As the Great Threshing of the establishment’s plain-sight-hidden sexual predators continues apace, the country will move on from simply being disgusted with our formerly-beloved entertainers.
What is likely to happen both next and in concert, is the much more difficult task of rebuking and dethroning our cherished and revered figures of authority.
This is already happening to some extent. Republican, former judge, and accused child molester Roy Moore could possibly do the unthinkable: lose an open Senate election in Alabama to a Democrat who resembles Atticus Finch.
Oppositely, and perhaps even more astonishing, murmurs of the unthinkable are also emanating from within the Democratic Party and professional liberals alike. That is, some honest denizens of the center-left space are suggesting that Bill Clinton‘s history of sexual predation–including allegations of rape–finally be reckoned with.
As the necessity of genuflecting toward the stewards of the corrupt (albeit petit) Clinton dynasty fades in the face of the ascendant Bernie Sanders wing, the Democrats and their liberal gatekeepers in the mainstream media aren’t necessarily showing courage, but rather ridding themselves of useless baggage and dead wood dragging down the brand. Still, it’s all to the good.
Bill Clinton has been accused of sexual misconduct publicly by at least three women. Some lists of Clinton’s accusers peg the total number of accusations in the double-digits. Rumors of such untoward behavior, for so long, from so many women simply must be believed. Period. Paragraph.
Perhaps optimism here is misplaced, but the Democratic Party and its friendlies in the media might finally be realizing the massive, drawling albatross of hypocrisy hanging around their neoliberal party and move on. They don’t need the Clintons or their piles of cash anymore; the southern two-for-one power couple has lost for the final time, it seems, and their influence is maybe on the way out.
The bigger question–and more difficult task–is whether the professional left has it within them to actually take on men who are still all-but worshipped by Democratic party and MSNBC faithful. Men that garden variety liberals still look to for guidance and leadership.
In service of that, the above video is an exhibit for Democrats who are serious about cleaning house of their own abusive ranks.
In the video, from a Congressional swearing-in ceremony in 2015, Uncle Joe repeatedly juts his aging grill into the face of Senator Chis Coons‘ then-13-year-old daughter–and plants an unwanted kiss there.
Then, Biden, Crowned Prince of Liberal Memetics, leans way into the personal space of an older woman who is visibly put off by his consistent advances.
Next, the storied Amtrak-weary traveler puts his hand on the shoulder of a small child, another girl, and slowly moves it lower. The girl squirms and pulls away.
Regaining some composure as the sage he most certainly is, Biden says, while hugging the daughter of Senator Dan Sullivan and leaning into her face, “Remember, no serious guys until you’re thirty.”
And then, finally, while posing for pictures with the entire family of another girl, Biden grabs the girl by the shoulders and demands a photo with her alone. Her family files past as the then-vice-president moves her hair away from her face.
Biden’s habit of strong-arming his way into the personal spaces of women has long been remarked upon by conservative commentators–likely out of potentially destructive political expediency rather than any genuinely principled opposition to the pastime.
But even if such acknowledgments come from the mouths of feckless Republicans trying to score mud-and-hypocrisy points against Democrats, the behavior is still there. And it’s obviously still unacceptable.