I think that Joe is just rusty. As he has more interviews, he will be able to articulate what he feels on all matters...past and present. I personally see him as an affectionate person and nothing more. He is seen being affectionate in videos with men and women alike. The only knock was brought up by my own eldest daughter. "I just don't get the hair smelling thing...that's kinda weird." Joe or Bernie, I just hope one of them can topple Trump! I'd like to have a president that I can be proud of...not ashamed of!
3
Well, Joe, you just lost my vote. Slippin' and a sliddin' in answer to some very basic questions concerning your history of interacting with women is not the way to go. Boy, how could you think you could get away with it, especially now?
10
I saw 5 minutes of Joe Biden's appearance on "The View"--it was not an interview; there were no tough questions. He looked awfully orange to me--did he borrow Trump's make-up?
This is good run down of the content by Times' reporters.
"But he gave a fairly rambling answer to the question of how he could represent the future, listing a number of areas where he’d been active on policy — like passing the Violence Against Women Act...."
"At times, Biden seemed inarticulate, rambling and stumbling over his words. There was no discussion about policy."
Good old boy insider "Uncle Joe"
Will never challenge the status quo.
6
Pennsylvania or bust? Really? The 2020 election will have more curves than Sandy Koufax. If this delicate approach proves that even Joe's softball game stinks, then wait until he gets brushed back in real policy debates. Will the former "senator from Dow Chemical" please return to the dugout!
5
I was underwhelmed by Biden today. I was hoping he'd be dynamic but he seemed unfoccused and rambling. I'm torn about all the apologies he's expected to deliver. I felt him refusing to do the walk of shame about "invading womens space" made him more, not less, appealing. He stuck to his guns that he only meant to be friendly which I felt was brave. Compassion is in short supply these days. On Anita HIll, he was less convincing. Truth be told he came across as old and tired. Trump calling him "sleepy Joe" is more accurate than I'd like to admit.
7
Is the plane that flies us across the country in 1.5 hours going to be solar powered? I do care about how he’s handling particularly the Anita Hill issue, but I also want to know so many other things, particularly if he’s ready to really tackle climate change or is going to be business as usual. How will he handle creating a more equal economy that is also a sustainable economy? I am not going to vote for a high level, general platform from a “good old boy.” He needs to really step up his game if he wants to win this election.
5
Patt, check out Jay Inslee, who is making climate change the centerpiece of his platform. We need to help him push the issue to the front and center.
1
Face it, the Biden Candidacy is about tone and not about policy. The policy is embedded in the Obama Presidency. Biden is about repairing the nations divide and bringing us some calm after these last several years of chaos. Even most of the GOP wants this. The only people who do not want calm are the extreme left and right. If Joe Biden is the second coming of Gerald Ford, we could not ask for more.
8
I watched the entire show. VP Biden wasn't rehearsed or scripted. He was surprisingly strong when speaking of the future and challenges facing the younger generations. He praised Dr. Hill and seemed genuinely embarrassed and perplexed that his attempts to comfort women are perceived as somewhat predatory.The View cut to commercial as Biden spoke of the dignity of work and later when aid how awed he is by single mothers dealing with a loved one's loss. Studio audience applauded throughout the friendly interview. He did well.
5
What exactly was problematic with how Biden ran the hearings?
There was zero proof.
I believe Anita Hill but let's fact it - it was he said she said.
What was Biden supposed to have done differently?
4
@Luciano let me just say Brett Kavanagh. Did Joe Biden treat her like the Republicans treated Kavanagh's accuser. Did he have an apocalyptic fit like Lindsay Graham about the damage done to a great man. How easily we forget how the GOP does things and eat our own.
3
@Luciano
There were several women who contacted Joe Biden's office and told him they had also been victims of workplace sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas.
These women told Joe Biden they were willing to testify before Congress, and yet Biden declined to invite these women to testify.
9
@Luciano Biden suppressed corroborating witnesses who also were victims of Justice Thomas. He didn't let them testify.
