I amend and revise my previous post and seek unanimous consent
NYT, not to be outdone by WAPO, now says Uncle Joe's behavior is merely "Tactile Politics"
Please disregard the previous instructions regarding "affectionate, physical style", replace with "tactile politics"
You have been notified.
Biden’s Tactile Politics Threaten His Return in the #MeToo Era
WASHINGTON — 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.
Comments
Biden and the NYT are still hoping --
that the era of inappropriate touchers who can get away with it (see e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger) is still going on.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
A youtube video of a Senator swatting away Biden's
hand as Biden reaches to be "tactile" to the Senator's granddaughter, so I think the Big Boys were aware of Biden's tactile politics for some years. Oh, and when daylight did appear, Biden put her back where he had first placed her. At one point, Dad seemed about to pull her away from Biden, but seemed to stop when he saw that Biden wasn't getting handsy, Too bad Dad didn't notice that biden was getting crotchy.
This kid was very young, too, though not a toddler. Do you think Joe was politicking her?
Another video shows Joe positioning another female child close to him and standing with his crotch touching her shoulder. The person who posting the video referred to it as grinding, but there was no grinding, just no daylight whatever between his crotch and her shoulder.
As someone who once went to an optometrist whose crotch was somehow staring me in the face during most of the eye examination, I recognize the syndrome. I was, at the time, in my very early twenties and so very naive about perves that I needed a tip off, which came via the increasingly heavy breathing. Do you think Joe was looking for her vote?
I don't have the stomach to post either video because of the youth of the females, whose faces and identities are both known.
All other things being equal, I think the Vice President of the United States should be perfectly capable of positioning a family of four, one who mom was carrying, for even a close camera shot without positioning a little girl so that his crotch touches any part of her.
However, let me add that there is so much about Joe's politics that is repugnant that I am sorry to see this kind of thing becoming almost the only negative aimed at him.
Had Joe "just one of us" never touched any female in his life, he still should not be the Democratic nominee nor America's President. And you and I know that the Democratic nominee is very likely to win this election, despite challenging an incumbent, given that this incumbent is a one off. At least, we earnestly hope that level of President is a one off. Then again, maybe it's the most effective way to keep him from announcing, though I doubt anything will.
But is he more polite than Trump?
That's going to be the reigning standard among the hardcore neoliberals, no?
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
To paraphrase another high level Democrat,
that depends on your definition of "polite." Crotch to clueless, helpless little kid's shoulder is not my definition of polite, or even of "tactile politicking" but maybe that's because I'm not a member of the big club.
I don't know if you're getting --
the singularly LOW standard at play here. A rock could be more polite than Trump.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Joe is just a creep
He's too cowardly to be honest about his desire for physical contact with women, and hence goes to extraordinary lengths to hide it. Maybe he might have been able to address the fact that he also seems to be going after KIDS, which is beyond the pale. But hey, he wants to conflate all his issues under a blanket "I'm COMPLETELY INNOCENT", so fine.
Course, if he'd been honest about it and tried to change the behavior, he would have been crucified too. Nothing's more fun for the media than castigating somebody for honesty about sex. Nothing makes em happier than taking down a "Honest" politician with a scandal. Doesn't require much work and SELLS like crazy.
Welcome to your no-win situation, Biden. Play it "Safe" long enough, and you'll find yourself here. They're gonna hate you for something, no matter what. Best to give them something that you want them to hate you for, rather than something you try to hide.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCckREvD22w]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Oh man
Nickelback? Really?
Somehow appropriate?
Heh!
How about this?
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Could not resist the irony.
Apparently the only Major band that wanted to cover a song about media... was the totally over-saturated, generic band. Which a sadistic part of me just HAD to point out.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
creepy
Kissing the back of a stranger's head and smelling it is downright creepy. If someone came up behind me and did that I would freak.
I have finally convinced myself that you can be so intimidated by your surroundings, and with a powerful man, that you don't react. The women were facing cameras as well, which they were not used to. Very nervous already probably.
I believe I would lose my composure anyway. At least a nice backwards elbow to the gut. It would be very difficult not to turn and say wtf are you doing?
Are you the Olinda I knew
From back in the day at Top? Occupy Boston?
If so, happy to hear from you again.
Ed
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Hi Ed
Could be. 10 years at top prior to March 2016. Not Boston though.
Been here for quite awhile.
Thank you in any event!
Memory is the second thing to go...
Upon reflection, I think you came to my defense against trolls a couple of times. Which is why I still remember your name.
