Now that Joe Biden has faced questions about Tara Reade’s allegations (in an interview that was a disaster for him), Joe can count on a segment of the media to come along and help with the spin. Lefty journo Brian Beutler’s in-kind contribution to the Biden campaign (and media choosing to mostly ignore the story) is to focus on “credibility” both of the accused and the accusers:
The reality: Ford was a more credible accuser, Kavanaugh a less credible denier, and the press reacted accordingly. https://t.co/zfOOfrtVo7
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) May 1, 2020
There's no iron law of politics that requires every partisan controversy to have an equal and opposite. The effort conservatives and members of the press have made, for different reasons, to manufacture an equivalence between the two controversies has been facile.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) May 1, 2020
There’s some Olympic-level spinning:
lmao you can’t be serious
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 1, 2020
But apparently he is.
As many people have pointed out, Reade has more corroboration than Ford did. I think one underemphasized part of why people see the latter as more “credible” is class: Ford was a high-status professional, and Reade is a broke single parent dismissed as a rambling loon https://t.co/tAAxUCcPwd
— Natalie Shure (@nataliesurely) May 1, 2020
Lot of class bias implicit in this take of Ford being more credible than Tara. Tara has more evidence but Ford has more elite class standing and credentialing. https://t.co/6tI6thDYve
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) May 1, 2020
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Not one person has been able to corroborate Ford’s claims. Not one. She changed her story upwards of 4 times. Meanwhile, Reade has had 3+ people corroborate her story, and Reade has stuck to the same allegations and details. What on earth are you talking about? Yeeeeesh. https://t.co/ZQzJQrOHYI
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) May 1, 2020
Saying “the reality:” and following it by something completely laughable and nonsensical doesn’t make it true. Same goes for “to be clear” followed by vagueness and an entirely unsubstantiated claim followed by “full stop,” just for future reference. https://t.co/z5t4ojL4VZ
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) May 1, 2020
As a matter of actual evidence, the idea Ford is more credible is laughable.
I am starting to wonder how much the class divide between the accusers unduly sways the notion of "credibility." https://t.co/hTDQNdapjK
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 1, 2020
Biden is absolutely not a credible denier. He openly engages in unwanted sexual touching all the time. Kisses, rubs, sniffs. https://t.co/BBUuIFZawP
— Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) May 1, 2020
I wonder if you actually believe this or if you're just saying it.
— neontaster (@neontaster) May 1, 2020
Are you forgetting the time Christine Ford's high school friend Leland Keyser, who she named as a key witness, told the New York Times she did not have "any confidence in the story" https://t.co/XFx3ILpcFc
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 1, 2020
The question of credibility here appears to be based purely in whose team is doing the accusing and whose is doing the denying. https://t.co/eUvnEL4w0C
— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) May 1, 2020
Your only measure of an accuser's credibility is the political affiliation of the accused.
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) May 1, 2020
— Pixie ☕️ ? SS (@pixiejss) May 1, 2020
The hypocrisy detector is on the verge of exploding.