6
This living in the past is pointless and exhausting. MSNBC should just host a marathon group public pillorying of all the primary candidates, grilling them one by one until the host (or viewer vote on Twitter!) is satisfied they’ve “got their minds right.”
The questioners would come from every possible identity group, any possible perceived grievance, and the show end with a revival “I have sinned, I now see the light” spirit. A one-time special, not a mini-series.
Then maybe we could move on to addressing important issues affecting all Americans.
4
@KLM We have 18 months of this to endure and that is a lot of airtime to fill even if there was 100 people running.
1
I believe Anita Hill.
That's what he needs to say.
I believe Anita Hill.
He should have believed her then and he surely should believe her now.
This isn't a question of law or "benefit of the doubt". This is about taking a view of everything we know and stating simply - do you believe her or not? I do. If he doesn't have a clear view on this, he can't handle the presidency.
6
Did Joe act alone in the Thomas hearings? Was he responsible for all the questions, all the answers?
Sorry, but if I volunteer to go up against a supreme court candidate with accusations, even I know (not being a lawyer) I'm going to stand in a puddle of blood....right or wrong.
5
@RonRich
He was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. So yes - he was responsible.
4
Let’s look at the other candidates;
Kamala Harris has zero crossover potential and frankly not much of a record to run on. She’s not Obama 2.0, that’s for sure.
Mayor Pete is going to look like a petite-but- smart high schooler debating the rich dad Trump. Dukakis-style optics. He will make a good Senator someday.
Bernie and Warren are both proposing totally unrealistic policies across a broad spectrum. Policies that will only succeed with a super majority in the Senate; pretty slim chances of that happening.
Beto has disappeared.
So that only leaves one realistic choice; Biden. Stay home if you want to on Election Day but no whining when Ginsberg passes away and Roe v Wade gets overturned.
17
@Dudesworth....a nasty put down. I'm not a Mayor Pete partisan but he has many admirable qualities. Absurd to say "he will look like a petite-but- smart high schooler debating the rich dad Trump."
Pete is intelligent , impressive and accomplished personally--- and rational. Trump looks like an a over sized crazy dummy by contrast.
The liberals' plans are only unrealistic if we label them radical, and don't explain them to voters. Compare how they're funded as centrist policy in many capitalist democracies. The US once funded low tuition state colleges that expanded our middle class.
If we just say since the GOP senate won't pass them, there's no point to pursue. That's how the GOP controls our politics!
It's worked. We have the highest cost HC, leaving out millions. Same with education---and our economic mobility is behind other modern nations. A joke on our ideals.
3
The President wants the NY Times to kneel down and ask his forgiveness for the Mueller Report. Anita Hill wants Joe Biden to go beyond a simple apology and assume the blame for everything that went wrong in the Thomas hearing, and all the years of her life that followed. I expect that nonsense from the President, but I expect more grace from Ms. Hill, an intelligent and sympathetic woman. If Biden proves to be the best candidate to defeat Tump, and so far it appears that he may be, does she put her own pride before the needs of her country? I was a big fan of hers up until her recent statement which I found self-absorbed. The lives of future generations of American are in the balance - everything from new Justices on the Court to foreign policy, and Ms. Hill is demanding an apology that will humiliate Biden - focusing on the past instead of on all the good he has done for women and for the country, and for race relations.
14
@SY And the military, he and Jill worked tirelessly for them and endured the agony of losing their own son in the middle of his VP term. He has had so much tragedy and yet is graceful and kind. At this point if a teapot would beat Trump that's my choice.
4
A successful Presidential candidate needs to have ideas and also to inspire people. Obama did both. Even if you hate Trump, you have to admit he had ideas you disagree with, and he inspired his followers.
Reading this article, it seems clear that Biden doesn't have any ideas, and he has nothing that will inspire people. Better than Trump, and doesn't make people uncomfortable is a low bar, and he has that. Might be enough to win, but so disappointing.