Peace
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Whenever I see your handle, the chorus of this
song runs through my head:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzTRyD5k8t0]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Whenever I see your handle, the chorus of this
song runs through my head:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzTRyD5k8t0]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
My thoughts exactly OLinda
Backslapping is one thing, and could legitimately be called tactile politics, but kissing the back of a strangers head (actually more than one including a very young and uncomfortable girl in a YouTube video I saw) is not tactile politics. It is just creepy.
beyond the pale
!!! meme spinning !!!
no, it's the extremely bad boundaries of privilege!
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Biden started his career
towards the end of the period of back-slapping, glad-handing, "making love to the people" style of old school politics, where overdone displays of physical affection were the norm. He just went a step further it seems, wanting to distinguish himself from the usual back-slappers/wanting to appear more sincere and caring by going a little farther in physical displays.
But like his now outdated corporatist centrist politics, his style of physical campaigning is wildly out of step with the times. If he gets in, I don't see him getting the nom, and there's a more than fair chance his gaffe-proneness will be his undoing along the way. He's a proven loser as a prez candidate and he's 76 yo and starting to look his age. Let him get in and fail in the various ways he's likely to fail. Meanwhile the centrist-type Dem will be giving the much younger Beto O'Rourcko and Kamala Harris a good look and so won't be too concerned if Joe once again fails.
I barely glanced at
the NYT headline cited before posting. Turns out I agree with at least part of this piece, w/o having read the whole thing. Joe isn't a creep but is a product of his political times -- only a little more so than others. So I cut him a little slack on this for doing for many years that which went unremarked upon until very recently. Again, I'm strongly against him for other reasons.
I find the word "just" in your explanation very illuminating
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
It's my way
of pushing back against the many piling-on Creepy Joe posts. I don't buy it. And some of the alleged evidence I've seen so far for his creepiness can easily be seen in a more benign light. If Joe is creepy, then so is Al Franken -- another case where accusations flew fast and furious with no regard for context. Over-the-top excessive in his physical displays, yes. Total disregard for how the recipient would receive such displays, yes, but how the recipient might feel is a recent social concern and he's clearly stuck in old school in his behavior and his politics.
Another interpretation for "physical displays"
Having been on the receiving end of this kind of "benign" behavior many times from older men, there is little doubt in my mind that Joe's "benign" behavior is making people uncomfortable. From the examples I've seen, you only need to look at the recipients faces. Little girls faces hide very little, and they were clearly uncomfortable.
You disagree, fine. Fortunately for you, you're not a little girl living in a world where old men can violate your privacy with their "benign" behavior .
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Since we're talking old fashioned...
when I was growing up, if I had ever touched a woman the way Biden touches women AND kids, I'd be getting an attitude adjustment so fast it'd make your head spin.
Now, to be fair, this was the 80s, but still, for all the comments about how awful we were, I could not imagine pulling this kind of shit. Maybe it was different for older folks, but as long as I've been around, this ain't been cool.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v28kTwoDK-g]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
It isn't cool
And his defenders would have us believe that Joe is simply not aware he's making women and girls uncomfortable. Really? He's been behaving this way for decades while in public office and he's never been aware of it?
I call bullshit. Assholes like this prey on women and children BECAUSE they want to make them uncomfortable in this same way a flasher wants you to be uncomfortable.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Thank you.
I've been trying to put into words what I see in those photos. Creepy, yes, but it's more than that. The light went on when I read your comment. He preys on women and children. He's a predator.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
What still surprises me are his defenders
Not the political players defending him, but ordinary citizens who just don't "see" what we are seeing. The behavior is not normal in any interpretation of it. This not only boggles my mind but seriously depresses me because it tells me why young girls have very little motivation to report this kind of behavior to adults. They know what feels wrong and don't want to be told it's just ole Uncle Joe being "benign". So they become silent victims while the predator is encouraged by society's ineptitude to protect our young girls. Sickening really.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hadn't seen this 'til now. AMEN!
Except that I'd bet many do report it to their parents, maybe a trusted teacher, school counselor, but are either not believed, or, just maybe the trusted adult(s) who was told about it, is fearful of retaliation of some sort. I can't imagine that the innocent, old, creepy bastard doesn't have a similar trail of death behind him as the Clintons. He's been too far up, for too long, not to have one.
Fear
You don't have to buy it
but it's not up to you to dismiss what others are saying about his touching them made them feel. This has been discussed for years so the "surprise" people are feeling is manufactured. Videos of his actions were on Twitter back in 2017 long before anyone thought he'd be running this time. .
