Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who is running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, is fond of calling out Donald Trump. Earlier this month, for example, Peter Wade (ROLLING STONE) quoted her declaring (on CBS' FACE THE NATION), "I hope America’s women are paying attention because President Trump has started a war on America’s women. And if it's a fight he wants to have, it’s a fight he's going to have, and he’s going to lose." It's good to see someone stand up to the assault on women's rights and stand up strongly.
But are we kidding ourselves? Assaults take place all the time. And Donald Trump is far from the only offender.
Aaron Maté Retweeted
In a somewhat odd moment at tonight's AFT town hall, Biden tells a 10-year-old girl, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking." He takes her over to the assembled reporters, then stands behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders while he's talking.
Creepy Joe Biden is at it again. He never stopped. When women stepped forward and stated his touching them and invading their space was creepy, he taped a brief message which the press -- always protecting Creepy Joe -- hailed as an apology. It wasn't an apology. He never apologized. He was, however, 'listening.' He demonstrated that he wasn't listening that same week by making two jokes about it while speaking to workers.
He still doesn't get it. And he's still not stopping. It's gross, it's disgusting. And, unless videos were doctored, some of those times when he touches girls' shoulders, his hands travel. Downward. For that to happen once, even once, should have resulted in someone pulling him aside and telling him to stop fondling the chests of young girls.
It clearly did not. He's still touching young girls and acting like he's their dream date as he hails them as "good looking." It's creepy. It's perv behavior.
It makes people uncomfortable. In his laughable video, he claimed he was listening. Then he made jokes about it and now he continues the behavior. I'm sorry, how is that someone you want as president? When America expresses outrage over an issue -- providing Saudi Arabia with guns and bombs, for example -- do we want someone in the White House who we know will not listen? Who we know will toss out some words and then continue whatever behavior we the American people found outrageous?
Creepy Joe has pulled a dick move. He's made clear that he's not going to change his behavior, no matter how inappropriate he is, no matter how offensive it is, no matter how many people object.
This behavior is appalling and it stands a good chance of re-electing Donald Trump if Creepy Joe becomes the Democratic Party's nominee. Look at the reaction to Felicia Sonmez's Tweet:
- To be fair, @TheDemocrats ditching real candidates like Warren and Sanders to run an "electable" child molester is super on-brand.
- 1 more reply
B-b-b-but! Some people say it's okay!
A handful.
The Democratic Party needs a candidate who can energize the populace and turn out the vote.
Creepy Joe's going to do that? In November, after weeks and weeks of GOP ads featuring videos of Joe touching this child, that child, this woman, that woman, Creepy Joe's going to inspire?
It's very likely, he is going to shame the Democratic Party. He'll trigger a number of women and men who have been abused in their lives, yes. But he'll have many others just hanging their head in shame.
"That's just who he is!" That's the defense America wants to hear in October and November of 2020?
When this first emerged, his defenders insisted that not only was it just Joe being Joe (creepy) but that it was in the past -- he's apologized! (He never did and actually went on to say that he wasn't sorry about anything he'd done ever -- that would include his vote for the Iraq War.) They insisted it was in the past.
It's not in the past.
The corporate press has focused on that issue more than any other. It's the one issue he knows could cost him the nomination. And yet yesterday he made clear that he wasn't going to change.
After the first trial, Michael Jackson refused to stop sleeping with boys. That led to additional payouts and, eventually, another trial.
Michael abused those boys. But if you need to lie to yourself so that you can dance around your living room to "Dirty Diana," hopefully,, you can at least admit that Michael's behavior was stupid. His actions invited more discussion. Even if you believe him innocent (so many have a problem admitting how prevalent pedophilia is in this country), you can agree that his continuing to go night-night with boys in his bed was stupid.
Joe Biden continuing to touch girls is stupid. It demonstrates that he will not take criticism, that he will not stop behavior that bothers many and that he's willing to risk losing if it means he can continue touching the bodies of others.
That's a general election candidate?
Elaine's "Americans have already demonstrated they will vote for a female president" addressed a dopey article. I agree with Elaine's criticism, the author of the column addresses everything but the media. Creepy Joe is the perfect example of how female candidates are being ignored.
His behavior is inappropriate. The response to that should have been a flurry of columns on the op-ed pages about how maybe this is a good reason to support one of the six women running -- Kirsten,, Tulsi Gabbard, Marianne Williamson, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar -- but those columns didn't appear, did they? The Sunday chat and chews weren't asked to spend an episode exploring whether or not Creepy Joe's inappropriate behavior was just another sign that the party needed a female nominee in the general election.
Topics with far less merit have occupied the op-ed pages and the Sunday chat and chews.
Time and again, when the moment arrived for the press -- the opinion segment of the press -- to explore why a female candidate was needed or what a female candidate might provide, the press has repeatedly taken a pass.
The problem is the press. As Elaine notes, and as others have as well (including me), there is no question that the US will vote for a female candidate for president. That issue was settled in 2016 when Hillary Clinton received more votes than Donald Trump. Anyone still floating the half-assed notion that US voters won't do so is either a liar or an idiot. It's a bit like saying, "I'm not sure the sun will rise." At this point, if you're not sure that the sun will rise, you're an idiot. At this point, after 2016, if you're not sure that US voters will vote for women, you're an idiot.
A lot of women on the op-ed pages are being idiots right now and continue to pretend that, in 2016, Hillary didn't get more votes than any other candidate for president. And they waste the space they are provided by repeating lies and instead of driving a real conversation about the female candidates. If those idiots are still confused, here's a topic they can freely borrow: "Would any of the six women be less likely to face the creepy scandal Joe Biden most surely will?"
Voting . . .
Dropping back to September 21, 2013:
Jamal Hashim and Liang Youchang (Xinhua) report that 1,129 candidates were running for 111 seats and they quote Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani stating, "Today is a historic day for the Kurdish people and we have taken another step in the region to promote democracy. The people of Kurdistan are the only winners in these elections." Nechervan Barzani and his wife Nabila Barzani (pictured below) were among the first to vote in Erbil.
Voting took place in the KRG's Parliament yesterday. Nechirvan Barzani was elected President of the KRG by 68 members of the KRG Parliament (there are 111 members of the Parliament, only 84 attended the session). Nechirvan has served two terms as prime minister of the KRG and he is the nephew of Massoud Barzani (former president of the KRG) and the cousin of Masrour Barzani (who is the chancellor over the Kurdistan Region Security Council). The Barzanis head the political party KDP -- the oldest major political party in the KRG (led by the Barzanis since 1946). The Talabani controlled PUK split off from the KDP in 1975 (and that's Talabani -- as in Jalal Talabani -- a major figure in the region until his stroke and later death).
In the US, US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard, Iraq War veteran, is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
- I know the cost of war. When I came home from my 2nd deployment, I vowed to fight for peace, standing up to the most powerful, meeting with both friends and adversaries. Peace gives America our future. That’s why I’ll never stop fighting for peace. http://tulsi.to/honor
The following sites updated:
