Media sure are treating Biden sexual assault allegations differently now that he's Democrats' only hope

When Joe Biden entered the 2020 presidential primary, the media decided that they were suddenly very, very concerned that the former vice president was so touchy-feely with women, grabbing them and sniffing their hair. Biden's relentless touchiness and lack of respect for personal space had been documented and memed for years, but it only became a problem once he stood in the way of a madam president.

Biden should feel very lucky that Tara Reade waited before speaking up in greater detail until after he had clinched the Democratic nomination. For it's become abundantly clear that Biden the chosen challenger to President Trump gets much softer media treatment than Biden the challenger to Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

When the rumor mill heated up with the buzz that Biden was finally ready to jump into the Democratic primary, women looking to smear Uncle Joe as a creepy weirdo found a media salivating for their "allegations," if you can call them that. New York magazine didn't just write an objective news report investigating Lucy Flores's claim that Biden kissed the back of her head; they let her wax poetic in a first-person piece, a practice at odds with journalistic standards dictating that outlets break misconduct allegations with corroborating evidence, not a personal account.

But now that Biden no longer stands in the way of a shinier, more intersectional presidential nominee, the magazine has changed its tune. It waited nearly a month to the day after Reade went public with her assault allegation to write a single word about it.