Over the weekend, actress/Democratic party activist Alyssa Milano retweeted actor George Takei’s cultish pledge to not criticize Democratic presidential candidates, and encouraged her supporters to do the same:

#IPledge to not speak negatively about anyone running for President. Do you? https://t.co/d5VKX30Dyy

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 27, 2019

With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Milano was on MSNBC‘s Velshi & Ruhle program earlier today defending newly-declared presidential candidate Joe Biden from allegations that he’s too touchy-feely with female supporters:

“I can tell you what he said to me privately, which I think for me I wish more men in positions of power would say out loud,” Ms. Milano said, Twitchy reported. “He said to me, ‘I’m willing to learn. I’m willing to listen. I didn’t realize that I was too affectionate.’ I think that this brings up a really important question that we haven’t really touched on #MeToo. Often, in these moments when we’re hearing these stories, it’s important to emphasize the difference in these stories.”

“For me, the thing that set this story, the Ms. Flores story, apart from all the other stories, is, um, to Joe this was a cultural difference because culturally he was raised in a family that was super affectionate,” she continued. “So, for him, this was a realization of, ‘well, everyone sort of grows up in a different household and maybe my actions make other people uncomfortable.’”

Watch video of her remarks below:

.@Alyssa_Milano defends Biden: "He was raised in a family that was super affectionate."

Adds she knows what it's like: "I walked onto set a few weeks ago and I kissed our prop guy on the arm. And I had this moment of, like, maybe that made him uncomfortable." pic.twitter.com/KRbWJiQExU

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 29, 2019

Milano made similar comments in an interview with Newsweek:

“I’ve spoken to Joe at length about [sexual harassment],” Milano continued. “I believe him when he says he is willing to listen and learn and that he is sorry if he’s ever made anyone feel violated.”

Milano also defended Biden earlier this month after the second of seven allegations was reported, saying:

“I am proud to call Joe Biden a friend,” Milano began in a series of tweets on Monday night. “He has been a leader and a champion on fighting violence against women for many years, and I have been fortunate to accompany him to events with survivors where he has listened to their stories, empathized with them, and comforted them.”

Biden himself has not apologized to the women who accused him of inappropriately touching them. Rather, he’s apologized if he made them feel uncomfortable.

What’s noteworthy about Milano shilling for Biden is the fact that she’s differentiating inappropriate touching from actual sexual assault because of politics, not out of any real guiding principle to point out which is worse than the other. She’s on record, after all, as urging Democrats not to criticize one another in the interests of being united to defeat Trump.

So of course she’s not going to treat Biden and the other Democratic candidates out there with anything other than kid gloves. However, if Biden had been a Republican, she’d have been organizing marches in the street to get him to drop out of the race.

As I’ve written before, these allegations shouldn’t be written off as misunderstandings and “cultural differences” because what is alleged to have happened in those instances is probably the most common form of sexual harassment women face in the workplace and the least likely to be addressed.

Unfortunately, the accusations against Biden are being swept under the rug because he’s got some high profile defenders on both the left and the right who have used their anecdotal experiences with him to excuse away his behavior. Milano is just one of many to do so.

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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–