WaPo Headline “Amplifies” Concerns Over Double Standard On Biden Sexual Assault Allegation

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

The Washington Post is facing intense criticism over a headline on the sexual assault allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden by former Senate aide Tara Reade.  Various witnesses have come forward to support Reade by saying that she told them of the assault in the 1990s and a new clip has emerged on CNN of Reade’s mother raising the controversy on Larry King Live in 1993.  The Washington Post, which had exhaustive and hard-hitting coverage of the allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, crafted one of the most convoluted headlines humanly possible: “Developments in allegations against Biden amplify efforts to question his behavior.”  Unlike the Kavanaugh stories, the headline focused the story on efforts to discredit Biden as opposed to the assault allegation by Reade. 

The headline was seen by critics of the double standard being applied to the Biden allegation.  It raises similar objections to how Democratic leaders and commentators spent years protecting Bill Clinton from an array women alleging everything from sexual harassment to rape.

Developments in allegations against Biden amplify efforts to question his behavior https://t.co/OWXvnKzvvN

— Post Politics (@postpolitics) April 28, 2020

It is important to note that columnists and reporters like Washington Post reporter Matt Viser do not write headlines or approve them.

There has been an almost universal spin in the media to portray the Biden allegation as a political story of how Republicans are seeking to use the story against him.  There is a true element to story. However, the disconnect with the Kavanaugh coverage is quite extraordinary.  There was little equivocation in either the headlines or the stories.

The disconnect is even more striking among Democratic leaders.  I previously wrote on the position of Democratic senators, before Christine Blasey Ford even testified, that they believed her and opposed Kavanaugh.  That was an allegation from high school that had not been previously voiced in public. 

Yet, Democratic senators denounced anyone who did not believe Ford based solely on her account. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, declared that all men need to “shut up” and just believe women allegedly assaults.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who just endorsed Biden yesterday, attacked those who did not simply accept the word of Ford:

“Senate Republicans chose to send a clear message to all women: do not speak out, and if you do – do not expect to be heard, believed or respected.”

At the time (and today with regard to the Biden accusations) I was concerned about the lack of a presumption of innocence before any testimony had even occurred.  After telling all men everywhere to “shut up” and just stand with Ford, Hirano was pressed on whether Kavanaugh has “the same presumption of innocence as anyone else in America?”

For most people, the question would be an easy one to answer in the affirmative, Hirono demurred and declined to say that she would afford Kavanaugh this core presumption of the rule of law. She said that she would “put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases.” She said that she would consider his “ideological agenda” and her view that “he very much is against women’s reproductive choice.”

Once again, I have always maintained that women need to be heard and taken seriously in raising these allegations.  I have also objected to those who would toss aside due process and simply accept accusations without investigation.  However, there is no denying the fact that the many in media and the Democratic leadership have, again, adopted a sharply different approach to a story where a leading Democrat is accused of sexual assault.  There was no equivocation and circumspection during the Kavanaugh controversy.  The silence today is perfectly deafening.