These debates about Biden’s off-the-cuff comments, too-personal physicality, and lack of decorum are as long running as they are pointless. Because in the end, Biden is pretty much harmless, and the negative reactions from his critics have more to do with political correctness run amok and tu quoque than anything else.
Joe Biden is an old man, and this is his shtick. He wasn’t hitting on these young women. They will not receive text messages from him later. Biden merely engages in innocent attempts at humor and flattery — it’s what charming gentlemen of a certain era used to do all the time. Surely, sometimes Biden goes a little too far. But the outrage (to the extent that it exists) is illustrative of our anxious political correctness and over sensitivity to the most trivial slights. America didn’t used to be this prickly. And it’s a shame that we are today.
Look, sexual harassment is a horrible and serious problem. But that’s not what Biden was doing here. This was innocent — and sure, mildly flirtatious — teasing from an old man. We are wrong to suggest that is something truly inappropriate.
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