It seems like just yesterday former Vice President and current presidential hopeful Joe Biden vaguely apologized for habitually invading other people’s personal space with his creepy touching. But in fact, it was nearly two months ago, and Biden still seems unable to keep his hands to himself.
Indeed, at an American Federation of Teachers town hall in Houston on Tuesday night (where he unrolled a pretty decent education plan, to be fair) Biden pulled out another Classic Biden Move, per Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez .“In a somewhat odd moment at tonight’s AFT town hall, Biden tells a 10-year-old girl, ‘I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking,’” she tweeted. “He takes her over to the assembled reporters, then stands behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders while he’s talking.”
It’s on video (starts at 43:20):
Now, I am sure Biden meant nothing by this. He was responding to the 10-year-old’s question about “divisions in this country,” (sigh) per Politico, and he put his hands on his shoulders while introducing her to the press, since she told him her favorite subject was journalism.But it is clear Biden has learned nothing. Biden is not listening. It’s not that hard not to touch someone! And yet, he can’t seem to stop doing it. Over the last few months, a slew of women have attempted to point out to him, again and again, why it is not OK for him to put his hands on their shoulders, or sniff their hair, or kiss the backs of their heads—not just that it is wrong, but why. Biden promised to respect women’s space, and yet he has not; he said he would do better, but he did not. “It’s my responsibility to make sure I bend over backwards to try to understand how not to do that,” he said on The View in April, when asked to address the creepy touching, and yet here we are.
It’s troubling that Biden can’t see why it’s inappropriate to comment on a 10-year-old’s beauty, or why it’s demeaning to juxtapose a girl’s looks with her intelligence. And it doesn’t bode well for a presidential candidate not to listen, not that that’s much news when it comes to Biden. Election 2020 is, as ever, a long and weary road.