It appears that the Mainstream Media Bug Brain has sent the message across its neural net: No coverage of the major sex assault allegation against Joe Biden, the presumptive Democrat nominee for president.
Though allegations surfaced 18 days ago, not a single major media network or print publication has pursued the shocking story. Network talking heads, man and woman alike, have permitted Biden to skate through interviews like Sonja Henie in a lazy afternoon at the ice rink.
Given that Biden himself said we must “believe all women” who allege sex crimes and harassment, as well as the media’s coverage of obviously false sex-assault allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the question is this:
Why the blackout? Or need we ask?
The Alleged Assault
On March 26, leftist podcaster Kate Halper, as The New American reported on March 26, published an interview with Tara Reade, one of the women who, last year, accused the former vice president of “unwanted” touching, sniffing, and Eskimo kissing.
But 18 days ago, Reade had not divulged the whole story about her days as a Biden staff member. Speaking with leftist podcaster Katie Halper, Reade said a superior ordered her to deliver a gym bag to Biden, who, she said, cornered her and gave a little more than rubbing noses or the Patented Biden Back Rub.
He just had me up against the wall, and the wall was cold….
It happened all at once, the gym bag, I don’t know where it went, I handed it to him, it was gone, and then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes…. He went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers…. He was kissing me at the same time….
He said several things that I can’t remember everything he said. I remember a couple of things…. Do you want to go somewhere else?… When I pulled away, he got finished doing what he was doing, and I … pulled back, and he said, “come on, man, I heard you liked me.”
Even worse was Biden’s reaction after Reade rejected him. “You’re nothing to me,” said the man who tells us to “believe all women.”
Google Search, Network Fail
The leftist media’s response? Silence. Crickets.
On Saturday, a Google search of “Biden sex assault” plus the terms CNN, New York Times, and Washington Post turned up only stories about the women who accused Biden of fetishistic rubbing and sniffing.
Adding Fox News to “Biden sex assault” returned a story about Biden’s denying the assault, and thespian Alyssa Milano’s rationale for not dumping Biden as her candidate: “due process.” Of course, Biden, like anyone else, should have due process. The irony is that the actress had a different view when it came to Kavanaugh.
The Biden-Times search did return one amusing result, and it came out on top: “New York Times Pledges To Cover Biden Sexual Assault Allegations In Upcoming Crossword,” ran the headline at The Onion, a satire website.
On March 31, the Media Research Center reported the results of its survey of the major nets:
Since Reade went public, candidate Biden has given long interviews, including: an hour-long CNN town hall on March 27, where he faced 23 questions (13 from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, ten others submitted by audience members); nine minutes on NBC’s Meet the Press on March 29, where he faced nine questions from moderator Chuck Todd; and nearly a quarter-hour on Monday’s MSNBC Live with Katy Tur, where he faced an additional nine questions.
Out of 41 total questions, Biden didn’t face a single one about his new accuser — not exactly the Kavanaugh treatment. Instead, hosts like NBC’s Todd invited Biden to trash his GOP opponent’s response to the coronavirus outbreak: “Do you think there is blood on the President’s hands?”
The media has also spent considerable time analyzing the latest anti-Biden advertisement from the Trump campaign, focusing on a split-second image of Chinese-American Governor Gary Locke, to accuse the Trump campaign of using racist imagery.
Locke, The Atlantic tells us, is “mad” about the ad.
The Atlantic, a Google search shows, is more interested in Locke’s tears, crocodile though they may be, than Tara Reade’s.
Update: The New York Times published a story about Tara Reade’s sex assault allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden today. The Times reported that it began investigating her claim just after she made it:
Soon after Ms. Reade made the new allegation, in a podcast interview released on March 25, The Times began reporting on her account and seeking corroboration through interviews, documents and other sources. The Times interviewed Ms. Reade on multiple days over hours, as well as those she told about Mr. Biden’s behavior and other friends. The Times has also interviewed lawyers who spoke to Ms. Reade about her allegation; nearly two dozen people who worked with Mr. Biden during the early 1990s, including many who worked with Ms. Reade; and the other seven women who criticized Mr. Biden last year, to discuss their experiences with him.
No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.
On Thursday, Ms. Reade filed a report with the Washington, D.C., police, saying she was the victim of a sexual assault in 1993; the public incident report, provided to The Times by Ms. Reade and the police, does not mention Mr. Biden by name, but she said the complaint was about him.
R. Cort Kirkwood is a longtime contributor to The New American and a former newspaper editor.
