Another day and more women come forward to report unwanted “touching” by former Vice President Joe Biden. This presents an interesting problem for the Democrat party and is revealing some equally interesting behavior on the right.
On paper, Joe Biden seems like the candidate the Democrat electorate is yearning for in an election year where the field of candidates are all largely totalitarians by nature who favor an economic system somewhere on the continuum between full blown communism and Czech “socialism with a human face.” A friend of mine notes, on a non-attribution basis:

The Quinnipiac poll from 28 March 2019 was fairly interesting, in that it showed the surveyed Democratic base to be rationally focused on winning in 2020. Contra their own creeping radicalization, on their preferred Presidential nominee: 67% want someone bipartisan, 84% don’t particularly care about the candidate’s race (that figure drops, but not much, to 75% among the Dem-primary-indispensable African-American cohort), and 84% don’t particularly care about the candidate’s gender (that number drops a single point, to 83%, among women). Oh, and 76% very much value “electability.”

In fact, of the Democrat field, Joe Biden is probably the best choice. He has experience. He has deep friendships across the aisle. He’s unlikely to try to reorder the economy with the Green Great Depression New Deal. He’s no more likely to get us into foreign wars than would have John McCain. All in all, he’s pretty much what a moderate Democrat from the 80s looked like. But this is how the New York Times describes the issue:

Joseph R. Biden Jr. came up in politics as an old-school backslapper whose greatest strength was his ability to connect. He doled out handshakes and hugs to friends and strangers alike, and his tendency to lavish his affections on women and girls was so central to his persona that it became fodder for late-night television jokes.

But the political ground has shifted under Mr. Biden, and his tactile style of retail politicking is no longer a laughing matter in the era of #MeToo. Now, as he considers a run for president, Mr. Biden is struggling to prevent a strength from turning into a crippling liability; on Tuesday alone, two more women told The New York Times that the former vice president’s touches made them uncomfortable.

“Tactile style of retail politicking?” You’re kidding right.

The problem is a lot more serious for Biden than that. First off, his groping of women, old and young, married and unmarried, is legendary.

Some of it looks a bit more out of bounds than mere “tactile” politics. The clip starts at the swearing in of Montana Senator Steve Daines.

This is all taking place in the context of the #MeToo movement/hysteria in which the accusation of imappropriate douchebaggery was sufficient to send Al Franken back to doing whatever the hell he is competent to do. How does a Democrat party that trashed Brett Kavanaugh based on scurrilous fictions accept as its nominee a guy who becomes a human octopus when around women? Electorally, how does a Democrat party that hopes to use preference for women as a political sales pitch in 2020 do that when you have reels of video of their putative standard bearer pawing away? You can’t. And even though Bernie Sanders is getting the heat for being behind this, none of Biden’s rivals have stepped forward to defend him. Which brings me to the next point.

The more interesting phenomenon is happening on the right. As I mentioned above, Biden has a lot of friends on the right side of the aisle who are coming to Biden’s defense. My colleague, Sarah Rumpf, posted on one of those cases yesterday, see WATCH: Rubio Points Out Democrats’ Hypocrisy For Attacking Biden. And there are plenty more just like it. Biden is apparently a compassionate guy and and generous ones. There are dozens of stories out there from folks on the right concerning truly noble acts they’ve witnessed from Biden.

Look I’m sure Biden is a nice guy, other than his grabbiness, but the fact is that Biden is about to reap what he has sown. Who was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Anita Hill was allowed free rein to slander Justice Clarence Thomas? Who said Kavanaugh’s accusers should not be subject to questioning?

“What should happen is the woman should be given the benefit of the doubt and not be abused again by the system.” @JoeBiden talks Anita Hill and Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford pic.twitter.com/TicXcSZvGl

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 21, 2018

“If there is no FBI investigation, should the Senate proceed as usual and should there be a vote if she doesn’t testify?” @craigmelvin asks @JoeBiden about Kavanaugh accuser

“I don’t think there should be…She should not have to go through what Anita Hill went through.” -Biden pic.twitter.com/D0Qc34hYy7

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 21, 2018

Why Republicans or conservatives feel obligated to wade into a Democrat circular firing squad to save Joe Biden from his own behavior is simply beyond my comprehension. This whole episode is exactly what Senator Rubio described, that is, it is a cynical and dirty political hit orchestrated by one of Biden’s rivals for the nomination. Who cares? Why should we defend a guy who just last year was fine with Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser being given credence and being protected from any adversarial questioning? Politically, why would we a) want to help the (on paper) strongest Democrat candidate survive an own-goal and b) why would we want to go on record as seeming to defend a groper. Why can’t we agree with the proposition that Biden is a nice guy and, at the same time, let him live under the #NewRules he helped develop? If Biden needs a personal favor or something, by all means recall his previous kindness to others and help him out but politics ain’t beanbag and this ain’t personal, it is strictly business.