Creepy Joe gets away with same
GOV. Cuomo has been accused of unwanted touching and sexual harassment. President Biden has been accused of everything from creepily sniffing women’s hair to sexual assault. Yet Biden is the one who gets the folksy treatment, perceived as merely touchyfeely, while Cuomo, despite his status as prince of the pandemic press conference, could be facing the end of his career.
Prominent Democrats have called for the governor’s resignation over the scandal. Seven women now say they experienced unwanted touching at the governor’s hands. Cuomo claims he never did it, and apologized for making anyone feel bad.
By his own admission, Cuomo may be a little handsy. He’s said that “you can go find hundreds of pictures of me kissing people . . . It is my usual and customary way of greeting.” The public is meant to believe that it’s simply part of his charm.
Contrast this to Biden in 2019, who said: “I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I have never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman. So that’s not the reputation I’ve had since I was in high school, for God’s sake.”
Cuomo apologized and he’s
refused to apologize and he’s practically sanctified. “Social norms are changing. I understand that,” Biden said, “and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it.”
But has he? He barely gave a glance at Tara Reade’s accusations, never mind the myriad other women who stepped forward to say that Biden made them uneasy either with touching or his penchant for sniffing. The charges against Biden are well-documented, but it’s Cuomo who’s in the hot seat and Biden chilling in the Oval.
A takedown of Biden over sexual-harassment charges is simply not politically expedient. But for Democrats, Cuomo has got to go.
While they are loath to admit it, the outcry over the sexualharassment scandal is likely about something else. Cuomo is embarrassing for Democrats who praised him during the COVID-19 outbreak. An investigation by the Attorney General’s Office found that not only did the Cuomo administration undercount nursing-home deaths by up to 50 percent, they did so on purpose in order to avoid political fallout.
The Democrats who are intent on hounding Cuomo out of office do not want the political fallout of the nursing-home deaths. It’s easier to hold Cuomo’s feet to the fire over these allegations of unwanted touching than it is to deal with the intentional coverup of elder deaths, in which they may find themselves to have been complicit.
In short, Cuomo is not liked and, now, not useful. If Biden becomes similarly expendable in the future, he may finally face the same kind of treatment.