Blatant Hypocrisy from Democrats Running for Senate on Joe Biden Sexual Assault Allegation

Joe Biden has been accused of sexually assaulting former staffer Tara Reade during the early 1990s as Reade was getting her start on Capitol Hill in Biden’s office. The reaction from Biden’s campaign has created a storm of unanswered questions and loose ends, including a refusal from his team to release documents that may shine a light on the accusation.

Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate have been hypocritical or completely silent when it comes to addressing the accusations. This is in strong contrast to their takes on the accusations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Sara Gideon

Real Clear Politics: “Pointing to Collins’ 43-minute explanation for her vote, in an interview last year Gideon said she couldn’t square the concern Collins expressed for sexual assault survivors with Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony and the senator’s confirmation of the man Ford had accused. ‘She thought that sexual assault survivors should be believed, and yet Dr. Ford should not in this case,’ Gideon said. ‘That really felt like a betrayal.’”

Al Gross

The Arctic Sounder: “By all indications, Sen. Dan Sullivan wants to appoint a justice to the highest court in the land before finding out whether he committed attempted rape. I ask that he put America’s moral compass ahead of his desire for a Supreme Court justice who shares his political agenda. If Sen. Lisa Murkowski wavers, and she’s been more outspoken about the need to find out the facts before voting on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, then I ask her to do the same. When it comes to crimes like rape, being honest enough to find out the truth is important, even if it is ‘inconvenient.’ I am disappointed to hear that there are those like, Sullivan, who want to get a privileged political ally on the Supreme Court more than they want to hear about whether he tried to rape a young woman, and whether he caused that woman a life of emotional damage. These senators need to reconsider how they are doing their jobs. Sen. Sullivan, you need to reconsider how you are doing yours.” 

John Hickenlooper

Hickenlooper Fundraising Email 10/6/19: “One year ago today, Cory Gardner cast a decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Let’s never forget that, team. Despite numerous credible accusations of sexual assault against him, and after one of the most moving hearings we’ve ever seen, Gardner voted to give Kavanaugh a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. That’s especially poignant in light of news this week that the Supreme Court is going to hear a major case on reproductive rights sometime next year. Here’s the bottom line: I never would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh.”

Doug Jones

Real Clear Politics: “Compare that to what Jones said in the fall of 2018 after Blasey Ford testified. Jones said he found her story ‘credible and courageous’ and called the nomination process ‘flawed from the beginning and incomplete in the end.’” 

“I am concerned about the message our vote will be sending to our sons and daughters, as well as victims of sexual assault,” he tweeted at the time.”

Gary Peters

Real Clear Politics: “‘Peters said on the Senate floor that confirming Kavanaugh would ‘cast a cloud over the decisions of the Supreme Court for years to come.’ In a statement, he added, ‘I believe if confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh will spearhead the continued erosion of rights for women. Even before Dr. Ford’s brave and credible testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I concluded that Judge Kavanaugh was not the right choice for the nation’s highest court.’”

Steve Bullock

The Axe Files with David Axelrod: “Yeah, I never suggest like I’m a pundit and now from that perspective, but I think that the impact on the country, not only when we’re doing lifetime appointment, but a woman or women have come up to sacrifice themselves, and we’re not even doing an investigation, maybe it does make us more polarized. And that’s unfortunate. I think this is one people look back and say, ‘we probably should have.’”