Biden has long been known for getting affectionate and intimate with folks, this being everyone’s favorite example. And Bill Clinton has long been teased for touching beautiful women or being unfaithful to his wife Hillary with them. George W. Bush got a full article in the New York Times when he rubbed the neck of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and she seemed not to welcome it (“The Politics of Good Touch, Bad Touch“).
Each of these examples involves adult women, although two of them involve serious power differentials. It’s not the end of the world that Joe Biden got a bit kissy-gropey with underage girls.
But we all know how the media reacted to Sarah Palin being folksy. They clutched their pearls and lost their minds. They freaked out so much that many are still freaking out over every little thing she says, does, and thinks. (Not to mention every child she loves.)
And if Joe Biden weren’t a liberal Democrat? If he were a Republican (particularly one who wasn’t liberal and pro-choice—like the recently praised by, uh, Joe Biden Bob Packwood), we’d be talking about how he was engaged in sexual assault against helpless girls and how his micro-aggressions encourage and validate rape culture.
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