Ever since the release of the New York Attorney General’s report on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassing eleven women, Democrats have been quick to flaunt their outrage. That doesn’t mean they plan to live by their own words.
President Joe Biden said Cuomo “should resign,” during a speech on Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether he will exert pressure or use his power to make that happen. As White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently admitted, Biden has no public plans to call Cuomo to formally demand his resignation. And Psaki has been quiet about whether Cuomo is still invited to the next governor’s conference at the White House.
“Here’s my position. A woman should be presumed to telling the truth and should not be scapegoated and become victimized by her coming forward,” Biden said of the charges.
But when it came to hearing Tara Reade’s truth, the woman who accused Biden of sexual assault while working in his Senate office, Biden did not apply the same standard. The White House continues to dodge questions about whether an investigation should be opened into Reade’s allegations against the president.
Democrats have a history of forgiving the transgressions of their own party. As White House reporter Alex Thompson noted, “Biden may join everyone in calling on Cuomo to resign but remember he also called on Northam to resign in 2019 and then earlier this year called him ‘one of the best governors in the country.’”
Biden may join everyone in calling on Cuomo to resign but remember he also called on Northam to resign in 2019 and then earlier this year called him “one of the best governors in the country”https://t.co/C4lJsXm41L
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) August 3, 2021
In early 2019, an old yearbook photo resurfaced of a man in black-face standing next to someone in full Ku Klux Klan regalia. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam admitted that he was, indeed, one of the costumed men in this photo. Biden and countless others called for Northam’s resignation, but Northam refused, and he remains in office today.
Fast forward to this May, when Biden celebrated Northam’s handling of the pandemic, claiming he’s “one of the best governors in the country.” Biden proceeded, saying, “Governor, I really mean this, I’m not being political, you’ve done one hell of a job.”
Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe also similarly called for Northam’s resignation at the time, but recently accepted Northam’s endorsement.
Journalist Edward-Isaac Dovere recently “pointed out to McAuliffe that he called for Northam to resign, Northam didn’t, and he’s gone on to recover his popularity.” According to Dovere, McAuliffe responded by arguing that it’s different because he “believes Northam saying he wasn’t in the blackface picture.” Except, there’s a problem with McAuliffe’s explanation: Northam himself admitted to being in the photo.
I pointed out to McAuliffe that he called for Northam to resign, Northam didn’t, and he’s gone on to recover his popularity. McAuliffe says that’s different b/c he believes Northam saying he wasn’t in the blackface picture.For Cuomo, “we have 11 women who are very, very credible”
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) August 5, 2021
Northam admitted to the picture. https://t.co/IdY4GyHxYZ
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 5, 2021
McAuliffe now says Cuomo should resign. “He can’t serve anymore. He doesn’t have the capacity to govern,” he argued. “[W]e have 11 women [on record] who are very, very credible.”
It’s politically expedient to call for Cuomo’s resignation right now, just as it was politically expedient to call for Northam’s resignation in 2019. That doesn’t mean Democrats like Biden and McAuliffe will purge Cuomo from their party — just that they don’t want to go down fighting for him.
Source: The Federalist
