From Michael J. Stern in USA Today:
If we must blindly accept every allegation of sexual assault, the #MeToo movement is just a hit squad. And it’s too important to be no more than that.
During 28 years as a state and federal prosecutor, I prosecuted a lot of sexual assault cases. The vast majority came early in my career, when I was a young attorney at a prosecutor’s office outside Detroit.
A year ago, Tara Reade accused former Vice President Joe Biden of touching her shoulder and neck in a way that made her uncomfortable, when she worked for him as a staff assistant in 1993. Then last month, Reade told an interviewer that Biden stuck his hand under her skirt and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers. Biden denies the allegation.
When women make allegations of sexual assault, my default response is to believe them. But as the news media have investigated Reade’s allegations, I’ve become increasingly skeptical.
It’s all quite suspect, but the piece she wrote on Putin is… really something.
I am curious if you found the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh to be similarly suspect, Ryan?
I would say that there was plenty of room for skepticism in Kavanaugh’s case, based on what I can remember. However, I would not describe the allegations as “similarly suspect,” simply because there are more reasons to doubt Biden’s accuser.