Beautifully written. I wish there were less of this kind of news story but on the flip side, you certainly have plenty of fodder for this newsletter...
The criminal law is not the be all, end all. It's too arbitrary. We are not bound by it's conclusions. Neither it nor the civil law come with a period of time one must forgive and forget. If someone chooses to commit sexual violence and then runs for office, they can't demand their victims be quiet or that the public ignore it. That goes whether there was legal action or not.
I think, if you run for office, then all aspects of your past become fair game. But Brooks wasn’t running for office, and it wasn’t the context of how this piece of information arose.
I see, I got the impression from articles that he had run and was a local public figure, which muddies the waters imo. If he was the guy setting up the podium or whatever, it would be different. But he wasn't and in addition he made a claim at a high profile event, digging into his past to get a sense of his credibility and reporting back on it seems to make sense. When Tara Reade claimed she was assaulted by Joe Biden, in addition to scrutinizing her claim, her past was examined as well. And not great things turned up, which people then considered in their assessment of it.
Beautifully written. I wish there were less of this kind of news story but on the flip side, you certainly have plenty of fodder for this newsletter...
Ha! Another one just came out today! You’re right that there’s no shortage of material here, sadly.
The criminal law is not the be all, end all. It's too arbitrary. We are not bound by it's conclusions. Neither it nor the civil law come with a period of time one must forgive and forget. If someone chooses to commit sexual violence and then runs for office, they can't demand their victims be quiet or that the public ignore it. That goes whether there was legal action or not.
I think, if you run for office, then all aspects of your past become fair game. But Brooks wasn’t running for office, and it wasn’t the context of how this piece of information arose.
I see, I got the impression from articles that he had run and was a local public figure, which muddies the waters imo. If he was the guy setting up the podium or whatever, it would be different. But he wasn't and in addition he made a claim at a high profile event, digging into his past to get a sense of his credibility and reporting back on it seems to make sense. When Tara Reade claimed she was assaulted by Joe Biden, in addition to scrutinizing her claim, her past was examined as well. And not great things turned up, which people then considered in their assessment of it.