen already how Joe Biden plays on the national stage with his previous presidential runs. But I remember best his debate in 2012 against Paul Ryan. Who was that goofy doofus who showed up at that debate? It was an embarrassment.
I can see why Joe Biden appeals to many Democrats. After all, in the crowded Democratic field there is no one else who seems to have more presidential timber. (All are more like presidential wood chips, as Kellyanne Conway says.)
But choose Joe Biden at your peril, Democrats. He's a loser. And rightfully so.
2
This is getting totally out of hand. Does everyone complaining about Biden think the answer is Vice President Pence's solution: Never be alone with a woman not your wife?
If women are going to have an equal seat at the table they have to be taken seriously. They cannot be seen as potential liabilities. Assault is criminal. Bad manners is not.
5
I, like some others who have written in today’s comments, am troubled with the claims of being uncomfortable with touching. Frankly, this is weird. There is a vast difference between forced sexual contact and a kiss on the head. Any contact whatsoever will be viewed as inappropriate if this continues. No one, and I mean no one will be exempt. Let’s be realistic and not make mountains out of molehills. It degrades the real issues facing women today.
Biden has been a touchy person for much of his life. That is his style. He needs to back off. Not everyone is open to his touchiness. Done. Move on. He didn’t force himself on anyone.
Personally, I don’t even want cheek or air kissing. Just shake my hand a leave it at that.
6
Perhaps we should subject all the Democratic candidates to the same thing Biden is going through now, dig deep and find something, anything, to shame and ridicule all of them through the national media. Why? Because that's what it takes to be a leader in America. Let's subject them all to the same treatment and see who is best able to weather the abuse, because that'll be the person most suitable to lead America today. If it's true that we get the leaders we deserve, I understand much better how Trump became our president. Why can't we make our elections about the issues? As much as I dislike Trump, the man has got a point when he talks about fake news.
I quit the Republican Party when Trump won nomination. The present Democratic Party field is either out of touch with reality (e.g. Bernie), overtly pandering to non white male idenity groups (all the others) or terminally inexperienced ( all the others) or all of the above. Joe Biden has shown true growth over the years, is the only one capable of dealing with congress and dealing with foreign leaders through knowledge and experience, is moderate, and likable (not lovable). And he can beat Trump!! Run Joe, run!!
3
Well, I do hope he runs. And I'll bet Obama is kicking himself for not having urged Biden to run in 2016. Joe would have kicked Trump's behind. Instead, a chorus of people like Gail Collins made Hillary "inevitable." Considering how that turned out, we should stop paying attention to them. Run, Joe, run!
2
Biden is not the anti-Trump antidote, he’s the anti-Sanders Hail Mary! Good luck with that! With Trump it was hearsay. With Biden we got visual evidence of his wrongdoing. Ignorance of social norms is not an excuse.
I hope Joe Biden doesn't run. Obviously he's far from perfect. But I, like many Americans still think of him as a nice, if not great, guy. He's got some generational issues to brush up on. But, all of the currently known accusers have said his actions made them "uncomfortable." None have suggested anything worse than that. If you've ever watched C-Span when new Senators are sworn in, the ceremony that Biden conducted for each newly-elected member was something he clearly enjoyed.
Joe would greet husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents and grand-parents and grand children regardless of political party in a genuine attempt to help each family enjoy their big day.
Are we blowing this out of proportion? The Virginia governor with the black-face and klan photo is still in office. I was struck by recent interviews of Klobuchar and Gillibrand who, when asked whether Biden should run for President, responded with "that's for him to decide." That's about as good an example of weasel talk you'll find. If you're running for President and can't tell us whether Biden's discomforting conduct warrants a "no run" decision it's a tad too convenient to pass the buck to the "offending" party.
Where were all the people now questioning Biden when George W. Bush was giving Angela Merkel a very public shoulder massage? The ultimate irony is that the "Grabber In Chief" Trump sits as President because he doesn't care what people think. Biden clearly does.
He did nothing wrong and whether you like it or not he’s our best chance to get rid of Trump, precisely because he does not take extreme leftist positions.
3
Can we just stop already? There is a massive difference between sexual harassment and touching someone. I have had the pleasure of spending time with Joe Biden. He touches you when he tells a story. He slaps you on the back when laughing at a joke.
Frankly, I welcome that kind of interaction. It’s humanizing.
Context matters. Intent matters. That two people out of the thousands and thousands of people he has met had an issue with Joe pretty much shows that the vast majority of people he has met, saw that he was being friendly and approachable.
Lord knows we could use some humanity in the White House.
Now, please, stop beating this dead horse.
5
I'm tired of the Democrats-are-eating-their-own-so-leave-Biden-alone argument.
These are the primaries folks. The whole point is to vet the candidates and pick one. Only one.
Joe Biden is not entitled to glide through them without criticism. No one is. Part of the anger at the Clinton candidacy was about entitlement. Ignore this problem at our collective peril.
Perceptions and realities of unfairness do far more to damage Democrats than airing strengths and weaknesses ever will. Yes, yes, Trump is an abomination. But the Democrats simply must have higher standards than the look-away types are asking for right now.
3
oe Biden and Bill Clinton have something in common. For Bill, it was the dress and then the lie, " I did not have sexual relations with that woman." For Joe, it is whole photo book of pictures of him doing all sorts things that demonstrate the actions his accusers are saying he did. followed by Joe declaring, “Not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately.” That is a person that believes he is entitled to touch, rub noses, snuggle their hair, hug etc., and they will accept everything with glee. Joe is all about himself. He bragged shortly after the election that he would have won. In the Senate, during his committee questioning, he spent most of his time with sentences filled with "I" or "Me." The reason most of the Democrats are excusing him is not because of a love-fest. It is, even though there are a lot of candidates, they don't think any of them can beat Trump. So, they cling to Good Old Joe. He represents the past they yearn for. But this group of candidates may not win but they are vocal and don’t hold back. The chances are they will tear him to shreds in the debates.
1
Enough, already! Let Biden run and let the people decide.
3
Democrats need to focus on State house races, the Senate and House of Representatives. Take care of that, and Trump is irrelevant. All this talk of "handing the election to Trump" is silly: there hasn't even been a primary or primary debate yet. Patience.
1
Would someone please define what constitutes a proper personal space. How close can a man get to a woman without committing offense and what body parts can one touch, if any? Some say a handshake is OK but shaking hands is dangerous because of the risk of spreading germs. Perhaps we should do as the Japanese do and just bow.
3
I love Joe Biden, and I also want him to be the candidate for 2020. He has the knowledge, the experience, the temperament, the plainspokeness, and the cross party appeal that's critical to win—and nothing is more important than beating Donald Trump. Nothing.
Those who wish to vet their ideal candidate based on their lack of a history of mistakes will get what they asked for: inexperience, and PC positions guaranteed to alienate crossover voters. Enjoy another 4 years of kleptocracy brought to you by your own high idealism...
2
Biden, Sanders and Warren should cede the ground to younger candidates. Each can be a powerful force in the Senate, but I don’t believe any of them would handle Trump any better than Clinton did. With his considerable resume of accomplishments, calm intelligence, decency, and verbal prowess/ability to think on his feet, Pete Buttegieg is a far more powerful candidate and winner.
10
I wonder how the next generations of politicians will succeed in making believe they have changed, that they really believe that women are no servants to them.
“See, this is the reason people keep saying they love Joe Biden. Right before they say they hope he doesn’t run for president.”
Nice guy, decades of political service, but not a viable Democratic challenger for the Presidency — period.
Concurrently, the DNC needs something other than a too far left ranter who promises an agenda that will have no practical chance of coming to political fruition and will only guarantee the alienation of the temperate middle whether Red or Blue.
The Democratic filed promises a hard slog to sort out the right candidate and the right message. They need to get seriously on with the task at hand.
4
“ … so the idea that I can’t adjust to the fact that personal space is important, more important than it’s ever been, is just not thinkable. I will. I will.” Actually, Joe, a woman's personal space isn't more important now than it's ever been. For women, the invasion of their personal space has always been important and they've had to learn how to cope with it and still maintain their own integrity, sometimes so as not to make a scene, sometimes because a job they really needed required that they "be nice." The only difference is that now we have the support to call you out for invading our personal space .
4
There are at least a few democratic presidential candidates who I think would do a better job than Biden, Kamala Harris chief among them. However, it might be that Biden offers the best chance at beating Trump in the 2020 general election. It's not hard to imagine Biden winning Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, thus pushing electoral votes over the top. It's much harder to envision Harris, Sanders, Beto, Warren, or even Minnesota's Klobuchar accomplishing this same feat. Is perfection the enemy of progress in this case?
6
@Northern Sole Ah, yes, relying on the ol' lesser of two evils approach to winning those states. But, really a good way to suppress voter turnout.
1
@Moses Khaet
Sorry, but that's reality. Warren, Harris, and the others are too left. That part of the country is simply not as progressive. You have to do the math.
1
It's important to keep pointing out that the reason Biden and Sanders are currently leading in the polls is more about name recognition than any actual chance that either of them could ever be elected President of the United States.
5
But you're right... neither is a woman or minority and those attributes will surely come to the fore when it really matters.
...and both have served with distinction in the United States Senate...
It is striking to me that, with all the diverse talent in the Democratic field this time around, the four who have floated to the top in the polls are all white men. This probably reflects biases we have on who is the most electable.
I would love to see Kamala up on a debate stage with Donald Trump.
1
WOW, the Dems must be really scared of Biden.
You do not pay this much attention to one candidate, unless you fear that he/she is a strong contender.
Of course, the other candidates are not going to just come out and say so, that would be embarrassing if he were to get the nomination.
So you have the dems coming out of every hole.
Not only is he old, actually VERY OLDE, but he was only a vice-president and a senator, not a real contender.
He abused Anita Hill thirty years ago, when the other candidates were in middle school.
Of course, being the senator from California or New Jersey or New Hampshire or Minnesota or New York, gives you more national and global experience than being a vice president for 8 years in addition to being a senator for more than 30 years.
3
I love Joe Biden. He has 40 years of experience and knowledge. America needs a person to step in and repair all of the damage that trump has damaged/destroyed in just 2 years. I shudder to think about what he will damage for the next two years.
He can beat trump. I believe that if the Democrats insist on running the New Green Deal, favored by many of the candidates, we will have 4 more years of trump. America cannot withstand this.
6
@KLM
Pres. Trump has destroyed a lot of joblessness and despair among poor workers. Our enemies overseas are also seething at the success of the United States.
Are these the things you regret seeing this President do?
I admire and respect Mr. Biden. Ditto Bernie Sanders. But I don't want either of them to be President--and yes, I know either would be a vast improvement on the current occupant of the White House. The thing is, Biden and Sanders have both been in politics, in seats of power, in the spotlight for decades and decades (I've been around long enough to follow their respective careers for most of that time). They've had their turn. Now it's time to give way to the younger set, several of whom seem to have the right stuff.
6
As a woman who's suffered her share of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, I have a couple of questions. 1) If Biden's actions were so unsettling to Ms. Flores, why did she wait 5 years to speak up? Like, immediately after the campaign appearance, couldn't she have quietly mentioned to Biden that his actions made her really uncomfortable? And 2) why did she feel it necessary to speak out in such a public manner, rather that addressing the issue directly with Biden? If such attempts proved unproductive, then going public would seem more reasonable. As it stands, this just looks to me like a big publicity stunt, and too many people feel obligated to play along.
Circling back to Ms. Collins' point - I like Joe, but I don't think I'd vote for him.
10
Joe is too conservative. He's a lovely guy and there is no one better at expressing grief and loss and comfort after a tragedy. He knows.
But his role should be as a mentor and senior adviser to younger candidates who will certainly make a lot of mistakes without the guidance of such experience.
He also makes a good cheerleader. Nobody better.
As for the other stuff, a lot of people are too close to the situation.
3
After reading the comments, my opinion on Joe Biden has matured without really changing.
Even detractors aren't trying to sideline Joe entirely. He has his talents. However, I think Democrats need to accept he is not front-line, top-of-the-ticket material. Joe Biden is not going to be President of the United States. The sooner Democrats come to terms with this reality, the better off we'll all be.
Democrats should start planning how to let his supporters down gently. Democrats should start planning how to utilize Joe in ways that help the ticket. We don't need people feeling resentful or left out again. Joe Biden is not the guy though. You're handing Trump four more years.
5
After reading some of the comments here and elsewhere, I’ve come to this conclusion...there are a lot more flawless people in this country than I had thought.
Oh, I’m not one of them.
11
Joe Biden is a great guy and has a real role to play as ELDER STATESMAN. Women were the big story in 2018 not old white men. Our time has gone and we need new voices and particularly higher pitched voices in government. There is a real opportunity to bring the 50% of voices not heard in the Oval Office before into it now. We need that 50% more then ever. It is time to have a Title IX President.
4
Please make this media frenzy surrounding Biden's non-sexual intrusions into women's personal space stop! Folks, we have a proud sexual predator occupying the White House. This reminds me of 2016, when the media gave equal time given to Hillary's transgressions (of which there were many bad ones) and Trump's (of which there were far more, far worse ones). Who needs Fox News when we have the so-called "liberal media"?
19
There is no "laughable and loveable" with a dirty old man. Biden go home!
2
Say it's no go, Joe.
Love ya, man, but, still...
2
I guess I am wondering if the time has come at last....are we really , truely 100% past the Biden type of guy. Or do we need another election cycle to complete the journey. It's like your dad passing away....he creeped out all his daughter's girlfriends for all those years. And so the services will be held in private at the convenience of the family to avoid having an awkward wake where the greeting line is all "He was a hard working, family man" and in the back of the room "He just couldn't keep his hands off me". If we view it from a political perspective....I guess I am wondering if we have finally reached a point where it's time for a woman to be president. And if the VP is a man, he has to be a eunuch. Unless, of course, it's Ivanka who gets elected. Because she will ignore that rule. Because Jared isn't interested in touching other women. Just their money.
1
When did avuncular get put on the sexual predator's list?
Biden--even dopey--would be perfect as Secretary of State. (So much damage there.)
We are going to need a Pied Piper to get rid of the rats. Mayor Pete, presently, seems right for the demographics.
3
“first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." - goofy? you call that goofy? really?
wow, we are going to have lump you in with out of touch Biden.
3
"And thrashing around in the controversy over his longstanding habit of affectionately putting his hands all over women he meets."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As usual, the Times leaves out that it's not just women but also, and frequently, little girls who get the wandering-hands treatment from Biden. Just search YouTube for the "Creepy Uncle Joe" montages.
1
@Ed
Also leaving out that he's just as affectionate with men, but in a more male-to-male way. I've watched some creepy Uncle Joe videos - 95% of the clips come across as warm and make me smile. The others are body boundaries violations, not predation.
2
Oh goodie - another chance to clarify that remark about Obama. Go listen to it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeVkN4UIWiA
He's in the hallway with a reporter. Here's how it goes
Biden: I mean, you've got the first ... sort of ... mainstream African American ...
Reporter: yeah
Biden: " ... who is articulate ... and bright ... and clean ... and nice looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Yes, there were Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and bless them for running. But now there was someone who was a state senator and a US senator, the first black who had office experience and national exposure as a rising player, someone who could play the game Mainstream, which meant a realistic chance.
So after the reporter says yeah, he picks it up with what clearly could be reworded as " and he's articulate .... " etc.
If you listen and don't hear it that way then I don't know what to say. He was simply being Biden - saying what he thinks about someone who is a rival. Who these days would say a rival is someone amazing.
It was in no way a backhanded compliment, no kind of put down about a black man being clean and bright.
But things being as they are these days, it stuck and he couldnt shake it.
4
You're trying to hard to defend the indefensible! Biden's remarks made us wince at the time and it still does!
Keep in mind that he has a history of bigoted views and votes, including backing the excessively harsh, blacks as “super predator” legislation under Clinton.
His stances on women's issues have been problematic, too,
He needs to stay home. He should have listened to his son, Beau, and run against Hillary. He might be president today if he had. But now, his time is past!
1
Biden won’t be an effective campaigner until he learns to lie, spew venom, insult his betters, prove his ignorance to the ignorant and show his manhood by having sex with a porn actress. Just being an over compassionate fellow who occasionally apologies for his gaffs and mistakes doesn’t make it in the United States anymore, if it ever did.
4
"He didn’t mean it the way it sounded"
a rallying cry for every white person that does not think they are racist.
7
Joe Biden is creepy. Mayor Pete is normal?
Dear Joe Biden: don’t do anything to a woman that you wouldn’t want Clarence’s Thomas to do to you. That is all.
1
Biden is tiresome.
3
Wise Proverb:
There is NO fool like an old fool!
Please Biden find somebody to support for
a winning presidential ticket! Your time has come and gone .
Be Wise not Wishful!
7
Boy, someone with clout does Not want Joe running for president. People are up in arms for his ‘touchy-feely’, out of date style compared to a man who paid off two women to keep their silence about affairs, encourages supporters to attack reporters, gives security clearances to relatives with questionable foreign contacts, has talked about how “hot” his daughter is on national radio, and cheats brazenly on the golf course, while bragging about his handicap? We have turned the corner so fast from a country with standards to a mob of braying jerks, it’s hard to know who we really are; brexit Britain, pre-Nazi Germany or Berlusconi Italy? But Joe isn’t presidential material....
4
Biden can't beat Trump; it just isn't in his DNA -- or the DNA of any Democrat for that matter - to run on racism. Therefore, they are dead before the race begins.
While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
Biden's vile treatment of Anita Hill, kowtowing to his Republican buddies who wanted Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS is enough reason to skip all the Saint Joe detritus. It also was enough for the Democratic Party to skip over him in 2008, but it got away with that scam. Shame on the DNC and the raw opportunist Obama, who finally found his missing 2008/2012 honesty by not supporting Biden in 2016.
Between Gail Collins and Rebecca Traister, the story on Biden is told in full and, most importantly, in fact, for those who have ignored or never knew the facts. The Uncle Joe apologists + misogynists, which includes still far too many women, need to step back. THEY are the ones pushing Biden, as he opportunistically waits for more of that fan cabal to genuflect. Don't. Just don't. Otherwise, Democrats - and the nation - will not stand a chance in 2020.
Biden was always barely a Democrat, often a full bore anti-abortion, anti-poor racist. That doesn't go away just because the Obama Team manipulated the religious white older male Democrat base in 2008 in order to get the inexperienced black guy hired...pretending he was under the guidance of Biden. We all have a history, his is awful. Biden's been lucky over his 45 years parked on the taxpayer dime, same as Bernie. Gail didn't have much op-ed space, but Traister outlines truths on opportunist, narcissist ol' hair plug handsy Joe.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/joe-biden-isnt-the-answer-for-president-in-2020.html
5
@Maggie He typifies what became of the once great Democratic party. Large donors mattered more than human rights in the 1980 and 1990's.
After watching the Anita Hill hearings, I wouldn't trust Biden to pick any female candidate, mush less himself.
4
Go Joe. I hope he runs the dems need a level head and his experience is sorely needed. Too bad about the Haphephobia’s and the nations turn to old prune lady syndrome. Touch is a human need...ummm what’s that tell ya? Anyway Joe is a regular guy and a man who’s cares. Don’t fear his candidacy embrace it this is America , at least respect his space to run!
2
In 2008 I had Biden ahead of Obama at the beginning of the primary. The more I heard Obama the more their places in my heart switched.
I think Joe should be honored with something like Vice President Emeritus; he was really great in the Veep role.
In my opinion he needs to accept his role as an elder statesman in our society and leave the heavy lifting to some younger people.
I say that as a 70 year old. Bernie too. Stay in the Senate and do some good there.
I have some small qualms about why these women are bringing this up now. It is going to be pretty easy for some people to not see that Biden is not being accused of harassment; and I wonder if there is any political motivation with these women.
Me Too# must not be seen as some posse of vigilantes out to emasculate men in general or it will lose some power and legitimacy.
3
Biden could make a good Secty. of State - if he's serious about revamping his touchy-feely penchant. Or perhaps some other Cabinet position. He ought not run for POTUS. I agree - he could win the nom. and lose the election. That would be catastrophic.
However, I much prefer candidates in their 40's -50's. We've got Nancy and Chuck representing the older generations. Let's move on - please ! - bring in younger leadership. They're capable - honestly ! Obama was a great age for POTUS.
1
Mr. Biden's career deserves respect. He was a strong VP and in his later terms in the Senate, he did work to overcome some of the issues and political missteps that had dogged his career. However, it's hard to put by the mistreatment of Anita Hill by his Judiciary Committee; all these years later, it still inspires anger. Then there's Biden's repeated questioning of a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. We can say his behavior reflects a different time or that he's expressing the mores of an older generation. And that may be true. But fundamental respect transcends generations. Mr. Biden may have intended to empower women, but he didn't always use his power to serve that goal.
Here are the facts:
1. No one denies Biden put his hand on the woman's shoulder during a campaign event (although I've seen no video of this, and it took place in a public space).
2. No one claims anything Biden did was unlawful, constituted harassment, etc.; yet there is consensus it was "inappropriate," and Biden apparently agrees because he is now apologizing.
3. The accuser says she felt "uncomfortable."
Of interest, no one has questioned this last "fact." It is simply what she is saying today, and there is absolutely no way to know her state of mind back then (or at any time).
The "proof" of what she was feeling is apparently that she didn't report it when it happened. Since women in the past have been afraid to report such things, this alone "proves" what her inner thoughts were at the time.
We are not allowed to question whether she would have any motivation to bring down a male front-runner to help her sisters.
At a minimum, it would be interesting to know how many people Lucy Flores hugged when she was running for office in Nevada in 2014, and whether she made any of them feel "uncomfortable." Did she kiss any babies, and does she owe those families an apology?
There's an old axiom that "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
The new version is that "Absence of evidence is evidence."
The sad fact: fluff issues like this are hot button items to the New Left that outweigh a candidate's position on the real issues.
3
Imagine if it was Klobuchar, Harris or Warren who had a habit of coming up to men and squeezing their shoulders, kissing the tops of their heads or touching them? Sorry, it is reflective of a male power play by Old Biden and his time is over.
5
I say, "Run, Joe, run," and let the primary process do what it is supposed to do.
In debates Biden would shake out the weak candidates. He would mop the floor with Beta O'Rourke.
There is an issue that, so far, has gone unmentioned. The next president, among other things, is going to have to sit down and play some serious stud poker with Vladimir Putin. I see two Democrats up to the task; Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden. (Hillary Clinton would have been best. Putin did a good job shooting her down.)
5
Biden's "affectionate" man-handling is disqualifying, but it's his cluelessness on the issue that is almost more troubling. How about Dr. Jill Biden? Let's get her to run!
3
Et tu Brute, can't resist taking shot at the guy. You're contributing to this insanity - most disappointing.
1
Really ? It looks like no matter what he does you will look for the negative in it. Running out of things to write about?
3
We all await breathlessly a Biden dossier, that is those of us seeking new stand-up material.
1
I hope Joe Biden does not run for President. It's time for him to bow out.
3
Spot on, Gail. Thank you.
1
Anyone who watches any of the video montages of Uncle Joe touching women and young girls and cracking to them that they can't date until they are 30 and then reads about him sniffing womens' hair and can't admit that he's an incredible creep who knew he was acting inappropriately forever is deluding themselves. The fact that he's liberal and supportive of women is irrelevant. Many liberal college professors were also regularly sleeping with their students. Can we try to get real about this stuff and have an honest conversation about it? Many guys are creeps, need to knock it off and part of the solution is women not tolerating it.
3
"...whenever Biden has tried to run for president, things didn't go well." Like in 2016 when he decided not to run because his son was dying of brain cancer? And if he was the Democrat nominee who do you think would be in the White House today sparing us our current national nightmare? Sure Biden is tactile, but anyone familiar with him knows he hugs men just as often as he does women. There are many tragedies in the world today but I find two particularly painful. The first is the Democrats and their supporters rapidly putting together a circular firing squad and the second being that the usually hilarious Gail Collins is sadly more and more often well off her game.
3
@John J.
Or like in 1987 or 2007, when he did launch presidential campaigns. Would you have voted for Biden in those years, or for the republican?
[Using "Democrat" as an adjective is a tell.]