4
To this day I believe Anita Hill over Clarence Thomas but as Carmela Sanford in her post pointed out there was scant evidence to back up Hill's allegations. She could have, however, been treated with a great deal more respect and dignity. We saw this recently repeated in the Kavanaugh hearings. There is a fine line between scrutiny and healthy skepticism and out right hostility. The men in the good old boys club often seem to have difficulty with that.
That said I think that Biden is sorry for his behavior but not for his questioning or addressing Hills accusations. I don't see it as much different than Kirsten Gillibrands treatment of Al Franken wherein she tried him in the court of public opinion.
Hopefully we will move toward showing some mutual respect between men and woman especially men in power who have grown accustomed to that position and easily dismiss others, especially women. Trump and Pence aside, It is encouraging to see the intelligent and out spoken women such as AOC and Nancy Pelosi assert themselves as leaders and not doormats and hopefully with the election of more woman to positions of authority in government we can turn the corner.
4
I wish someone versed in the subject of Senate confirmation hearings would list what Biden could have done differently in handling Anita Hill's testimony and those of other women. Biden should not get away with generalities on this topic because it goes to the question of whether he will confront controversy or play games. Being righteous in not appealing.
4
"Biden is immediately asked about Charlottesville, Va., reiterating the criticism of President Trump from his announcement video"
Was Biden honest enough to use the full Trump's quote: “Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.” “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
7
@areader The Statue was commissioned in 1917, General Robert Lee lost the war in 1865. Any statue that symbolized slavery or hatred raised after the war is simply wrong. Now I have no problem with a statue before 1865.
2
Perhaps Joe should reprise Cersei's walk of shame down Pennsylvania Avenue. But I doubt it would be a good enough apology.
Biden isn't "Sleepy Joe", he's Pinata Joe. Take another whack, see what spills out after he breaks. Satisfied? I doubt it.
9
Obviously Matt is not a Biden fan. All good, neither am I, we don't need a petrified old dinosaur rumbling around getting in people's personal space.
His way of thinking is stuck in the 70's.
10
It proves he's 76 years old.
5
@DAB it is just a tragedy that he may be our best best to beat Trump and that Trump was the GOP best bet to beat Hillary. Where are our younger leaders, I like Mayor Pete but I think he needs some time as a senator first.
What I find wanting is the lack of discourse on this current president's abusive and disgusting behavior in the "Me Too" movement. Donald Trump has dismissed allegations from MORE THAN TWENTY WOMEN, which include harassment, groping, and rape, and said he would sue "all of these liars." Why is there such a lack of focus on Donald Trump in these conversations? How about all those women who were harassed by this man who was already elected? Does he get to get away with it because he's already president? I just don't get it.
25
Seriously, can we get past this and start talking about other issues?
17
For those of you on here who want to give Biden a pass because he is a "good man", I ask why? Do you give Trump a pass when he screws up? No, you and I don't.
We need to let the process play out and determine via caucusing and voting whom is the best candidate to represent the Dem. party. Why is that so hard? Stop listening to pundits and start researching each candidate's platform and past record. Vote or caucus for the person who most aligns with your needs and interests. Let the best woman or man win and go onto defeat the Narcissist in Chief.
12
The View ladies seem to be fair. and not vindictive. The angry women, Hill, AOC, et al, want to punish Biden just for living on this earth a long time, but they do not ask about his policy solutions to what is important. He does not represent ten percent of the Democrat party, with media megaphone. So the silent majority needs to speak up.
7
@Jack
Ridiculous. Punish him? How exactly is anyone punishing him?
You do understand that he's not entitled to the presidency. Right? He's not entitled to anyone's vote.
If I don't think he's going to represent my interests, then I don't have to vote for him. No different than you voting for who you believe will represent your interests.
7
Ms. Hill. What happened to you almost 30 years ago was terrible. But this is the time for Democrats to look at the big picture. Republicans are going to lie, cheat and steal to get Trump back in, please don't help them.
