Pelosi says Biden should stop being touchy-feely with women
AS FORMER Vice-President Joe Biden’s camp scrambles to contain any political damage over his past behaviour with women, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has some words of advice: Keep your distance.
“Join the straight-arm club,” Pelosi told a breakfast hour Washington event yesterday.
In other words, keep your handshakes at arm’s length and don’t be touchy-feely.
“Just pretend you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi, D-Calif, told the event, which was sponsored by Politico, that Biden “has to understand that in the world we are in now people’s space is important to them and what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it”.
Her remarks came as Biden’s aides are striking a more aggressive tone as he considers running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and faces scrutiny over his past behaviour towards women.
In a statement on Monday, Biden spokesman Bill Russo blasted “right wing trolls” from “the dark recesses of the Internet” for conflating images of Biden embracing acquaintances, colleagues and
friends in his official capacity during swearing-in ceremonies with uninvited touching.
That statement came on a day on which a second woman said Biden had acted inappropriately, touching her face with both hands and rubbing noses with her in 2009. The allegation by Amy Lappos, a former aide to Democratic Rep Jim Himes of Connecticut, followed a magazine essay by another woman, former Nevada politician Lucy Flores, who wrote that Biden kissed her on the back of the head in 2014.
CHALLENGES
The developments underscored the challenge facing Biden should he decide to seek the White House. Following historic wins in the 2018 midterms, Democratic politics is dominated by energy from women. The allegations could leave the 76-year-old Biden, long known for his affectionate mannerisms, appearing out of touch with the party as the Democratic presidential primary begins.
Lappos told The Associated Press that she and other Himes aides were helping out at a fundraiser in a private home in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 2009 when Biden entered the kitchen to thank the group for pitching in.
“After he finished speaking, he stopped to talk to us about how important a congressional staff is, which I thought was awesome,” Lappos said.
She said she was stunned as Biden moved towards her.
“He wrapped both his hands around my face and pulled me in,” said Lappos, who is now 43. “I thought, ‘Oh, God, he’s going to kiss me.’ Instead, he rubbed noses with me.”
Biden said nothing, she said, then moved off.
She said the experience left her feeling “weird and uncomfortable” and was “absolutely disrespectful of my personal boundaries”.