Surveying the room, we saw people like Joan Walsh (well, 'people'), Michelle Goldberg, Baby Jessica Valenti, Amanda Marcotte, etc -- and we knew we were definitely slumming. And that was before we saw former child actor Alyssa Milano acting as hostess -- you know, the way Joan Crawford, when her career was on the skids, took $4,000 for hosting the opening of Las Vegas hotel.
Topic number one among all present: Tara Reade who has told her story to Katie Halper , Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, and Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, among others. Tara Reade worked for then-Senator Joe Biden in the early 90s. Second most discussed topic? Joan's recent award. Jeffrey St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH) made the announcement on Friday, "The Nation’s Joan Walsh is this week’s winner of the Susan Estrich Award for Feminists Defending Sexual Predators. (New winners every week, until the election.)" It's an especially proud moment for Joan whose career has never amounted to much. Back to Tara.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you give us the circumstances, how you ended up — what was the day, how you ended up alone with Joe Biden? Explain what happened that day.
TARA READE: I was approached by my supervisor. She handed me a gym bag and said, “Hurry, Joe wants this, so get it to him. He’ll meet you down towards the Capitol.” And I went down the stairs, and I don’t remember exactly where I was, because there’s connections between the Russell Building and all of that and the corridors, but we were in a semi-private location. It wasn’t a room. It wasn’t, you know, the Russell Office Building — I mean, in his office. It was down in the corridors. And I handed him the gym bag.
And then he — it was one, as I described, fluid moment. He was talking to me, and he said some things that I don’t recall. And I was up against the wall. And he — I remember the coldness of the wall. And I remember his hands underneath my blouse and underneath my skirt, and his fingers penetrating me as he was trying to kiss me and I was pulling away. And he pulled back, and he said, “Come on, man. I heard you liked me.” But he was angry. It was like a tight voice. And he tended to smile when he was angry. And he isn’t like the Uncle Joe like everybody talks about now. He was younger. He was my dad’s age at that time and very strong. And he looked insulted and angry. And I remember feeling like I had done something wrong when he said that statement. And then I was standing there when he said — he was still near me. He said — pointed his finger and said, “You’re nothing to me. You’re nothing.” And he walked away.
It's a tragic story. Is it true?
That's the conversation America should be having. But far too many people have prevented that conversation from taking place.
At the top of the list?
Joe Biden himself.
Isn't it cute the way he's shy all the sudden? Joe who can talk about Corn Pop and leg hairs and children jumping in his lap, all the sudden Joe doesn't have anything to say. Tara made her charge at the end of March. We're now in the middle of April and Joe still hasn't said a word.
B-b-b-but his campaign has issued statements!
Sorry but Tara didn't accuse his campaign of assault.
She accused Joe. Joe's silence reminds us of Bill Clinton's silence. Juanita Broaddrick accused Bill of rape (we believe her). He was president at the time. He never said a word. He hid behind a spokesperson. All these years later, two decades later, Bill has never acknowledged the accusation. Joe also appears to believe the topic's beneath him.
Saturday, Women's March Tweeted:
Women are looking for leadership. If
wants to be a candidate that women can support, he needs to address the allegations about his behavior and clarify his policy on sexual assault, harassment, and consent.
Exactly. But the corporate media has worked overtime to ensure that doesn't happen. One way they do this is by including his campaign's statement. They need to stop. Every report needs to note that Tara has made her statement publicly while Joe has offered nothing on camera for weeks. He's hiding behind his campaign. He gets away with that because (a) the media refuses to ask him about the alleged rape and (b) they refuse to note, in report after report, that he has not himself responded.
In a he-said/she-said, one of the few things the people have is being able to see each side responds -- that's one way we can determine for ourselves who is telling the truth.
Joe knows that. The media knows that. The refusal to force him to go on record with a response is starting to reek of cover up.
Not everyone has been working for Joe.
There are people who have covered this story. College newspapers around the country, for example, have covered the story. This includes Jace King (THE JOURNAL), Greg Piper (THE COLLEGE FIX), Kamille Houston (THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN), Liam O'Sullivan (INDIANA DAILY STUDENT), THE COLLEGIAN, and Gabriella Aponte (DAILY FREE PRESS). They deserve credit for taking the story seriously and for covering it when the corporate media had imposed a blackout.
In addition, independent media and local media has covered the story. Ryan Grim (THE INTERCEPT) covered the story first. Others have covered it as well including Anna North (VOX), RELEVANT, POLITICAL MISFITS, David Walsh (WSWS), Paul Street (COUNTERPUNCH), Robby Soave (REASON), Nolan Finley (DETROIT NEWS), Media Research Center, Debra Heine (AMERICAN GREATNESS), Britni de la Cretaz (REFINARY 29), Akshay Pai (MEAWW), Anthony Zenkus (COMMON DREAMS), Ana Kasparian (WEEKENDS WITH ANA KASPARIAN AND MICHAEL BROOKS), Mark Hemingway (REAL CLEAR POLITICS), Carl Beijer, Emily Larsen (WASHINGTON EXAMINER), Scott Morefiled (THE DAILY CALLER), Dan MacLaughlin (THE NATIONAL REVIEW), Nathan J. Robinson (CURRENT AFFAIRS), RING OF FIRE, Jeffrey St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH), Matthew Stevenson (COUNTERPUNCH), Laurie Dobson (COUNTERPUNCH), Andrew Levine (COUNTERPUNCH) and Marie Solis (VICE).
