 So I think it's safe to say that a Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign is imminent And he's currently grappling with the fact that he has a lot of skeletons in his closet And a lot of the things that he's done in the past in his political career is now coming back to bite him in the ass Hard I mean he voted for the Iraq war. He voted for the Patriot Act He was somebody who authored the 1994 crime bill. So He's gonna have a lot to explain when he enters the already crowded field of 2020 candidates But one thing that is clearly bugging him the most is Anita Hill because in a Me Too era after we just witnessed how horribly Christine Blasey Ford was treated it's clear now that he has a little bit of guilt on his conscience and Here's what else he says about that This is from the Daily Beast during an appearance Tuesday night at his foundations awards ceremony Biden acknowledged he had regrets over the matter. I wish I could have done something to this day I regret I couldn't give her the kind of hearing she deserved. He reportedly said she paid a terrible price She was abused during that hearing He said he'll showed the courage of a lifetime talking about her experience being harassed by Clarence Thomas and Claimed the judiciary committee at that time didn't fully understand what the hell this was about Make no mistake about it when he says that he wishes he could have done something he wishes he could have done something He's insulting your intelligence. He knows that he's being disingenuous because at the time He was the chair of the Senate judiciary committee He was fully capable of doing something He could have tried to limit the scope of the discussion So other senators wouldn't ask embarrassing questions to Anita Hill and essentially victimize her for a second time He could have brought in witnesses who could have validated her Accusations or at least lend further credibility to them because they were essentially saying well if nobody else came forward Then why are we to believe you would need a hill job? I didn't could have allowed the witnesses to come forward But he chose not to and it's not just that he couldn't have done anything. In fact, he encouraged There's videos of him saying look, I think that pretty much anything is fair game. All questions are fair game It is appropriate to ask professor Hill anything any member wishes to ask her Plumb the depths of her credibility. So for him to claim I wish I could have done something No, you don't Joe you wish now that you did do something But back then you chose not to do something that was something that you chose to do as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and really all that you wish you could change is The political ramifications that you're now having to pay because you know that this is probably going to harm your chances Going into 2020 It's a crowded field and you're polling at number one currently So you certainly have a reason to jump in to be fair to you but understand these are issues that are not going to go away Especially now that we're in the Me Too era So it frustrates me that he's trying to play innocent here Oh, well, you know, I really wish I could have done something the way that they treated her was horrible You could have done something that I give you a sense of just how disgusting That line of questioning against Anita Hill was here's a compilation that vice news put together I share this on the program back in I think November of last year But here it is again because it really does go to show you how awful Anita Hill was treated tell the committee What was the most embarrassing of all the incidences that you have alleged you? Testified this morning that the most embarrassing question Involved this is not too bad women's large breasts. That's a word we use all the time You testified you drew an inference that Judge Thomas might want you to look at pornographic films, but you told the FBI Specifically that he never asked you to watch the films that correct The fact is flatly he never asked you to look at pornographic movies with him You said you took it to mean judge Thomas wanted to have sex with you, but in fact He never did ask you to have sex correct. No, he did not ask me to have sex He did continually pressure me to go out with him continually and he would not accept my explanation as one is being being valid So that when you said you you took it to mean we ought to have sex that that was an inference a mere allegation Senator I would suggest to you that for me. These are more than mere allegations. How reliable Is your testimony in October of 1991 on events that occurred eight ten years ago How sure can you expect this committee to be on the accuracy of your statements? I guess one really does have to understand something about the nature of sexual harassment It is very difficult for people to come forward with these things I've got to determine what your motivation Might be are you a scorned woman? Do you have a militant attitude the relative to the area of civil rights? Do you have a martyr complex the issue of fantasy? Has a reason are you interested in writing a book? You are not now Drawing a conclusion the judge Thomas sexually harassed you. Yes. I am drawing that conclusion That I don't understand. Pardon me, but I don't understand Do you have anything to gain by coming here is anybody promised you anything by coming forth with this story now? All we've heard for 103 days is about a most remarkable man And they scoured his every shred of life and nobody But you has come forward if what you say this man said to you Occurred why in God's name would you ever speak to a man like that the rest of your life? That's a very good question and I'm sure that I can't not answer that to your satisfaction That is one of the things that I have tried to do today I have Suggested that I was afraid of retaliation. I was afraid of damage to my professional life And I believe you do you have to understand that this response And that and that's one of the things that I have come to understand about harassment that this response this kind of response Is not atypical and I can't explain it takes it takes an expert in psychology to explain how that can happen But it can happen because it happened to me Well, I just it just seems that so incredible to me that is it has a most Contradictory and puzzling thing for me. So just try to be empathetic towards Anita Hill and understand What she was going through and try to put yourself in her shoes. So She was sexually harassed repeatedly by Justice Clarence Thomas Allegedly and She was forced to answer all types of embarrassing questions about Ornography and large breasts and whatnot and it's sad that she had to go through that and these politicians were essentially playing Defense and running interference for Justice Clarence Thomas. So that's what she had to put up with Joe Biden as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee could have said listen, we're gonna rein this in we're not going to allow embarrassing questions to Anita Hill Because that's not the respectable thing that we as us senators senators should be doing. We're going to ask questions That are germane to the issue at hand We don't have to get into the embarrassing specifics to make her feel more uncomfortable than she already fucking feels But he didn't do that So Understand that Joe Biden is someone who is knowledgeable about The authority he had as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee So save it if you're gonna try to convince us that you wish you could have done something Well, we have the internet now Joe You can't pretend like you didn't do the things that you did because we have the receipts now the internet exists We can quickly Google How you performed at that time and it showed that you absolutely Mishandled that situation and that's being charitable I think you utterly bungled it and embarrassed yourself and permanently discredited yourself But that's just me so certainly he's got to explain this and trying to pretend as if you Didn't play a bigger part or couldn't have done more. That's not gonna help you in the situation Joe Just admit that you messed up and own it own it and say going forward. I hope that people learn from my mistakes I hope that people understand that we have to handle these types of situations With a lot more care and a lot more sensitivity that I lacked and I hope that you'll watch what I said back then to Anita Hill and learn from my mistakes that would be I think a more appropriate response because you can't take back the past But what you can do is choose not to lie about it And we see that he is in fact trying to lie or at least at a minimum be incredibly disingenuous You could support the humanist report at patreon.com Slashed humanist report, but trust me. I'd have way more supporters at patreon if that was my podcast sad