Two months ago, when a series of allegations of inappropriate touching threatened to end Biden’s 2020 campaign before it even started, Biden released a video in which he promised to “be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.” A couple of days after he released the video Biden joked about his inappropriate behavior, suggesting he wasn’t taking the issue seriously.
One might think allegations from seven women might have been enough to get Biden to change his ways, but Biden’s creepy behavior, which many of his supporters and defenders attempt to lump together with consensual hugs and handshakes (Meghan McCain, I’m thinking specifically of you), hasn’t stopped. On Tuesday, The New York Times mentioned a troubling incident during a campaign event:
Mr. Biden did have one interaction that raised some eyebrows among online commentators: After a 10-year-old girl asked him a question about the divided state of the country, Mr. Biden gave a lengthy answer that touched on the importance of immigration to the nation’s fabric, before remarking to the young questioner, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking.” She told him that her favorite subject was journalism, so Mr. Biden proceeded to bring her to the back of the room, where journalists and TV cameras were congregated, and put his hands on her shoulders.
While people who witnessed the encounter laughed, Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post, was less amused.
In a somewhat odd moment at tonight's AFT town hall, Biden tells a 10-year-old girl, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking." He takes her over to the assembled reporters, then stands behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders while he's talking.
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) May 28, 2019
Sonmez later reported that the Biden campaign refused to comment on the incident.
Here’s a photo of the incident via Twitter, where Biden can be seen whispering something into the ten-year-old girl’s ear:
https://twitter.com/Michael_kings_/status/1133608151599554561
And here’s a video of the incident:
It’s quite clear that Biden learned nothing from his #MeToo moment a couple of months ago. But this is perhaps even worse than his behavior with adult women. We’ve seen plenty of images and video of Biden acting inappropriately with young girls (in addition to adult women) so it’s hard to understand why he’d continue to act that way during his campaign. The simple answer is that despite his promise to be more mindful of personal space and act appropriately in accordance with social norms, he can’t stop. Worse yet, Democrats chose to look the other way and even defend his behavior, sending Biden the unmistakable message that he can act however he wants to.
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Matt Margolis is the author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published in July 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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