I didn't intend to dismiss
recipients' feelings, in fact I acknowledged them. I wanted to try to see it from Joe's perspective -- which I read as unaware, clueless about the recipient, more self-focused on how he's trying to show his "connecting and caring" chops, however excessive.
Also did any of the touchees ever let him know in private what they felt? Even one? Because it appears no one went public with their concerns prior to a few days ago. Before then, Biden's behavior was talked about publicly more in humorous terms, as I recall, Touchy Feely Uncle Joe. Hard to believe also that if one recipient had let him know in no uncertain terms that what he did made them uncomfortable that he would continue barreling along in his same behavior. I could be wrong, and will stand or sit corrected, but I think no one came forward to tell him the truth and so he remained clueless.
Finally, please note that I'm trying to offer some pushback generally against what I consider as some excesses in the MeToo movement -- a tendency to put the well-intended, playful but awkward and inappropriate behaviors of a Biden or Franken into the same group as the not well-intended, manipulative and criminal types like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby. Describing Biden as "creepy" and a "pervert" and similar goes way too far and pushes the discussion closer to the Weinstein/Cosby area where it doesn't belong. The obvious major distinction needs to be made clear.
Ah, yes..
I suspect had you been on the receiving end of this asshole's behavior, you would not be so confused.
In the same way females who find themselves in public next to an asshole violating her privacy with their sexually explicit behavior, they make a choice. For females who are preternaturally shy, or who have been raised to avoid confrontations, the choice may be not to risk an emotionally charged reaction from the asshole with whom they are in close proximity. For other females, like myself for example, once we are able to find the composure to speak, we choose to confront the asshole violating our privacy. Yet each time we do, it's a highly stressful experience. It's not only a repulsive behavior to confront, it's emotionally and physically distressing to do so having no idea what the reaction will be. And this is just what it would be like confronting some garden variety asshole. Not someone who has the ability to give you the Anita Hill treatment.
But not everyone is not like me. And some choose not to risk the backlash, or the reaction.
You are skeptical because once again this issue is being brought up within tne framework of politics. Fine. Be skeptical. But don't insult me, or other females, by questioning our motivations until you find yourself in a situation where your adrenaline is pumping and your hands are shaking because some predator is violating you because your discomfort turns him on.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
This too, zoe
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. So gross, but yes, illuminating.
I'd very much like to hear how smelling a women's hair
is being "sincere and caring". Are we to believe an acceptable equivalent for a female politician would be to "sincerely" finger stroke a male constituents tie while speaking to him? Both are not only weird behaviors but are PURPOSELY meant to make the other person feel uncomfortable.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
The NYT now has a name for it
Precious. So, are we also going to start calling politicians who grab pussy, feline lovers?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Oh my.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Lordy,
you just made me spit my afternoon coffee.
Comment of the day!!!
the correct term is, "fanciers"
people who raise and competitively "show" felines are "cat fanciers". they refer to their hobby, or whatever the fuck it is, as "The Fancy".
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Huh, well that would explain this then...
Although I prefer the alliteration of a Feline Fancy Magazine, but to each his own.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Russia is pushing this of course
Russia is behind the 'creepy' Joe Biden scandal, latest conspiracy claims
Russia doesn't have to do anything. These photos speak for themselves.
yes, yes of course they are dear...
now take your medication, and we'll see if we can keep those evil russians from reading your email... No, no, I believe every single word you say...
/snark
Since we don't have the Hollywood blacklist these days, (officially) I'm sure that all those people relentlessly lambasted by the media and shunned for being Russian agents had it coming.
/Snark (Again... shit I meant that to be serious, but dammit...)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
In the age of #MeToo
Oh, the irony. The same people who
organically grewastroturfed Women's Marches all over the country, andchampionedmade fools of themselves wearing Pink Pussy Hats, now have their panties in a bunch because of an issue they pushed with righteous outrage?#MeToo is either legitimate, or it isn't. Per usual, the Dems want their cake and eat it, too.
This
Hypocrisy is what we're witnessing here. Same with Hillary criticism is sexist, but it's okay to call Tulsi idiotic. I'm sure we will be hearing from Madeline any time now. "There is a special place in hell for women who don't vote for women."
And women who think 500,000 dead children is “worth it”? n/t
Meanwhile, back in 1957 ...
... (reporter paraphrases story told by Gordie Howe about goalie Terry Sawchuk):
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.