JOE BIDEN'S INTERVIEW: MIKA BRZEZINSKI DID A TERRIFIC JOB.

ICHEOKU says exactly what every unbiased and fair minded person expects from journalists, a fact finding and truth seeking quest to ferret out the truth, regardless of who is on the spot. Nobody wants any journalist's opinion because it is not their job to offer opinions. Theirs is to seek out the truth and tell it to their audience as it is, without any coloration whatsoever. That way, the public will get needed answers which will make it easier for them to understand with more clarity the issues involved and also help them make informed decisions. 

Mika Brzezinski acquitted herself very well as a journalist in her interview with Joe Biden about Ms Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against the former Vice President and Democratic Party's presumptive presidential candidate. It was pointed and direct to the points and she did not allow Joe Biden to prevaricate or meander around so much. She held Joe Biden to the gun to ensure that he answered the questions and not play the usual game which politicians play, wander off to their talking points and prepared statements instead of answering the questions asked. ICHEOKU says is a cynic who believes that politicians often times get their questions ahead of time, but it does mot look like Joe Biden got a heads-up and if he did, he was definitely played with a fake. 

There were three particular questions which many people wanted to see Joe Biden answer and Mika Brzezinski asked him those three questions. The first question was whether Joe Biden sexually assaulted Tara Reade; second, whether women should be believed and third, why what was good for Justice Brett Kavanaugh is not good for Joe Biden. In response to the first question, it was an emphatic denial by Joe Biden as was expected of any man who is accused of such a sexual crime. Joe Biden flatly denied that it ever happened, saying "No, it is not true. I am saying unequivocally it never, never happened, and it didn’t. It never happened." 

As with men in his shoes, they first deny it, then feign ignorance of the incident and the apparent lack of knowledge of their accuser. They usually maintain this default position until incontrovertible evidence to the contrary emerges in which case they will pretend penitence. It happened with Bill Clinton with his infamous "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms Lewinsky  which denial he continued until the blue dress surfaced. So is it possibly that Joe Biden has taken a template from Bill Clinton and is now riding the same wave of initial denial, hoping that his archived papers will never be released and if, that it will never turn up the Tara Reade's alleged complaint, who knows? 

On the second question whether women should still be believed in view of his own present circumstances, Joe Biden answered in the affirmative but went ahead to qualify it by saying that women should be believed subject to further investigation for the veracity of their claim. Joe Biden definitely pivoted from his previous position and now seemed to say that women should be preliminarily believed, investigated and subsequently thereafter, find the man guilty if proved. It would appear that Joe Biden also took a page from President Ronald Reagan's "trust but first verify" in his response to believability of women on matters of sexual misconduct allegation. ICHEOKU says wonders why Joe Biden did not accord Justice Brett Kavanaugh the same level of benefit of the doubt when Dr Ford similarly accused the Judge in 2018. 

In response to the third question on whether his case is somewhat different from Justice Brett Kavanaugh's case and whether he regrets the position which he took during the Kavanaugh's case, Joe Biden said that what he said during the Justice Brett Kavanaugh's hearings was that Dr Ford had a right to be heard and the fact that she came forward raised the presumption that she was telling the truth, unless it’s proved that she wasn’t telling the truth or it is clear from the surrounding facts that she did not tell the truth. ICHEOKU says what the former Mr Vice President said during the Kavanaugh's case was publicly said and everybody knew exactly what he said then, therefore he should not mislead the people or attempt to meander his way out of what he said just to suit his own present purpose. Joe Biden was emphatic then about the standard of belief and it is somewhat  statutory without any qualifications whatsoever. She said it, therefore it must be true. 

But good enough Mika Brezezsnki did not allow Joe Biden to get away with his embellished responses and severally pushed back at him to answer the questions truthfully. Some of the best moments of the interview for ICHEOKU, when very good pertinent questions were asked include the three following:- 

1. "But Mr. Vice President, as it pertained to Dr. Ford, everyone wanted — high-level Democrats said she should be believed, that they believed it happened. You said if someone like Dr. Ford were to come out, the essence of what she is saying has to be believed, has to be real. Why, why, why, why is it real for Dr. Ford but not for Tara Reade? 