1
Say it ain't so, Joe. You couldn't say I'm sorry, such a simple thing that would have put you in a class by yourself??? Why? Could you be just another calculating pol that miscalculated this time?
In my book, you're on a time out - for life.
4
Someone is behind this orchestrated move , who that could be ?
My compass is pointing toward another 70 something man , perhaps not directly involved but from his camp.
Gail you are one of my favorite commentator but this is not a funny moment at all. Biden was never my choice but is a good man and gone through enormous amount of tragedy in life yet each time got himself up and will do it again..
This nonsense has to stop , trump has already started making fun of Biden, please don`t eat your own and allow others to do so.
Pete Pete Buttigieg in my man, second Kamala Harris , third Al Franken.
Oh wait they all threw Franken him under the bus. !
3
Do you kiss men on the lips or the neck on meeting in public? Then don't do that to women.
And for God's sake don't put your hands on minors, in public or in private. That is beyond creepy.
5
I have always found "Uncle Joe" creepy and not very bright. Remember, even Obama was hesitant to select him as VP because he had a habit of saying whatever came to mind in the moment. Remind you of any one?
2
Frank Luntz is so wrong when he says, “What used to be seen as a demonstration of endearment is now seen as invasion of space.” The truth is, it's always been an invasion of space, but men like Luntz and Biden and millions of others did what they did because they could. Because they were men who felt they had the right to touch anyone they wanted. Because it never occurred to them that women wouldn't want to be pawed and nuzzled and kissed. Isn't that what women are for? Even when the woman is the German Chancellor? Just once, I'd love to see a woman turn around and slap the face of the next guy to touch her without consent. I wish it would have been Merkel.
Biden still doesn't get it. He acts like it's no big deal, but if everybody is going to make it one, then he'll go along and rein it in. But, it's clear he doesn't understand why. I don't love goofy Biden and I don't want him to run for president. I'm not in the fan club. He's a creep.
5
Biden is over before he starts at this point. The Dems are now the party of Shame. Trump the party of Shameless. Voters will line up for either virtue or vice. We do live in the US of RHOBH after all.
1
Well, Gail, we could have a "touching" plank in the Democratic National platform in 2020. The Dem presidential candidate could just tell the voters in the swing states that the economy under trump is so strong that they can now start worrying about touching. We'll see how far *that* goes in an election.
And, let us not forget that Hillary lost to a lying, adulterous, egomaniacal fascist lunatic in those Electoral College swing states. So trump's *adultery* has already been vetted by the swing voter; forget about touching. But Dems could continue to beat themselves up over touching. The self-flagellation in the Party is a bit Iranian.
We're in the early, pre-primary season. The large number of candidates that there are have to kill each other off. What I call the "Rove Effect" still holds: anyone with a position gives primary voters cold feet, and the candidate with no particular position on anything is the one left standing. This would be the "Romney Effect". Mistreating a dog is optional. The exception to this is Bernie Sanders who comes with a list; you can check his list to see what he's accomplished if he becomes president. And he comes with a lot of supporters.
With Biden we've discovered that we are not a touching culture. But evidently trump and his supporting Fox Noise have made us an *insulting* culture, if we don't elect someone else in 2020.
Donald Trump is a misogynist. Joe Biden is not a misogynist.
Biden needs to consider the Trump playbook. Trump deflects problems (like misogyny) and then moves on to the next crisis (that he creates). The political landscape has changed, and Trump has fundamentally changed it.
Gaffes? Social norms? Like water off a duck's back, for Trump. Are you patching in to that, Joe?
It is not about what Biden has done in the past. It about how he deals with it now. If his past - and present - continue to trip him up, then he will lose. And he is 76 years old. If he hasn't learned by now, he never will. And he will lose ... again.
Trump's approval rating currently stands at 42%. He only needed 46% of voters to win in 2016.
It's now or never, Joe Biden. It's now or never, Democrats.
1
This criticism of Biden omits that there are some women/people who want a pat on the back. Look at Stephanie Carter. Her picture was used as purported proof that Joe Biden is handsy and creepy, and then she said that his physical show of support had been welcome.
These anti-Biden women whining about one incident years after the fact to try to destroy a man's political career -- after admitting that it wasn't sexual -- are doing more harm than good for women in the work place.
In fact, they're making Mike Pence look sane. When I heard Pence refused to have dinner with female colleagues without his wife present I was outraged. I have dinner with male colleagues alone traveling for work and we talk about work. That kind of paranoid attitude about women hurts women's careers.
Well, these women popping up whining about something so trivial the man can't even remember it -- they are creating a hostile work environment. They are giving men every reason to not give women equal opportunities--for their own self preservation.
And who gives these women the right to say that just because they are too precious to be touched, everyone else has to live by their rules?
4
Well-said, Gail. It's those "jerks" out there that need constant reminders about their behavior we really need to worry about.
It's really difficult finding candidates who, at one time or another, have been "jerks" on one issue or another, from leaving the family dog on the roof of a car, or in appropriate groping a member of the opposite sex.
I think we are finally getting to the point where we can say no one should run for president. We all need a respite.
1
he's too old, he's teased us too long and he was wrong back in the day. no matter how much sympathy you have for all his tragedy, hang it UP! biden. you are almost 80! forget about it. move over.
and take bernie with you.
4
I never thought I would live in an America where debates about Presidential candidates focused on the manner in which they interacted with members of the opposite or, for that matter, the same sex. The Biden furor is even more shocking since pundits think his conduct should preclude him from running against someone who had affairs with a porn star and Playboy model, paid for their silence, admitted to grabbing women's private parts and repeatedly confirms a misogynistic attitude toward the opposite sex! Why aren't we discussing candidates views on immigration, foreign policy, taxation, the wealth gap, racism, LGBTQ rights, abortion, the environment and the myriad of other issues that should concern voters? What has happened to the American people? Why does the Times continue to write about this nonsense?
3
I hired plenty of women in my home renovation business.
The rule for me and everyone in my outfit was the same: Keep your hands to yourself or you will be fired. The work is hard enough without having to worry about being molested. I would have fired Biden, even if he was a good worker and I liked him.
4
The Iraq war is one of the biggest disasters in the history of American foreign policy. Five thousand Americans dead, thirty thousand wounded, some where between a half million and a million dead Iraqis and trillions of dollars wasted that good have helped so many people have better lives. Joe Biden voted for that war. It was the most important vote of his entire career and he got it wrong. You want a reason not to vote for Joe Biden there it is, not his wanting to smell your hair and rub noises with you. Sometimes liberals are the silliest people alive and yes I'm a Liberal.God help us
6
Ill take a competent well-meaning creepy uncle over a serial liar and failed businessman any day of the week, now and until the heat death of the universe.
2
Oh come on people get a grip, are we so binary now that the choice of "proper conduct" is only between Joe
Biden's "press the flesh" style and Mike Pence's "never be in a room with a women who isn't Mommy?" ... I'd take the humanity of Biden over the cold, Calvinist, Pence any day.
4
Keep you hands to yourself and be professional. It is not that hard to do. Gauge people’s body language and ask for consent.
Joe has got to go! His behavior, even if asexual, demonstrates bad judgement about women. Unfortunately he objectifies women.
3
With all this ridiculous snowflake worthy self criticism, I hope you enjoy Trump's second term. He will surely skate through as the Democrats hand wring themselves to death.
3
Social norms are not changing -- vs Biden's "tweet." It is exactly the underlying & persisting ethic of proper social behavior that Biden violated repeatedly. Some of his actions were clearly intended to throw critics off but anyone who doesn't understand that these female interactions were sexual on his part doesn't understand male sexuality.
That some of the women forgive him -- they're gracious & tolerant. That several women speak of feeling uncomfortable at his actions means that they are speaking truthfully in a difficult public matter. (Most recent for me: his hand on the shoulder then sliding down her back! Oy veh.)
1
Just say no, Joe. And, No Joe 2020....
The Dems had better come up with an acceptable candidate in 2020, or this abomination, presently in office, will inflict 4 more years of chaotic rule on this nation, by default.
God forbid.
Biden is a lech who has accosted multiple women with his unwanted touching, sniffing and invasion of their personal space. Now he is trying to rewrite his history in the Anita Hill hearings. Besides that, he is proven plagiarist. This man is over the hill. He should relegate himself to the dustbin of history.
2
I have informed everyone I know, wish I knew, and/or glad I don't know, at a time in the future of my sole discretion, I reserve the right to report them to the proper authorities [see CFR 1206.29a], for any or all of the following violations. 1. Sniffing my hair while giving me some sort of hug (asexual, non-sexual, or TBD); 2. Making any gesture such as lifting an eyebrow within my eyesight, thereby invading my fluid personal space and 3.Dodon't presume you can sneak one by me regardless of gender, or any other possible immutable or mutable known or unknown characteristic, aka "The Warning Shot Across The Bow" clause.
If women acted more like men and men acted more like women we wouldn’t be in this mess. We wouldn’t reproduce and our toxic species would vanish from earth in abt. 111 years, saving earth. The ultra-right winged would enjoy plummeting taxes, tiny government which would vanish in a century; all may take their gold, offshore accts., yachts with them after they die. Bonus: abortion would end, in the same way the pterodactyl pro-life cause ended. The tree-hugging environmentalists to dust, happy that man-made climate change would be dead in its tracks and our planet would return to its pristine state within 150 years (Vietnam will require 350 years). The ecoterrorist bonus: all wars would end.
@jerrys
I am sure you are not a liar, but you voted for one.
Biden will accomplish the identical political result as Hiliary did. He will unite the Republican Party.
Build the wall!
The so called communist country (Soviet Union) was taken over by right-wing gangsters who learned their tactics from the Capitalists.
Precisely!
Biden's high in the polls before he declares will become his low as soon as he declares--the trajectory of Ted Kennedy now 40 years ago.
I am fine with that. I am not fine with women making allegations about what were once acts of social indifference, particularly potentially rival women candidates in the Senate, exploiting the allegations suitably made to their political advantage at just this time.
(https://firstimpressionssecondthoughts.blogspot.com/2019/04/do-women-want-to-be-regarded-and.html)
2
Please, Please, let it go! Okay, maybe he shouldn't be president but clearly not because he is warm and affectionate. If we don't start allowing for the culture's influence on our behavior, and its evolving nature, we are doomed. FYI touch (yea, yea, I know, appropriate touch, whatever that is right now?) is wonderful. One of the five traditional senses it has cultural and clinical benefits like boosting your immune system or lowering your blood pressure. Maybe Gail King is right. We should all just walk around like we have colds! Sad.
2
I was never going to vote for Biden if he ran. Now, I hope and pray he doesn't run. All the dems need now is a candidate with baggage like this. Of course, the debate between Trump and Biden could provide SNL with material for a perfect Cold Opening...
Biden voted for the Iraq war and the repeal of Glass-Steagall, so his handsiness isn't really the hot issue here. Far from being a hit job, this angle understates the problems with Biden.
Also, this business about the Democrats not eating their own? There are many candidates, and people should be able to discuss their relative merits freely. Of course they are ALL better than Trump, and a smarter campaign plan than Hillary followed should be the end of Agent Orange.
2
Enough already Joe! We love you but you should not run for president.
1
This is the best news in months for the Dems, no October surprise.
Trashing D candidates is par for the course for the GOP. But, this round seems to go deeper with D's trashing each other. Out of the blue several women tell us that Biden 'touched' them inappropriately. Maybe so, I wasn't there. It is the timing though. Biden is, by all accounts, a warm, affectionate man.
It looks as it, in scheme of things here, that Biden is currently at the top of the perch. Lucy Flores, a Bernie supported, was the first to claim abuse. Then she says she would still vote for Biden if he is the man. Now, could all the women claiming such abuse be Bernie supporters? One has to wonder.
Who can pull a decent govt together should be our main concern in view of what we currently enduring. The rest of the field are showing some troubling tendencies. Harris and Warren "believe the women" when they claim abusive touching. Why? Cause he is the front runner? Bannon supports Bernie and Gabbard. Why?
Now the D's are fragmenting as all the proper buttons are being pushed. Deja Vu all over again. Who has the presence to stay above the Frey? Pete B? He essentially called Trump a 'visionary' and Hillary as a stupid campaigner.
I am at a loss this morning. Will try to regroup.
Many posters, in various articles, cite Biden's age as disqualifying. There don't seem to be as many who cite Bernie's age as disqualifying. Why?
1
@dba It's a good question because Sanders shows all the signs of decline that make voting for an almost 80 year old a bad choice. He is extremely repetitive and his mind is not very flexible. He struggles to handle ideas that are new or stray too far off his very very narrow talking points. When asked a question that is difficult, he usually can't get past the surface of the question and has to resort to uttering slogans. He has no business running for President of the United States.
1
Biden, a life-long politician, cannot seem to grasp that he is politically DOA.
3
Mr. Biden is only 3 and 1/2 years older than Mr. Trump is.
Mr. Biden is not too old to be president. And Mr. Biden’s integrity and policies are better than Mr. Trump’s is. Also, Mr. Biden does not whip up hate like Mr. Trump does.
3
Joe is far from my first choice, even without the current breathless headlines.
If he made people uncomfortable, that's a bad thing. Absolutely.
But Pelosi hugs and kisses her male colleagues.
So does HRC.
Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC pats her male guests on the hand and calls them "sweetie."
Where's the outrage?
3
The fact that he was against busing does it for me. Or that he helped pass legislation making it easier for credit card companies to exploit us. Or boosted, like many in Congress, an endless series of military appropriations bills while studiously avoiding backing legislation that would have helped working people.
The Anita Hill hearings made pretty clear where Joe Biden stood with women. Not on the side of cutting-edge feminism, you can be sure. And his comments about Obama being a nice, clean African American gentlemen spoke volumes, too.
He'll embarrass himself a little more, and a little more, and a little more, then fact permanently from memory. He's gone from vaguely avunculur to the uncle you keep your daughters away from. Deservedly.
5
@Matthew
"fade"; Times needs to get with the times and install an edit function!
1
If we learned anything in 2008, 2012 and 2016 (which it seems the Democrats did not) it is that people do not want old-news, has-been candidates with skeletons in their closets. That, and not-being-Donald-Trump is not going to get someone elected. Thanks for your “service”, Joe.
2
Joe Biden: The Gouverneur Morris of our Day.
An often repeated story from back then from an 1861 history:
It is related of the Honorable Gouverneur Morris, who was remarkable for his freedom of deportment toward his friends, that on one occasion he offered a wager that he could treat General [George] Washington with the same familiarity as he did others. This challenge was accepted, and the performance tried. Mr. Morris slapped Washington familiarly on the shoulder, and said, “How are you, this morning, general?” Washington made no reply, but turned his eyes upon Mr. Morris with a glance that fairly withered him. He afterward acknowledged, that nothing could induce him to attempt the same thing again.
http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2015/04/did-gouverneur-morris-slap-washington.html
In Saudi Arabia, ultra conservative "religious police" stroll around with sticks in their hands thrashing anyone who they decide has stepped outside the strict boundaries of their beliefs.
In America, we do it with #metoo and gotcha media.
The world would be a much better place if we all hugged one another and got over this persnickety nonsense.
5
Forgive Biden's inability to "get" how inappropriate it is to approach women from behind, sniff their hair and plant a kiss on the back of her head. It's creepy, and it always has been, but because that's just Joe, let it pass.
Forgive him when he says silly, inappropriate things at the wrong time.
Hold your nose when Joe wants to take away women's right to choose because of HIS religious 'beliefs', that's just Joe being Joe.
Forget Anita Hill and Joe's clueless, obnoxious behavior. That's in the past, though we've been saddled with big zero justice Thomas ever since, but that's okay, Joe.
Yeah, just as in the past, we should give Joe a pass for being a bit dim sometimes and doing the wrong thing at others. He's just a guy being a guy, right? Boys will be, etc.
But we shouldn't nominate him for president and put him up against the GOP piranhas who will grind him up on the off-chance that Trump's base will fall all over themselves to vote for Joe.
We already have a dumb, insensitive, egocentric, older guy in the White House now. Biden's not nuts as Trump, and like everybody else in the whole world, is a lot smarter than Trump, and his heart is probably in the right place, but Joe is too little too late.
He really doesn't 'get it'.
2
The Access Hollywood Bus livecam as a backdrop to the “I get it” makes a perfect foil. Morays and norms change over time. What was ok 10-15-30 years ago is no longer kosher.
However, “The grab e’m by the” is still in the White House”. The one who never expresses remorse or takes responsibility for their actions.
Joe Biden should not be thrown under that bus.
2
Don't run, Joe. It will end the way your other presidential runs ended.
i don't love Joe. I don't love his hair-smelling fetish. I don't love his swimming in the nude in the presence of Secret Service officers. I don't love his corrupt pressuring of the Ukraine President to fire a prosecutor who was investigating a company that Biden's son worked for. I don't love Joe's divisiveness and racial condescension ("The Republicans want to put youall back in chains"). But I would love for Joe to be the Democrat opponent against Trump because I would love to see Joe lose.
1
The hypocritical nature of these comments are beyond belief: if you're a liberal Democrat and stand even a .01 percent chance at winning 1600, you're given a total pass. (Pun intended.) If looney Uncle Joe were a Republican and/or independent or member of any other party, he would be run out of town on the rails and given zero chance at running. Believe me, out here in flyover country, we see that double standard clearly.
2
Is it so hard to keep your hands to yourself? Don't adults do this? What am I missing?
1
I like Joe but he's too old.
Spot on. He’s too old and too dopey. The job is President - not Fraternity Social Chairman.
There are quite a number of opinion pieces today, especially in the Washington Post, about Joe Biden, his 'history' with Ms. Flores, and this is by far the most extraordinary in that the first 20 or so comments merely parrot the new meme of 'wondeful Biden shouldn't run'. Blake and Waldman don't think he 'actually apologized'. He apologized plenty given that he was expected to humiliate himself. Michelle Goldberg's column was doing this same number, so now Ms. Collins writes a totally unconvincing article, but I've not till now seen everybody fall in lockstep, and decide that this trope is tantamount to Policy Certain.
The column itself is totally gratuitous, just a summary of something that seems clever enough in the last few days. It is in every possible way unconvincing. Even Republican Kathleen Parker of WaPo wrote much better on this, but this is to be expected.
It really is only the #MeToo Movement that is befouling Biden, the other things may count for something later, but the subtext of this particularly hollow essay is still that he should do more than correct his behaviour to increasingly stupid norms, norms in which men like me would rather ask a woman for permission to touch her than ever actually want to touch her. Few American women paid attention to actual rape victim Masha Gessen who saw that degrees would not be respected in an Inquisition. Pelosi has been capable of a wise formulation that Biden can use, and his video was perfect as a result.
1
I am so sick of Joe Biden. I would not feel safe with someone who can't make a decision. In or out - make up your mind, guy. The famous three o'clock in the morning phone call? He wouldn't decide until four o'clock whether to answer. Meanwhile, the world would move on. It is time for him to move on. Obtuse about in dealing with women? He is obtuse about a lot of other things as well. Stay out of the race, Joe, and good riddance.
Of course we would be better with Joe as president instead of the current commander-in-cheat BUT...
Stay home Joe, Bernie, and Elizabeth. Use your following to support a new generation Democrat.
3
Bottom line, he is too old.
1
Everybody loves Joe Biden. But no one loves him enough to vote for him for President next year. No matter his odd videoed explanation of touchy-feely (after women came forward and said they had felt uncomfortable being touched by him). "Just the way he is" isn't the zeitgeist today. Trump never bothered to explain his "touchy-feelys" for women over the past decades, either, and he won the presidency last time.
Social norms are changing all over the world today. Look at two Democratic front-runners 17 months out from the 2020 Election: one is a brilliant gay married man, a Harvard alum, Rhodes Scholar, war veteran, beloved in Indiana -- 37 years old. The other is a 77 year old former Vice-President who ran for the presidency 3 times ('84, '88, and 2008) and lost. Maybe the 4rd time isn't the charm for Uncle Joe Biden.
The question, Gail Collins, is who can defeat Trump next year? Who can make him the one-term president that the Republicans vowed our 2 term President Barack Hussein Obama would be?
Someone is behind this orchestrated move , who that could be ?
My compass is pointing toward another candidate, perhaps not directly involved but from the persons camp.
Gail you are one of my favorite commentator but this is not a funny moment at all. Biden was never my choice but is a good man and gone through enormous amount of tragedy in life yet each time got himself up and will do it again..
This nonsense has to stop , trump has already started making fun of Biden, please don`t eat your own and allow others to do so.
Pete Pete Buttigieg in my man, second Kamala Harris , third Al Franken.
Oh wait they all threw Franken him under the bus. !
2
" ... look(s) fairly normal, all things considered ... " Not the most inspiring bumper sticker. " ... it’s very hard to hold your base if you aren’t giving that base a clear reason to vote FOR you ... " (Ross Douthat, NYTimes) I think Ms. Clinton showed that in the last election. She and her supporters believed that all Independent voters, such as myself, would vote for her to stop Mr. Trump. And thus they would forget about her negative points - taking major campaign donations from the wife of Mr. Rich, taking exorbitant "speaking fees" from Wall Street companies, etc. It did not work, and Mr. Biden probably should not count on the same strategy, given his baggage over decades.
1
The USA has a man as President who is long past it, both age and the truth department are against him. Please voters choose a person who is of an age that has had some life experience but not to much, who welcomes the new era that is required to make our world a viable habitat and who can have a vision of the future. One who has the oomph to carry out the task. I am past 75 and I would not tackle a demanding job, I realise that I get tired by 4pm and I find my knees no longer like those long flights of stairs. Joe is past it and Bernie is a great old man but neither is presidential material. Choose them and Trump will win 2220!
Honestly, I keep wondering what "Progressives" want more: to get rid of trump or elect a "Progressive". In my book any Democrat who can beat Trump is who gets my support. Before hating on another Democrat for being too old or not progressive enough, let's see how the primaries play out. The only Democrat I won't for is a Democrat (in name only) who uses surrogates to smear other Democrats. That's playing a zero sum game, and will result in four more years of the vile trump.
6
The coverage and "Times-splaining" of Biden's long known, unwanted, creepy, sexually charged behavior is perhaps the most disappointed I have ever felt about a news source or perhaps it's a wake-up call at how biased and active this paper is in the suppression of facts. It's sad.
2
The hit job is working. And in the words of Lindsey Graham, "Boy, y'all want power. God, I hope you never get it."
3
There are "T"shirts and bumper stickers that say "hugs not drugs". Well.... now hugs are forbidden and pot is just about legal every where......"the times they are achangin' "
I thought about saying hugs are forBiden.....but decided to spare you all....oops
Why on earth?
1
I've never voted for Biden before, but with each election it comes down to a choice of what feels best in that situation given the alternatives. I haven't made a final decision and really like Kamala Harris too, but there are a few things I want. One is experience. This isn't an entry-level job, and some candidates have promise but are too light on national and world experience (looking at you Beto and Pete). Some I can't imagine making the transition from protest candidate to world leader (looking at Bernie and Elizabeth now).
Biden strikes me as a tough old bird, whom I'm dying to see in a debate with Trump. He's more energetic than I am (I'm 50), and one of the few candidates I can see holding his own. My hope is for a Biden-Harris ticket, with Biden helping to clean up the mess Trump will leave behind, and then retiring to let Harris or another candidate take the reins from there. But whatever happens, learn from the Bernie 2016 debacle and let the democratic process run its course before deciding who can win and who should run.
Why on Earth was this old dinosaur pulled out of the tar pits in the first place? Because he changed light bulbs in the White House for a while? Didn't the Dems learn their lesson with Hillary "Pantsuit" Clinton? An Old Boy hack from the beginning, his time has come and gone.
6
Honestly, he was being WAY too coy anyway in his intentions to run. His cavalier attitude finally smashed into #metoo-ness and we, the Dems with good intentions, once again stumbled into a wall and the Pervert In Chief wins again by default of being with The Party of Zero Values.
Should "biden" be a verb?
