Sunday on CNN’s “The Lead,” former Nevada lawmaker Lucy Flores, who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriately touching and kissing her in 2014, said Biden’s treatment of woman was “disqualifying” as a presidential candidate.
Flores said, “My point was never about his intentions, and they shouldn’t be about his intentions. It should be about the women on the receiving end of that behavior. This isn’t the first time, and it wasn’t the only incident where he was acting inappropriately with women. If he is saying he never believed that was inappropriate, then frankly I think that’s a little bit of a disconnect, and not being aware, a sense of not being aware because there has been documentation both in photos, videos, stories that were written. Now, that being said, I think part of the reason I decided to finally say something is because those behaviors were not being taken very seriously. They were not being considered from the perspective of the woman on the other side of that power dynamic, on the side, on the receiving end. I just can’t imagine that there was never a situation where someone said to him, Mr. Vice President, you probably should stop doing that. You should probably stop touching women in that way. You should probably keep your hands to yourself.”
She continued, “I would say politics was definitely the impetus. I he reason we’re having these conversations about Vice President Joe Biden is because he’s considering running for president. Frankly, the reason why I felt so compelled to finally say something was because over the years as this behavior was documented as it was frankly dismissed by the media and not taken seriously, that conversation was not coming up in the discussions about whether or not he would in a complete analysis of his history, of his record, as we go through the vetting process for all of these candidates, that important aspect was being left out. It was being dismissed, and it wasn’t being acknowledged. For me, that was one incredibly offensive and, two, speaks to the fact that when behavior isn’t considered, quote, unquote, serious enough for society, for America, it’s very easy to dismiss it.”
She added, “For me, it’s disqualifying. I think it’s up to everybody else to make that decision, considering, again, the entire scope of his background, of the positions that he’s taken. For me this isn’t the only problematic thing, I think his response in the way in which he handled the Anita Hill hearing was completely inappropriate and lacked empathy and frankly lacked accountability, saying he wishes there was something more he could have done. I think it’s again, a complete lack of accountability. You were the chair, you were the chair of that hearing, and you could have done anything you wanted. In addition to previous anti-abortion positions that he’s taken, et cetera, I find a lot of his background problematic.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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