Sorry media, Biden case isn't like Kavanaugh's — Kavanaugh lied about everything

Different standards for Dems

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Rushing to anoint the “hypocrite” label to Joe Biden, large parts of the Beltway media are stressing that a 27-year-old allegation of sexual assault against Biden is an awful lot like the decades-old allegations that were lodged against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing in 2018. At the time, Debra Ramirez and Christine Blasey Ford offered detailed accounts of being assaulted by Kavanaugh in high school and in college. The claim today is that if Democrats didn't believe Kavanaugh's denials then, how can they believe Biden now, and aren't they playing politics with claims of sexual assault?

Insisting the two cases are the same, the press wants to portray the Biden story as a case of the #MeToo movement boomeranging on Democrats, revealing them as being two-faced. There's a huge hole in this comparison. Unlike Kavanaugh, Biden hasn't lied about almost every facet of the distant claim of sexual assault the way the Republican jurist did. Kavanaugh shattered all precedent and falsified his way through his confirmation hearing, likely perjuring himself in the process.

In order to secure his lifetime appointment to the Court, and facing specific, multiple and credible allegations of sexual assault, Kavanaugh lied about witnesses; he lied about corroboration; he lied about friendships; he lied about parties. He also lied about Maryland's drinking age, vomiting, his yearbook, his accusers, Yale, and drinking — he lied about that a lot. (Separately during his confirmation hearing Kavanaugh lied about his childhood, federal judges, warrantless wiretaps, his nomination selection, and stolen emails.) "Republicans know Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath," Armanda Marcotte wrote at Salon. "They just don't care."

That's the simple truth about what happened with Kavanaugh. But journalists today who are trying to tag Biden and Democrats as hypocrites forcefully ignore that central fact.

"The response to Ms. [Tara] Reade has appeared in stark contrast to the way that Democrats rallied around Christine Blasey Ford during the 2018 confirmation hearings of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh," the New York Times stressed on Sunday.

"The double standard being applied to the former vice president by some Democrats, especially by female senators who are shortlisted as his running mate, is stunning," claimed Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker. Added the Post's Ruth Marcus, "If you thought that the evidence against Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was sufficient to deny him confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Court, are you a hypocrite if you don’t think the Reade allegations are enough to mean that Biden should not be president?"

Yet another Post columnist, Megan McArdle, hit the same note: "When Republicans confirmed Kavanaugh anyway, the left erupted with incandescent, implacable rage…The shoe of the accused is back on a Democratic foot.” The Biden and Kavanaugh stories are stunningly similar, pundits insists. Except they're not even close.

Unlike Kavanaugh, there's not a single suggestion that Biden has lied, changed his story, or fudged any fact regarding the allegation made against him by Tara Reade. We know that because virtually every major news organization in American is now combing over the story, looking for any tiny piece of evidence that would move the controversy forward and, yes, that would damage the candidate.

There's also been zero evidence that Biden and his team is trying to cover-up the Reade story. That stands in stark contrast with the White House's order to the FBI, which forbid the bureau in 2018 from actively interviewing key witnesses, including one person who publicly said he saw Kavanaugh push his penis into the hand of a female student at Yale.

Why is the D.C. press today glossing over the fact that Kavanaugh lied his way his confirmation hearings? They’re just being consistent. The sad fact is much of the press glossed over Kavanaugh’s lying in real time, back in 2018. (“Kavanaugh Lies His Way Through Confirmation” was not a common headline.) Committed to the premise that Republicans are mirror opposites Democrats, they just occupy a different spot on the political spectrum, the Beltway press for the last decade has refused to acknowledge how radical the modern day GOP has become, and specifically under Trump how the party now revolves around ceaseless lying.

Flashback to 2017, when Republicans were yet again trying to kill Obamacare, and trying to do it by offering up their own alternative: What unfolded was likely the first time a political party try to pass landmark social policy legislation by categorically misstating almost every key claim about the bill. No, the GOP House bill did not protect people with pre-existing conditions. It did not protect older Americans from increased insurance costs. It did not mean everyone would be charged the same for insurance. And the bill wasn’t “bipartisan.”

Meanwhile, remember the media narrative during the height of the Kavanaugh hearings when he was caught in a web of lies and angrily lashed out at his accusers during his testimony spectacle? The storyline wasn't that Kavanaugh was imploding under the glare of public scrutiny. The narrative was that Kavanaugh's angry, unhinged testimony had rallied the GOP base. By contrast, can you imagine the frenzied media reaction today if Biden dared to raise his voice once while addressing the 27-year-old allegation against him?

Different press standards for Republicans — again.

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👍🏻 GOOD STUFF:

Announcing, “I will never lie to you” while hosting the White House’s first daily press briefing in a year, Kayleigh McEnany made her debut as the White House press secretary on Friday. (And yes, she lied during it.) She received mostly glowing grades from the D.C. press — she wasn’t combative! That’s not surprising considering how the press spends so much time normalizing the Trump White House.

Offering up a more realistic review of McEnanay’s Friday performance was AlterNet’s, “Trump’s new press secretary gave her first briefing — and it was a disaster.”

🎸 FUN STUFF — BECAUSE WE ALL NEED A BREAK:

Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, “Texas Sun”

The former is a genre-bending instrumental trio from Houston, the latter is a brilliant soul revivalist from Fort Worth. Together they teamed up for an EP release this year, featuring the stellar title track, a trippy, hypnotic stroll through the Lone Star state. “For this project, we set out to redefine the perception of Texas music, really blending our roots,” Bridges told Apple Music. “I feel like this song is the perfect marriage of country, soul, and R&B.”

Agreed.

When I'm far from home and them cold winds blow
Stuck out somewhere with folks I don't know
'Cause you keep me nice and you keep me warm
Wanna feel you on me, can't wait to get back there again