1
Gail, please don't go the Mo Dowd HRC route and help take down Biden. Safe to say four more years are not an option and Biden is high on the short list of Dems who can beat him. A ham sandwich should beat him given his stellar performance, but the only concern for Dems nominee is electability. And please, no damning with faint praise, e.g., "....they love Biden, but don't want to vote for him." How about " ....they love Biden and believe he would defeat Putin's bff. "
2
Biden's failure at the Clarence Thomas hearings gave us Clarence Thomas, a spectacularly bad choice for the Supreme Court. Anita Hill testified that, when Thomas was head of EEOC, he spent time in his office watching porn and then came out of his office to harass female staffers. He had only gotten the job in order to render the agency useless, a favorite GOP tactic of governance: destroy from within. Under Thomas, EEOC would deliberately delay necessary documents as long as possible to lawyers representing injured workers, trying to run the statute of limitations on the plaintiffs. The GOP believed as usual that having a minority person destroying an important government function would limit liberal complaints. Just put up a person of color to replace Thurgood Marshall for the "black" seat on the SC. The worse, the better. Find someone who typifies racist stereotypes. The GOP had their strategy after their first candidate got shot down for having the jurisprudence of Attila the Hun.
Enter Joe Biden. Anita Hill's testimony was totally believable and damning of Thomas. But Biden, Committee Chairman, was terrified of appearing to stand up for the "woman", even when she was right! America was totally on her side. So GOP played the "race card", a novel idea. Biden fell for it. He fell apart like a house of cards. Biden showed cowardice under fire. And Thomas is just that bad. For life. Go away, Joe.
5
The answer is obvious. You go with the bull-in-china-shop strategy. You never apologize, you never give in. You Donald Trump it, you steadfastly deny all to the end, to your grave. Just like Roy Cohn taught him.
Anything less than that is a failed strategy, plus you'll find yourself with the additional damage of appearing weak. Biden's video is proof. He already looks the weaker for it, and lo and behold, suddenly there are three more accusers. They are like cockroaches, they will never stop, there will always be more. The more sensitive you become, the more accusers come forward, until one day the load-bearing capacity is reached and your whole campaign collapses.
Never apologize. Joe.
1
Wow--the power of the NY Times! The man is leading in the polls but the NY Times has decided that the front-runner should drop out. Gail, please write a column about the liberal media's arrogance and......um.......intolerance. Thanks!
5
None of the announced candidates so far has a snowball's chance in hell of beating Trump. Not a one. Trump will eat their respective lunches with all his lies and nicknames and pure ugliness that seems to attract a strange form of voter. They will crumble under the weight of Trumps' overbearing pure hatred. Joe has his detractors but he could stand up to Trump in debates. That would be a show worth watching. I dare Trump to lie in his face like he will so readily do to all the others. Trump would not dare bring up Joe's touchy feely when he himself has groped women on airplanes and do I need to bring up the famous tape? We need a statesman to right this ship. Then the kids can take over.
2
>goofy
No Gail, that was just straight-up racist.
1
A Biden candidacy is Clinton 2016 all over again. A big name sucks all of the air out of the room, crushes any opposition, and runs a tone-deaf national campaign that leads to victory by the least qualified candidate in U.S. history. If you want four more years of Trump, well then be my guest and nominate Biden. And no more geezer candidates. Biden, Sanders, Warren - I'm looking at you. For the record, I am older and will not vote for geezers. I do not care how vigorous they may be - they are still out of touch. My undergraduate students prove this to me every semester.
1
Before we put Joe Biden out to pasture, it's critical that we remove the current bull from the china shop. Joe's been around domestic and international politics for decades---he's tried and true---and that's good. The U.S., in fact, the world needs Joe right now to help get things back into some order. Joe appeals to a broad swath of Americans. Americans need to reserve their judgments until AFTER the Dem debates. If one of the pack rises to the occasion, I'll support him or her, but FIRST THINGS FIRST. America needs to be sure that Trump won't be re-elected.
1
Seven women and counting. You can bet now that the dam has broken, there will be more woman coming forward. It is over for Mr Biden. It is a mortal wound. I won't be surprised if Mr Biden soon announces he is not going to run after all.
Recently, I overheard a man say, "I'm afraid to be nice to any of the women at work because I don't want to be accused of sexual harassment." At least he heard the message and is aware of #me too, even if he doesn't understand it. My concern is that we have become so sensitized to all male attention that even what would have been perceived as innocent gestures and compliments will now be misconstrued. Biden went overboard with his actions, but he's learning. It may take another 20 years before people understand personal space. Meanwhile, Anita Hill deserves a medal, Clarence Thomas deserves to be removed, and Biden needs to be reminded of his past behavior.
3
I like the Green New Deal and single-payer health care and wish I lived in a country that was ready to implement them. But I don't. I live in a country with a severe need to restore dignity and professionalism to the office of President. Joe Biden has the qualifications to hit the ground running to do this. This is certainly not about "love"; it's survival.
3
Gail, as a long time Joe watcher and for a while supporter, I think Joe's problem has less to do with goofiness and more to do with just plain "shoot yourself in the foot - itis".
Way back in the 80's when, he was tagged with plagiarism claims, which as I recall, made Malignia's look tepid, then multiple dumb-attacks culminating in the Anita Hill hearings and the resident "stump on the bench" Justice Thomas' placement on the SCOUS, Joe has shown the ability to take a backyard BBQ flareup and burn down the town.
I'm not sure the DNC needs more of that.
I sometimes think the general affection by the Democratic Base for Joe is that after his swearing in on January 20th, once out of the sight of cameras, Joe pounds the bejeebers out of Trump behind the bleachers as he suggested he'd do if in High School.
Biden is in a strange place. He feels much like the women he essentially groped over the years by placing his hands all over them. What does he do? How does he react?
Does apologize for his groping the next coming weeks as more and more women come out? Or does he ignore the accusations?
I honestly don't believe that Biden will the successful Dem candidate the next months. I truly think that Mayor Pete, the dark horse, will be at the top of the ticket, with Warren or Kamala Harris as VP. Mayor Pete has a better brain than Biden, and the down-to-earth charisma of Biden without any of the creepiness. Mayor Pete and Harris, would be a very interesting and compelling ticket. In personalities, Mayor Pete and Harris also balance each other out.
2
Hillary would have been the nominee in 2008 if Obama had not come along. Biden would have been the nominee in 2016 if it weren’t Hillary’s “turn”.
Time to stop playing piggy move-up, historically the Republicans game. Democrats need to fight today’s battles with a today candidate.
4
Well Gail, you finally wrote a piece I disagree with. I have no problem with Biden's video (but I want a younger candidate). A few random thoughts:
Touch is human, most of the time it's a positive thing for our health & well-being. If we start second guessing every spontaneous touch, we lose an important part of humanity. And we're already weak on that point with our eyes turned towards our screen and not each other.
This sentence: "habit of affectionately putting his hands all over women" should say "people" not women. This is not a male female thing - this is who he is. Some people violate personal boundaries, regardless of sex.
We violate babies' personal boundaries as a completely normal thing to do. If you want to be concerned about violating boundaries, let's start with how both men and women are almost expected to cross the line with babies and young children. That will do more to heal MeToo issues than shaming Biden or anyone else.
Piling on shame is another no-go. It's cruel and in the long run, guaranteed to produce the opposite result of what you seek.
3
@Barbara
Really, you're seriously saying we should stop touching babies? A baby that's not touched will literally die. This is getting insane.
1
Strangers should absolutely not touch babies. I know it’s tempting to do so but we carry with us all sorts of pathogens picked up during the day, especially if we haven’t washed our hands. To a baby, who has yet to be vaccinated against the worst of them, it could prove lethal.
1
@MK
No, I'm saying that people are not sensitive to babies' boundaries. Just think of the norm of holding a baby up to be kissed by a politician stranger (!!). Do you really think babies love that? It's probably too much for baby to be in a thick crowd of loud people.
I'm all for babies being touched in a way that feels good to them. Being passed around at a party (let alone a rally or convention) is usually not one of them.
1
Everybody loves Joe Biden. Not everybody doesn't want him to run for president.
1
I do not think Joe should run, but it is not because of his propensity to be 'touchy feely'. It is because he has had his chance(s). I was in favor of him in 2016 over Hillary. I think he would have beaten Kaptain Kaos and we would have all been better off. But it is time for him to take on the role of 'senior advisor' to whomever winds up the Dem nominee. I haven't decided yet who that should be (remember, it is still very early) but someone on the center-left would be the best bet to both gain votes and be able to actually accomplish something positive. And, after all, isn't that what we ultimately want?
3
So Biden touches people. And there's Anita Hill. And busing/desegregation. And questionable support for past military actions. And many verbal gaffes. And whatever else might catch your fancy. So we are getting a bad smell with Biden. The guy is 76 years old. He can apologize until the cows come home. Or until the chickens come home to roost - and it looks like they already have. For things he did decades ago. How much can we really expect him to change at this point in his life?
We are also getting a bad smell with Bernie and Mayor Pete not being able to figure out how to release their tax returns. And Kirsten Gillibrand with Al Franken. And Amy Klobuchar with treatment of her staffers.
Are Democrats beginning to fall like dominoes? Who will be left? And still so far out from Iowa.
Yet all of this pales in comparison to Trump. He is a misogynist. He never released his tax returns. And look how he treats people (Gold Star Family? John McCain? And all those "very fine people" out there that he supports?)
Trump currently has a 42% approval rating. He won with 46% of the popular vote.
Good luck figuring things out, Democrats. The clock is ticking.
1
@Blue Moon
Unless my calendar is lying to me, April 15th, the final day to file tax returns, has not arrived. There is little doubt in my mind that all of the Democrats running for President will release their returns.
@Blue Moon You could not be more right-on. What is going on boggles my mind. I was friendly with a well known left wing political scientist who said all the time "the left-wing of possibility." I care not male or female, moderate of left, What I care is who can put it to "HIM." My guess is, right Now is Beto, Harris, and mayor Pete.
1
@allen roberts
The expectation is that candidates will release 10 years of past tax returns. Even Bernie hasn't come close (I believe only one year has been released by Bernie so far). If Democrats want to go after Trump's tax returns, they need to walk the walk, otherwise they come across as hypocrites.
No to old Joe. He should not run, he just isn't progressive enough for the times. He is an honorable and good man. His behavior although castigated by #MeToo, was quite acceptable in yesteryear and certainly orders of magnitude better than our current president. Instead, he should move into the elder statesperson role and continue to help the country.
1
Biden said he'd stop being so touch-feely, something he did with men as well. Take him at his word. If he doesn't stop, he shouldn't run. If he does, take a chill-pill and move on to some other issue.
1
I have met Joe Biden a couple of times when he campaigned in New Hampshire -- once when he was running for president himself and once when he was on the ticket with Obama. I too love Joe Biden and he tells great stories. BUT he needs to be asked to retell his story about his meetings in Libya with Qaddafi in a tent to discuss oil. How are we friends with dictators at one point and then we overthrow and kill them? Sorry, Joe, you have a long history after Scranton that needs to be examined.
1
We need new blood so we can lose the baggage that comes from so many years in the public eye. We need new faces so let's elect a woman or another non-white man or a gay person. We need someone younger because no matter what anyone says a man in his late 70s does not have the mental acuity and/or the physical stamina that a person in his or her 40s or 50s or even 60s does.
I noticed 2 “signs of the time” yesterday during my travels to Boston &/thru Brookline, my home town for many years.
1st: driving thru New Hampshire I noticed a pickup truck with a decal brazenly declaring “Fear This” & in its center was “88”, the number used by white supremicists.
2nd: it was passing thru Brookline, a town with more synagogues, temples than churches of all other denominations combined. I noticed at 1 synagogue, perhaps Orthodox, maybe Hasidic, a man standing at the entrance, vest under his dark sweater, obviously a guard.
2 random observations, yet quite disturbingly connected nonetheless.
These are dangerous times, the soul of this country is on the line.
Whomever becomes the Democratic candidate will have my solid support. I think it’s not hyperbole to state my future, all our futures depend upon that.
I think Joe Biden can play highly important roles in our quest to restore civil society & sane policy, not necessarily as President.
One: he can confront directly & voceferously Trump’s lies, take to task the outrageous behavior & policies. He can call them for the malarkey they are more effectively than most other Democrats.
Another, going forward will be to work with other Democrats having “emeritus” status to restore our credibility with our estranged allies and trading partners. Our next President has a lot on her / his plate. She will need all capable hands on deck. Joe Biden can serve well in these capacities.
1
I believe we probably all know people who are what we might consider overly touchy. Most of them are totally innocent of any underlying reason other than that is how they communicate caring or understanding. Then there is on occasion the person who just comes across as creepy or disingenuous. Trump no doubt fits into the latter. Biden, probably not. It certainly would not stop me from supporting his run as president if I so inclined to to do so.
1
Let's be honest: "the fix is in," and the Democratic party insiders - the long-standing party officials, delegates, and contributors as well as the media including the Times and it's columnists like Gail Collins (well described as "the party elite and mainstream media" but that sounds like something said on Fox News)- have long ago decided that the next Democratic nominee to the general election will be a woman and will be from the party's left wing. The dominant narrative is that we are swinging left toward hyoer-regulation and social-democratic ideas ("If it works in Scandanavia, why wouldn't it work here?") and that "We've had an African American president. It's time for a woman."
What could go wrong with this anti-democratic, elitist we-know-better process and the candidate it will put forward?
[Note: I did not write this post today - I wrote it in early 2016 - but its worth reposting - in case it's true about insanity and expecting different outcomes while repeating the same behaviors.]
4
Joe has a difficult past with women’s issues (Anita Hill, Roe v. Wade), but he turned a lot of that around over the years. He bumbles, he touches women too readily, but he can stay on topic and be coherent when passionate. Some powerful people on both sides, and maybe overseas, don’t want him in the Oval Office and the smear is on big time. I wonder who his running mate will be?
2
As he demonstrated in the Anita Hill hearing, Biden is the emblem of straight white male privilege wanting to go along to get along. His performance there was the utter absence of leadership, which enabled the right-wingers to get their way. For which America is still suffering. I say no more of that, thank you very much.
1
Even if the allegations of inappropriate touching are not true, there is so much videotape evidence of Biden's excessive touchy/feely behavior that he will not be able to walk back everything, mainly because he's an elderly white man who is now in the cross-hairs of the #Me-too movement. The Democratic party has moved on from elderly white men such as Biden and Sanders. Women and persons of color in the party have a solid footing and a strong voice which leads me to think that a Harris-Buttigieg ticket would be formidable. While Biden might appeal to moderates and Sanders appeals to progressives, unfortunately for them their age and skin color are liabilities. Where Biden and Sanders would be difference makers would be as Secretary of State and Secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively.
I GET IT.
Three simple words. I get it.
Yes, Joe, we get it, too.
You get that a way of engaging in a space in which it has been done for decades has a different meaning for those on the receiving end.
You get that the rules have changed and are willing to modify your behavior to adjust to this new social etiquette.
You get that while it means “You go, woman, you've got this!” to you, that it may be a trigger for the one whom you have engaged. You are filtering through your lens, and she hers. And those visions differ.
You would have preferred that they say something when it happens. It saddens you that they were too intimidated by the power of your office to say, “This makes me uncomfortable, please stop.” You felt you were less threatening.
We get that is politically motivated by the need to tear you down to build up someone they preferred more and the timing is suspect.
We get that your way of embracing is vestigial and comes from the early tragic loss of family and is simply your way of holding onto the preciousness of lives that may be fleeting.
We will look for the signs. And you can help by speaking out at the time it happens and not wait years. We want you to feel safe now. And we want to be safe as well.
Joe is “woke.” And we are, too.
We get that this misunderstanding arises from Action, Motive, Perception; that is, the motive of an action taken is perceived differently by those participating.
He gets it. We get it. We will do better.
Let’s move on.
Biden is fatally wrong. Social norms have not changed. Social norms are what they always were. What has changed is that women are no longer willing to take it and remain silent. Joe - You blew your chance in 2016. You blamed the death of your son. That struck me as a lame excuse. Please accept the thanks of the citizens of the country for your decades of service and do not run for President. There are smart, dedicated, younger people who are running for President. Put your massive ego aside and give way to someone from the next generation.
1
Lovely clean up.
You managed to point out why Joe Biden is a wonderful man and politician and helped secure his legacy - as long as he doesn't run. You made that quite clear.
Then you essentially whatabouted and indicted three Republicans as if "handiness" is endemic on that side of the aisle.
It's the constant, subtle partisanship that turns off readers. The NYTimes needs to be cognizant that once the Russian story is over, a number of fence-sitting subscribers may leave.The rate of new subscribers might drop off too, to pre-Trump levels. And that wasn't good if you recall.
1
I also love Joe Biden, and I'm an Aussie!
1
I don’t love Biden. I find him to be a bore. His running may take the edge off the charge that Dems “eat their own,” but his campaign will falter because he has nothing interesting to say about the future. And all that political baggage from the past — ugh. His touchy-feely shtick is the least of it.
2
Joe Biden = Democrat's lack of imagination, vision, & courage.
"It's his turn"
1
After inviting the reader to Google "I love Joe Biden," the first actual quotations Ms. Collins to set the tone include, "... I'm not sure I wish he is president in 2021," and "... there comes a moment when it's time to not run."
Re the bill of particulars she presents, I don't recall reading anywhere that Biden has a "longstanding habit of putting his hands all over women." All over?! My goodness!! Seems odd there have been no criminal charges.
Her unsurprising conclusion (sounding in Donald Trump's playbook in which he uses, e.g., "a lot of people say" and "a lot of people tell me" to bolster whatever comes out of his mouth next) is "people keep saying ... they hope [Biden] doesn't run for president." What people? Berniecrats, maybe?
This piece falls in the grand journalistic tradition of hatchet jobs.
1
Biden is but a male version of Hilary Clinton trying to hang on to so-called mainstream democratic politics. In other words, pretend to be a nice guy and shift your views as the wind blows. But times have changed and it involves a whole lot more than just "personal space". And like Clinton, Biden has a trainload of baggage he's carrying around that would be choice fodder for republicans, especially El Trumpo.
1
@LH
Yeh, except Hillary Clinton has a high IQ and was one of the most qualified people in government, while Joe Biden is at the other end of every scale.
1
I am still conflicted about Mr. Biden running, but this I do know: motive counts. If a man touches a woman, or indeed the reverse ( Me too! Means equality in ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE) with the motive of sparking bad behavior that is one thing. If that happens with the motive to be supportive, that is very different.
Let’s face it, trump can “out immorality” anyone anywhere, anytime.
It is quite possible that Mr. Biden’s charm and honest good will can show up the current president and stand well against him. Too soon to tell. Let him get in and let the primaries tell the tale. Let’s have a clean primary season!
Joe will make the sound decision of thanks but no thanks.
He wants to be remembered as a kind and respected individual.
Going thru with the candidacy will undoubtedly drag him thru salacious mud which currently is only the tip of the iceberg.
Always leave them wanting more, as the saying goes.
Biden's coy "should I or shouldn't I run" is getting tiresome. He was at his best as VP for the young President Obama--genial, experienced, could reduce the tension with folksy humor. So please, Joe, go out on a high note.
Make way for a new generation of political leaders--because Biden and my generation have done a terrible job, especially Republicans such as Gingrich, McConnell, Cheney, Bolton....and we know who in the White House.
The fantasy of Joe Biden running for president is the last vestige of the fantasy that only a white, mainstream male can solve problems. Isn't time we deal with reality? The world in which Joe Biden lives is nearing its expiration date. I want someone who lives in the world of today and can help us navigate the world of the future. I am only nine years younger than Biden, but I can see that the time is ripe for a younger generation with bold ideas to have their seat at the Oval Office desk.
3
Biden has actually asserted that there are times when a woman shouldn't have complete control over her body. He wasn't talking about her being in the ER. He was saying that in the context of abortion. That is eternally troubling to me.
4
Mr Biden should have learned his lesson a long time ago but honestly I would vote for him in a heartbeat if that would guarantee Trumps removal from office. I personally think Trump will be elected again much to my horror. I'm very confident WI will go to Trump and I don't think there is much anyone can do about it.
2
I love Joe and I want him to run. He is the most competent, the most substantive, the most experienced candidate. He is a good man. He will need to choose a Vice President who has a strong record and is obviously younger.
Biden has been fine with the erosion of civil rights protections for men on college campuses accused of sexual misconduct.
The results of those college kangaroo court findings are typically included on college records for the rest of the students' lives.
So, it's hilarious that Biden thinks he can simply put out a video about "private space" and wish it all away.
He should be giving himself the same punishment he wishes on those boys: lifetime banishment.
1
@Ms. Pea - But don't you see the inherent contradiction in what you're saying? If we regard any touching, at all, without explicit permission, as being unacceptable, then it would be just as unacceptable when I do it. Just because I'm female I shouldn't get a pass.
And that is really a hypocritical theme with the MeToo folks, and one that as a female I find highly insulting. See, I believe in TRUE equality, and don't wish to have different standards applied to myself. Nor do I need them to be.
I also don't need, or even wish to be, "comfortable" all the time. Life is uncomfortable. Interactions between people are often uncomfortable. That's just the way it is. Rather than demanding some restrictive set of rules that police every aspect of human interaction, even the most normal and natural, we should simply work towards a world where if somebody is doing something that is making us uncomfortable, we are not penalized for asking them to stop.
5
@Kristin Thank you. I'm so sick of the double standard. When men do it, it's unacceptable but when women do the same thing they are seen as compassionate and loving. Women need to stop playing the victim for every little thing. It makes us look weak.
3
Biden is not the person I hope will be the Democrat's nominee for president in 2020. That said, if he is I will vote for him. I will work hard on behalf of who ever the Democrat's nominee is, and on behalf of Democrats running all the way down ballot because I love my country.
9
Uncle Joe makes too many unforced -- and often unforgivable --errors .
For example:
In the weeks before last November's midterm elections, Mr. Biden took $200,000 to speak to a right-leaning group in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
During the speech, he praised Fred Upton, the district's Republican Congressman.
Apparently, Mr. Biden was willing to overlook that Fred Upton had voted, at every opportunity, against Obamacare -- the signature piece of legislation when Mr. Biden was Vice-President
He was also willing to overlook that Upton was in a tight race with a Democratic challenger.
After the speech in which he praised Upton became public, Mr. Biden declined to endorse the Democratic challenger.
The Democratic challenger lost to Upton by four points while much of the rest of Michigan turned blue: Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, Secretary of State and two previously 'safe' Republican U.S. House seats.
At times, there is just no excuse for Mr. Biden's behavior.
8
I haven't been a Joe Biden fan. Just never been impressed. Sanders speaks the truth about the powerful, but his ideas about fixing things are not practical (and I usually dislike that word).
So, comes down to who? I keep hearing that we only need to find the person that can beat Trump. That is depressing and wrong-headed also. Why not put the best person (to be president) forward? If they win, they win. Can we survive 4 more years of Trump? Maybe not.
2
I don't care that he himself is not a progressive. I care that he knows the legislative process, and will back whatever bill the Dems send him to solve our problems.
2
Paternalistic shoulder pats, rubs, kisses and hugs.
This is common for men in power from Biden’s generation. It’s part of who he is and how he sees others, not just a behavior one turns on or off.
Urban US has moved on to a higher standard of sentimental hygiene and equality.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders will have to face this too.
5
@Anne: Even in Chicago, which is 29% Hispanic? We Latins are tactile. Your 'higher standard' seems quite sterile and puritanical.
@Maria
Yes. Only a handshake is appropriate in professional relationships (in the West). Kisses and hugs are for friends, in private settings.
It has nothing to do with warm vs. cold cultures, being stiff or boring etc.
It’s just business and treating women and men the same.
Trump starts the 2020 campaign with greater Republican support then he had on Election Day 2016. There are Republicans who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Trump in 2016 who will now say “the economy has been great, I have more money, I prefer the security of strong borders, and I can look past his big mouth,” and vote for Trump for the first time in 2020. For Republicans, Trump has been normalized.
Democrats’ 2020 response to a stronger Trump should not be to put up a candidate who has never even been able to win among Democrats. Sorry Joe. We need a candidate who will inspire passion among voters, not one whose greatest virtue is that he’s not as bad as some others.
If we can’t find a candidate who inspires voters we should expect a second Trump term.
3
@JS So since you won't vote for Joe and telling the rest of us Democrats what we need, who is your candidate?
