The New York Times Would Like You to Know That Some Women Personally Like to Hug Joe Biden
NewsPolitics

I would personally like to never discuss Joe Biden’s penchant for hugging and kissing women and girls in awkward, inappropriate ways ever again, but unfortunately for me, the New York Times has come out with a bizarre story about how some women continue to delight in hugging the man. And beyond just loving to wrap their arms around Biden—which is their choice to make!—these Biden super fans seem to see their hugging him as an act of defiance, which is certainly also their choice to make, I guess!
When asked by a Times reporter why she hugged Biden at a recent campaign event, 55-year-old lifestyle blogger Juliette Daniels explained, “He’s just so warm.” She added, “I told him, don’t apologize, never apologize for anything, ever.” That includes not apologizing for speaking fondly of working with white segregationist senators, which Daniels brushed off because, as she put it, “He was already vetted by Barack.”
Another woman shared that she views her hug of Biden as a way of defending him against similar criticism around his well-documented role in maintaining and deepening racial inequality. “Racism exists but Vice President Biden did not cause the racism,” Brown, a 51-year-old administrative assistant who also hugged Biden at a campaign event said. “He is not the problem.” Biden, she said, “has not a racist bone in his body.” (My eyebrows have now vaulted to the stratosphere.)
Of course, it’s perfectly fine for women who want to hug and be hugged by Biden to embrace him. But as has been made clear by the numerous accounts from women who were disturbed and made extremely uncomfortable by Biden’s boundary-crossing hugs, touching, and kisses, it can too often be not only unprofessional, but an inappropriate violation of one’s personal space. (Biden, it should also be pointed out, doesn’t tend to nuzzle or kiss too many men that he meets, seemingly reserving that behavior for women.)