It’s nearly every day now, a new woman is discussing an inappropriate encounter with “Creepy Uncle Joe.”
Fox News’ Spin Cycle broached the topic on Sunday, and even one of the panelists had first-hand experience with the former vice president’s “tactile nature.”
Host Howard Kurtz highlighted a picture of Gillian Turner, a former staffer in the Bush and Obama administrations, posing with Biden years ago, and he asked Turner to elaborate on the first time the two met.
“So, you can’t see in the way that we’ve got the photo cropped, but the reason we were talking about the photo earlier today is because he did have his hand around my waist in the picture, which you could see if we had the whole thing up there,” Turner said.
“It was the first time I’d ever met vice president Biden. I was a staffer at the White House at the National Security Council … it was later, I think, in 2009. First meeting ever … he said, ‘You’re beautiful,’ and he put his hand around my waist and we took a photo together,” she said.
“Did it make me uncomfortable? No,” Turner continued. “But do I remember it 10 years later because it was out of the norm of my other experiences at the White House? Yes,” Turner said.
“And so I think it’s a perfect example of the kind of conversation people are starting to have about him, which is that he does have markedly different behavior than a lot of other government officials. I think it’s up to every woman to make a determination about how they feel about their interactions with him.”
At least seven women have done exactly that and come to the conclusion that Biden’s physical groping, smelling, and nuzzling was too creepy to condone. The controversy officially kicked off when Nevada Democrat Lucy Flores described her encounter with Biden at a campaign event during her failed bid for lieutenant governor in 2014.
In the days since, more than a half dozen women have come forward to share experiences similar to Flores, who said Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” when he sniffed and kissed her head, and rubbed her shoulders.
But the recent revelations are really nothing new.
Several YouTube videos document Biden’s disturbing behavior – from rubbing and sniffing women to kissing and fondling children during photo ops – dating back years. There’s so many videos, in fact, there’s now greatest hits compilations.
The difference is Biden is now a #MeToo warrior and potential Democrat presidential candidate, and the videos of his hands-on approach to politics don’t jibe with his words.
Just days before Flores spoke out, Biden lectured folks at an event for his Biden Courage Awards about the need to keep one’s hands to themselves, The American Mirror reports.
“No man has a right to lay a hand on a woman, no matter what she’s wearing, she does, who she is, unless it’s in self-defense. Never, never, never,” Biden said, adding that those who don’t speak up about potential abuse are “a damn coward.”
“You don’t deserve to be called a man,” he said.
In recent days, Biden has repeatedly addressed the growing controversy over social media, and when confronted by reporters, but he’s refused to formally apologize.
“The fact of the matter is I made it clear that if I made anyone feel (uncomfortable), I feel badly about that. It was never my intention. Ever,” Biden said Friday, according to The Hill.
“I’m sorry I didn’t understand more,” he said. “I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything I’ve 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.”
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