@JS I would object vigorously were my daughter's boss to treat her the way Biden treats women. Wouldn't you?
@ J Faye Harding - sorry that I came across that way to you.
Elizabeth Warren has my support. To me, her programs for all Americans are inspiring.
In a big way this all so counterintuitive. Our brave new world is actually one that is becoming devoid of human contact, very much to human detriment. I'm a massage therapist, and I know people are dying for intimacy and human contact, tactile and otherwise. We have eyes only for our precious phones, screens and tech toys. But we are made to interact with others. I'm sorry for all these cold people who want a force field around themselves, but we should not have to submit to their pathological maladjustedness.
6
@Tom Hayden
You've made the most important point we all need to hear on this issue. I wish everyone understood a bit about neurobiology and attachment. We're making ourselves so unhealthy.
2
I agree with Tom Haydn. I am also a massage therapist and would like to add that there people who like touching and physical affection, and others who just can’t stand being touched.
1
@Tom Hayden: I can remember (not that long ago) when people who couldn't stand physical contact with other human beings were considered neurotic, like germaphobes who wouldn't touch door knobs. Then there are the people who seem convinced that they have a human right to never be made uncomfortable.
If someone wants to oppose Sen. Biden for his politics or his habit of putting his foot in his mouth, that's fine. To condemn him for making human contact with other people is getting a bit silly.
1
The number one goal of Democrats and Independent votes who strongly (or mildly ) hold that President Trump does not have the capabilities, temperament, and acceptable plans and policies to occupy the White House is to defeat him in 2020. Hold that thought and one additional thought in your mind at the same time, Democrats. The thought is simply this- to regain the White House Democrats must win; a) Independent voters who voted for Mr. Trump and now are troubled by the consequences, b) Moderate Democrats in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and certain other so-called "purple states. Do you believe that California, New Jersey and Massachusetts, for example have any significant probability of going Republican ? Much as I respect Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren- they cannot pull off a national Democratic victory. Much discussion and press reporting has been given, properly so- to the impact of hard working, less formally educated voters to providing support for Mr. Trump. If Democrats can peel away perhaps 1/4 of these voters, with all other things being relatively equal, they can very likely move to a victory in 2018. Also - a message to younger Democrats- even if your preferred more left leaning Democratic candidate is not nominated- vote just the same and- please advise your friends and associates who may be thinking the same way as yourselves- vote for the chosen Democratic candidate and support them with vigor. The goal is to remove Mr. Trump.
6
Loving Joe is one thing, voting for him should be considered seriously as another issue entirely.
No political party is going to have a candidate that would qualify for sainthood, but we need to minimize as much as possible the opportunities of the opposing party having a gift of unsaintly behavior to cloud more important political issues during the campaign.
I, too, love Joe. But not enough to vote for him as I think his time passed.
9
@Me Too - Please, for the love of God, try to understand this. Many women, including myself, do not want a world where one needs explicit permission to casually touch another human being. We are comfortable in our bodies, and comfortable with human connection in all its forms -emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical.
I find it so very heartbreaking that so many, especially of the younger generation, have somehow become convinced that physical contact is in and of itself, no matter the context, some sort of violation unless it is prefaced by explicit permission. It really does make me sad for you.
And it also makes me scared for all of us. The world you want to live in is TRULY creepy, Orwellian and sterile, sanitized of touch, stripped of all that is deemed politically incorrect or "insensitive" in any way. If you choose to live that way, fine, but you seem oh so determined to inflict it on the rest of us.
No thank you. The new "social norms" are the stuff of nightmares, and I want nothing to do with it.
By the way, though. I do think you're right about one thing. The first time a man touched a woman "without permission" was undoubtedly back in the cave man days. Human beings spontaneously touching each other really is so natural that we've been doing it from day one.
16
@Kristin--If you're comfortable being touched by strangers, then you can initiate it. Let people know by hugging, kissing on the cheek, touching the other's arm or hand when conversing, rubbing shoulders when you're behind someone--whatever you're comfortable with. But, for the many women who are not comfortable with being touched by strangers, the "nightmare" starts when they are touched. I think the point is that we shouldn't presume it's ok to touch. If you don't mind it, fine. There are many huggers in the world--I have many in my own family. But, in a business setting, for me? Inappropriate. I stick my hand out to be shaken, and that's as far as I go. We should both be comfortable as we go about our lives.
7
@Kristin
100% agree. We are using our heads to parse out a topic that needs to be worked through our hearts. All that is needed is for it to be OK for anyone to say "I don't like to be touched" and have that honored. That's it. We don't have to shame people into not touching each other - that will make us self-conscious about something completely natural to our humanness.
@Ms. Pea The workplace must be a safe haven of respect where powerful white men DO NOT exercise their touchy-feely needs on less powerful women. Does AOC hug and kiss her young male interns? And if she did, what message would it send?
2
I always get back to this: Joe Biden spend 8 years in the WH as VP where he served the country to his fullest ability. There are many more people hoping to get an opportunity to serve their fellow citizens in multiple ways. We need to allow people to take turns. In a country with 300+ million people we are overflowing with brilliance and talent. The world is depending on us. Mostly it is praying that we get ourselves a new President by replacing the current one who is making the planet more uninhabitable for future generations.
11
What a dilemma! Bernie and Joe! Both great guys, but I just think they are both a bit too old to be considered for two terms of running this country.
Bernie has contributed immensely to the progressive improvement of the Democratic party, but frankly, I have a hard time imagining him in the Oval Office as head of this huge administration - he's so much better on the stump.
And Biden? He probably could effectively run the government, but for two terms, considering his age? It worries me.
5
Excellent column. I especially agree with your last sentence.
6
Biden do not need to apologize , he did not do anything wrong just being affectionate, but now that will stop.
Somebody else I presume is behind those politically operative ladies , not a Republican but a Democrat.
All will come out sooner than later .
Biden`s turn to get Al Franken treatment.
7
My fear with Biden is that he will be Hillary 2.0 and will hand the victory over to Trump. Much like Hillary, he carries significant risk and little upside. Specific concerns:
- He can be labeled as a "DC Insider" "Establishment insider" and/or "more of the same." This will cement the perception of Trump's status as the" outsider candidate" and as the change agent (the last three presidents rand and won as outsider candidates and change agents)
- Being in office for decades, Trump will be able to blame him for our national problems that have accumulated (e.g. costs of health care out of control, insolvency of SS and medicare, crumbling infrastructure, etc.). I'm not saying Biden is responsible for all of this, but Trump can and will associate him with these failures.
- He voted to support the Iraq War, and voted for similar stupidity in Libya and Syria, plus botched our response to Ukraine/Crimea.
- Speaking of which on Ukraine, he may have some skeletons in his closet, using US foreign policy to further his families interests in Ukraine, something that will come out more during the campaign.
- He looks and sounds old, and I hate to say it, but at his age, carries significant risk with the unpredictability of health. If you watch some of his recent speeches, he's very deliberate in his speech and at times slurs his words. At the very least, he won't be able match the campaign energy of Trump and give 3x speeches per day in 3 different states.
6
Unlike Donald Trump, Joe Biden is a decent human being. Like Donald Trump, he represents the past, not the future.
This is why Pete Buttigieg continues to rise. And that's how Democrats win.
12
@Pedro G, I like Liz Warren, she has the right prescription and vision and she can lead us into a bright future which is more equitable and works for everyone.
So does Bernie Sanders.
3
I've always found you a funny and pithy observer, but you're wrong here. I'm much younger than Joe Biden, but you're out of touch with why many Americans want Biden to run. You, like other people in positions of cultural or political authority, have seemingly abandoned critical thinking.
Joe's statement was as good as possible under the circumstances. However, he was right not to apologize. It's something the left both claims to demand and reward, while hypocritically punishing any who do it. Further, I'm a civil rights attorney whose entire ethnic immigrant family would also be shunned by oh-so-pure left-wing zealots as everyone I'm related to shows affection by hugging and kissing just about everyone.
Americans support Biden because they believe in him, not just like him. He's the only Democrat who is very liberal and sincere, yet speaks, gaffs and all, like a regular American. Unlike all other deer in the headlights Democratic candidates, he won't sign the identity politics and economic policy purity oath and train wreck mandated by the Democratic left.
A small very powerful Democratic left seeks to drive their agenda and force out any who don't conform to it. Here it's Joe Biden. He faces a deliberate ideologically driven hatchet job to force him not to run because he's unforgivably an old white guy and not a doctrinaire leftist. He also doesn't act how the puritanical college campus elite, with total contempt for due process, has determined all people must behave.
5
@Robert B- Thank you, Robert. Good point here- The policy, purity oath and Conservative "litmus test" has been hurting some Republicans. Why should intelligent, educated, right thinking Democrats want to replicate it to assure adoption of a very left leaning policy agenda- which will likely fail to have an impact with a number of independent and "middle of the road" voters- likely leading to the re-election of Mr. Trump.
1
@Robert B Excellent. I agree with everything you said. I'm so sick of the NY Times and other media attacking any and all Democrats while looking over and making excuses for the pathetic excuses for human beings in the WH and the Senate. The NY Times is complicit in this nonsense. I keep trying to support this paper but every day it's some type of hatchet job on someone in the Democratic party and the fact they let the republicans set the agenda for what they print really irks me.
1
I really, really hope Joe Biden doesn't run for president.
5
Oh, dear. Quoting Frank Luntz, the master of the semantic charade, as an authority on relations between the sexes? Probably New Gingrich is the only one finding this credible.
Yeah. I love Joe. What's not to love?. But he missed the window he may have had to be elected POTUS. I am not saying he wouldn't have been a good, steadying leader. Just not his time anymore. Time passes. Things change. Moving on.
1
Ms. Collins made some very astute comments regarding Mr. Biden’s political persona. Let me add a few more.
What really surprises me about Biden that even after 47 years (got elected to US Senate in 1972) of political career, he still comes across as a gaffe prone novice politician susceptible to endless stream of faux pas. Whatever happened to his maturity and judgement??
Let’s also not forget that he ran multiple underwhelming presidential campaigns. He struggled with abortion rights and busing of school children. Totally messed up the Anita Hill hearing. Finally, he made these very unwelcome physical gestures to women ostensibly under the guise of being affectionate or “mentorship”. Even in his recent apology video, he never really apologized to the ladies who bravely exposed his “touchy feely huggy kissy” shtick - he kinda glossed over the whole thing as “changing social norms” - come on - let’s face it - he just doesn’t get it. Lacks introspection. Leaders need to admit their mistakes and display humility.
I’m intrigued by the fact that why so many people are so eager to defend him “as a product of his times”. That’s a lame excuse. If Lincoln was truly a product of his times, he would not have promoted “emancipation”. Lincoln was a visionary leader and Biden is not.
Do we love Biden even more now just because we don’t love Trump. Let’s call a spade a spade, in the unlikely event if Biden gets elected as the President, mishegoss will continue - Oy Vey!
3
I respect Joe Biden as a good man with well intentions. His overly touchy feely style should not be taken as a personality defect, or being considered with the same as #me too movement. It is in fact an age difference in style of making connection. As an immigrant from Asia where the personal space between men and women is much bigger, e.g. Japanese bow to each other in their tradition greeting, I had to learn to open my personal space the touch until I accept it as a gesture friendliness.
3
Whoever our candidates are, Trump is going to think of some particularly resonant cruel things to taunt each of them with. Let's all pledge to control that panicky little part inside of us that is still afraid of the school bully and susceptible to the bully's lies. And the press needs to grow up and learn when to ignore trash talk.
Learn to reject Republican swift-boating and propaganda against Democratic candidates.
6
We need a change in the Democratic Party. The old guard needs to let go and step aside. I say this as a 73 year old woman. We need a younger inspirational candidate to carry the banner in 2020. We need another Barrack Obama to energize the base and bring clarity to the issues and pound them home and put healthcare on the front burner. Joe Biden is likable, comfortable, and easy going - the affable uncle everyone loves. I wish he had run in 2016, because I think he might have won. That was his time if ever he were going to win the Presidency. Now is not. His past errors in judgement have caught up with him. Whoever becomes the leading candidate cannot have even one piece of baggage they are dragging behind them. There has to be absolutely nothing about the Democratic candidate for Fox News to harangue their audience with ad nauseam.
There are a plethora of extraordinary candidates to choose from. Biden and Sanders are not the way forward out of this wilderness we are in. We cannot afford another 2016. We have to make the best possible choice we can, and put everything we can behind him or her, and maybe if the stars align, and God has mercy on our souls, we will get rid of the albatross hanging around our collective necks.
3
All the pundits that with aplomb or sarcasm acted as if Trump was a clown (true) that could not win (wrong) and that he did not represent America (hello?) are now telling Biden that he is out of touch.
The word irony does not make justice to the situation.
1
@Ard
Two handsy male clowns make a circus, not a well-governed 1st world nation.
1
I’m going to tell you the way it is and I’m not going to be kind or easy, because it isn’t enough to know or understand something this important. You need to grok. This discussion is academic and moot because there are no Democrats currently running or threatening who can beat Trump, and that’s an own goal for your Keystone Kop resistance. But if there were any, it would be Biden. Let the autophagy begin.
1
@Krnewman. Most of the democratic candidates could beat trump, assuming he’s still in office by then.
2
@krnewman
If you say so. I disagree.
2
I cannot recall anything of note accomplished by Biden as VP.
3
@Steve Bolger
He pushed marriage equality forward, by essentially forcing Barack Obama’s hand on the issue.
How’s that?
1
"Affectionately putting his hands ALL OVER woman". Bit of an unfair stretch Gail; don't you think? For a minute there, I thought you were accurately describing the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
5
@logic Exactly. Gail, of all people joining the smear brigade. I'm done.
Well, I love Joe Biden, I DO hope he runs for President, and right now he is in fact the only candidate (at least, I hope he becomes a candidate) I really feel I could vote for in good conscience.
And why on earth should Biden apologize to anyone? These women owe HIM an apology. This is a clear-cut attempt to force him out of the running for President. He did nothing wrong. No one out there except perhaps the most militant "MeToo" fanatics, those who believe all men are inherently predators just waiting for their chance to feel up women, believe for a second he had any ill intent in his interactions with women.
And finally we have the complaint that he's not "taking responsibility". What does that translate to, exactly? He's not denying it. He's saying he will be more mindful in the future. Sounds like responsibility to me.
But maybe one's real goal is not to have him "take responsibility" at all, but slink off the stage in shame, convinced of his own worthlessness, and just keep his mouth shut from now on. I guess predators come in all shapes and sexes ...
4
BEING A SENIOR BOOMER who lived through the 60s revolution, I have seen a vast, sweeping change in societal acceptance of sexual activity of any sort and, more recently of LGBT persons. While in PA, where I live, mandated reporting of suspected child abuse began in 1963 and was revised till 1975. Meaning that norms have changed significantly. In 1976, the school district where I worked, gave formal training in the mandated reporter changes. But at that time, there was less clarity about what constituted suspicion of abuse or neglect, physical, medical or sexual. One reason is that there had not been sufficient research into those fields. About Joe Biden, my question is, should he be subjected to the same legal standard as, say, pedophile catholic priests? My answer would be a definite no, since there have been no allegations of abuse of minors. While Biden clearly did NOT perpetrate sexual assault, he engaged in behavior that today would require informed consent. Such as kissing women on the hair on the back of their heads, placing hands on their shoulders and whispering into their ears. Culturally, things are different elsewhere. In Latin countries, such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as in Latin America, physical contact is not only accepted. It is expected that people will touch each other with far more ferquency than here in the US. I believe that Joe Biden is learning from current events and will offer only "straight arm" shakes. OK by me!!!
2
So much sarcasm in this column. We can't always get the perfect candidate. But does anyone in their right mind believe that Joe Biden would not be a major improvement over the deviant we currently have in the White House. And really that should be the focus.
There were columns and columns written about Hillary's shortcomings before the 2016 election. And that contributed to many Democrats not voting.
Ashamed if our purist liberal journalist are setting the stage for a repeat of 2016.
4
I love Joe Biden. Just hope he doesn't run for prez.
4
Biden is lovable but he is old and I say that knowledgeably because I’m old too. Our generation had our chances with Bill Clinton and then with his wife when she was sparing with Obama for the Democratic nomination. Since Obama’s presidency the White Rich Older Male reigns. It’s tough to give up power but I assure you once done it’s great to be the calm wise elder. You know with compassion the folly and greatness of humankind. You see it in yourself!
1
I love Joe Biden, I really do, but I hope he doesn't run for president, he'd really put his thumb on the scales.
1
Stay home, Joe. There are many younger generationals qualified to lead in this part of the 21st Century. Your time has passed. That's not a bad thing. So, let it go.
2
@dennob Who?
first, please don't run joe. time for a new generation to lead.
next, the women and the press seem to be equating bidets behavior with abuse. we have trump in office and we want to knock a democrat out due to his public behavior that has been out there for years?
Democrats are rapidly approaching an uncomfortable question that will forcibly have an answer by the time we have a nominee. Namely, does the unique and individual experience trump national interests? We are a big tent party. Every single candidate will have some skeleton in their closet that alienates a voter in the party somewhere. In politics, the folly of man always has the last laugh.
2
"I love Joe but I don't want him to run. Besides, he is too old.". Hey! That's my line. I have said it scores of times. And I'm seventy-seven.
Gail, I think you are terrific but I do love Joe Biden and hope that he runs. He is the strongest candidate to have a chance to beat Trump. The others are too weak or too Left to appeal to voters who live in-between NYC and California. To those commenters who say its time for the next generation of politicians – I say that with Trump as the current president I would paraphrase David Byrne – ‘”We ain’t got time for that now”.
1
I watched all of the Anita Hill hearing in 1991. If I calculate correctly, Mr Biden was 49 at the time and had already been a Senator for 18 years- no novice. His “leadership” was a disaster- he gave the most respect to his (14 in all) fellow all male “good old boys” Senators who grilled her mercilessly. His questions were equally accusing and skeptical and he left no time for other witnesses supportive of her.
My main take for this election is not that Mr Biden is a misogynist, but that he is not a real leader. He has no record that I can see of standing up to power, and he viewed some of those Senators as powerful and his focus was (I surmise) on not being criticized by them. I believe that people sense this about him and that is probably why he captured less than 1% of the vote in the Iowa caucus when he ran in the 2008 election. He was indeed a good vice president
317
@Allison Boelter
"He has no record that I can see of standing up to power..."
Actually, the primary reason I like Biden is because he was the one who was brave enough to stand up and give an impassioned explanation for why he would be voting against the Iraq war, because America would be setting a terrible precedence for preemptive strikes, and the evidence for war was insufficient. He was willing to go against his entire party for this principal he believed in. As I watched him on live television, I hoped that I would one day be able to vote for him for president.
18
@Carrie
You have your history mixed up. Yes, Biden was against the first Gulf war in 1990, but he was entirely for the Iraq war in 2003 and beyond.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Joe_Biden
18
@Allison Boelter I disagree. I would vote for Biden in a heartbeat. In my view, he is the only candidate that can handle and beat Trump.
8
The effort to pander to good taste is situated on both sides of this newest political assault. Joe Biden should apologize for something he may not have intended. Me Too should realize their very honorable cause can possibly be used with only political intentions in mind. The two genders, the one humanity, need to embrace in understanding. There should not be two sides to this disagreeable argument.
Nuzzling a woman’s neck DOES NOT look like EMPOWERMENT.
Not to me. I say this from the vantage paint of being a woman - for 74 years and counting.
I have to admit: I do not love Joe Biden. Didn’t vote for him when he ran twice before in the primaries. But my “not love affair” dates firstly to Biden’s treatment of Anita Hill. He did NOT empower her! Far from it. (I say this as a retired therapist who by then had worked with victims of sexual harassment in the workplace, people who’d been traumatized by it - enough to seek therapy!)
After that, whenever Joe Biden’s name appeared in print, it did not inspire love. No! It inspired mistrust.
And whenever Joe Biden appeared to violate a woman’s space, that bothered me tremendously. It bothers me still!
It’s been enough to see the way he behaves with women - thankfully not me - but when you see it (as a woman), you FEEL it as if it had happened to you. (Mirror Neurons do that! It’s called empathy.)
I’m sorry. But I can’t rid myself of these thoughts and feelings! I simply can’t! (Biden may be able to rid himself of those behaviors, but my memory will not forget. Even at 74. Nope! His own past behavior has made into a NON-supporter.)
I’m very sorry. But I do not think I would be able to vote for him. As bad is trump is, and I hope the R’s run someone else, Biden as candidate totally would turn me off.
It must be said.
Biden’s behavior was not acceptable way back when either!!! Not in my circles!
197
@TheraP: Yes, you hear "everybody was like that back then", but it wasn't everybody. There were plenty of people who were clear about how they felt, and people who understood that, even if the general public version was full of disrespect. There is probably a lot more to be said about that.
31
@TheraP
I completely agree with your statements of Biden's behavior regarding Anita Hill. However, if it comes to his being the candidate, I would support him, campaign for him and vote for him.
All of us women, all of us decent people must support the Democrat candidate, even if it's a stuffed gerbil. The alternative for everyone, with any Republican president is so much worse.
It's not just you or me and our personal opinions that matter; it's literally the planet that matters.
54
@TheraP
I’m 66 and will never vote for Biden, either, for the reasons you’ve brought up.
15
I don’t love Joe Biden. He may seem to personify the “good guy” image. If I shook his hand somewhere, I might be momentarily charmed by his smile and warmth. But Joe Biden was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee investigating Clarence Thomas’s suitability to sit on the highest court in our country. There was credible evidence, presented by a credible woman that he and his cohorts dismissed. That episode has two results. Not only was that brave woman publicly humiliated, her testimony rejected, but one of the reasons my right to decide what happens to my body is now under serious threat because Clarence Thomas is on the Supreme Court.
It’s too late for even a real apology. An apology won’t change the situation. Nothing vindicates the treatment of Anita Hill. Nor excuses the appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. I don’t care how nice a guy Joe Biden is seen as by his buddies. Nowhere in Joe Biden do I find the sheer grit necessary to run this country, in this world. Regardless of how much I deplore the current resident of the White House and all his ilk. If Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee for President, I will not vote for him. I am tired of having my single little vote high-jacked.
5
Biden is too old to be president. So is Sanders. My dad is a couple of years older than them and while I love and adore him, he shouldn’t even be president of his condominium (which he is, by the way).
But I will say this: Neither of the recent Biden accusers’ allegations sound at all sexual and Joe Biden has been a sensitive, touch-feely guy for decades. If the Democratic women keep moving #Metoo from a legitimate movement to address sexual weaponizers like Weinstein, Cosby, Ailes and O’Reilly into a campaign against generalized “affronts to womankind”, you can kiss 2020 goodbye. Trump got 40% of the female vote in 2016. So Democrats need to win over male voters who are not in Trump’s core base. The men they have a shot to get are not going to vote for a candidate or a party that demonizes their entire gender. Nobody votes for somebody who hates them. It’s that simple.
309
@Jack Sonville The issue of men encroaching on women's space in this way is not identically to sexual harassment or assault, of course, but it's a mistake to act as if they aren't related. The whole point is that women's bodily autonomy is treated as secondary to men's whims.
45
@Jack Sonville, sorry to not agree with you. I used to think ageism is a thing until I saw Nancy Pelosi in action, rescuing the country from its longest shutdown in history. Some of these folks have the right vision especially for our youth, Bernie being one of those. His followers admire him not for his age but his vision. Our country has always been led by visionaries who make the impossible look possible. Bernie’s vision is to bring to America the kind of quality of life decency equality that our youth envision for themselves and their children.
31
@Jack Sonville: Well, suppose we looked at it, not as demonizing men, but as un-demonizing them? We men don't have to be creeps, or at least that's the hope. And hopefully, being better won't even turn out to be some huge sacrifice, life will be better all around. But offensive conventions have to be talked about. It's one of those political problem/opportunities.
25
Please don't run, Joe. Work hard for the other candidates.
Raise lots of money for the Party. Your time has come and
gone. We need new blood, new ideas. Besides, you talk
too much.