A lot of people have done a lot of work.
But we noted that one of the problems is Joe Biden and another problem is the corporate media. A third problem, let's be honest, is the independent media. FAIR is supposed to be a media watchdog, right? And they produce a weekly radio show, COUNTERSPIN, which airs on stations across the country.
FAIR's entire output on the issue? A 2019 column by Naomi LaChance was published on April 8, 2019 (click here for the column at COMMON DREAMS the following day). One year ago. Naomi's column took on THE VIEW, THE ATLANTIC and how they were ignoring women's stories about Joe's inappropriate touching and sniffing.
A year later, when Tara makes her accusation of assault, FAIR's silent. There's no column, for example, about how THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST and AP were ignoring the story -- all three outlets would publish reports or 'reports' on Easter Sunday. No column on how CNN, MSNBC, CBS EVENING NEWS, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS and ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT were all ignoring the story. Nor any piece on how NPR and PBS were also ignoring it.
We give Naomi credit for her article a year ago and we give her credit for making this point:
Some of those given space in corporate media to defend Biden have taken it upon themselves to do so on their children’s behalf. The Washington Post (3/31/19) asked Sen. Chris Coons (D.-Delaware) to speak for his daughter Maggie about a 2015 incident in which Biden was filmed kissing the then-13-year-old’s forehead and whispering in her ear.
“She did not think of it as anything,” Coons said. “All three of my kids have known Joe their whole lives.”
Although it seems journalistically irresponsible—not to mention paternalistic—to assume that Coons would accurately represent his daughter’s opinion, it’s clear from the video, where Maggie grimaces and moves away from Biden, that she isn’t having a good time.
This is a complex story -- the accusation against Biden, Biden's non-response and the refusal of corporate media to cover the story for weeks. FAIR stands for what again? "Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting." It's a media watchdog, that's how it bills itself. So with this complex story to tell, Naomi certainly might have expected that others at FAIR would make an attempt to cover it as well. And she couldn't be faulted if she had believed that FAIR's radio program COUNTERSPIN would cover it.
For those unfamiliar with COUNTERSPIN, it usually has two or three segments. The first segment is a look at recent press coverage. The second -- or second and third -- segment would be an interview with someone regarding a news story or issue.
Janine Jackson is now the solo host of COUNTERSPIN. In fact, she's also the producer, as FAIR notes:
CounterSpin is FAIR’s weekly radio show, produced and hosted by Janine Jackson. It’s heard on more than 135 noncommercial stations across the United States and Canada. CounterSpin provides a critical examination of the major stories every week, and exposes what corporate media might have missed in their own coverage. CounterSpin highlights censored stories and exposes biased and inaccurate coverage, while examining the power of corporate influence and sexism, racism and homophobia in the news.
Let's remember that #MeToo and the Times Up Legal Defense Fund are also part of the story. Anita Dunn, part of Joe Biden's current campaign and a defender of Harvey Weinstein, is part of Times Up. Another person who is part of Times Up would be Tina Tchen -- someone most noted in recent months for her connection to Jussie Smollett's hoax but who is also the CEO of Times Up, a huge bundler in 2008 for candidate Barack Obama, she was the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement when Joe Biden was Vice President, she went on to become an Assistant to President Barack Obama, and was the Chief of Staff for Michelle Obama. So, yeah, Tina's connected to Joe as well. And Times Up, when Tara began telling them her story in January, they never disclosed Anita or Tina's involvement. They would eventually insist that they couldn't assist her because it would harm their tax status. That was a lie, let's be honest.
Since Tara Reade went public March 24th with Ryan Grim's story, Janine Jackson has hosted and produced four episodes of the weekly COUNTERSPIN. Somehow she's never managed to mention Tara. She hasn't noted the accusation or the press' inability to cover the accusation. She hasn't noted Times Up's conflict of interest. She hasn't noted the attacks on Tara.
Did FAIR forget that it's a media critic and that it's role is to shine a light?
Or was is just Janine Jackson who forgot?
THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE WASHINGTON POST slimed Tara when they finally reported on her. And, as Dean Baquet (NYT's executive editor) would admit, they edited out a partial sentence in their original report after Joe Biden's campaign objected to the sentence.
This was the original passage in THE NEW YORK TIMES:
No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade's allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable.
It was altered, when the Biden campaign complained, to:
No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade's allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.
COUNTERSPIN should have called that edit out. In fact, FAIR should have as well. But despite publishing constantly, FAIR never managed to call out the paper.