25
The demands for further apologies to Hill and the hair breathing woman are ridiculous. Biden said what he said in terms of atonement, it is fine if women don't like it but he doesn't have to continue begging for their grace because they and the media will keep moving the goalposts. It is over, move on.
30
@Lynn in DC
"but he doesn't have to continue begging for their grace..."
Women of color are going to be the key vote in the democratic race. He needs their votes.
4
Why would the best Democrat candidate with a winning centrist agenda wish to wallow in this pool?
1
“We Take Care of Our Own” ...
Is Biden referring to the men who grilled Anita Hill under his supervision and guidance?
5
Sydney, Matt and Alexander have the same probelm so many liberal democrats have. They want their candidates to be perfect (meaning think like I do) and have no skeletons in the closet.
Guess what folks? No perfect candidate exists and you need to hook your wagon to the one person that has the best chance of beating Trump.
Having worked on the hill and on a Presidential campaign, I am dismayed at the lack of 'real world views' our media takes on politics and don't really care what Whoppi and the gang think about much of anything. Time to grow up and smell the coffee folks!
7
Biden is going to be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. There's a reason all of his previous presidential campaigns have been embarrassing failures. Wait until young voters learn about Biden's role in making student loans non-dischargeable in bankruptcy...
22
I like Joe, but I like all of the Democrat candidates. Each have formidable qualities—and Achilles’ heels.
Therefore, they should just get together, appoint provisional cabinet posts based on her/his greatest strength and run as “The AvengersEndgame: 2020” and just crush Trump and his party.
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented strategies.
12
“Pride cometh before the fall.”He just can’t bring himself to own it. He might as well line up a clear shot to his foot.
13
Are we really getting a play by play of his interview with The View? What other candidate has received this kind of coverage?
Come on NYT! Give equal coverage to all the candidates. Elizabeth Warren is a policy beast right now and Biden is issuing the standard vague nonsense.
18
I didn't watch the show but saw a clip and I have to say, he should have a much, much better answer than what I heard. And, I fear, he still doesn't 'get it'. And maybe he never will.
But.....I'd vote for Joe's campaign bus before I voted for Trump, a man so clearly unfit to be president. After another year has gone by I will caucus for whomever I feel is best situated to beat Trump and in November 2020 I will vote for whoever is the Democratic nominee. If we still have a country and haven't turned into a permanent banana republic.
26
From Biden's campaign announcement:
"But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation"
Quite an interesting statement by Biden.
Perhaps Biden has forgotten. Obama (with Biden as VP) had eight years in the White House with a House and Senate super-majority in Obama's first two years in office. What was the result of Obama's eight years? The nation got eight years of status-quo leadership under Obama/Biden.
How is it that Trump can "forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation" without a super-majority in either the House or the Senate?
Why didn't the super duo of Obama/Biden "forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation"....by improving the lives of Americans over those eight years?
Either Trump is masterful...or Obama/Biden were miserable failures....or both.
Regardless, Biden should explain why he and Obama could not do what he claims Trump will do.
5
Biden is a status quo wall street corporate candidate who might say a bunch of nice things that do not translate into any actual policy.
8
@John Adams where's the money?
Biden/Buttigieg would be a good ticket. Experience and compassion paired with incredible smarts and compassion, and youth. The country doesn't really feel we have to have a woman just for the sake of it.
7
If Romney or Jeb! was the present occupant of the White House, I wouldn't pay any attention to Biden given the other choices the Democratic field has offered so far.
And maybe that realization is the true measure of Trump's strength. Our house is on fire and I don't care who shows up with the water and hoses as long as they show up.
20
1991 was 28 years ago.
Biden served admirably as Vice President of the United States from 2008 through 2016. That’s what counts to me.
33
@Barb Campbell
All those years in the Senate are what matter to me. Lots of bad stuff including the inability to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Hillary voted for that, too.
2
Pete Buttigieg is the candidate I trust. I like Biden but he's an old school politician. I like Kamala Harris but she's very much the clever attorney when answering questions. I love Elizabeth Warren but its not her time to be president. Just my opinion...