5
I've never really bought into the idea that Joe Biden is a really nice guy. I guess that's because I read George Packer's The Unwinding in which he appears as an incredibly ambitious politician who is really nasty to his staff. I very well remember his treatment of Anita Hill, and I thought it was reprehensible. So I don't love Joe Biden, and I think his past positions on a number of issues (Anita Hill, abortion and desegregation) are problematic.
3
Joe Biden is a fine man and he has no reason to apologize for being compassionate. He is a very experienced office holder who understands the demands of the office of the president and one who listens to those with good ideas. Trump is the exact opposite plus being not competent nor trustworthy. I do not know for sure that Biden could win the Democratic Primary, but I know he does not deserve the negativity that seems to be coming forth in the press about his past action!
5
Delaware is an onshore tax haven for wealthy corporations. As Delaware's Senator, Joe Biden has done the bidding of the corporate state for nearly 50 years. When 40% of Americans can't scrape together $400 to pay for an emergency, it matters that the Democratic front runner is so closely tied to the oligarchy.
8
Frankly, I'm considering leaving the Democratic party over this I
am so furious. The over the top treatent of Joe Biden is a disgrace and shows the party's inability to fully allow diversity and choice to flourish in this upcoming battle to defeat Trump.He is not part of the "me too" movement and the line should be drawn there. The over exposure re his affectionate approach to politics shows a classic ability Democrats have for eating their own , destroying electability. Not to mention the "ageism" rampant at the moment.
Whatever happened to experience, knowledge , political savy, international smarts , world respect.... all abilities this man, Biden
possesses. His compassion for the underdog is historic along with his mistakes, and God knows , many of us make them. Why would we let all that professional know how lie dormant at this juncture when we need , more than ever, sanity and safety in leadership. We have a wrecking ball in the White House - let's work to fix that and elect the sort of people who can win. And let's stop the "ageism" running rampant with some very spastic candidates who have no experience running anything. You can say I' m too old for this political moment (87), but I've had history behind me from Roosevelt and Churchill to LBJ, Kennedy, Reagan and viewed them all , old and young. We need to feel safe again after Trump's criminality - I feel safer with a Joe Biden than I would with many of these candidates. I will be Independent.
10
@pkay
"Independent". Another word for "whatever". It's not like the Democratic party has anything to do with this incident.
So what party will you vote for since there are in essence only 2?
2
@LFK- The democratic party has spouted, and let loose with this so-called incident debasing VP Biden by connecting this "incident" with the "me too" movement. It should have been separated from that issue but the party let it ride. When I say Independent that means I will not support any party but will vote as an independent. Get it? We need to defeat Trump, not eat our own....
1
Dear Fellow Democrats and Never Trumpers (especially those of you clamoring for Biden to run and for us to stop eating our own):
Most of us are united in our belief that Joe is a good guy and that we must defeat Trump.
But just because Biden polls well against Trump doesn't mean he is the best candidate to win the election. That's faulty logic. I'm not a polling expert, but I assume that name recognition propels poll numbers at this stage of the game.
Let's face it: Biden has not done well in past elections. What makes people think he will do well this time around?
Frank Bruni said it best in his Dec. 2018 article: "Then what would you say if I told you that we should put our chips on a man who failed miserably at two previous campaigns for the nomination, the first one all the way back in 1988, a year before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born? And that when he applied the lessons from that debacle to his second bid two decades later, he did no better, placing fifth in the Iowa caucuses, getting fewer than 1 percent of the state’s delegates and folding his tent before even the New Hampshire primary?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/opinion/sunday/biden-2020-dont-run.html
8
Is there a single feminist out there -- just one -- who remembers that Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, and that since this landmark legislation was enacted our culture has changed for the better? This would include changing immigrant women's lives for the better by allowing foreign spouses of abusive Americans to retain their marriage-derived immigration status after being forced to flee the marriage. The VAWA has been instrumental in the fight to end gender-based violence. How about putting that in the mix along with someone's "discomfort" from a back-to-the-head kiss when we now decide whether to pillory and mock this decent man?
8
@Barry Schreibman They have also forgotten that the republicans have voted against the Violence Against Women Act.
I do love Joe. But this was all so predictable. He doesn't deserve to be called "creepy." This is Trump stuff; now we're all doing it.
5
Vice President Biden left the White House with a vast majority of American's praise. He should have accepted that and gone quietly into the night but his ego overrules logic every time... Now he cannot even apologize because of his ego. What a sad way to end his career, but he's asking for it and his history with Anita Hill will tear him down. As chair he ran a farce of a committee hearing on Judge Thomas and belittled Anita Hill. You cannot change that history, it is there for all of us to see.
6
Well, I don’t love Joe Biden. I’ve always found his (and other people’s) hands-on style of sociability repulsive. I also hope he is nominated and becomes the next president. He is simply, and by far, the best person available for the job.
2
President? Well folks you've had Trump.
And Warren wants to destroy two of the greatest consumer entities -- Google and Amazon. And a few folks want it "all for free" -- except it really isn't ever free! And a lot of folks simply want a "woman for President" -- just for a change.
Joe Biden is the only moderately conservative progressive with a sufficient voice to bring this country back together -- regardless his "old time" folksy, hugging shenanigans that seems to bother some a few women.
Vote Joe and we really can make America Great Again!
2
The best times of Biden are long gone, he doesn't have a future as candidate, the moment he announces his formal entry into the race, the countdown will begin for whatever is left of his best times.
Run Joe, run.
1
Whichever candidate has the best chance of beating Trump in 2020 at the time of the Democratic Party primary elections is the candidate I will support. If the primaries were held right now, I think that candidate would be the undeclared candidate, Biden. And I would support him. But it is far too early in the game to know who it will be by primary time. What we Democrats need is a candidate who can win - not just a candidate who makes us feel good about ourselves. I'll leave it at that.
6
Probably the first time a man, without an invitation, touched a woman was back in the Cave-Man days, and it hasn't changed a bit since then. So, if you want to believe all that TV-Show Biden just put out on his video, then please, vote for him when he finally makes up his mind to run for president. At this time I see two major problems the Dems have with Biden: one, he can't keep his hands to himself, and two, he can make up his mind. When brings up a third, does he have a mind for the 21st century or is he still living in the 20th century.
2
"Let’s go back to 2006. At a G-8 summit in Russia, President George W. Bush came up behind German leader Angela Merkel and inflicted a quick back rub. Merkel appeared … grossed out. The picture went around the world. Comedians had a field day. Hard to believe a powerful U.S. senator with an expertise in foreign affairs could have missed the story."
He missed it because like most of us, he believes he is the exception. He does not leave space for other people to tell him who they are; he assumes, as most of us do, that if we are touchy-feely, they are touchy-feely; if we are extroverts, they love nothing better than an event with 97 of their best friends; that if he intends no disrespect or incursion of their space, they feel none. George W. was creepy, but he is not like their creepy uncle, but friendly Joe and how could anyone take offense?
That's why he keeps trying to explain his intentions, and women keep saying, I don't care what he intended; I feel what I feel. The lesson at the heart of all this I think is that we all ought to try to be better listeners and more perceptive of others' body language and non-verbal cues. But mostly, that this isn't about sex so much as it is about centuries of women who believe that men are just not listening.
4
President Obama did a great service to country and Joe, asking him to be his Vice-President. Biden served the country and our President well during his two terms.
Let’s leave our respect — and love intact for you, Mr. Biden. Time for you to be the respected senior advisor and the campaigning to others.
5
The entire debate and condemnation of Joe Biden for his "style" of interpersonal relationships seems to be a rush to judgment. None of these accusations have been characterized as "sexual assaults," but making women feel uncomfortable by invading their personal space without consent.
The current occupant of the White House has not only boasted that his celebrity entitled him to kiss and "grab" any woman he met. Have we also forgotten his documented infidelities and constant insulting diatribes against women he detests?
Most annoying is the patina of equivalence attached to the accusations made against Mr. Biden. Sure, these stories probably help the networks increase their viewership, since salacious stories appeal to the public's prurient interests more than critically important issues that deserve attention, e.g., income inequality, climate change, health care, the influence of foreign entities on our politics, and many, many others.
Yes, the #MeToo movement deserves utmost respect, recognition, and validation. Sexual assaults by Weinstein, Nassar, and others of their ilk merit exposure and jail time, but the steamrolling of reputations and false equivalence that occasionally take place subtly diminishes the movement's stature in the eyes of many.
Is Joe Biden out of touch with cultural changes that have taken place in the past two years or so? Probably. Does he deserve the scorn and disparagement to which he has been subjected lately? Perhaps not.
3
On the other hand... it is refreshing to have a man point out the obvious which is that times have changed, instead of denying he did anything.
1
He's out of touch with political and social norms. He tends to make clueless if not weird comments whenever he speaks. He's a master of making facial expressions that please his loyalists. He has not demonstrated a capacity for real leadership. And he's too old for the demands of the presidency.
So tell me: have I just described Biden or Trump?
2
Joe should promise to serve for only one term and pick Kamala Harris as his running mate. They would complement each other perfectly.
1
The object is to select the most likely person to beat trump. Period. At this moment the only two people seem to be Biden and Bernie.
1
You've touched on the most revealing point. The concept of personal space is not a recent development. Let's assume it took firm hold in 2000, though it may have been earlier. Hearing Nancy Pelosi explain this basic courtesy makes Biden sound like Rip Van Winkle. For him the "laying on of hands" has always been a key expression of his office.
In the eyes of Trump supporters, Trump is MAGA. In the eyes of Biden supporters, Biden is MACA - Make America Comfortable Again. Radically different sensibilities, but choose either and you’re looking over your shoulder. Remove Trump from the equation and Biden’s candidacy disappears.
2
Unfortunately, we cannot just remove Trump from the 2020 equation. If we want to remove him in 2020 we need to choose the candidate who will get the largest number of electoral votes against him. Currently, that seems to be Biden. Once upon a time, in 1972, young progressives got their dream candidate nominated for president. I loved George McGovern. So did people in Massachusetts. He was not electable in 49 states. That got us Nixon's reelection. We need to be more savvy. I want Trump out far more than I want the Democratic nominee to perfectly align with all my stands on every issue.
The presidency is dangerous. There is too much power wrapped up in one person and it makes people unfit dream of power. Congress needs to reduce presidential power and states need to take back their power.
1
I had all kinds of uncles. One was a mind reader who toured the country with Will Rogers. Another was a writer who fought in Spain. Another was the first Jewish accountant at Con Edison. Another was a powerful communist or capitalist depending what country he was striving for power in. They were all pretty complicated people. People I had complicated sometimes searingly painful experiences with. Non had "old-uncle-creepiness". Not to me or my girl/women cousins. It is a very ugly category that keeps floating around with the knowing wink of self-satisfied bigotry.
It does nothing to address serious violations and assaults. Both in and outside the family.
1
Why is he waiting? That's what I want to know. That strategy is a mistake.
Either dive in or go play shuffleboard, all of this 'will he or won't he' is ridiculous.
There will be at least 25 people running soon - Tim Ryan, Sen. Bennett, maybe Stacy Abrams, Somebody Else.
If Joe wants to be president, he better dive in the deep end and right now.
I personally do not want to see him do it because his family will be put through the mud and I happen to really like Jill Biden and don't want to see her hurt. I don't think he can win. He's too old. He'll be 79 at inauguration. I'm 67. He's too old.
1
I was sorely tempted to NOT vote for Obama in 2008 because I questioned his judgment in choosing Biden. I am of an age that remembers the Neil Kinnock fiasco, and Anita Hill, and all the other instances that Gail Collins calls so politely "goofiness."
There may be reasons not to support Biden, but his violation of women’s personal space shouldn’t be at the top of the list. Democrats seem intent to follow a path toward Trump’s re-election. David Leonhardt quoted Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol on this issue. Her comments are worth considering:
“Is this what gender equality really means? Is this the kind of society we want to live in — where right-wingers can do any vicious thing they want to anyone and shrug it off, while people on the center-left are supposed to expel from public life anyone who says a single wrong word or has done something benignly intended in the past that now does not fit changed norms?“
3
Had Biden and his coterie of advisers anticipated, then gotten out ahead of this dumpster fire by acknowledging, explaining and then apologizing for his somewhat inflated indiscretions, perhaps he, the media and the rest of the country could have moved past it to focus on how this seasoned politician would deal with all of the major issues that all of us face as a result of all of the damage the current occupant of the Oval Office and his complicit, complacent party have caused. Instead, he'll forever have an asterisk after his name.
Let's face it: men like to touch women. The less sleazy of them tell themselves some sort of chauvinist mantra, like -- 'it's just being kind and friendly' or 'she looks kinda lonely' or [worse] 'she'll think it's a compliment.' All the supposedly 'new' talk about 'private space' only skirts the issue. This isn't about private space. It's about respect. That is what the 'me too movement' is about. But the 'me-toos' are not saying anything women haven't said before. We're not objects. We have ideas, feelings, grace, individuality. When you touch us because we are the members of a certain gender, you deny us our identity, our uniqueness. You violate not just our space, but our sense of ourselves as human beings, equally valuable, equally viable, to all others of the species.
3
Thanks to my wife, herself a "touchy-feely" type if ever there was one, I recognize that women are by-and-large smart and more than capable of sensing which men are louts and which are just, well, like Biden.
But, one thing is now clear to me, and it is depressing - if we keep doing this to ourselves we Democrats are going to be toast in 2020. Just like we've been too many times in the recent past. Because our opponents are laser-focused. Give them that much.
3
C’mon people; 2020 is serious. Just because our party is capable of shooting itself in the foot is no reason to keep doing it. If we can’t find a better, nominally human, post-35 year-old to run and win, we deserve another failure, but the country does not.
Everybody hated Joe when he was a plain-talking senator running against Obama in the primaries.
But Obama had to veep him because Joe was, at the time, the only voice of experience in the party. It was a bitter pill to swallow that was quickly forgotten when Obama won.
The irony...
1
I'd love to have Elizabeth Warren as president in 2021 but I want someone to beat Trump. I'll vote for anyone who runs against him but I don't see any of these folks beating him. I had hopes for Biden before this last fiasco despite his record. We have so many people who feel they need to tell the truth - maybe with a little edge - that the biggest liar of all is going to prevail.
1
What I have read and seen the last week or so with these attacks on Joe Biden, I am starting to feel that Democrats will do everything to ensure that Donald Trump is reelected.
We have not had a Secretary of Defense for more than three months and the Acting one is a shill for Boeing. Doesn't anyone realize how perilous that is? Carbon emissions rose 3.4% in this country last year-the largest increase in eight years. Two new Boeing jets fell out of the sky, killing hundreds of people because businesses are simply not regulated at all in this country any longer. The gap between the haves and have nots is growing wider than ever before. The President may very well succeed in taking away protections for every living soul with a medical preexisting condition. The Attorney General is covering up the most incriminating information ever discovered about a sitting President. Scores of foreign countries still have no United States Ambassador. Kim Jung Un is busy multiplying his nuclear capability. Trump is threatening to literally close the border with Mexico, after caging children didn't succeed in thwarting the flow of immigrants. Trump granted 25 top secret security clearances to officials deemed risks to our country's safety. Our federal government is absolutely rotten to its core and dysfunctional beyond imagination.
And now MeToo is maligning the potential candidate who Trump fears the most and the only one who handily beats him in current polling. Unthinkable.
4
A lot of folks don’t want him run because they fear he could win.
Biden and a very wise, good woman vp candidate would be a terrific ticket!
1
The XXII Amendment applies only to the President and does not prohibit the Vice President from serving three or more terms. Perhaps one of the young, liberal candidates should consider Uncle Joe as a running mate.
He is good at meeting and greeting - the primary job of the VP - and he knows his way around the Senate. If he sticks his foot in his mouth occasionally, well he would hardly be the first VP to fill that role either.
Biden did not and does not put his hands all over women's bodies.
Let US remember that a majority of white women voted for Trump knowing that he bragged about grabbing women by the P.
Ageism is wrong. If Biden thinks he has the energy to do the job, let him run and make his case to voters. He would be a better president than Trump.
The democrats are in big trouble– again. Their alternatives to Trump, so far, is a group of left wing dreamers, or an aging has-been with some skeletons in his closet.
There are also too many candidates, which dilutes public attention and campaign donations.
Have they learned nothing from the election of Trump?
2
Biden is becoming a lightening rod.
Which is not a good thing to be as a politician.
The more this drags on, the worse for all of us.
Please, Joe, do the right thing: Choose a candidate. Not yourself.
1
I don't know Joe personally but he seems to exude warmth and a real interest in his fellow American. I am sure all his private space invasion was his way of connecting and encouraging the woman in front of him. That kind of enthusiasm is not appreciated by certain people in certain circumstances. It sounds like he gets it now, so lets see how he does now. People didn't talk about this in the same way back in the 90's so lets let him evolve now that the discussion is out there. We all have a perception problem. We think we read others very well but the truth is you can never get in someone else's head. Sometimes a real hug is what someone needs and sometimes it isn't. If Merkel got a hug from Obama, it may have been different than getting a hug from Bush...It's kind of sad we have moved past judging actions based on motive and moved to the point where we get judged by how someone else feels. How do we know how they feel? Of course, someone does make their feelings explicit and we don't listen, than you can judge us. Sad we have to be so shy about showing another human our enthusiasm and positive emotion for them. I hope Joe still hugs, but is just more circumspect about whom he hugs.
1
I love Joe Biden.
Warts and all.
It would be great to have an actual, decent human being as president.
1
The arguments against Biden come from those democrats who believe a Socialist agenda and candidate can beat Trump AND actually be enacted into law by a polarized government. Neither of these premises are true.
Biden will appeal to the demographic who actually vote. He will appeal to those who are the antithesis of everything both far right and far left stand for.
We cannot judge the qualifications of a candidate based upon affectionately touching when it occurred in an era when kissing babies was common.
It’s the issues silly.
2
What the Biden accusations really highlight are the shortcomings of another candidate: Kirsten Gillibrand. She led the drumbeat that drove Al Franken out of Congress, but she is tiptoeing carefully with Biden. He has the power to deny her the nomination, while Franken did not.
Seems old Kirsten only has a moral compass when it doesn’t hurt her. This is probably a lesson she learned from her mentor, Al D’Amato.
Joe Biden for ............. SECRETARY OF STATE in 2021.
As a lifelong Dem I would like to see either Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar as the next president and Mayor Pete as the vice president.
Uncle Joe would be great at trying to rebuild our relationships with the rest of the world, but it's time for the next generation to step forward.
222
@hoconnor
ROFL.
Imagine how many global leaders - especially female presidents - he will sexually harass and dimwittedly insult. Best to leave Mr. Bean Biden off any ticket and out of any administration. We have no shortage of bona fide competent folk who can keep their hands to themselves, can manage to engage their brain and mouth at the same time, and can then simply apologize when wrong. Biden is none of that; he has never been anything but an incompetent opportunistic narcissist beneficiary of the son culture that is finally but still late in the game shifting on its axis in America.
11
@hoconnor - Elizabeth Warren for Pres., Mayor Pete
for VP and Uncle Joe for SOS.
11
I am a millennial and often get mocked by my friends for being a Biden supporter. However, as I often point out, Uncle Joe's support among older Democrats and African Americans (of all ages) is very impressive. It should be enough to carry him to the nomination.
And to those of you saying that Biden can't beat Trump in the general election - what are you guys basing that opinion on? All the head-to-head polls show that Biden is by far the strongest opponent that Trump can face.
Nah, yo. BIDEN 2020!
114
@Greg from the other side of the aisle, I probably agree. The only candidate who could be Trump is another old white guy. There is a large Republican base embarrassed and furious that Trump is who he is, but there's an even larger portion of the citizenry that came out and elected the guy. There are a lot of states in between those that touch the oceans...
8
@Greg Dear millennial, go ahead and adopt Uncle Joe's touch-feely routine and then let us all know how long it takes for you to be fire and sued for sexual harassment. Get with the times for heaven's sake!
10
@Greg - Fake polling data, easily manipulated, for sure.
3
Funny how the op-ed talking heads and their ilk all want Biden to drop out before even entering.
... and yet the polls still indicate he is the most popular actual and potential candidate at this time.
One might hypothesize that the 'pros' are out of touch with the real folks who actually elect candidates and presidents.
After all - they totally 'got' Trump last election cycle.
3
This really isn't about Biden's improprieties, but whether the Democrats are going to put a centrist in the 2020 Presidential primary and have a chance to beat Trump. This was an attempt by Bernie's supporters to put Joe's lights out early with help from their media wing men, and a resulting counter effort to rehabilitate Joe by the DNC donor class to restore him. The far left is going to eat him for breakfast in the primaries. Is Joe prepared for it?
I admit the timing of this recent free-for-all character assassination of Joe Biden is a bit disconcerting -- not only because of what he's allegedly done, but because he's still ahead without even declaring his candidacy, which makes him a prime target for the Republican-Attack-Machine.
Not only are they gearing up for battle, they're already taking aim at the most viable contender, whomever that might be.
And whoever Democrats choose to run this time, they can't afford to get it wrong.
1
I can't help but feel that many folks "love Joe Biden" not because he would make a wonderful or great or effective president, but because he represents a kind, gentle, caring, supportive father figure or grand-father figure.
I think people "love Joe Biden" because of his comforting appeal. He embodies a calmer, more reasonable persona than what we've had for the past two years. I almost feel that so many people "love Joe Biden" because of a sense of despair and desperation. Frankly, I've had a soft spot for him since his son passed away. I realize that's no reason to vote for him for president, but I still have a fondness for him. He's like very fine vanilla ice cream in contrast to a garbage salad.
4
I respect Joe Biden, but the time has passed for him to run for president. I am 68 and believe that the country needs a younger candidate and not another old, white man with baggage. Joe is from a different era.
7
@Mauger: Reagan was 69...Trump was 70, almost 71 when inaugurated. Biden is like 76 now, and would be 78.
We're going in the wrong direction here, folks. They were ALL too old.
There should be a maximum age for POTUS like there is a minimum age of 35. The maximum should be 65 or 70, no more.
An 80-something in the Oval Office would be a disaster.
1
@Concerned Citizen Biden was born in 42, he is now 78 and would be 80 when put into office. Too old.
Sanders is even older, born 41.
Democrats lets pass the torch to a new generation--- I am not too pleased with how our generation---the Joe Binden generation---has addressed a host of issues, beginning with civil rights and stretching into health care, climate control, education, wealth inequality, sexual harassment, foreign adventures. And, I certainly, do not want to spend the next two years listening to apology tours. This is why Mayor Pete is getting so much traction--no baggage (well, except for the Republican gay problem ---which if used will backfire on them), and he has that rare ability to make policy talk interesting.
1
President Biden's administration would be one of stasis. He has no vision that I know of; he picked out a spot and has moved perhaps a little in some ways; but boldness is not seen in his political resume, is it?
He is the status quo and but a reactionary when it is challenged. Is that all you've got?
I want a brave president that offers up big new ideas that can lead us up and out of the wilderness we're in. Joe Bide is not that president. FDR was; BHO was; Bernie would be. Liz Warren would be a great reformer. The others would largely be placeholders, even lovable Mayor Pete.
So, Joe, you're a decent man and always welcome at my house, but not in the White House. And that's not a hateful or devastating criticism by a long shot: Very few there are that can do that job as it could be done.
3
I agree about the depiction of Joe Biden in George Packer's The Unwinding; there he appears as a super ambitious politician who destroys the dreams of his idealistic staffer. And I am not sure that Anita Hill thinks that Joe Biden is so terribly friendly.
3
@Ashley
No, Joe has a pretty checkered political resume, but who am I to throw stones? It's a complex, often impossible, job; but he really blew it that time.
We can, I guess, understand, but not forgive in the sense of giving him a mulligan. His judgment seems too often to fall short, and in his position, that just can't be rewarded with the golden ring of American politics.
And, btw, I believed Anita Hill then and now. Yet Uncle Joe just never found the time to apologize directly to her; after all, he is in the public spotlight, and his official doings should be seen and heard.
He's just dropped the ball too many times in too many important inflection points. I could do no better, but I'm not a statesman of high quality either. Don't ever vote for me; you've been warned.
