# I pit Ms. Tara Reade for putting our country through this **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 2, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020 "2020-05-02T14:46:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/341 "2020-05-19T14:35:22Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Too late for that this year. As Bernie himself said, not voting for Biden in November is irresponsible! I posted a meme around here a little while back that basically said: _“Biden is not my second, third or even seventh choice for president but Trump is my 243,000,000th choice.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/342 "2020-05-19T14:44:03Z")
This bears repeating: > [@Why I Don't Trash Talk Joe Biden](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-trash-talk-joe-biden/854104/3): > > My resist group follows its principles and attempts to move the bar here in Charleston. > > It’s a good group that trying to - in my opinion - do good things. But it’s grown up enough to realize the basic truth that you accomplish nothing if your guy doesn’t win the election. We’ve moved into an ‘all or nothing’ no compromise period of political gamesmanship. We can debate the cause of that - odds are we’d all have different ones and we’d all be right - but it’s a fact we need to deal with. If we can get half of what we want we should consider ourselves incrementalists who are way ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/343 "2020-05-19T14:50:48Z")
> [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > Biden will almost certainly lose in November. I don’t think so, but we’ll see. > [@](#): > > Is he the guy who’s going to bring back bipartisanship to a divided congress? Sadly, I don’t think anyone is or could. Not this cycle. Nor anytime soon. I fear we’ve entered a somewhat dysfunctional age where literally the best we can hope for is bland and boring. > [@](#): > > When you think of the country’s future, are you going to sleep better knowing that Uncle Joe is standing watch over the field of government when you sleep? It’s always relative, so…yes? In context hemorrhoids beat rectal cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/344 "2020-05-22T05:56:37Z")
Reade apparently has testified in a number of court cases in which she has presented herself as an expert on domestic violence. Now the university where she claims to have gotten her degree says there is no record of her, and defense lawyers in Monterey County are asking for their clients’ cases to be reheard. Reade claims the reason why Antioch University has no record of her is because she completed it as part of a “protected program” after fleeing domestic abuse. The University disputes this. [Lawyers Scrutinize Tara Reade’s Expert Testimony in Domestic Violence Cases](https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawyers-scrutinize-tara-reades-expert-testimony-in-domestic-violence-cases)? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/345 "2020-05-22T12:54:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Reade apparently has testified in a number of court cases in which she has presented herself as an expert on domestic violence. Now the university where she claims to have gotten her degree says there is no record of her, and defense lawyers in Monterey County are asking for their clients’ cases to be reheard. Reade claims the reason why Antioch University has no record of her is because she completed it as part of a “protected program” after fleeing domestic abuse. The University disputes this. > [Lawyers Scrutinize Tara Reade’s Expert Testimony in Domestic Violence Cases](https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawyers-scrutinize-tara-reades-expert-testimony-in-domestic-violence-cases)? She is a total fraud. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/346 "2020-05-22T13:26:16Z")
> [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > I have said it before. There’s nothing to be done at this late date. Not now. We took our eye off the ball in 2016 after having the answer to us handed on a silver platter. Worse, we refused to learn our lesson from 2016 to 2020 and made the same damned mistakes and put up the same damned losers and turned our back on the same damned wronged women that the Democrats were supposed to be sheltering and protecting to begin with. The reason people refused to learn the lesson is that, until recently, the voters rejected Bernie’s revolution. That’s not on Biden. That’s not on the Democratic party. It’s not even on Bernie Sanders. Sanders proposed a bold reform plan, and in a sense, I appreciate his honesty. But the voters just weren’t sold. If you want to blame voters for not recognizing what’s really ailing the country and for not understanding how we need to embrace a more socialist form of capitalism (I happen to agree with you and Bernie here), that’s one thing. I think that’s fair. I wish we would reject modern American cut-throat capitalism as well. But voters aren’t all in – or at least they weren’t until 12 weeks ago. Maybe now, 10-12 weeks into a pandemic, it’s different - I don’t know. > [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > Biden will almost certainly lose in November. I say that after having examined the history of elections, and let me tell you something: You don’t beat an incumbent president with a candidate like Biden. Biden has his shortcomings - I won’t disagree. As I posted on another thread, this election has similarities to the 1932 election in which Herbert Hoover was an incumbent. Hoover lost because he had 3 years to unfuck the economy and his policies just made things progressively worse. I don’t know if Trump has had enough time to alienate voters. But to my point, I think FDR won because of three factors: 1. FDR had a brand name (the Roosevelt name), which was important because in times of crisis, people tend to look not just for radical change but ‘change they can believe in’. And Biden’s name and political history as a sort of steady hand is an asset, IMO. You may not see it that way but that’s partly why he defeated Sanders and the entire field of challengers. 2. FDR was optimistic. People want acknowledgment of their suffering, but they also are naturally attracted to someone who says “Look, things are going to be alright. We’re gonna be okay.” It just has to be believable. FDR was an incredibly positive and optimistic person (one reason why someone like me would be a disaster in that office, lol). This is where I’m not sure about Biden. I think Biden is basically an optimistic person but it’s a matter of how he projects himself. In all fairness, he’s hamstrung by the pandemic ‘distancing’. But he’s also hamstrung by his apparent lack of comfort on digital platforms. 