'I Want the Same Equal Treatment' as Blasey Ford: Biden Accuser Calls Out Silence of Media, Women's Groups
It’s amazing how quickly the asterisk appeared at the end of “Believe all women” as soon as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was the one who was accused of sexual assault.
Tara Reade, the former Senate aide who has accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, thinks that’s clearly a double standard. That’s why she wants the same kind of treatment that Christine Blasey Ford received from the media when she accused then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault in 2018.
In an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation published Saturday, Reade lamented that her accusation had become a “partisan tool” and said she wanted the same kind of treatment as “other survivors.”
“It’s inexcusable,” she said in the interview.
“I’m sorry that I’m politically inconvenient, but my perpetrator was Joe Biden. And people need to deal with it.”
Reade’s accusation has received only the most desultory forms of coverage.
“Joe Biden has been asked 81 questions in over two hours worth of media interviews since a former staffer in his U.S. Senate office accused him of sexual assault three weeks ago,” The Washington Free Beacon reported April 15. “He hasn’t fielded a single question about the allegation.
“Biden has sat for 10 interviews with major news outlets since March 24, when his former aide, Tara Reade, accused him of pinning her against a wall and penetrating her with his fingers in 1993 when she was a staff assistant in his office.
“None of Biden’s 10 interlocutors have asked him to comment on the allegation.”
Instead, Reade said she’s been met with a “shroud of non-commitment” by the media, which devoted “hundreds of stories” to Ford’s claims of being assaulted by Kavanaugh in 1982 when the two were teenagers.
“My question is: Why? Are they being told not to by the campaign?” she said.
Reade also expressed frustration that Biden’s campaign had commented on her allegations — “This absolutely did not happen,” deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said this month — as opposed to the candidate himself.
“Their campaign didn’t have their hands up my skirt,” Reade said. “Their campaign didn’t have their hands underneath my clothes and then arrange for me to be fired.”
She said CNN has called her to interview her and said it would “consider doing a story” on the allegations, which is quite a thing to say when you realize this is one of the biggest campaign stories of the 2020 cycle.
“Well, get back to me when you know you’re doing a story,” Reade said, “and then I’ll complete the interview.”
Furthermore, she singled out CNN host Anderson Cooper, who has interviewed Biden several times but hasn’t asked him any questions about her.
At ABC News, Reade said Sasha Pezenik interviewed her just after her allegations broke but has been sitting on the interview.
“She has never done a story,” Reade told the DCNF.
“When I’ve asked her, she basically just says her producer’s not interested right now.”
Gratitude to @rosemcgowan @SarahAnnMasse@SusanSarandon@johncusack for their public support.
And to others and survivors
Thank you @kthalps@ryangrim@NathanJRobinson@RichMcHugh@mj_lee
Who are doing hard research work and looking at my story earnestlyhttps://t.co/kyVvpagn2f— taratweets ( Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) April 26, 2020
Reade was also critical of women’s groups, none of which has gotten behind her.
She said it would have meant “so much” to have one of these groups behind her at a difficult time.
“I say back to these women’s organizations, I want the same equal treatment that other survivors have received, no matter who the perpetrator is,” Reade said.
“Emily’s List, where are you?” she asked. “Gloria Steinem? Where are you? Where are these people?”
Reade managed to answer her own question.
“I think there’s all kinds of reasons,” she said. ” There’s economic, there’s just fear of who he is and how powerful he is. I’m 56 years old, and I’ve kind of pushed beyond fear. I’m getting attacked. I am getting harassed. But I think it’s important I stay strong and stay firm.”
There’s also the fact that covering the allegation against Biden would benefit President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Thus, giving the story any airtime or treating Reade the same way that they treated Kavanaugh’s accusers — giving her deference that would imply Biden is guilty — simply isn’t an option.
Reade is going to be ignored until she can’t be. She’ll be like Juanita Broaddrick; maybe in 20 years we’ll believe her, too, long after it ceases to matter. That’s what always happens when you make an accusation against a liberal.
The asterisk gets trotted out in an awful hurry, doesn’t it?
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