6
@Bruce Savin It was Biden, on national tv who announced the Obama Administration's support for gay marriage, one-upping the President and causing much consternation inside the WH, but it was for a good cause
8
If he can’t say he’s sorry for how HE contributed to how Anita Hill was treated during the hearings, he’ll never get my vote.
And I’m a Democrat.
12
Here's what I fear for Biden this time around: Every single misstep, every gaffe or gaffe-ette, every shoulder squeeze, every slight deviation from today's favored liberal positions--all will be mercilessly scrutinized during the campaign.
In other words, he will be held to the highest, most exacting standards.
Meanwhile, Trump will be held to no standards at all because he has sunk so far beneath even sewer-level standards that nobody expects anything better from him. He is an amoral free agent, recreating his past when it suits him, lying and lying about lying.
We'll hear a zillion times about Biden's plagiarism incident. But Trump has racked up a thousand times more examples of dishonest and unethical standards. And since he has paid no price for any of them, he'll be free to keep right on doing it.
43
I think it's quite honest of Biden to stop short of a "heartfelt" apology for his various women-related difficulties.
That's among the reasons he shouldn't be president. He really doesn't get it.
12
"Mistakes were made" and "I wish she had been treated better" type statements are not apologies. "I made a terrible mistake and could have handled the hearing better, I'm sorry" is an apology. He has fallen far short of a true apology. He is old school. Democrats need something different.
14
Anita Hill needs to get over the past. Shrill is boring. Stubborn is boring. We get it. She wasn't believed. That's actually the right of people: to not believe something for which there is no proof. Suddenly, she's Verbal Veronica. "He said, she said" is the wrong way to run a country.
Not only does politics make strange bedfellows, but politics are also a fluid construct. Men and women will have views, change their views, modify their views, come around to supporting opposition views, and think or say one thing decades prior and have an awakening that negates what was said or thought.
I like awakenings.
Joe Biden is a good man, a smart man, and he will be a good candidate. At the moment, I am considering three Democrats, true Democrats, for the party's nomination in 2020. They are, in alphabetical order, Vice-president Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Senator Kamala Harris.
We've got a year to go before the primaries and it's going to be a long, exciting race.
Democrats must not lose sight of what's at stake in the upcoming Presidential election. Trump is a continuing danger to peace and freedom.
I'm not going to submerge my fear for my country's future because of an opinion Biden had decades ago. Give me a break.
57
@Carmela Sanford Those are my three candidates as well. My first choice is a Biden/Harris ticket and a key cabinet position for Buttigieg. Or see Mayor Pete run for a Senate seat
7
@Carmela Sanford Except for the fact that there was proof and people wanted to testify to that fact and Joe Biden, as the chair, did not allow them to testify. Your dismissal of her feelings and millions of women around the world is disturbing in this day and age.You accept his non apology because....? I'm not sure why when he is just one of 20 candidates that can beat Trump. Furthermore, we have an extremely conservative judge, for life, on the SC because of Joe's actions.
With that said, proceed with the primary season and let the best woman or man win fair and square. I will support anyone against Don the Con, because he is an existential threat to our very survival as a species with denying climate change.
12
@Carmela Sanford: You vastly underestimate the message this sent to women at the time as well as the message it currently sends when we tell 'shrill' women to shut up or just forgive or get over it. And when we fail to expect a true authentic apology from a white powerful man who feels he's the victim for being held accountable for treating her terribly.
13
I'll vote for Biden or any other normal (or half normal) person in 2020.
45
@CED
65 million of us will vote for Trump
3
@DAB: That's quite unlikely. The "base" is shrinking and there are no accomplishments on which he will be able to run (other than a booming economy, which 45 has undermined in numerous ways). He's a con-artist, and the truth will be well-known by 2020. There are millions of intelligent Americans who won't be fooled twice.
