Tag: Whitney Devlin

Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. This week, hundreds of readers shared their reactions to the unfolding accusations against Joe Biden by women who said he had kissed or touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable. Many readers defended the former vice president as a product of a different time and questioned if the #MeToo movement had gone too far. Others insisted that making a woman feel uncomfortable has always been wrong. Here is a selection of our readers’ responses, which came from emails sent by On Politics readers, as well as comments across our site. Now I understand in this MeToo movement that there are those who are uncomfortable with such intimate physical expressions. So now that Joe has been called out on it, it is up to him to show his changed behavior if indeed he runs for president, which I hope he does. Early on we baby boomers rejected the stiff formalities of an earlier generation for an easy physicality, an appreciative give-and-take across gender lines that graced daily life with moments of lightness and warmth. When men kiss me on the head or squeeze my shoulders, it does make me uncomfortable. Check out this chart by the Center for Responsive Politics, which compares these numbers to the first quarter fund-raising in 2008, the last time both parties faced such an open race.