1
I get it, Gail. Love him; would prefer it if he didn't run. Elections are about contrast (and who on earth with a brain and a shred of ethics doesn't provide stark contrast with the fraudulent, unhinged criminal presently occupying the Oval Office?), but I agree with several of the comments below: time for a younger candidate with fresh energy and ideas. I'm Joe's age and resent being overlooked or pushed aside for bright, shiny, new objects when I'm at the peak of my powers and my career. But I spend much of my time working inter-generationally, and it's pretty darn clear that if we don't want to lose in 2020, we need greater contrast than what even Joe would provide. Superficial assessment? Probably. Lack of appreciation for who Joe is and what he's accomplished? Not really. (I especially won't forget Joe's evolution on same-sex marriage and the way in which he subtly or overtly pushed President Obama off the fence.) But I think the time has come to pass the baton if we truly want to engage and energize the next generation of voters -- to not see a sitting out on the part of younger people who need to feel represented and hopeful (or to trigger a disastrous third party split), and whose votes we need if we are going to reclaim our country. Given the times, to do otherwise simply places too much at risk -- in the Democratic Party, in the country, and in the world.
1
The critical question many American Voter's need to ask themselves is this: WHO will successfully defeat Trump. I am not certain WHO the most viable Democratic Candidate is but I don't believe it's Joe Biden...or Bernie Sanders... or Amy Klobuchar... or Elizabeth Warren. Frankly, there are too many Democratic Candidates considering running in 2020. This tactic is playing right into Mr. Trump's hand. Wake up America, Trump winning in 2020 will be disastorous for this country.
1
@Leslie374
And do you remember how many Republican candidates were running in 2016?
My suggestion.
Listen to them all, then decide who has the best chances of saving this country from four more years of this president.
2
It's problematic that Biden won't apologize for how he handled Anita Hill's appearance during the Thomas hearings, but what's more problematic is that he behaved that way in the first place. Yes, it was 27 years ago, but I vividly remember being outraged at the combination of his condescension towards Hill with his unwarranted deference towards the nominee.
The problem is not limited to his having been insensitive to Anita Hill's situation. The greater problem is that his genial approach resulted in his failure to confront the dishonesty that paved Thomas's way onto the bench, a failure with many and grave consequences.
This kind of temperamental even-handedness is intrinsic to Biden, but it contributes to his tendency towards indecisiveness. He is simply too reluctant to seem like the bad guy, but the cause of justice has many powerful enemies right now, and the Democrat we need has to be ready to emulate FDR and "welcome their hatred".
8
I went to a Biden talk last spring and while I like Joe, he is past his prime. I am about to turn 68 years old and do not have the mental acuity that I had 5 years ago. I just cannot see how Joe can mentally and physically stand up to the most demanding job on earth.(Unless he implements the Trump doctrine of working sparingly between golf, TV watching and tweet sessions).
The whole Joe touched me thing strikes me as another ratings grab by cable news. Joe is lovable expressly because he is not politically correct and does not pre-calculate his every move or phrase.
It is time for Joe to move on but not because he had the audacity to show kindness or warmth to another person.
3
I love Joe but.... This is a great opportunity for him to be something the country needs, a wise old mentor to the young and supporter of noble causes.
2
Joe Biden is a liable person. I admire the way he raised his children after losing his wife in a tragic car accident. He was a good VP for Obama. However, he is not the Presidential candidate the Democrats need in 2020. His over friendliness is an issue, his treatment of Anita Hill is a big issue, his age is an issue and his support of big banks/big business in Delaware is an issue. The Dems need to put someone forth that is younger, more liberal, and can appeal to a younger and more diverse population of voters. I think he should have run instead of Hilary in 2016. He could have taken down Trump having more appeal than Clinton in the midwestern states. Just my take on things.
3
@Kris
I agree with your take on why Biden should not run in 2020. But, just a few points. He didn't only lose his wife in that car accident--his infant daughter died as well. And while I agree that he could have made dust of Trump in 2016, he was grieving the recent death of one of his sons to cancer at the time. The man has overcome much and has my unending respect. I would like to see him gracefully exit the presidential would-be stage at this time.
3
Joe Biden has nothing left to prove to anyone about his patriotism, and has set a great example of service to the country before self; e.g., not "leveraging" his Senate seat to become a multi-millionaire. That is just one of the reasons that people love him.
If he runs, he will win. I hope he runs.
6
I'm in my sixties. Joe Biden is a national treasure. He is the only candidate capable of wiping the floor with Trump. He needs to run and clear a path for the new young progressives.
Anyone who thinks he can't win, I have three words for you:
Pennsylvania. Ohio. Wisconsin.
10
There is no denying that experience in life is an important asset in a leader. And because the presidency of the US is such an incredibly complex and demanding job, experience in government is definitely a plus. But it comes a time when even the most experienced individuals must take stock of their lives and realize it is time for them to move on. It is at that time that they either retire or take on an advisory or mentoring role to guide the younger set of leaders. That is how the most successful law firms operate, and many require their senior partners, even the successful rainmakers, to step down at 65/66. They then become “Of Counsel” or retire.
This is that moment for Joe Biden. To continue to pursue the presidency knowing well his many years of experience unfortunately come with a lot of baggage that may divide the Democrats and give his GOP rival plenty of ammunition to exploit simply shows an unmitigated ambition. He would be putting himself above country, not a nice move for him.
5
Joe Biden has experience, wisdom, he suffered great tragedies, has empathy and a sense of humor — a great Mensch who has my vote.
7
Other than Amy Klobuchar & John Hickenlooper - my view at this time - and Joe Biden - these 3 can beat Trump - but the "caravan" of other DEM contenders with their "democratic-socialist" views (explicit moniker by Sanders or implicit by others) are doomsday for the DEMs in 2020. Geez - "reparations" for African-Americans re: millions of slaves from the 18th & 19th century, when 70% of Americans disagree - MediCARE for All, when 50 million seniors most with private supplemental insurance, most want to keep their private insurance and 100 million workers have private insurance through their companies, and probably most people don't understand MediCARE for All is designed to obliterate private insurance - and in any event will never Pass at least for the foreseeable future - college debt forgiveness has a cost & what about those who did pay-off their debt, do they get a reimbursement - Green New Deal has already been defeated and most DEMs are still espousing the plan (maybe OK in the foreseeable future) - the extreme progressive left rant goes on and on to the detriment of the DEMs. The goal should be to replace Trump with a centrist, slightly let candidate. At least one bold GOP contender Bill Weld has announced his noble, albeit Quixotic quest, vs Trump. I'll hope I don't have to do a write-in as I did for John Kasich in 2016.
1
What NO ONE in the press is saying, this is 7 women complaining about being "uncomfortable" out of how many thousands he has encountered in his career. Even if the number went up 10 times to 70 that would probably be less than 1 percent of the people he has encountered. Probably well less than 1 percent. Think about it in numerical terms and let's move on. If Lincoln were around today we would probably have an explosion of stories about people being offended with his sometimes off color jokes. There are serious issues that need to be discussed. Let's keep things in perspective.
3
Yes I love Joe Biden and would vote for him if we choose him. Saying Goofy things and sometimes overstepping your grounds especially if you apologize and take responsibility for your mistake should not disqualify you for president. Consider for a moment what comes out of the current WH occupant right now and his total lack of responsibility for anything he does or says. We have so many candidate right now who are completely qualified to become president, a glut of riches. And we need to find the best most effective one and that is the bottom line.
5
I don't understand why people who get elected to the Senate or
the House want to stay there until they can't even stand up any more. Didn't the Founders want service in government to be a temporary job rather than a career choice? We should go back to that standard.
3
First of all, even though I'm not a touchy-feely person and I don't enjoy hugs from males or females who are not my family, I think this whole thing is blown way out of proportion and why are these women suddenly complaining now? Biden's enthusiastic physical displays are not disqualifiers. His past history probably is.
That said, he's too old, repeat too old for the office. As is Bernie. As is Trump (who seems to be getting Alzheimer's before our very eyes). As am I. Old politicians have too much baggage they're bringing to the office.
The world belongs to the next two generations. Let's elect a sharp candidate who will rip Trump, McConnell and the whole cabal to shreds and restore decency and respect to America. Right now we're the laughing stock of the world when people aren't being genuinely horrified.
3
Many posters, in various articles, cite Biden's age as disqualifying. There don't seem to be as many who cite Bernie's age as disqualifying. Why? Biden is much more electable than Bernie, especially for independents, who learn right, and moderates in the midwest.
3
I’m a 70 year old female who’s endured a lot of inappropriate behavior due to my gender - but I wonder: Is there no room for genuine warmth and affection anymore? I’m Italian. That’s who we are and a hug or touch on the arm are part of the way we communicate. Sad to see that pushed away by political correctness.
7
Biden was a man of his times. Judging him using today's stiff and uncompromising standards is grossly unfair. If the Dems want to win back the WH, Biden is their way in. The Dems lost the middle class, and none of the current candidates are appealing to that group. That's the group who will elect the next President! Sanders appeals to the "under 30" crowd who wants free-everything, and the middle class knows they will pay for it. The others signed on to the Green New Deal at their peril. Biden is the only sensible candidate who is not afraid to say "I don't agree with that". He's wise, experienced, he has a sense of humor, and he has people-skills. The middle-class loves him because he's REAL and I hope he stays real and doesn't become a chameleon. If the Dems get 100% behind him, they'll win. If they don't, they will not win because none of the current crowd is as appealing to the important electorate.
2
-----" Judging him using today's stiff and uncompromising standards is grossly unfair."
But that is exactly how he is going to be judged. Unfair or not.
Let Biden run if he wants to. That's why we have primaries. Gail doesn't love him, and neither do I, but every comment I see claiming Biden is too old or too vulnerable would apply in spades to Bernie Sanders. And I haven't seen many op-eds about that.
As often happens, Democrats get fixed on the personality of the candidates. They want to fall in love. But they're equally quick to fall back out of love.
I want a candidate who campaigns on the issues at hand. Not someone who offers vague promises and a "Yes, we can!".
10
I have always like Joe. He's a likable guy with an easy going style that appeals to me. But then I would like to have someone run for the democrat ticket that would be around for a second term too.
Four years is not enough to rebuild all the damage done by Trump and McConnell.
Think long term! Sorry Joe.
6
The controversy about Joe Biden, somewhat like that involving Al Franken before him, makes me wonder if any adult, particularly in public or professional life, can entertain the expectation of never being made uncomfortable, and should men be expected to display a greater tolerance for discomfort than women?
3
One of the reasons I wish Biden had run against Trump in the last election is that he would have won PA easily as he relates well with the working classes and is from there and he would have paid attention to Wisconsin; thus we'd have a Democrat in the White House instead of Trump, the grab women where ever and whenever you can, Republican.
As a woman around Joe's age I have experienced men giving me a quick back rub, or a kiss on the back of the hair and if it was someone I knew well and the situation informal, not GHWB with Angela Merkel, it was OK and rather nice, much preferred to this era's fake hugs that are to me not an invasion of space but are well fake. I feel badly for Joe Biden who has done a lot for this country and is basically a good guy who will now leave public office and the world with a gross reputation and he does not deserve it. (People our age think about the end is near.) His public record both good and bad stands. How men treat their wives is more important to me and there are a lot of men who were/are president who fall into this category. To the women who came forward was it really necessary to talk about something that made you uncomfortable? Too much time and ink spent. For me Joe Biden is too old to run and 2016 was a different moment in history.
3
I'd just rather hear about policy than this petty stuff. We have no magic mirror to see who will be the best to run against Trump.
I like the pull to the left, it's been greed is good for too long and it's now time for looking at what's good for society. But revolutions eat their children. You can see it happening right now in the Democratic Party. Pragmatism and Balance folks!
Remember there is a good 40% who support Trump. Moderation and centrism isn't popular, but incremental change in the correct direction works. You don't make BIG mistakes, which the Republicans have done. Hooray for the new Left. New ideas!! Let them brew and mature. Let's build on Obamacare instead of Medicare for All. Make changes in college tuition and student loan programs, instead of free university for all.
9
I admire Joe, have read his book and enjoyed it also. He's a great guy, but time to retire. Bernie and Elizabeth too, oh and Trump. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37 and has the potential to really be a leader, it's time for a young Democrat to reclaim this country for the people, not the upper 10%!
9
I'm really glad Joe Biden is a role model on how to evolve on women's issues. He had, repeatedly, gone from being insensitive to the problems women face to being a stalwart defender and promoter of equality for women.
But I don't want him to run for president and I don't want him to be the Democratic nominee or president (though I'd vote for him before Donald Trump from here to eternity). That's because he is, apparently, still learning the ins and outs of the problems women face, and we don't need a president who's learning this on the job.
Proof of this learning curve is ample; he has not given a heart-felt apology to Anita Hill, he made his psuedo-apology to Flores all about his intent instead of the result of his actions. He approached Abrams as a running mate, planting seeds in the press, without recognizing that she has her own voice.
And in running, should he choose to, he shows he doesn't have enough sense to lean back and mentor. That would be the very best demonstration of how men who came of age in a world can evolve; knowing when it's time to step back and let someone who understand the new norms.
There are a lot of men (and women) out there in America who are uncomfortable with their past actions; actions that were okay once upon a time, but are not okay now. Stepping back and embracing new leadership would model the way forward. Don't run, Joe.
10
His touching is perfectly appropriate, and I would welcome his embrace.
16
@Maria da Luz Teixeira
Might be okay for you or other Lisbon, Portugal Catholic women but here in America, it is not and never was.
@Maria da Luz Teixeira good for you but the only embrace I want is from my spouse, not from a politician.
@Maggie: Please refrain from besmirching my religion.
It's pretty obvious that Biden...who hasn't even declared he's running...is only considering it because of Trump. He had a tough time in life esp with the death of his son. His legacy as a Vice Presidency is good so why bother running and risking the trauma of dealing with negative press etc. Who knows what Trump or Fox News would come up with to tarnish his image. If the country were less divided or there was a Democratic President I don't think he'd even consider running. Ms. Flores was one of a few to complain about an issue that most would agree would not be thought a crime and at worst simply made people feel uncomfortable. Perhaps at the time she felt she could not speak out. She's having no problem now...which in some ways is commendable. But if she feels no crime was committed and the issue troubled her so much..why not contact Joe and talk to him personally. Why make such a public display of this incident negating his candidacy? The election will be here soon. No Democratic candidate will be perfect..none of us are. If the country cannot rally around a Democrat frontrunner ..whoever that turns out to be ..there is the possibility that with the help of the Electoral College History could repeat itself! Do we..including Ms. Flores.. want to take that chance? Trump stood before America and claimed the Access Hollywood Tape was Locker Room Talk! He was going to be more Presidential after he was "elected".. right? Let's cut Joe or any Democratic frontrunner some slack.
10
Biden is probably the only candidate that has the gravitas to take on Trump and win back many of the older white male and female voters that switched from Obama to Trump out of desperation. If he wins, he should choose one of the more progressive candidates -- or even a more moderate like Klobuchar -- as VP. Maybe he only serves 1 term at his age and cedes power.
But if anyone things that Booker, Beto, Harris, Warren, Sanders are going to beat Trump, despite some of their on point messages, they are, in my opinion, delusional. Take a trip to a local diner where working class people congregate and listen to their reaction to young candidates, or being "lectured" by Prof. Warren.
We are in a TV world and image is also a big part of the message -- even if it is largely superficial. Instinctively, voters think: "What person can best reflect the face of America to me, the country at large, the world?" There is a lot of gut response to this question that is often not entirely rational.
Millenials will have their day at the polls, but we Democrats need to get there. So, I believe a coalition of an elder statesman like Biden with a younger, somewhat seasoned -- i.e. not rookie -- running mate might be the way to go.
But equally important is the Senate! It's gotta be flipped or we're just treading water!
3
@Jon
Yeah, but those diner people are never going to change. Democrats only have to get back 77,000 voters in three swing states, none of which is New York.
We used to appreciate education in America. I'm older--and I remember a time when we expected our leaders to be educated like "Professor" Warren. Now, too many diner people have decided they know better. Well, they don't.
11
I am in the very progressive wing of the Democratic Party. As much as I love my Senator, Elizabeth Warren I fear that, notwithstanding her many well thought out policy proposals, she will be framed as an extreme socialist and lose if she is our candidate. On my bad days I fear that about all our other candidates with the exception of Joe Biden. Joe Biden would be my last choice but I would support him and donate to his campaign. The stakes are too high. Trump must be defeated. I am surprised at all the comments of people here who say they won’t support anyone but Biden. I think Biden should enter the race and present his case to primary voters. If he goofs up or doesn’t inspire support then these moderate Democrats can’t say he was t given a chance. If they are truly moderate Americans, they should support whoever is the Democratic nominee. Trump has proven every day he is unfit for the Presidency and a threat to our democracy and our security.
14
Joe Biden needs to step aside. I agree with several other commentators here in that, 1) by supporting Joe Biden, Democrats would be making a huge mistake and heading towards a repeat of 2016 - Joe Biden stands no chance against Trump. 2) This campaign should really be about someone new, and I think the best way is by nominating someone that has not made a career out of Washington politics. I think several of the senators really should just stay in the Senate - we need them there! When I picture the best candidate amongst Democrats and picture future debates before the general election with Trump, I still believe that Pete Buttigieg is the best bet.
9
I love Uncle Joe too, but the reason he should stand down is not because he hearkens back to an age when a pat on the back was just a pat on the back. His perceived strength is his ability to connect with the Americans in the Rust Belt and the Heartland. Other candidates in the race, in particular Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar do as well in this regard without the baggage of Joe's years in politics and his tone deaf pats on the backs of those who prefer words of encouragement to human contact. And in Mayor Pete's case, he connects with and inspires the other constituencies necessary to a victory in the Electoral College. No, we Democrats have better options. As for Joe, there's always Secretary of State. As Hillary knows, its a great consolation prize.
2
I'm glad you brought up the W-to-Angela shoulder rub. Sure it was creepy -- but even more bothersome is how these types of gestures deposition the woman who finally got the table. It's gender bias. It's a power move. It reasserts who's really in charge.
31
In addition to his tone deafness on the current issue (he never apologized!) his track record about Hill and all the other things he did and voted for that were bad, he's too OLD!
His charm goes a long way but not that far.
17
Again, the only reason the Biden candidacy is viable is the Trump Presidency. If Jeb Bush, or John Kasich were President Biden would not even consider the run, nor would the Party. But the sight of him standing there on the debate stage next to Trump 'Outwitting, Outlasting and Outplaying' him is just to good to pass up.
7
Let’s see, lovable Joe Biden who as Judiciary Chair refused to allowed the testimony of the women who would have corroborated Anita Hill’s testimony. Or is that lovable Joe Biden who opposed school busing in the 1970s? Or the one who sponsored an egregious bankruptcy bill and cosponsored a crime bill that has led to mass incarceration? Or the one who voted for the Iraq War? Or perhaps the one who never has managed more than a few percentage points in his previous presidential runs? I don’t love Joe Biden and I fail to see any rationale for his proposed presidential run. To state what I would think would be obvious, 2020 is a highly consequential election year. It’s incumbent on voters to educate themselves on candidates’ histories, and also look closely at what the candidates are proposing to address the daunting challenges facing this country and the world. I think a man in a position of power who consistently invades the personal space of women and girls is misunderstanding a great deal about the basic rights of women. But I see little that Biden does understand. If we can’t do better than this, we are in terrible trouble.
52
@Kathryn Levy Exactly. We have Clarence Thomas, thanks to Joe. And we have a million kids who are struggling under enormous student loan debt - and will, their whole lives - because of Biden and Boehner who protected their billionaire buddies at the eleventh hour...literally sneaking in a provision that forbids students from including student loan payments in bankruptcy filings. (Of course the Bush Crime Family put banksters in the middle and the whole loan thing was a con in the first place) If you’re a witless billionaire with bad hair, you can bankrupt THREE casinos (to do so once is a spectacular feat of stupendous failure). But if you’re a struggling student trying to get ahead, you’re doomed. Biden has crippled an entire generation. And who knows the long term effect of that ?!?
7
Well, me too, although not #MeToo. Joe Biden is clearly a wonderful man, with a warmth that exudes, an intellect that protrudes, and a penchant for getting a little too close for comfort. I attended an event during the 2012 presidential run that featured Joe Biden in a pipefitter's union hall, annoyed that he was nearly an hour late but then pleased by his pleasantness and moderate rhetoric. But that was seven years ago. He was my age then and he's still my age, which wouldn't be a big deal except that I'm fully aware of how much I have slipped intellectually and physically. I wouldn't vote for me for president -- too old, increasingly challenged physically, less engaged with the concerns of the young. I would never vote for a guy as old as me -- that determination applies to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren too. As far as invading personal space goes, I've done that too, but never without some kind of signal that it would be okay. Biden apparently never learned that.
31
There are many reasons that I don't want Biden to run. He has no vision or progressive plans and people want real change (see Trump exhibit 1). But I can assure you that the fact that Biden is affectionate and made some women feel that their "space" was invaded isn't one. This feminist finds that insulting to the Me Too movement.
17
Joe Biden may be old, but 70 comes in many shapes and sizes. NYTimes readers may skew to wanting younger progressive candidates, but they are not representative of the voters in this country. Joe's genuine likeability has always been a major part of his political talent. Let's wait and see how he fares on the campaign trail.
8
@Nancy Lederman
80 comes in many shapes too.
Joe would be 80 in 2020. That’s too old for 2 terms.
NO! Just No!
Another victim of the circular firing squad.
In an effort to get rid of a man who actually bragged about being able to look and touch women who did not want to be ogled or grabbed, but were forced to accept it because the man had power over them, we are getting rid of a man who is out of touch. Keep the predator. Ditch the "creepy uncle." We already jettisoned Al Franken whose sins seem pretty minor in comparison.
The Democrats have a raft of weak candidates, each of whom will find it challenging to keep the base votes, appease the left wingers and turn the swing votes. And each is subject to internal attack by our very own purity police.
The lesson to learn from the story of uncle Joe? Four more years of Trump. Because obviously, the Trump voters aren't concerned with character or morals at all while Democrats are looking for the Second Coming.
30
I am not prepared to make a decision about a Biden candidacy until there is a more thorough debate about policy, what it will take to lead a fractured and increasingly bitterly divided country facing serious social discord. That's what counts not age, timing, or anything else. This "issue" with Joe Biden is I fear another example of Democrats foolishly focusing on matters which are not central to electoral success. In 2016 Americans elected a president whose character and social values were/are massively worse than what is Biden is being challenged for. In effect they said Trump's treatment of women, his bullying, his shady dealings in business didn't really matter. Being branded as the party of shrill moral outrage is a losing path, especially with a strong economy.
11
I don't love Joe Biden. I find his past actions in the Clarence Thomas hearings, his support of the 1990s crime bill, his gleeful contribution to the destruction of Glass-Steagal, his Cold Warrior identity and support of the Iraq war completely disqualifying. That he could recently say of his time as Chair of the Judiciary Committee when Anita Hill Was treated so shabbily, "I wish there was something I could've done..." is one of the most offensive things I've heard any politician say. He is insufferable. Sorry about his personal losses, but that doesn't make him a reasonable person.
21
When training to be a teacher, in the 70s, wiping noses and potty training were part of the job. Limits were strictly understood and respect for another human being was recognized as such. It still is. In the late 80s, it became mandatory that teachers report any unseemly behaviors or unusual changes in a child's behavior. Teachers are mandated reporters of what is suspected to be harmful behavior. Now, what in the world happened to the adults in the room while the children were being shown the correct way to behave? Why can't we just behave? the way Mom and our teachers taught us? or didn't they?
10
The political state of having an opponent universally despised outside of his or her own party tends to make the opposition party lose sight of the goal of winning, perhaps because of the belief that "it's in the bag." The 2016 Presidential election offers historical proof of this. Once the election was 'in the bag,' the Democratic candidate couldn't resist insulting supporters of the other side, which created enough of a stir among the insulted to sway the election against her. Now time is getting short for 2020 and Democrats are spending more effort disqualifying each other than defeating Trump. Listen up Democrats, the civilized world must cede its hopes to you for removing Trump from the Presidency and yet you're complaining that one of your candidates has the "like" of cooties. Lord help us.
8
For a woman in American politics the likability issue may be a millstone around the neck, but for Joe Biden it’s a life preserver.
