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Statement from Biden includes no apology, and is framed as if the idea that his behavior could have been perceived as inappropriate is one he hasn't ever heard before.
I am 100% guessing here, but this reads to me like his staff was pushing for something more contrite and he refused to go along.
"I never intended to cause anyone discomfort, and I am deeply sorry that I did" is the right politics here, the right crisis management, and the right thing to say as a moral human being. I can't say for sure why he didn't say it, but it wasn't an oversight.
Even the conditional "if it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully" is super weird. That's not an "if," and it's not a "will." It WAS suggested, and you ARE listening. Why get cute with the phrasing? What does that gain you?
Since people are coming into my mentions to talk about Lucy Flores' motivations and suggest that they render this story invalid, a few things.
First, it seems to me that the obvious answer is that she was willing to stay silent as long as he stayed retired, but thought that her experience was something that was worthy of discussion if he ran for public office again.
That strikes me as completely legitimate, even if her specific motivation was (and I don't know whether it was) to make it less likely that he runs, or that he wins if he does run.
But whatever her motivation, her story—and her account of her response to the incident—rings completely true to me. And even if it doesn't ring true to you, the broader issue with his behavior is undeniable.
Look at all the videos. Look at the women and girls. Look at them cringing, pulling away, putting their hands on his hands, patting his arms. He's been doing this for a very long time, and it's made a LOT of women and girls really uncomfortable.
So I don't see what attacking Flores gets you. Call her a liar, call her a political operative, call her a slut (!?). NONE OF THAT HELPS BIDEN.
If you want Biden to be the nominee, if you want Biden to be the president, attacking Lucy Flores is exactly the wrong thing for you to be doing right now.
You can't kill this story by killing the messenger, because what she's describing is something that we've all seen happen over and over and over again.
This isn't a "you can never doubt an accusation" situation. It's a "the evidence that he has done this over and over and that it regularly creeps women and girls out is on YouTube" situation.
Oh, and one more thing: "Why didn't come forward before?" Because coming forward is a horrible, scary, often life-altering experience. Because coming forward sucks. Because coming forward is dangerous.
Saying "she's only coming forward now because he's running" is just another way of saying "she's coming forward now because she has a compelling reason TO do something that she has lots of compelling reasons NOT to do."
Seeing people saying that this is all post-Me Too stuff, and that nobody had a problem with it when it was going on, so I'm just gonna leave this here.
(I was not anything like alone.)
