The Strange Silence of Me-Too Kamala
Why has the normally loquacious vice president been so silent about Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal?
Some have said this first term of the Biden-Harris presidency is little more than the third term of Barack Obama’s presidency. And it’s hard to argue against this, given both the hard-left substance and lead-from-behind style of its first 40 days.
As to that Obamaesque attribute of non-leading leadership, we see its influence in the way both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have responded to the twin scandals surrounding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Calls for Cuomo’s resignation have been coming from across the political spectrum. Even tone-deaf and hypocritical Hillary Clinton has weighed in, saying, “These stories are difficult to read, and the allegations brought forth raise serious questions that the women who have come forward and all New Yorkers deserve answers to.” (Juanita, Jennifer, Paula, and Monica, call your office.)
So it’s only natural that folks would wonder about Joe and Kamala’s take on all this. What do they think about the Emmy Award-winning governor’s downright murderous actions toward his state’s COVID-vulnerable elderly citizens? What do they think about his “funny” and “good-natured” sexual harassment of at least three women?
Their response? Silence. Crickets. Tumbleweeds.
This is especially telling for President-in-Waiting Harris, who’s been a forceful (if highly selective) champion of the #MeToo movement. As the Washington Examiner’s Michael Lee reports, “Harris was a vocal opponent of confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the nation’s highest court when he faced allegations of his own, even saying she would support impeaching the justice after he was confirmed to the bench. ‘Christine Blasey Ford, who literally had nothing to gain by coming forward … she looked at the fact that this guy was being nominated and said, "the American people had the right to know what I know,” and she was treated like a criminal,’ Harris told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow at the time. ‘So yes, I call for impeachment … I believe that is the clearest way for us to get an investigation of these allegations.’“
Harris was absolutely right about Blasey Ford — except that her 36-year-old charges were laughably implausible and utterly uncorroborated, and that she raked in around $1 million from various crowdsourcing campaigns, and that she was lauded for her "courage” rather than being “treated like a criminal.” But other than that, yeah, Kamala was absolutely right.
Why, then, is she so silent about Randy Andy? Could it be that she’s afraid of reopening a can of sexual harassment worms about her boss? After all, during the 2020 campaign, she said she believed the women who’d accused then-candidate Biden of varying degrees of sexually inappropriate behavior. “I believe them, and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it,” she said of Hair-Sniffin’ Joe’s accusers.
We’re not sure whether Harris meant she believed all eight of Biden’s accusers, but we should note: Tara Reade’s allegations were a lot more serious than anything Andrew Cuomo has been accused of.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who continues to struggle mightily at the administration’s toughest job, had her hands full yesterday with Fox News’s Kristin Fisher: “Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the most vocal critics of justice Brett Kavanaugh, of Senator Al Franken, when they faced similar allegations,” Fisher began. “She said repeatedly, ‘I believe them, the women,’ but she hasn’t said anything about the three women who are accusing Governor Andrew Cuomo. And now this third accuser, Anna Ruch, she actually worked for the Biden-Harris campaign. So at what point is the first female vice president going to say something about this?”
Ouch. As it turns out, that “first female vice president” thing cuts both ways.
“Well,” said Psaki, “I know that’s how the vice president continues to feel and the benefit of doing a briefing every day is that I can certainly speak on behalf of the president and the vice president. And so let me reiterate that they both believe that every woman coming forward should be heard, should be treated with dignity, and [should be] treated with respect.”
Pressed further by Fisher about hearing from Biden or Harris directly, Psaki dodged some more: “Well, again, I’m speaking on their behalf. That’s how they feel.”
In other words, Shut up, she explained.