It would be nice to see him forego his last hurrah in spite of his likability, but not on account of a furor over his misguided gestures of affection. Democrats and the news media shouldn’t be dragging him down. At the same time, someone might point out to Lucy Flores that she could have done right by women, by Joe Biden, and by her party all at the same time if she had chosen to tell Biden privately that his behavior was liable to get him in trouble. For the kind and degree of offense in question, that would have been just right.
23
I don't need to love a guy, or gal. I'm not choosing someone, politically, based on such emotion. I want to see what he/she proffers as solutions to all our societal problems. What's the vision that drives them? I look for someone who's a leader; not Barney the Dinosaur. And politicians evincing true leadership are woefully lacking these days.
John~
American Net'Zen
4
I'm 70 years old--an active, progressive Democrat since my first vote at age 18. I'm really puzzled by this political moment.
Yes, we are horrified by the current president and the relentless Republican effort to rob from the poor & fatten the rich; the callous oppression of people of color, women & children to keep white men in power. I understand our desperate desire return the federal government to our core values, especially democracy.
I don't understand the complete absence of discourse about governing, which used to be a central theme in our elections. It broke my heart to watch President Obama flounder in the face of savvy Republican Congressional obstructionism, reduced in the end to governing by Executive Order. The most successful Democrat during his term was Speaker Pelosi, who understands how to craft a winning message (we just flipped 41 House seats by talking about health care) and how to get legislation passed & signed (she was primarily responsible for adoption of the ACA, an historic achievement).
When it comes to governing, Sen Biden shines. Rousing progressive speeches are worthless if the nominee can't govern better than President Obama did. The candidates with the most impressive governing experience are Mayor Buttigieg, Gov Inslee &, if he runs, Sen Biden. Former GA House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams also has that experience.
I implore my Democratic brothers and sisters to think not only about winning in 2020, but about governing in 2021 and beyond.
20
I love you, too, Joe. But speaking as I am on the verge of my 76th birthday, you have to know when it is time to leave the big stage and concentrate on some meaningful things you can still accomplish.
13
I get the point but I also understand how over sanitation can kill good microbes as well as bad. As a teacher I have known male teachers who are scared to the point of paranoia that some 1st grader is going to run up and hug them suddenly in the middle of the classroom.
I also know as an educator people come with various styles of gathering data and information about their world (I can hear the twittering already). Some learners actually touch and feel their way through the world and express themselves in this way. But when you are a kid its all wonderful and we encourage and thrive when someone figures out our learning style and encourages it.
So it is kind of sad that we have come to a fix-it point in society where Joe must admit he has to learn to maintain others' boundaries of personal space, stuff his wonky off-beat humor behind closed doors, and lower his excellent intellectual commentaries to only two syllable words--all for public consumption.
Well at least we still have Ms. Ocasio-Cortez being encouraged to be genuine, be authentic in her communications, but keep her opinions to herself or have them approved in advance.
So I love Joe Biden too. Precisely because he reminds me of being flawed and human without being a catastrophe. But, alas, I recognize intelligent people rarely get far in this society just being who they are. It has to be a charade or you don't get out the "gate" to run the race. It is always about mass consumption.
15
"I am so sorry if you/she/he believes that/feels that way/ thinks that happened ..." I am so sorry IF - is not taking responsibility. I love my friend's golden retriever, but I don't want her to run for president.
5
@SFR Daniel
My golden retriever would do a better job than the current president. Your friend’s probably would, too. The insistence that Biden say precisely what you need him to say for behavior that everyone agrees was not malicious is part of an attitude among so-called progressives that will ensure a Trump victory in 2020.
21
Where is the logic of people who support Sanders, but who think Biden is too old to run for office?
45
@Jean - I don't know, but would not contribute two cents to either.
@Jean
No logic need, the ones who support Sanders don't think Biden is too old.
1
Biden's extremely high poll numbers do not only reflect his name recognition as his rivals and Collins suggest.
Several candidates including Trump have equal or even greater name recognition. So that is not actually the source of Biden's greater popularity among actual voters.
Rather his high poll numbers among Democratic voters and in the general public stems mainly from a profound understanding that Biden is clearly the most qualified person for the job, by virtue of his experience in the Senate and as VP for many years.
Plus Biden is the only potential candidate who has wide and deep experience in foreign affairs, and the calm temperament required for the job.
Compare Biden's background in domestic and foreign affairs with, for example, Beto, Pete, Bernie, Harris, Warren, etc.
none of which have any experience in foreign policy at all.
Biden was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Cttee.
Biden is much more likely than his Democratic rivals to win the crucial States of Pennsylvania, (where he was born), Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc.
Biden is also much more likely to win back Democrats and Independents who voted for Trump in 2018.
All indications at the moment is that Trump is by far the best potential candidate to win the general election of 2020.
And that is the real reason Biden has the best poll numbers.
The poll numbers reliably reflect the relative deficiencies of Biden's opponents and Biden's manifest strengths.
6
I am not sure about Biden running. I see Sanders becoming first if Biden doesn’t run. I feel that Sanders has so much baggage-and seems to not want to release his tax returns. Politicians need big egos but I wonder if older politicians egos make it hard for them to step aside when they should do so.
17
Why are we always left with the implication that unwanted touching is something only men do to women? I won't pretend to be astoundingly attractive, and even so women routinely invade my personal space, touching my arm or shoulder, commenting on my fitness, my weight (slender, muscular), my curly hair--which in particular they seem happy to touch without asking and comfortable remarking upon without invitation.
In an age where studies more than a decade ago out of the University of Florida--among numerous other reliable schools and organizations--were already noting that especially young women harass and stalk more often than young men do, it's well past time for men to speak up about the harassment they experience from women.
19
Ms. Collins- don't underestimate likability. I hope Biden runs partly because the campaign against him so far has been so disappointing. So what if he's white or old or male? Are these reasons in themselves to disqualify him? I'd also like to think that politicians can grow on the job and evolve along with the changes in our culture. His performance in the Thomas hearing was poor but like Biden, there are many of us whose views on many issues have changed in the past 30 years.
I'm not at all sure he's the best candidate but I'd like to have the opportunity to find out. At this point, I also think that if he's blocked from running for the wrong reasons, it will hurt the democrats a lot more than if he does run.
7
I don't actually know Joe Biden. As a politician, I have some knowledge of Joe Biden. If I could swap out the current president for Joe Biden right now, a heartbeat wouldn't be fast enough. The primary race will sort itself out and it is going to be jumble for a while. Being a 1951 born boomer, I would prefer a candidate that has a decent expectation of being alive in 2050. That way they will have some skin in the game. Love ya' Joe. Retire, you'll love it.
15
I think if people really really loved Joe Biden this wouldn't be a big deal. But they don't. A lot of people think he is the safest candidate to run against Trump, and that same logic would have said Jeb Bush would have got the nomination. I believe Trump will be ready to eat him up.
It has taken him four tries to explain kissing women who didn't want to be kissed, and hasn't got it right yet. I doubt he will do well in television interviews, and doubt he can hold up in a debate if he does this badly with time to think things through.
I also don't know what he is waiting for to start his campaign. If he really wants to be President he would be out there now. Is he trying to avoid all the interviews the other candidates are doing.
I never liked Hillary and voted for her as the better of two choices. I feel even worse about Biden. There are so many contenders, I have to think the Democratic Party can do better than this, not because of the huggy kissy, but because he seems weak and indecisive, and I can't deal with that. The President is supposed to be a leader, and right now, his image is the opposite of that.
17
I like Biden and will vote for him if he is the nominee. I will vote for Democrat that goes through the process and gets the nomination.
I do not understand why the Democrats are so concerned with this zero tolerance for past mistakes. I am glad that the Governor of Virginia stayed on. He make a mistake, admitted it and importantly has lead a very good life after college. If we do not let people correct mistakes where is the encouragement to change for the better.
19
It's not that Biden is a touchy/feely guy, but he's gaffe prone and supports a Republican over a Democrat. Biden should retire while he's ahead. The Democratic Party would be well advised to ask Biden to step aside.
25
An existential issue implicit in the Biden controversy is the question of power differential. Biden's invasive behavior, however benign the intent, was a direct result of his superior "power position", as Senator or Vice President. The impact of male dominance in American society in supervisory positions dealing with subordinate females, whether in government, major corporations, or a local Burger King, needs to become a national discussion, and all the implications thoroughly analyzed.
16
He's too old. I'm his age and I know he's too old. We need someone who can take us beyond the Obama years, pick up the pieces after Trump and really address what's gave us Trump. That's not Biden. Beside, having another old white guy next to Trump on the debate stage is not a winning formula. We need a Buttagieg, O'Rouke , Harris or Booker, IMO.
22
Biden is Hillary. He has baggage, the donors like him, it's his turn...
11
"And the next day Biden called up to say thanks “for showing me what a jerk I was.”
See, this is the reason people keep saying they love Joe Biden. Right before they say they hope he doesn’t run for president."
Except that the polls seem to have him leading at the moment, whatever that might mean, so it sounds like many want him to run.
Imagine also a presidential candidate who reads NYT op-eds and is gracious enough ("man enough" would obviously today not do) to call and tell the author that she was correct. Someone who is not total ego.
23
I.L.J.B.B. -- I like Joe Biden, but ....
3
Should a man who otherwise has great qualities be disqualified for a job just because he has made women uncomfortable by touching them, even if the touching was not overtly sexual?
Answer: Yes. This is the most elite and most important job in the world. We absolutely should take into account how these incidents reflect on Joe Biden.
These incidents don't take away his past accomplishments, but Biden also isn't entitled to a fair shot at the White House.
If you have a habit of making women uncomfortable, I don't want you inside my own house. Like it or not, what you do in your lifetime can and will be used against you when you seek the highest office.
In a country of 330 million people, surely we can find someone who has a great value system, a resume demonstrating strong leadership, and an absence women coming out of the woodwork accusing this person of impropriety.
Biden, you can remain a nice, likeable guy outside the Oval Office. Do you really think you should be 1st out of 330,000,000?
17
Calling Biden “old uncle creepy” is both ageist and unfair to uncles.
16
Lascivious touchy feely didn’t hurt Trump, Justices Kavanaugh or Thomas, yet Biden’s avuncular endearments (so out of “touch” with modern norms of lady space) have been blown out of proportion by publicity seeking politico women on the make. Give it a rest, girls and give a profoundly experienced statesman his due.
20
Biden since 1973 has been resolutely anti-abortion, anti-poor and racist, as well as pro-big banking and corporate America. His documented spineless history is there in black and white.
It's stunning how ignorant of Biden's 45 years in government so many mostly Democrat males are, even as they as desperate to remake Biden into a national treasure sitting on the right hand of god. In fact, the old creepy misogynist Biden used to be a young creepy misogynist Biden. Most of his years in elected office look a whole lot like a low skilled opportunist who plays ball with anyone who makes him a good offer. Most of the time in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that was his religious conservative buddies in the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party and Obama dug deep in 2008, only resurrecting the failure Biden as cover to soften the concerns of older white men about the inexperienced, unqualified black guy at the top of the ticket. The hilarious part is that Biden actually thinks he earned that veep slot.
34
Joe, stop this nonsense. You being President at your age is as unseemly as you dating a twenty-something. The country has moved on from hugs, back-rubs and kisses. That was YOUR time. Today isn't.
14
Biden accuser D.J. Hill describes encounter with former VP on 'Fox News @ Night,' 11 pm ET.
See who is paying the freight.
Watch for a twitter storm of empathy from the Don.
2
If he is as bad as everyone says he is, then they should vote against him when he runs. Trying to run him off the rails is foolish.
14
C'mon seriously? When the Times sets out to destroy a democrat, the paper's bias is never more evident. Joe is old. True. Joe makes misakes. True. Joe says silly things.True. But Joe is willing to acknowledge his flaws and try to improve. That already makes him a better man, and a better option, than the current President. Oh, and his politics are good for America. Just maybe that should be a consideration too.
17
Frankly, if our current president runs for a second term, I’d vote for Pee Wee Herman if that was the only option. I think Biden is sort of OK, kind of, in a way, but I’d rather have any other Democrat, except for Gillibrand, for her treatment of Al Franken, and Beto, because he’s apparently a space cadet.
I get the point that a handsy hair-sniffing back-rubbing kisser like Biden can be off-putting, especially in #MeToo territory, but the violations seem so trivial in the scheme of things that I find them hard to take seriously. Being uncomfortable with such things is certainly possible, but some people’s discomfort with rather transitory smooches and rubs should not be grounds for eliminating a candidate for president.
The Anita Hill situation is far more serious, and is more of a disqualifier in my book.
Democrats have to get their priorities straight. The president has rarely done things as innocent as hair sniffing. Every day is a revelation of nearly incomprehensible outrages against everything this country stands for. To see him elected again because Sanders or Warren or any other candidate makes a faux pas is something we can’t allow, especially when “…the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
If it prevents us from waking from this nightmare, I’d let Biden sniff my hair and kiss me on the lips. I’d need a heads-up, though, because I’d want to shave first.
63
@gemli - Agree with you - mostly. I'm just a little tired of the Anita Hill memory being re-visited. It occurred about 30 years ago. I've changed about 180 degrees in a lot of ways from 30 years ago, and Biden probably has too.
Having said that, I still hope he doesn't run.
7
Joe
Sound the alarm for the Biden balloon,
The air’s coming out ever so soon,
Ever so married he cuddled his misses
And further afield he sought other kisses,
(The whole ball of wax if truth cometh out,
Our boychick, he strayed, no question, no doubt);
With Job’s afflictions, he earned his vaca –
A romp with his mistress, a turn in the hay,
His avuncular self is not what it seems -
Too skinny close-up to pre-teens and tweens,
A roving he rambles with hands on the move,
Roving and stroking – their parents approve;
Time for Joe Biden to pony the bill
For justice delayed for Anita Hill.
12
How the lyrics go in that song? "... a wishing, a hoping..." Everyone wants some candidate to take the smirk off Trump's face, if even for a twitter second. So far, Joe is the only guy that has said he'd do it, so what could possibly go wrong? Let the man run (heck, he looks more fit than your current blob) and... if he bows out, he will have added some sorely needed gravitas to the race. Go Joe. ...
2
Jeeze, pick your battles why don't we. Attacking Biden for making someone uncomfortable years ago is like an ambulance taking a heart attack patient to the ER being asked to stop at a pharmacy for some acne cream to cure an errant pimple. Women's rights are in grave danger, the country's democracy is cratering, we have a senile lunatic supported by the vast majority of one political party, and the other party is fighting over Biden's lame attempt to show some sincerity to a women by a physical gesture that went on just a little too long. I've been a Democrat all my life, but I am sickened by this rush from real world concerns. The women in my office are laughing at this with sad smiles at the gross stupidity of those who see these acts as worthy of anything more than a shake of the head and move on to reality.
20
There are plenty of things that make me feel uncomfortable when they happen in my personal space. Bad breath, for instance.
But if the offending party is otherwise well qualified to run for office, I don't make a big song and dance about their oral hygiene.
4
Good Ole Uncle Joe needs to stay out of the 2020 race. It's obvious.
9
Yesterday the NYT ran three hit pieces on Joe Biden, tossing him under the bus for being a hair-nuzzler, a leaner-in, a violator of personal space. (see 4/2/2019 items by Michelle Goldberg, Ross Douthat and Jennifer Senior)
But today in this and another article the NYT castigates all the other media and individuals who are trying to knock Biden out of contention.
One must ask why, if Biden is out-polling other Dem Presidential candidates, the NYT and other media are dredging up old news and old photos of Biden's proclivities. His peculiar tactile behaviors have been well known and photographically documented for years, so why are they being highlighted at this moment?
The media are clearly pulling a coordinated Kavanaugh caper, trying to discredit Biden and blow his candidacy out of the water. That leaves Beto, Mayor Pete, Elizabeth, Bernie and a host of others who have declared their candidacy. I wonder which one(s) will be the media's next target.
And, of course, waiting in the wings for a groundswell draft by Democrats desperate to save the country, is...Michelle Obama.
5
Michelle Obama?? Oh Lord no
Let’s be honest, if Biden’s conduct had been committed by a Republican, the liberal Democrats would be screaming bloody murder he’s a misogynist sexual harasser.
What clear hypocrisy.
8
Hatchet job; probably not deserved.
3
Here's what bothers me about glibly dismissing Biden as just 'affectionate in a fatherly way': When we dismiss men who kiss women on the backs of their heads (which is quite different than a quick friendly hug) as being harmless then we enable men to push boundaries further. What else can I get away with? If they sniff and kiss and people shrug, why not accidentally brush against their breast, put their hand on their butt, and move on from there from inappropriate to groping to harassment to assault. And I accusing Biden of this? No. But giving him the green light gives other men the greenlight who will continue to advance their liberties. Either you think its okay to kiss women without permission or you recognize that women have a say over who touches their body (and frankly this should include even that quick friendly hug). WHile a kiss on the back of the head is not sexual assault, it's on the continuum of (often) unwanted touch that comes from men feeling entitled to women's bodies and asserting their dominance. (And I don't care that Biden hugs men; that's different than kissing. Not all touch is equal. Men wouldn't want him kissing them either.)
And for a survivor of sexual assault, having a man you don't know well come up behind you, put his hands on you, and kiss you, can be really triggering.
9
Dear Other Ladies in your 50s,60s and 70s, You want a candidate who can beat Trump. You want a candidate who can win the industrial Midwest. You want a candidate who does nor traffic in divisive rhetoric about policies that are great but cannot pass in the current political environment. You want a candidate who can attract moderates, ideally without alienating the Democratic base. I am here to tell you that your candidate is not Joe Biden, but Pete Buttigieg. He grew up in the industrial Midwest. He is admired there for the way he has turned his city around. He wins the respect of moderates not by appeasing them or posing as a centrist, but by articulating progressive values with such integrity that he commands respect even from people who don’t agree with him. As a gay man with “butt “ in his name who grew up in Indiana, he has u inquest skills in dealing with bullies. Unlike Biden, he has a well thought out plan for winning the propaganda war that Republicans have been waging for 30 years. Plus, he won’t try to smell your daughter’s hair.
28
Joe has a few dead bodies burried in the basement. To say nothing about his son Hunter and their curious relationship
with that cesspool of corruption called the Ukraine.
Wonder what's that all about.
F3
4
Nothing better than liberal cannibalism .. They love to devour their own.. "Old white men" are their caviar appetizer.
7
Seriously, would getting kissed by Joe Biden be so bad?
I could think of a lot worse. Now if we were talking about a Trump kiss on the back of the head.....Ick!
4
Ha Ha Ha ..
Biden-Beto -Warren- Harris- Booker Bernie All in the race... Liberals will split the votes and re-elect Trump on their values of race, gender identity, immigration, free healthcare, free college, barf and more barf
The GOP has one candidate - even though they hate his guts- They will still vote for him in unison.
This is the message DEMS need to listen to..
Ger out and vote becaue none of you do..
1
@Aaron exactly.
..Libs have gotten so self-censoring... "oh, I like Joe, but don't want him to run.." bla blabla... Why shouldn't he run? Isn't that the whole idea..get people to participate, engage, run for office..and let the voters decide..? (-Sounds like democracy ..)
Why are soo many NYT readers anxious about Joe Biden.? Actually, they're probably just anxious about a whole lot of things..
2
"Damning with faint praise". Mr. Biden should retire and enjoy the rest of his life. He's been a good public servant, but time to go home.
7
We have a president that calls women "dogs and pigs". We have a president that wants to "grab them by the p---y." We have a president that has repeatedly cheated on his numerous wives and pays them off for silence. Is Joe Biden perfect? No. Neither was Washington or Jefferson among many others. There is a part of me that would like to pass the baton. There is a part of me that values the wisdom of those older than I. The knowledge they have collected over a lifetime. The know-how they possess. The allies and relationships they have cultivated. That is why in 2019 (2020) I still say the same thing I said in 2016. Joe Biden is your man. Your VP comes from the "up and coming" group and you have the best of both worlds. Biden 2020 one hundred times over. Joe, if you are reading, run and give 'em hell. Otherwise you are looking at 4 more years of president Baby Huey. And I'm not sure democracy can withstand that.
5
I'm at a bit of a loss as to how "sounding goofy" is disqualifying for the presidency in this modern age. We need only consider the current president, and "goofy" suddenly sounds quite all right... I may even long for "goofy".
And as for the concern that Biden may be a little too 'handy' around women, well, again, consider the current president. Mr. "I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her."..."Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."... "Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything."
No, I'm not nearly as concerned about Biden's hugs and shoulder squeezes. It seems like we are determined to apply a different standard to our Democrat contenders than the Republicans apply to their contenders... maybe Democrats need to adjust just a bit the expectations for perfection and sanctity in our presidential candidates. Biden's not my first choice, but were he to be nominated I'd feel no concern about voting for him. He's got considerable very relevant experience (again, consider our current president) and he's very stable, and even if not a self-proclaimed "genius", I think he's smart enough to do the job well.
There are other current contenders that I have stronger interest in, but that has nothing to do with Biden's character. Again, consider the current president - am I 'old-fashioned' to believe that character still matters, and Biden is OK in that regard, if a little more touch-friendly than I am myself?
12
Historians will look at this time as an example of the left's sanctimony & how it set back progressive causes with pettiness & self-congratulatory rectitude. Let's cut the hypocrisy & talk about what's really going on. The Democratic party's left wing can't stand the fact that Biden is running because he doesn't check any of the SJW boxes. He's white, he's old, & he's male. Lets set aside the blatant, racism, sexism, & ageism they are using as a weapon against him. What really bothers them is Joe is an unapologetic moderate who can beat Trump. The hate the idea that Biden is going to suck up all the oxygen in the room forcing Harris, Warren, Booker and other progressive favs to withdraw. They would rather lose with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket than win with Biden. They would rather reign in a Progressive Hell for the next four years than serve in a moderate heaven. They may get their wish. Progressives are their own worst enemy. They alienate voters with their insistence on ideological purity, their inability to compromise, & their insufferable arrogance. If Democrats nominate a progressive candidate then all is lost.There is no progressive majority in America & never will be. The numbers are simply not there. And there certainly is no progressive Electoral College coalition in America that could get to the needed 270 votes. In general election match-ups when Trump was matched up against Biden, where Biden beats Trump 55% to 45%." We can't govern if we don't win.
15
Gail, Love means never having to say “ they let you grab them by the pussy “. And THAT is a videotaped, direct quote from Trump. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are being played, and Joe is being unfairly tarred and feathered. No, he’s not my number one draft pick, but he IS being run out of the race, before it even starts.
Ask yourself, who benefits ?
47
No. Just no. Trump would savage Biden. And Biden continuing to lust after the presidency is pure ambition. His last chance. I respect his many years of service, but he needs to step back into an elder statesman role, guiding younger candidates with less baggage. I'm 62 years old and right now I prefer Pete Butt-what's his name. Dislike Beto - another waffling D, sniffing the air to see which way the wind's blowing.
649
@Desertbluecat It's also true that Biden's Reagan Republicanism would play as badly with the electorate as Hillary Clinton's did.
We're long past due for the corrective to both right-wing major parties that a left of center candidate offers. The reasons why FDR was able to win four straight presidential elections should be obvious by now, and after forty years of Republicans of both parties leading the country it's high time an actual, authentic Democrat sat in the Oval Office.
85
@Desertbluecat I actually think Biden has the warmth, vision, and smarts to expose Trump's egregious personality like no one else seems to have been able to do...
25
@Desertbluecat I think Trump would actually have a tougher time savaging Biden than any of the other candidates. But it's already looking like the vociferous left of the Dem party will ignore the folks in the middle who usually get out to vote and will insist on nominating someone who will keep them at home on election day and guarantee Trump a win. I wish both parties would die and we could start over again with some grown-ups in charge.
33
“I worked my whole life to empower women,” he told the camera “ …
Might want to check with Anita Hill on that claim.
10
Isn't it strange that all these Biden space invasions are suddenly appearing? Of curse there was the Anita Hill incident, and I doubt Joe was a Thomas supporter, so hard to tell why he was so hard on her, she was in a very embarrassing position to begin with, so it is hard to tell what his motive may have been at the time.