3. FDR didn’t want a violent revolution, but offered an unapologetically bold set of reforms. The New Deal wasn’t the end of capitalism, but it was definitely a new definition of it, and it redefined the government’s relationship with people. It was ballsy because even during those times, not everyone was sold on the idea that the federal government’s role was to employ people. And remember that the federal government in many people’s eyes had made matters worse under Hoover. FDR offered a bold vision of the future. He put people in money’s pockets, but he did it in a way that was compatible with our sense of work ethic - critics be damned. This is probably Biden’s biggest question mark. He will have to be bolder than he was during the campaign. He will have to adjust to the new reality. He won’t get away with just trashing Trump. He will have to co-opt some of the ideas from the hard left from people like Sanders and Warren. If Biden can check all three points in the eyes of voters, I think he has a 2/3 chance of winning. If he checks 2 boxes, it’s 50/50. If he remains stuck at just 1, then I think it’s less than 50 percent. > [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > I wouldn’t be so pissed, but we were handed the damn answer in Obama. I know we don’t have an Obama at the moment. My question is why not? Why couldn’t we repeat the process? It’s like being handed the keys to heaven, watching the pearly gates open, and thinking to ourselves . . . “Nahhhhh, I’d rather live in Newark.” Because this country is culturally complicated, and it was founded with a complex set of values. 2008 was a kind of political revolution, not in terms of policy but in terms of political culture. But revolutions almost always have counter-revolutions, people who fight back aggressively against change. And 2016 was that counter revolution. And they’re fighting now, and will continue to fight, ruthlessly to defend their counter revolution. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/347 "2020-05-22T13:36:57Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > FDR offered a bold vision of the future. **He put people in money’s pockets** , but he did it in a way that was compatible with our sense of work ethic - critics be damned. I think those first five or six paragraphs are the most cogent analysis I’ve seen from you, **asahi** , but unless I’m being whooshed, I think you transposed some words in the phrase I bolded… ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/348 "2020-05-22T13:40:11Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > She is a total fraud. If that story is true, itis a gift for Biden. An attack like this with such poor credibility tends to undermine any other criticisms about Biden’s personal behavior and undercuts the (somewhat legitimate) complaints about his overly familiar physical contact. It is as if all of Hillary Clinton’s mission emails were revealed to just be animated GIFs of cats standing on their hind legs and waving their paws. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/349 "2020-05-22T14:31:50Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Yeah, I forgot that it was a weapon intended to be aimed at Trump, which has now circled back on the left. Couldn’t even read a summary, hunh? Yet alone click a link. You are the very mirror image of what you pretend to think rational Americans are. When evaluating a slur, the political side of the sluree is all that matters: R good, D bad is all the “nuance” you can handle. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/350 "2020-05-22T14:40:55Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > I think those first five or six paragraphs are the most cogent analysis I’ve seen from you, **asahi** , but unless I’m being whooshed, I think you transposed some words in the phrase I bolded… Oy, the dangers of posting before finishing my first cup of coffee. Sometimes I think I post better when drunk. I will never live that one down. Evar.:o ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/351 "2020-05-22T15:19:17Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Reade apparently has testified in a number of court cases in which she has presented herself as an expert on domestic violence. Now the university where she claims to have gotten her degree says there is no record of her, and defense lawyers in Monterey County are asking for their clients’ cases to be reheard. Reade claims the reason why Antioch University has no record of her is because she completed it as part of a “protected program” after fleeing domestic abuse. The University disputes this. > [Lawyers Scrutinize Tara Reade’s Expert Testimony in Domestic Violence Cases](https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawyers-scrutinize-tara-reades-expert-testimony-in-domestic-violence-cases)? She’s got a serious issue with the truth and all these twisted bizarre stories get weirder and weirder. If she didn’t get her undergraduate degree, then perhaps the law degree might get revoked. And, instead of figuring out what happened with the undergrad degree, she invents some bizarre protected program? I found out at the last second I didn’t earn my degree. Don’t even remember all the details, my advisor got too creative and was overruled by a dean. Was something about counting a class twice: once for general studies and once towards my major. A minor pain, had to take one summer class for 6 weeks to complete the degree. Install had a lease and no clue what I wanted to do post graduation anyway. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/352 "2020-05-22T15:37:53Z")
Appears to me that my supposition that serious and thorough investigation was good and WOULD HELP Biden, if he’s not guilty, was correct, at least based on the information published so far. Isn’t investigation great? Next time there’s an accusation, hopefully all my fellow Democrats will join me in urging and advocating for serious and thorough investigations. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/353 "2020-05-22T18:12:43Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Appears to me that my supposition that serious and thorough investigation was good and WOULD HELP Biden, if he’s not guilty, was correct, at least based on the information published so far. Isn’t investigation great? Next time there’s an accusation, hopefully all my fellow Democrats will join me in urging and advocating for serious and thorough investigations. Right, let’s have more investigations into emails, too, while we’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/354 "2020-05-22T18:26:52Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Right, let’s have more investigations into emails, too, while we’re at it. And … BENGHAZI!!! ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/355 "2020-05-22T18:50:50Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Right, let’s have more investigations into emails, too, while we’re at it. No thanks, just the sexual assault and rape allegations. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020/356 "2020-05-22T19:30:21Z")
I think the point might’ve been that excessive investigations on flimsy bases can be used _ipso facto_ by unscrupulous actors to build up the illusion of wrongdoing by the accused, even if there’s no “there” there. (cf: Hillary Rodham Clinton, 1992 through 2016). In this particular case, I agree with **iiandyiii** that the investigations surrounding Ms. Reade’s allegations were appropriate and necessary and were also, while not “probative” in the language of Reade’s ex-lawyer, at least sufficient to relegate the charge into the “believable in the general sense but not credible in the specific” file. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-ms-tara-reade-for-putting-our-country-through-this/853020.md?page=17)