2
The big guns in the media are moving ahead with giving the Democratic nomination to Biden -- a safe selection for the establishment. He will lose to Trump, because he is not inspirational, and the party base will hate him, as they did Hillary. Can't the owners of the media find someone more interesting than Biden?
24
@Elliott. It looks to me as though the media is really putting Biden through his paces, and dragging into view every stone that’s already been turned over multiple times.
8
@Elliott That is absurd! Biden is and has been leading the polls for month. He is getting the attention that a front runner always gets.
Buttigieg (who I like a lot) was completely ignored by the media until he started rising in the polls
5
@Elliott
Where did you get THAT from? Certainly not THIS article: "Biden seemed inarticulate, rambling and stumbling over his words. There was no discussion about policy."
I didn't see the interview, but this does not seem like " giving the Democratic nomination to Biden"
5
Joe. There’s no one like you running. Experienced, both as a White House associate, Congressional Representative, and more.
But you know, as a nurse, who has Case Managed and worked with families for decades, the passing away of your son will take many of us to your passion, compassion, and understanding for the need of continuance of government’s responsibility for healthcare. You were there in March, 2010 for the signing of the Affordable Care Act. You know what it stands for. You know what having a patient needing healthcare and hospice services and care for family members means - first hand.
When I see you, and I will, in person, I know you will stand for me, as a nurse, all nurses, and for all patients in this country - that they will be treated with fairness, righteousness, and care. CARE.
I will never lose sight of that and will fight with all my might for those rights, and your part in it.
Congrats, Joe. Never, ever give up!
43
He was part of an administration that is coming under scrutiny now for not aggressively controlling Russian involvement in the 2016 election from as far back as 2014. They new. He knew. His own running mate won’t endorse him. He is the only real moderate out there, which is truly a shame, but he seems more feeble now when he is interviewed.
1
Once again, Democrats are poised to savage and eat their own in the name of progressive purity, this time, permitting Trump to win a catastrophic second term.
35
@Scott Oh please, it's a primary not the general. Some of us would like an election and not a coronation this time around. In the end, most will get on board to beat the Narcissist in Chief, no matter who it is. But, until then, let's be allowed to vet all candidates and prepare them for the general. It's not as if the R's will handle any D with kid gloves.
3
Biden should say: "I was torn between protecting an African-American nominee and honoring Hill's- frankly- unprecedented claim of sexual harassment. I have learned a great lesson from that. Never again will I restrict an investigation of abuse of power.
I was wrong then but never again."
46
@Sara But why would he say this? He voted against Clarence Thomas so why would he say that he was protecting him? Did he restrict the investigation? I've never seen that charge against him. Have you watched the Anita Hill hearings in its entirety? Maybe you should.
4
@MJ: He disallowed other women from testifying who would have corroborated Hill's testimony.
11
@MJ: He restricted the testimony of four other women that the Republicans didn't wish to allow to be heard. He did a lot.
He's not my first choice but he's my choice over Trump. I don't care how many gaffes he has. If he doesn't become the nominee, I will vote for whoever is.
Trump must be stopped. Our Democracy is at stake.
15
I have always thought it telling that five women participate in 'The View' (singular).
4
At what point do we make running for public office a thankless task and only the most brutal and cynical-minded run?
13
Still waiting to hear what kind of policies Biden will advocate.
5
If Biden stays the course of a centrist he will prevail in the primaries and win the presidency. Drift too far left to appease the extremists he may be the Democrat candidate but would lose the general to the incumbent.
Take this from a diehard Independent.
34
@clarity007
I laughed pretty good at this thought process.
Centrists Democrats have caused the entire problem we have right now.