Even so, if he wins the nomination, I would vote for him, not only to get rid of Swindler Donald, but any Republican. I did not always feel that way, but the current crop of the GOP is far worse than any space invader, they not only invade your space, they invade your wives and daughters bodies, they invade you sense of decency, they are just an invasive species.
21
Somebody has been pushing this story in an organized way, first as oppo research, and then to spread it, get it all out.
Who?
Whoever it is, I certainly won't vote for that dirty player.
21
I don’t care whose hair Joe Biden smelled. All these complaints seem so slight to me. Being made uncomfortable is different from being harassed.
But these complaints do indicate a certain systematic lack of respect. It’s as if Biden believes women are never to be taken seriously. The most telling indication of this attitude was his treatment of Anita Hill. Unforgettable. Unforgivable.
4
Trump has been a fomenting agent. A number of issues - racism, misogyny, the entitlements of the rich and the powerful - that didn't get the public attention they deserved have been thrust onto center stage. Joe Biden's lack of sensitivity on this particular score is not of much import. But the trend of re-examining what is acceptable and what is reprehensible is very healthy.
2
Yes, Ms. Collins, you are no doubt right in your assessment. But are we really going to keep his views and ideas out of the primary season because of this? Maybe he has some useful experience? Are there going to be any Democratic candidates who will pass the PC test? Hasn't every male done something in his past? Hasn't every white person taken advantage of unfair privilege, and not recognized it? Wasn't one female senator a really bad boss? Are we going to shoot them all first and see who's left standing? Don't you think Donald Trump is just laughing up his sleeve about this, and figuring out who is the next easy target?
The world is burning up, the rich are getting richer, etc., etc.
4
I'd love to see Joe run for VP.
I can't help remembering our current president's comment on the Access Hollywood tape, to paraphrase, if you are famous enough, women will let you do anything. Sorry to say so, but there is some of this in Joe Biden's actions toward women.
3
No love for Joe Biden. He’s a glad handing, self absorbed guy who enjoys,really enjoys, the attention & influence of public life. He used women this offensive way to affirm his power & self esteem. He looks like a vain, shallow man. Hair transplants, plastic surgery, plagiarism, jumping on the bandwagon. We can do much better.
5
I really hope he doesn't run for president. And I love him too.
Our national problem is that pretty much anyone is a good guy in comparison to the current denizen of the White House.
It is the lowest bar one can imagine and probably not at all what the founders imagined-- a probable criminal as president being aided and abetted by an entire political party.
Sure, Joe Biden is a great guy. But he was not presidential timber in the past and at 76, he most likely still isn't. But he is still heads and shoulders above Trump.
Our problem, unfortunately is not whether the Democrats will pick a better option than Trump. They will. They would have to troll pretty deep to fail on that metric.
Our problem is that the nihilism necessary to vote for Trump the first time (and God forbid, a second) is anathema to our democracy. And there is more than enough nihilism still, even after demonstration upon demonstration of incompetence, nastiness and stupidity by the sitting president. Our problem is not Trump. It is Trump voters.
They are not term limited.
4
Biden's shtick is shallow ingratiating glibness, hale-fellow-well-met and full-of-himself bluster that one found in the typical machine political hack of yesteryear. He's clueless and tone deaf about his physical transgressions with people, which doesn't surprise me given his background. His substance is mediocre and, worse, he's a shill for the banks and the powerful.
Biden has been frank that he's a liberal only on civil rights and civil liberties (the latter debunked by his support for mass incarceration), but otherwise "conservative." (Washingtonian, 1974)
We need Joe Biden very little more than we need Donald Trump. If the Democratic Party and the country can't do better than that, we don't deserve anything more than more Trump.
2
If Joe Biden is the best the dems can offer up now, we're doomed.
3
@Trump Treason exactly.
The man is too old to have the world thrown at him .. However.. my best friends mom still drives daily and she's 86 ... Oh well .. lets continue to govern the world with our left blinker on
Some of us haven’t forgotten Joe Biden clear plagiarism of a Neil Kinnock speech some years back. It wasn’t flowery rhetoric he ripped off, it was statements of fact that were simply not true in Biden’s case. Also, he’s too old.
4
His strange behavior with so many women makes me confident that he will be Trump’s equal.
2
I love Joe Biden! No ifs, ands or buts.
1
Biden is Hillary deja vu. It's "his turn", the donors like him, he's run unsuccessfully before...Trump de nuevo coming up.
1
Do people REALLY like Biden for his policies or do they think he's just goofy and charming? Do you want him as your president or do you want to get a cup of coffee with him? Americans need to make this distinction and make them fast.
1
Just get this over with.
Dear Gail,
Totally agree. Biden's moment passed. Could you please write a column (which Joe Biden hopefully reads) politely explaining to him that it's time for him to retire. Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) is half of Biden's age, and twice of Biden's appeal.
4
Joe has every right to run and see if the voters choose him. There is no one more vile than the WH's current occupant.
2
This column makes me feel very uncomfortable and it somehow invades my virtual personal space. Lately, I've been having trouble coping with all the micro-aggressions that are in the earth's ether. What's an old white guy, moderate Democrat to do? Just fade away I guess.
3
A man of Biden's age belongs in the Senate an institution that thrives on mature wise old men and women. That goes for Sanders as well. It is time for politicians of his generation to make room for the next one. I hope the next election replaces an old fool with an energetic younger man or woman who will take the job seriously and bring back some dignity to that office.
622
@serban
Using today's "young" and "dignity" in the same sentence?
That is rich.
9
@serban. So you're all about women's rights. How about your ageism??? At the age of 67 I was still working in a highly dynamic, busy office, putting in between 50-60 hours every single week, year round. I had a 30-ish year old assistant who literally could not keep up with me, despite her being a great asset to the office. After working with me for a couple of months, she observed that she came to the office thinking that she was so experienced and skilled, but now realized how much she could learn from me.
11
@serban
Might recall that Mark Twain called the Senate, "That grand old benevolent asylum of the aged & helpless".
8
How refreshing.
Democrats are willing to overlook Biden sexually harassing and physically assaulting women, that’s not a problem. Democrats will not forgive him for being old. Ironically, the same folks who want the Feds to prosecute every company in America for age discrimination have no problem discriminating against Biden because of his age.
3
Biden's run will expose the hypocrisy of the democratic party. If Hard Schultz runs and Biden is the nominee if the democratic party . Schultz will get more votes. Since the weekend, 3 more women have come forward and there are images that crucify goofy Biden. Time for Biden recite LBJ's famous words.
"I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
In the case of Biden he should state the following as soon as he possibly can.
"I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for even a single term as your president. I am deeply sorry to the women I have offended"
5
It's pretty weird to me that in a world where everyone is worried about too much screen time a lot of us are even more afraid of being touched by other humans.
I suggest Joe Biden adopt a big red kiss as his campaign symbol and the slogan "Be Nice or Leave". It worked to keep the deplorables out of a taco bar in the Florida panhandle, maybe it would work in Milwaukee. And meanwhile Gail, you need to find your funny bone. It seems to have gone missing!
3
Joe Biden plagiarized the speech of a British politician during his 1988 failing President of the United States quest.
Biden crashed and burned in his 2008 run to occupy the Oval Office of the White House.
Joe Biden's verbal and physical malapropisms are the stuff of late night comedy legend.
While there is a very thin line between being laughable and loveable in politics neither of them go well with being the leader of any nation state let alone President of the United States.
280
@Blackmamba. Well said...”neither (laughable and lovable) of them go well with being....President of the United States.” I like Joe Biden, and he certainly has the experience to be POTUS. But it is time for him to step aside. He had his chance in government, he did well but for several exceptions. However, when I watch and listen to our present candidates, Biden seems out of step with the complexities of this young century. Plainly put, both in age and mentality he is too old. (I say this as a 73 year old woman.) Yet, if perchance Biden were to be the nominee, I would support him when faced with another four chaotic years with Donald Trump. Trump is not only a disgrace to the presidency, he is also a failure as a human being. I will take “laughable and lovable” any day over the corruption and amorality of this specimen presently infecting the White House and our democracy.
30
@Blackmamba
Biden did not plagiarize a speech during his 1988 campaign. It was during his campaign that it was revealed that he plagiarized a law review article while in his first year in law school. Still bad but facts are important. For what it's worth Biden said he did not deliberately intend to mislead.
Biden didn't crash and burn in 2008. He lost. A lot of people lost the WH because only one person can win. But he did win the VP spot. That ain't nothin'.
I'm a voracious consumer of late night comedy and have been all my life. Biden was never a punching bag - much less a legend - of late night comics.
Here's the point...you'e entitled to not like Biden and not vote for him but gilding the lily is both transparent and, for your purposes, counter-productive.
27
@Ralphie
I love Joe Biden, and if he wins the nomination I will support him. But I'm old enough to remember the plagiarism scandal from the 1988 campaign and how disappointing it was.
There are many of reasons to hope for a better candidate in 2020.
Here's this from the Washington Post at the time:
"Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr., a U.S. senator from Delaware, was driven from the nomination battle after delivering, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also contributed to Biden's withdrawal: a serious plagiarism incident involving Biden during his law school years; the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event; and the discovery of other quotations in Biden's speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians."
17
Joe Biden should have run the last time. His time has come and gone.
Have to defend this guy. He appears a "touchy feely" kind of person. But in this political climate, soon even a handshake will be considered inappropriate.
3
I hope he doesn't run. I don't want to vote for him.
4
I would have swapped the ellipsis.
"In the past, whenever Biden has tried to run for president ... things didn’t go well. In part it’s been because of his tendency to sound goofy."
Subtle but significant.
1
yes yes yes but ...
men can be quite foolish about women and may grossly overestimate their charm but ... when judging one unfit for office there must surely be consideration of "intent" and "extent".
The sexual grab, the inquiring caress, the affectionate touch; they are not the same. I can recall each of these - and, perhaps because I found none of them threatening, I do not judge these men ill. Insistence or menace would have changed that, that would have made it unwise to vote them power. But Biden does not seem that way.
Does Joe Biden's behavior make him unfit for office? His appeal has always been his personality, his ease with strangers; he seems to get it right far more often than not.
I don't want to make people feel uncomfortable but it would be ridiculous to believe that I never have; I just hope they understand that it was not intended and can think kindly of me now.
7
@Gerard -----"
" when judging one unfit for office there must surely be consideration of "intent" and "extent".
No there doesn't. You will never know anther's intent. What you need is a feeling of confidence or not that the person can fulfill the job.
Nothing to do with intent.
The only candidate of any consequence is the one who can beat Trump. And the only candidate at this point who has the experience and the authenticity to beat Trump is Joe Biden. This election is not about turning the country around, its about straightening it out and Biden is just the guy to do it. Go for it Joe......
5
We are confronted with global warming, foreign interference in our elections. epidemics of bankruptcies due to inadequate health insurance, trashing of the air and water due to massive de regulation, numerous international trigger spots, and on and on. Our president is an incompetent mob boss and wannabe authoritarian and we are wasting rivers of ink on Joe Biden 's penchant to be touchy? Focus, people, focus!
21
Many Americans appear to be shellacked in political and personal enamel in these fast paced times, where David Brooks pointed out that we have been made to feel like fools, and some female voices are making honking sounds about Joe Biden's taking up their space, which would make a gaggle of geese blush with this latest pressing tomfoolery.
A first viewing earlier of our president's pond in Florida which looks like a pink squashed wedding-cake, and just right for him, while the Nation appears to have forgotten his past romantic indiscretions, with Michel Cohen acting as a shield.
"I love Joe Biden" is better than some of the drivel we are hearing, and this American adores him. He has the stature and bearing of a fatherly figure to restore our Nation, and with a strong vice-president by his side, it feels as if hope and spring are the air again, after a long season of a dreary and dismal presidency.
Instead of playing the theme of 'Cherchez La Femme', it might be wise to focus on some of these bright contenders in their capacity as energetic and challenged vice-presidential candidates.
Keep writing, Ms. Collins, because your voice is needed to remind us to stay sound and sane during these political marathons where few runners sound like a bouquet of roses.
3
Like others responding to Gail Collins' excellent piece, I have nothing against Joe personally - though as the survivor of sexual assault, I have to tell you that when men I don't know touch me as he has done, those men have been fortunate they didn't get their teeth knocked in - but he's just not the guy I want to see as POTUS.
I've already had men try to soothe me down and say, "Well, honey, he'll only serve one term, and then whatever qualified woman served as his VP will step up." I gnash my teeth and say, "Perhaps HE could serve as VP instead, and let the highly qualified women with actual platforms and plans take the stage instead." The man who proposed second fiddle for a woman - AGAIN - seemed shocked. "He would never settle for VP!" Then why should Harris? Or Warren? Or any other female candidate?
What is it about our current media that Beto and Butegieg and Biden, who have none of them released any details about their plans and who, in the first two examples, have absolutely no accomplishments on which to run, get gushing 24/7 attention while Harris, Warren, Klobuchar, fall out of the headlines?
PLEASE start actually covering these women. I'm so sick of being told that "it's just not time yet".
5
Joe should run and let the process work things out. Not that Joe's hands aren't a problem but compared with Trump he looks pretty good. Enough people got hung up on Hillary's faults to elect Trump in 2016; let's not make that mistake again.
2
Trump had no political record to be criticized for, yet he is the most dreadful imaginable president.
Biden’s long political CV, of course, includes a few blemishes. But he is smart, he knows how to govern, he starts from a place of good aims, he is willing to learn from mistakes, and he would make a fabulous president.
4
Oh come on Gail, you too , trying to re-elect trump ?
When the current President has gotten away with horrible record on women, the focus is on Joe Biden , who becomes comforting to some by sniffing their hair after supporting their candidacy?
The timing of these women who are politicians and in different camp are strangely odd when Biden being the front runner and almost declared his candidacy.
Please don’t allow them to eat their own .
9
Sorry Joe - its Anita Hill time...
Some of us do not have history-amnesia.
You're looking good though.
3
I reluctantly voted for Hilary because it was a binary choice between the flawed Clinton and the incompetent, malignant Trump.
Joe Biden has some flaws as well, but it seems to me that this space invasion issue should be relatively minor in comparison to Trump's taped "Grab 'em etc."
My concern is whether the Democratic candidate can win the Presidency. I think Biden can. Many of the other candidates have flaws: e.g., some are too young, too old, too little experience, too ambitious, etc.
If anybody could beat Trump in 2020, then we should indulge in pushing for the person we like the most. But ask yourself whether that person can convince enough voters to dump Trump.
Biden has strength in the Rust belt states that proved pivotal last time.
1
Its bad enough that 40 percent of the populace is deluded by a con man, but after seeing that video, I'm afraid that anyone with the belief that Biden could win in 2020 is equally deluded.
3
The D's need to offer a sharp contrast to the accidental president for the 2020 campaign...
Remember Clinton v Bush in 1992? Clinton was the future, HW was not. Clinton V Dole in 1996? Obama v McCain? Obama v Romney? You know the story, and it's not always about age or experience. It's about perception. Reagan didn't beat Carter because Reagan had a superior mind or a better plan, Carter had the class to know it's rude to blow your own horn too loudly and came across as indecisive while Reagan told us government was the problem... If you're unhappy, blame Carter.
Trump talks faster than he thinks and has advanced well beyond his ability. Give the voters a true leader and make it obvious who's offering the genuine goods.
I admire the life Joe Biden has lived. He has endured great tragedy w/ grace. He seems to realize how lucky he is w/ the second chances he has been given in a world of hard knocks. Don't think any decent person will not come to tears thinking about him losing a young family and then a son w/ many dreams of a bright future. He is a great man, esp when this century seems to have revealed so many jerks. So many men with zero heart, morals, care, and decency.
Joe owes it to himself to run. At this point, nothing is known and in the world of trump anyone could win. So, if he loses, he can stand tall because who knows. We need a true Democrat to represent core values of generations of our nation. He has a chance and must fight for it.
Personally, I want him to erase Bernie Sanders as well. Sanders is not a democrat and ran a very self-serving campaign last time. We don't have Hillary b/c of Sanders (there are other ways it could have tipped, but he was a core pathways). He never respected Hillary and that is telling. He doesn't even speak well of dems in general. His recent comments about Biden and Hillary are revealing of his character. Joe can push him to release his taxes and that will mean Sander's end.
Anyhow, run Joe run for President! If he does great and then chooses Kamala as his VP, even better b/c 8 years of her after is great too! Or Harris at the top is fab as well. Joe take a chance, life is short and as GC says the love is always there!
2
sure I like joe biden just as much I like a lot of people. For president, no way. Make room for the next generation. I know Reagan was an old person , but , please , we do not need old people.. No disrespect to the elderly, heck my mama is 82 and my dad is 80. I want new people. I would not want my elderly parents to rule this country. Unless my mom was Ruth Bader Ginsberg
5
Biden is "handsy" around both women and men. He doesn't seem realize this is paternalistic - an unspoken form of dominance. Managers touch underlings on the arm, not vice versa. No-one may touch the king or queen.
And an older man greeting a younger woman by touching her smacks of the "droit de seigneur".
The people who want Biden to run seem to think he would appeal to the Trump voters - because he's another old, sexist, fairly conservative, white guy? My guess is that these Trump voters will vote for Trump.
Meanwhile, all the recent enthusiasm, the new voters, and the big money in the Democratic party, has been due to Progressives: Bernie, Buttigieg, Beto, AOC. We cannot win with Trump-Lite.
8
Gail,
you are forgetting that presidents need sustained interest.
I fear that Joe Biden is now just another "Joe" now.
We need leaders who stay interesting. Not Joe.
If the president becomes dull, no one listens to him/her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presidents tend to have split personalities.
Thus, with split personalities, they sustain interest.
The split, makes them personal, and unique.
Obama, as our first Black president. was interesting.
Trump fascinated, as our first crooked, president.
But I think Joe Biden is one dimensional, just Joe.
---------------------------------------------------------------
As such, Biden may become boring, and uninteresting.
But, a woman can become our first woman/president.
I hope the NYT editors, reporters, columnists, and READERS will consider Eric Swalwell.
I hope he announces his candidacy SOON. He seems to be planning to do so this month.
Smart, knowledgeable, a gentleman, young, strong, energetic, progressive, unintimidated by the squatter-in-chief, etc., etc., etc.
2
Sorry, Gail, but Joe has the experience and skill set to be president, and is a much more attractive candidate than “Mayor Pete”, Bernie or any of the wannabes...It’s pretty clear the many of the liberal wing of the party are biased against people of a “certain age”. Since when is that o.k? I hope he runs.
3
I’m for Biden. With his experience he can get this country back on its feet in no time
1
Biden was in public office, first as Senator and then Vice President, for well over four decades. In between he tried to run for president and didn't make it.
It is time for Biden to cede the national stage to someone else, though he is certainly competent and qualified to hold the office of POTUS. Certainly more than its current occupant.
What the Democratic party doesn't need is the distraction of Biden's candidacy, especially when "his longstanding habit of affectionately putting his hands all over women he meets" is under close scrutiny.
Biden's indiscretion on that front is not nearly as bad as the current of occupant of the White House who admitted to grabbing women in worse ways than Biden ever did. Regardless, Biden should bow out and relish the admiration, respect and, yes, love that people have for him.
248
@RK
The current occupant of the White House - PRESIDENT TRUMP - has done vastly more in just over 2 years than the entire 8 year run of Obama and Biden - best part is the complete unraveling of their legacy - virtually nothing remains
4
@RK. I cannot understand this obsession to undermine every single Democratic candidate. And to use this false story to destroy Biden is a travesty. People, remember who is in the White House and what his attitudes are toward women! There is not a Democratic candidate standing (so far) who could possibly embarrass us the way the current president has and does. You should all stop trying to destroy these people en route to the next election.
9
@Al Kilo
Yes, it's true he has done more in the 2 years he's been in the WH....to tear down the legacy of the Obama administration AND the democracy of our once great country! No other president has ever come close to that. May God help us if he continues his destructive agenda for 6 more years!
22
Someone on a list-serve yesterday recalled the last verse of Leonard Cohen's classic:
>…I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
>Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelu-
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelu-
Hallelujah
109
@Robert Bott Well it might be fun to hear Joe Biden do this number on Karaoke Night. Just not in the White House. Thank you.
7
I keep saying I would much prefer to have Joe Biden touching my shoulders than Donald Trump touching me you-know-where. It is easy to see that Biden is a nice person who has been a little to ready to touch people. He can be forgiven because he recognizes he did something others didn't like. We won't hear that from Donald because he will never admit to any mistakes, ever.
8
Not sure who you are talking to, but being a female of a certain age with friends all over the country in their 50s 60s and 70s, we to a person want Joe to run. We are outraged at the political hit that's being perpetrated by opponents and see it clearly for what it is. We've all taken a deep interest in politics over the years and have a good grasp of issues and are immune to shiny objects waved in front of us. We want to beat Trump. This does not mean that if a better candidate emerges at some point we would not change our minds. But we need Joe to run.
628
@CLSW2000
I am a generation younger than the Biden fan base described in your post, but I am dying for him to run! Biden has the savvy we need to repair our nation and our global standing. Biden had a good career in Congress and two successful terms in the White House. He needs to at least be part of the conversation now in the primary.
Thanks for what you wrote.
119
@CLSW2000
Oh please read "The Unwinding" by George Packer before you decide to back Joe Biden. He is a corporate Democrat and we need someone who will challenge the status quo and help regular American citizens take back their government. If you really understood his record you'd see that isn't him. The book is really good and an interesting and informative read. George Packer has published articles in The New Yorker.
90
@CLSW2000
I am a white female,almost exactly Joe's age, a lifelong democrat and I most certainly do not want him to run.
We need a president who reflects our nation it is in 2019 and 2020, not 1972 and that will not be another septuagenarian white man.
164
I love Joe Biden too, and I've voted for him in a primary, and then for V.P., twice. I'd have voted for him for my Senator if I was in Delaware. He has flaws, no doubt, but they are things like being too affectionate, too honest, too casual in his statements. It's charming, to an extent, and I don't think anything he's ever done rises to the level of assault. Putting one's hand on a shoulder is not sexual assault, and if people think it is, they're sadly out of touch with humanity.
But like most other people who start with how much they like Joe, I don't want him to run for president. I want him to help out whomever does get the nomination, whether it's Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, or Amy Klobuchar. I want him to be around to advise people, I think his ethical sense is pretty solid in most matters. But he is just too old to be fully in touch with the modern age, and I wouldn't vote for anyone much over 70 years old at this point.
514
@Dan Stackhouse
None of the currently announced candidates in the Dem race come close to the electability of Biden. The Senate is not a good training ground for the office of President. Joe has the national and international visibility, i.e. stature, to act in the capacity of President, and has the experience and knowledge of government to start the process of repairing America's sullied reputation abroad with our Allies. Clearly, he'd support Pelosi publicly with key critical issues which the GOP has either ignored (infrastructure, climate change), proactively attempted to destroy (universal health care via the ACA), or proactively attempted to break down (Federal regulations and funding of regulatory agencies). Joe can also go up against Tweety successfully in the debate arena, and deal with at least some of those Trump supporters who don't understand that the GOP deliberately acts to destroy their jobs and Middle class lives. If Joe runs, he'll be a centrist candidate, which is exactly what America needs, and which will attract the votes of Independents. The polarized liberal and right wingnuts have damaged this country enough. It's time to return to the center and tackle the intractable issues that are ruining our democracy, our global reputation and our care for decency and integrity with respect to our fellow citizens.
18
@Dan Stackhouse "It's charming, to an extent, and I don't think anything he's ever done rises to the level of assault." Charming to whom? The casual assumption of powerful men that they are entitled to touch women and invade their personal space is not at all charming to many, if not most women. I agree it is not an assault but it is disrespectful. The maddening thing about Biden is that he seems to believe his intentions are what matters, not women's experience of his behavior.
18
@Dan Stackhouse - you always bring outstanding thinking to these pages - but do you agree that, if Biden wins the nomination, you'd vote for Biden over Trump?
My fervent request to everyone, as we each make the educated, clean case for specific democratic candidates we like through the primary process, as Dan did above (I like his choices too), please write, at the end of every comment: No Matter Who, Vote Blue. Because a second Trump administration would not just be a shame, it would be catastrophic.
24