May 8, 2020

Biden’s Disgraceful Hypocrisy on Sexual Misconduct

If presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden were forced to live by the standards he wants to set for college students accused of sexual misconduct, he would already have been presumed guilty, been denied a genuine opportunity to refute the charges leveled against him by Tara Reade, and had his life ruined.

If presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden were forced to live by the standards he wants to set for college students accused of sexual misconduct, he would already have been presumed guilty, been denied a genuine opportunity to refute the charges leveled against him by Tara Reade, and had his life ruined.

While Biden has hundreds of pundits and an entire constellation of Democratic Party-affiliated groups defending him, accused 18- and 19-year-olds have no such recourse under Biden’s preferred set of guidelines. As conservatives keep hammering the partisan double standards in the media’s coverage of sexual assault accusations — a wholly legitimate grievance — they should not forget that Biden has long championed stripping the due process rights of college students accused of sexual misconduct.

In 2011, the Obama DOJ’s “Dear Colleague” letter directed institutions of higher learning to adjudicate sexual assault and misconduct cases under Title IX not by a “clear and convincing evidence” standard, but by a “preponderance of evidence.” The letter also “strongly” discouraged cross-examination of alleged victims — one of the fundamental methods of determining truth — because it “may be traumatic or intimidating” to the alleged victim. After Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed new rules to reinstate some semblance of impartiality in the process, Biden, and a number of other Democrats, engaged in a smear campaign against her.

The former vice president has never actually spelled out his specific criticisms of DeVos’s proposal. In a sycophantic 2017 Teen Vogue interview, in which Biden offered a number of rambling platitudes regarding sexual assault, he argued that DeVos is incentivizing assaults by proposing that colleges live by the traditional criteria of fairness. “Let me tell you,” he said, “it bothers me most if Secretary DeVos is going to really dumb down Title IX enforcement. The real message, the real frightening message you’re going to send out is, our culture says it’s OK.”

Arguing that unprejudiced hearings (and I’m still not sure why these cases aren’t adjudicated in civil and criminal court) are a tacit approval of rape is repulsive. Even worse: We now know Biden believes that allegations against him should be evaluated using the precise principles that he would deny others.

Under the Obama administration’s directives, an accused college student was often denied the ability to question his accuser, denied the right to review the allegations and evidence in an ensuing investigation, denied the right to present exculpatory evidence and denied the right to call witnesses. Oftentimes a “single investigator,” with minimal training, would be deputized to be judge and jury. Biden’s personal expectations are dramatically different. Indeed, he refuses to even open his own senatorial papers — which might contain evidence related to Reade’s accusations — or to allow the public to see them.

Biden is lucky that, in this case, media outlets chose to act in a professional manner, reporting and offering context to Reade’s allegations. Brett Kavanaugh was not so fortunate. Back then, journalists relayed every salacious, uncorroborated and risible allegation thrown at them, leaving the Supreme Court nominee to prove his own innocence. The former vice president expects college students to live under the Kavanaugh standard while he enjoys his own.

Now, obviously, Biden is to be judged by voters, not by a court or institutional tribunal. Reade hasn’t filed criminal charges. But guess what? Most students aren’t under criminal investigation either, and yet their collegiate careers and reputations can be forever ruined by the prejudiced process that was forced on colleges by Biden. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education estimates that half of unfair-treatment lawsuits completed since 2013 have ended in the favor of the accused.

Every allegation of sexual assault should be taken seriously. But as I’ve argued elsewhere, due process isn’t the opposite of justice; it is the prerequisite to it. Biden, whose campaign argues that he is falsely accused, should finally comprehend the importance of traditional tenets of justice. And no, not just for himself.

COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.