Last weeks ‘hands’ issues will aways be there….
But ?
Joe Biden IS who he is and will try to change…..
Most Democrats are fine with him….
Sam Lieberman, former chairman of the Nevada Democratic Party, has a framed picture in his office of Joe Biden. In the photo, taken sometime during Biden’s short-lived 2008 presidential campaign, Biden is standing behind Lieberman and kissing his scalp.
It’s the kind of physical touching — or violation of personal boundaries — that has gotten the former vice president in trouble with a variety of women and clouded his prospective entry into the presidential race. Yet it’s also a reminder of Biden’s long history of toiling in the early presidential state vineyards, and his easy familiarity with party activists and officials — many of whom are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Everybody knows Joe Biden. None of this is anything new,” Lieberman said, referring to various accounts of unwanted touching. “I don’t think it’s sexual harassment. I don’t think it’s anything except for who he is and who he’s been for years.”
Interviews with more than a dozen operatives, party leaders and county chairs in the four early presidential states raised similar sentiments. Among these gatekeepers — many of whom have met Biden during his previous runs for president or in his capacity as Barack Obama’s running mate — the prevailing view is that the current controversy isn’t enough to seriously damage his candidacy should he choose to run.
“The people in the early states have known Joe Biden for a long time, have seen him time and again, and we feel a great affection for him,” said Carol Fowler, a prominent South Carolina Democrat who along with her husband, Don, led the state party and hosted countless fundraisers over the years.
Fowler dug through her phone and found a couple of pictures of Biden and her.
“And there [Biden] was giving me a big squeeze around the shoulders,” she said, referring to one of the photos.
Fowler thought back to how she felt at the time, and said, “I was being flattered that the vice president knew who I was, came up and gave me a big squeeze.”
The generational divide that surfaces in reactions to Biden’s behavior isn’t adequately captured in discussions with state and local party officials, who tend to be older and more closely tied to the establishment. Still, their overwhelming consensus view is that Biden’s behavior won’t have a material effect on his early state reception. One reason is that few view it as crossing the line into explicit sexual harassment. Another is that none thought the allegations rose to the level of those made against Donald Trump…..
image….Time.Com