2. "Well, I’m going to try and ask the question in many different ways. Stacey Abrams said during the Kavanaugh hearings: “I believe women. I believe survivors of assault should be supported and their voices heard.” Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted: “Do we believe women? Do we give them the opportunity to tell their story? We must be a country that says yes every time.” They now both support you. Nancy Pelosi falls into this category too, as well as many other leaders in the Democratic Party. Are women to be believed — are women to be believed unless it pertains to you? Given the fact that you have said in the past that if a woman goes under the lights and talks about something like this, we have to consider that the essence of this is real, is the essence of what she is saying real? 

3. "You were unequivocal, Mr. Vice President, back in 2018 during the Kavanaugh controversy and hearings, and you said that women should be believed. You said this: “For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she is talking about is real, whether or not she forgets the facts, whether or not it’s been made worse or better over time. She’s going to be going on national television on Sunday. Tara Reade is coming forward in the glaring lights, to use your words. Should we not start off with the presumption that the essence of what she’s talking about is real? She says you sexually assaulted her. 

However, Joe Biden stuck to his denial saying "from the very beginning, I have said believing women means taking the woman’s claim seriously when she steps forward, and then vet it. Look into it. That is true in this case as well. Women have a right to be heard, and the press should rigorously investigate claims which they make. I will always uphold that principle. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. And in this case, the truth is that the incident did not happen." ICHEOKU says yes indeed the truth is always what matters, but whose truth is it anyway, his or Ms Tara Reade's? 

ICHEOKU says as to Joe Biden's confusion on why the allegation is just now coming up after 27 years, saying that he did not understand it, ICHEOKU says Harvey Weinstein was emphatic that no man understands it either and that men are generally confused by the #MeToo created crisis. Also as to his statement that he doesn’t remember Tara Reade or any type of complaint she may have made 27 years ago, ICHEOKU strongly believes Joe Biden because his recollections have faded away and so much that he doesn't even remember where he is at most of the times and possibly will also forget by tomorrow that the interview with Mike Brzezisnki ever took place. 

Joe Biden tried to say that there is no corroboration of the incident and therefore Tara Reade lied, to which ICHEOKU says even her mother's voice from the grave corroborated the allegation and so did her brother's and a neighbor's recollections. The other fourth would be corroboration is the letter of complaint which she said she filed contemporaneously about the incident and which Joe Biden should facilitate its release. Other than this, the matter remains a disputation between a woman and a man and since women should be believed, the onus squarely rests on Joe Biden to prove convincingly that it did not happen. A sure way to do this is for Joe Biden to grant unlimited access to whatever documents in his Senate files that will establish that he did not do the allege, including Ms Tara Reade's alleged complaint or its lack therein. 

According to Joe Biden, tax records are private documents which are not put out in public, thus begging the question, why did Democrats insist that President Donald John Trump should make his own tax records publicly available during the Russian collusion hoax? 

One major lesson from the Joe Biden's sexual assault allegation is the unintended consequence of an ultra partisan position which was taken based on convenience, that women should be believed, regardless. What the Democrats did to Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 has now finally caught up with them in 2020 as it is now haunting  their presidential candidate Joe Biden. When they were making the bonfire to roast Justice Kavanaugh, little did they know that they were also gathering the woods with which their Joe Biden is now being barbecued. But it is possible that they did not know it will come this so soon. A day will also come when their ill conceived impeachment of the president will come around to similarly haunt their own party's elected president. Karma is a female. It is sad; such highly partisan irrationality and irascibility should be discouraged in American politics as the wheel of life keeps on turning unstoppably. For who the bell tolls. 

ICHEOKU says to her great credit, Mika Brzezinski made Joe Biden answer or attempted to answer the questions which she asked him and that won her a lot of people's admiration, including ICHEOKU's. Hopefully she will remain true to the journalist the world watched grill Joe Biden about the sexual assault accusation by Ms Tara Reade. The interview was the stuff real journalism is made of and she acquitted and redeemed herself very well as a journalist who is worthy of her epaulettes. ICHEOKU agrees with Mika Brzezinski that the 'fairest way to create the most transparency' is for Joe Biden to push for the release of any documents with Tara Reade’s name on them, whether it’s at the University of Delaware or the National Archives? 

ICHEOKU is completely satisfied with the interview likewise many others who wanted Joe Biden to tell his own side of the story. Overall, it was a great interview, especially in the follow up and push back aspects of it. Kudos to Mika for a job well done. It is also worth noting that it was a mentally improved Joe Biden who showed up in the interview and he did well under the circumstances and should in the interest of openness grant access to the alleged complaint.