This does huge harm. We know from our past interactions with NPR's ombudspersons, journalist organizations pay attention to FAIR. (They also pay attention to our critiques, which is how we hear from them in the first place.)
Four weekly episodes and COUNTERSPIN couldn't and wouldn't address it.
Which is how we arrive at PBS finally covering the allegation on Friday. And who did they interview?
Primary sources are supposed to be what journalism goes for. But they didn't interview Tara about it and they didn't interview Joe about it.
Who did they go with? Get ready to laugh, they went with Lisa Lerer -- co-author of THE NEW YORK TIMES' hit piece on Tara.
Amna Nawaz was particularly stupid. She offered a denial of rape from . . . Kate Beginfield.
Huh? When was Kate accused of assault or rape? On, never. Amna failed to note that Joe himself has refused to speak on the record about that.
Sounding bored, Lisa Lerer wanted you to know that Tara NOW (that's how she emphasized it) is claiming assault. She didn't, Lisa wanted you to know, make that accusation originally.
Where was the expert on assault and rape who could have explained that a survivor doesn't have to tell every detail from the start to be telling the truth?
There was no one to defend Tara and it was hilarious that THE NEWSHOUR wanted you to hear Tara "in her own words" by playing this clip:
It happened at once. And that's what's so hard about telling this story. Like, he's talking to me and his hands are everywhere. And everything's happening at once very quickly. This happened, like, in under two minutes.
Do you get the problem with that? PBS is supposedly offering a news program. That's what they played from Tara. It doesn't describe the alleged assault. Nor did Professional Liar Lisa Lerer bother to describe the assault. Let's go back to DEMOCRACY NOW! to remind readers of how Tara's describes the assault:
I was approached by my supervisor. She handed me a gym bag and said, “Hurry, Joe wants this, so get it to him. He’ll meet you down towards the Capitol.” And I went down the stairs, and I don’t remember exactly where I was, because there’s connections between the Russell Building and all of that and the corridors, but we were in a semi-private location. It wasn’t a room. It wasn’t, you know, the Russell Office Building — I mean, in his office. It was down in the corridors. And I handed him the gym bag.
And then he — it was one, as I described, fluid moment. He was talking to me, and he said some things that I don’t recall. And I was up against the wall. And he — I remember the coldness of the wall. And I remember his hands underneath my blouse and underneath my skirt, and his fingers penetrating me as he was trying to kiss me and I was pulling away. And he pulled back, and he said, “Come on, man. I heard you liked me.” But he was angry. It was like a tight voice. And he tended to smile when he was angry. And he isn’t like the Uncle Joe like everybody talks about now. He was younger. He was my dad’s age at that time and very strong. And he looked insulted and angry. And I remember feeling like I had done something wrong when he said that statement. And then I was standing there when he said — he was still near me. He said — pointed his finger and said, “You’re nothing to me. You’re nothing.” And he walked away.
Sure was nice of PBS to clean up the story, right? Sure was nice to Joe Biden, that is. To victims of assault? Not very nice at all.
Lisa Lerer got away with declaring on air, "Because there's no real pattern for Joe Biden's in terms of sexual assault. Right now, this is the only allegation against him."
There's no real pattern?
The whoring never ends. It was incumbent on Amna Nawaz to note the previous complaints against Joe and it was incumbent upon Amna to note that Lisa co-authored this sentence "The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable." and that the sentence was altered after the original publication to remove "beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable."
We'd also add that it was incumbent upon Amna to note who did the first broadcast interview with Tara about the assault -- Katie Halper. It's called giving credit where it's due. It's also true that Lisa took a swipe at Katie on air when she declared, "As a result, she ended up talking to a woman who had a podcast on Rolling Stone who's a well-known supporter of Bernie Sanders, and first telling her story of sexual assault on that podcast." Lisa never named Katie. Passive-aggressive brought to you by the generous donations of DuPont and viewers like you.
And, by the way, it wasn't a podcast for ROLLING STONE. Katie co-hosts ROLLING STONE's USEFUL IDIOTS. This was broadcast on THE KATIE HALPER SHOW which broadcasts on radio station WBAI (most Wednesdays from 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM -- not this Wednesday when they're doing Earth Day programming). Even basic facts elude Lisa and her outlet THE NEW YORK TIMES.
The whole thing's become a sick joke.
And, yes, Joe Biden is responsible and, yes, the corporate media is responsible. They should be grabbing up slices of that blame pie. So should the non-feminists like Amanda Marcotte, Joan Walsh, Baby Jessica Valenti and Michelle Goldberg. But so should people like Janine Jackson, people who have ignored this story for weeks and weeks. Sadly, there's just not enough slices of that single pie to go to everyone who's earned a slice.
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We've been covering the Tara Reade story repeatedly -- both here and at THE COMMON ILLS. We will no doubt return to it. We did seek out a comment from FAIR but they never responded. We may return to the topic of FAIR and COUNTERSPIN in a more specific piece at a later date.