<p>I&#8217;m no fan of Joe Biden.</p>
<p>I think he is a strictly political animal whose grasp of the real world is exceedingly limited. He is weak, weak-minded and his efforts to gain the Presidency over the years show that he is an abject failure on the national stage (if you post a comment I&#8217;ll tell you what I REALLY think!). I&#8217;ve <a href="https://punchingbagpost.com/2019/02/20/punching-bag-predictions-on-the-democratic-primary/">already predicted</a> that he will not be the nominee, and the reasons are based on known political phenomena.</p>
<p>But what is the real story on &#8220;Creepy Joe&#8221;? Is he some kind of lech, who nuzzles up to people to smell their hair, or is it just opportune photojournalists who provide alternative captions to perfectly innocent photos?</p>
<p>And, of course, this happens ALL THE TIME in modern, post-appropriate mainstream journalism, we all know that. Remember the &#8220;smirking&#8221; Covington Catholic student (now suing CNN for $250 million)? Someone in Joe&#8217;s position gets photos taken in the hundreds per week.</p>
<p>When I was growing up in the relatively isolated countryside of rural Kentucky, we were a very close and comfortable family. We visited relatives often, hung out with the cousins that lived down the road and, of course, everyone knew everyone else&#8217;s business. If you were family, you were connected in a special way to everyone else who was family, if not, then you could not be as a close as family, simple as that.</p>
<p>But, with some exceptions for Grandma and one particular aunt, we were decidedly not the &#8220;hugger&#8221; type of people. Nowadays when I fly into town and greet my dad, I&#8217;ll pat him on the shoulder and tell him he&#8217;s ugly (sometimes pulling his hat down over his eyes), and he will say &#8220;Watch it, boy!&#8221; like he has said since those first insults in my teen years (believe it or not I&#8217;m tearing up!).</p>
<p>As I grew up, I encountered other families who just liked to hug. These are the kind of people who just like other people instantly and the second time you saw them you were entitled to be greeted with a hug. And once you got to know them, you realized that they were surprised that you were NOT normally a hugger. But it works for them, and they tend to make lots of friends (and often made good salesmen and/or good politicians).</p>
<p>As I traveled the world, I found that various levels of human contact are normal in various places. I know that Arab men will have a conversation with their faces within inches of each other, many people shake your hand for way too long, and often when someone dives in for what you know will be a looong hug, you really have&#8230;no&#8230;choice&#8230;</p>
<p>Being a worldly man and knowing the intentions are good, I can tolerate contact that my own culture might think is a bit too much. I&#8217;ve seen a much wider range of etiquettes than most, and I am accepting that the etiquette other people have learned is meant to be respectful of me and to make me comfortable. Therefore I appreciate and am respectful of their culture. So I hug maybe a bit more than I used to.</p>
<p>But back to Joe. He CLEARLY comes from a culture of huggers. This cultural instinct has been honed by his political experience which tells him he needs to have instant bonding with his constituents and co-politicos, and human contact usually works.</p>
<p>Most people he encounters are flattered that a senator or vice president feels comfortable and familiar enough with them to put a hand on their shoulder or whisper in their ear. Most people want to be able to tell others that they are close to a powerful politician. Joe Biden is GOOD at this, and in the culture in which he was raised this is not only acceptable, but respectful, friendly and generous.</p>
<p>So what does this say about a) the women who have accused him of &#8220;uncomfortable touches,&#8221; b) the Democrats who are up in arms about it, and c) the media who are covering this?</p>
<p>Here is my opinion (pay me what you think its worth!):</p>
<p>a) <strong>The women</strong> who are accusing him are clearly intolerant of other cultures, they may have psychological issues that make them uncomfortable being touched at all, they are seriously bad at being politicians and/or are being encouraged by Biden opponents to exaggerate their discomfort.</p>
<p>b) <strong>The Democrats</strong> &#8211; As was mentioned in the link above, Biden opponents have known he would be considering a run for years now and have prepared attacks for him. Do they believe the narrative? No, certainly not any more than they did when he was VP candidate with Obama (it&#8217;s not like Biden has changed any&#8230;). No, this is just disgustingly low politics to weaken an opponent, below the belt stuff.</p>
<p>c) <strong>The mainstream media</strong> is happily gobbling this up, despite it being entirely a fantasy non-story (he was not accused of rape or molestation, just of being slightly creepy), because it sells newspapers. In short, the journalists who plaster this over the national media have lost any integrity they once had, and have sunk to the level of high priced whores.</p>
<p>But we already knew that.</p>
<p> ;</p>
<p> ;</p>
<p> ;</p>
<p> ;</p>