Joe Biden’s ‘poisoned chalice’ and other commentary

Feminist: Joe Biden’s ‘Poisoned Chalice’

“The stuff of feminist nightmares” is “blowing up” in the presidential race, Rebecca Traister shrieks at The Cut. Joe Biden’s “shaky past behavior around women and their bodies isn’t staying in his past,” despite his promise “to pick A Woman vice president and appoint A Black Woman to the Supreme Court.” Tara Reade’s charge that Biden sexually assaulted her got “strong pieces of corroboration” over the weekend and “should surely imperil Biden’s position at the top of the ticket” — but likely won’t. So “whichever woman gets the nod to be his running mate will wind up drinking from a poisoned chalice.” Democratic women will “have their own history of righteous advocacy held up against them, used to make them look like hypocrites” for backing “a man who has been credibly accused of behavior they have aggressively condemned.” And if he loses, feminists will be blamed “for encouraging an environment in which claims of sexual harm are taken seriously enough to damage a politician.”

Foreign desk: China’s Shell Game

China’s Communist regime is “trying to appear as though it is leading the international effort to combat” the pandemic — while, US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Dalton observes at The Hill, “exploiting the very crisis it is responsible for creating for geopolitical gain.” With the world focused on the virus, Beijing is conducting “provocative aircraft patrols around Taiwan” — and “has likely already conducted” underground nuclear tests in “clear violation” of a 1996 US-China treaty. Washington’s response can start with demonstrating “continued operational presence in the area,” showing that we won’t “tolerate China’s coercive and deceptive actions.” Don’t let Beijing “further its objectives and make America and the world less stable and secure.”

Libertarian: Let Healthy Young People Out

Brown University President Christina Paxson was “absolutely right” to declare “the re-opening of college and university campuses in the fall” a “national priority,” argues Reason’s Nick Gillespie. Young people are “far more likely to survive COVID-19” while “ultimately bearing much of the cost of the lockdown in terms of missed opportunities to learn and work.” Re-opened colleges can still make significant “concessions to public health,” including letting “middle-aged and older” faculty and staff “opt out of being on campus or otherwise reduce their own likelihood of being exposed.” We know, however, that young people are “remarkably strong in the face of COVID-19” — and the government simply shouldn’t subject them to “the same draconian lockdown rules as the most susceptible among us.”

Rick Scott: Don’t Reward States’ Bad Choices

Congress can do more for the economy but it “absolutely” shouldn’t “shield states from the consequences of their own bad budgetary decisions,” cautions Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in The Wall Street Journal, citing, in particular, states’ insufficient funding of their public pension systems. Scott says Florida’s pension system was 83.9 percent funded when he left office as governor — unlike, say, Illinois (38.4 percent) or New Jersey (35.8 percent). And the Sunshine State is “well-positioned” to handle any revenue shortfalls “without a bailout.” It may need to make tough choices, but that’s “what grown-ups do in tough economic times.” By contrast, it’s “irresponsible” to “take money from America’s taxpayers” to save “liberal politicians” from their “poor choices.” Families make “responsible” budget decisions every day. “It’s time for New York, Illinois and California to do the same.”

From the left: Not the Time for Deficit Hawks

A Washington Post headline “blared” that we are at a “fiscal ‘tipping point’ ” if we borrow more, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “forcefully rejected” more aid to state and local governments for fear of “racking up the national debt.” Yet this is “an outrageous time” to focus on the deficit, thunders Vox’s Dylan Matthews. “Worrying about the debt makes sense” sometimes, but we don’t have to worry about “inflation, let alone hyperinflation” now — while refusing to “take out more and bigger loans” may end up “gravely endangering the recovery.” It isn’t “rational” to fret over the deficit when “the economy and the people who make it run need help now.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board

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Newzandar News

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