This thing is getting worse for Biden.

Yesterday, a memo circulated from the Biden campaign that issued talking points about the Tara Reade sexual assault allegation. One of those talking points was to claim that The New York Times had done a “thorough investigation” and had essentially debunked the claim. We saw Stacey Abrams repeat that verbatim in an interview yesterday, where she ended by stating the assault “did not happen,” another line from the talking points.

Stacey Abrams to @lannadelgrey on Tara Reade's allegations: “Nothing in the Times review or any other later reports suggests anything other than what I already know about Joe Biden: That he will make women proud as the next President of the United States.” https://t.co/XhJsMR8xqN pic.twitter.com/4OaY9LX6By

— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) April 28, 2020

Now, the Times is pushing back on the Biden campaign and its surrogates. They issued a statement pointedly saying that their previous article should not be used as evidence against Tara Reade and that it does not say what they are claiming it says.

A New York Times spokesperson says Biden campaign talking points “inaccurately” suggest that the Times investigation found that Tara Reade’s allegation “did not happen.” Response to this scoop from @rubycramer @RosieGray https://t.co/ZUD6f2WSEE pic.twitter.com/LNaHvH0ZxF

— Jonathan Easley (@JonEasley) April 29, 2020

Yikes.

No doubt the Times original piece was a total whitewash. They even took direction from the Biden campaign and changed some language in the piece. Yet, even they felt the need to push back here, as their work was being used to bash a possible sexual assault victim in a way it had no authority to do so.

Let’s also note that people like Abrams are going around parroting these false talking points while having no actual knowledge themselves. How does Abrams know this “did not happen?” Was she there? Never mind the fact that the Reade allegation measures well past the standards Democrats laid out during the Kavanaugh hearings. Where’s the consistency, and where are the media trying to hold them any semblance of the aforementioned standard?

I won’t kid myself though. The Times may have felt the need to offer a correction of the Biden campaign here, but they still aren’t going to take the Reade allegation seriously. They’ll continue to cover for the former VP just as they’ve done from the beginning. The real question is whether any Democrats will break rank. Where’s Bernie Sanders, who could likely rejuvenate his campaign right now if he took Reade’s side? He’s a political coward though, so I doubt he makes that move. I wonder how his fans feel knowing they got so thoroughly played by the old communist?

What I do know is that Biden is about to have to address this head-on. He can’t keep hiding behind his handlers. I mean, he can try, but all he’s going to do is make it worse on him in the long run. Trump is going to have a field day.