Did Joe Biden Just Get #MeToo’d Out of the Democratic Primaries?

Former Vice President Joe Biden keeps pushing back his announcement of whether or not he’ll run for the presidency, but the events of this week may sour whatever coming-out party he was planning to have. In addition to taking heat from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party for being too far to the center for modern AOC/Bernie tastes and in addition to having the gall to be a white man in 2019, Biden is now in the position of having to defend himself against #MeToo allegations from a former Nevada assemblywoman.

On Friday, Lucy Flores said that while campaigning to be the lieutenant governor of Nevada in 2014, she had the misfortune of having Creep Uncle Joe come stump for her at an event. In an article for New York magazine, Flores said that she was made to feel uncomfortable by Biden’s overly familiar manner.

“Just before the speeches, we were ushered to the side of the stage where we were lined up by order of introduction. As I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. ‘Why is the vice-president of the United States touching me?’” Flores wrote.

“I felt him get closer to me from behind,” she continued. “He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, ‘I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual fuck? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?’ He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, ‘tragame tierra,’ it means, ‘earth, swallow me whole.’ I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.”

As is obvious by the fact that similar stories (and picture and videos to confirm them) about Biden have circulated for years, this isn’t the kind of tale that would have had any effect on a politician in, say, 2015. It isn’t, after all, like he opened his robe to her in a private dressing room.

But this isn’t 2015, and the Democratic Party is desperate to fully embrace the #MeToo movement from the most outrageous scandals to the smallest. It’s hard to do that when your presidential candidate is a certified creep around women.