13
@clarity007 - I consider myself an Independent. I am only registered as a Democrat because Flori-DUH has a closed primary election that prevents 25% of registered voters without party-affiliation from voting in the primary elections that are PAID FOR BY TAXPAYERS not the Democrat and Republican parties. That said, here's my viewpoint: Who we are now is a nation, where the four wealthiest people have wealth greater than the entire bottom 50%. This is due to the trickle-down Reagan economic policies and tax cuts that were not challenged or pushed back in the 1980's forward by the Democratic Party that had shifted towards representing the 1% global CEO investments crowd instead of workers. The "inauthentic opposition" by the Democratic Party has allowed the GOP to freeze the cap on Social Security and then complain that it's not going to have enough money in the future (instead of doing what had been done in the past: adjust the SS formula periodically to keep it solid.) It's why families are now faced with health care premiums of $1,600 a month and $5,000 annual deductions: Because not enough Democrats would support a "public option," and instead, went for direct subsidy payments to the insurance industry - similar to (R) President Bush's direct payments to big Pharma industry. Today: 600,000 families a year to go bankrupt due to medical expenses, who had "insurance" at the time of their illness or injury. But there is bipartisan OK to spend $715 billion on "defense."
7
@clarity007
A centerist:
You put the interests of the voters on one side, the interests of the special interests and campaign contributors on the other side, and take a position in the center.
5
Trump is STILL standing by his post-Charlottesville remarks! Clearly, there is a power in words, and Trump remains doggedly in love with his own words, which were hateful then, just as they still are, today.
Joe Biden, on "The View" right now, is still (still!) having difficulty with his own words regarding Anita Hill. Own your story, Joe. Go for the most simple subject/verb/direct object construction:
"I regret how I treated Anita Hill."
"I regret dismissing her allegation."
"I regret not having corroborating witness (Angela Wright) testify."
The entire country would be better-served if our leaders spoke plainly and honestly. Trump, unfortunately, lies regularly, so his choice of words is moot. Biden, however, has a better reputation; he would do well to choose his words carefully.
19
@Metrowest Mom
On quote 2, he said he believed her from the beginning and said so. On quote 3, he said the committee reached out to another witness (or witnesses, I’m not sure) and received a response indicating she didn’t want to testify. Both should be verifiable, and I hope the Times follows this up with clarification on these points.
2
@Metrowest Mom,
Here are Trump's full words. What's wrong with them: “Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.” “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
@Chris
From the New York Times
By Susan Chira
Sept. 26, 2018
During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas in 1991, Senate Democrats chose not to call Angela Wright, a former colleague of Judge Thomas’s who was prepared to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Only Anita Hill testified about experiencing harassment by Judge Thomas. He consistently denied her allegations and was ultimately confirmed.
2
If he says anything short of, "I was terribly wrong 28 years ago. It has haunted me ever since, and I've spent the past 28 years trying to make amends to the American public and women everywhere." why bother.
25
@Mikeyz Right, he should say those things. It is beyond me why this is hard for him. Why is it hard to actually take responsibility for behaving in a way the negatively impacted Anita Hill? Why is it hard to empathize?
And to not be able to do so when this could have an impact on people's decision to vote for him says a lot.
18
@odschneider it's just politics, they're all coached by lawyers and whatnot behind the scenes to never apologize for anything because it's part of the stupid game they play.
2
@odschneider: It's clear he does not 'get it'. Too bad. If he's the nominee I'll vote for him even though I know he will never 'get it'.
2
Joe needs to own his mistakes clearly and openly. America is forgiving of mistakes, but not (Trump a glaring exception) those who can't own up to them. Joe should not learn from Trump's playbook. He has a lot to offer.
13
Biden is too old. So is Bernie. I have in laws close to the same age, and you can see their mental decline. This is a period in our history where we need people that are of their time, forward thinking, not just strategic enough to bring their positions up to speed.
21
@ELBOWTOE May I ask if you think every person is exactly the same physically, spiritually, and mentally? If you say no, then you have to judge the person on his or her merits and not agism.
4
@ELBOWTOE 80 is the new 60
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They haven't asked a single policy question. No wonder it's his first stop.
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@Casey L.: You know, I betcha Joe will be back on the View and policy questions will be asked. We have, unfortunately, a year and a half to go. So much time to ask policy questions. Too much time. It's like purgatory....waiting, just waiting to get rid of Trump, a criminal con man mob boss.
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