Men who seek public office don’t have to be saints, particularly with regard to their relationships with women. Furthermore, what we frequently call “character” is not indivisible; it is perfectly possible, for example, to be an honest coward. As a result, character issues aren’t disqualifying, to me, unless they reach the point of being embarrassing, and making it impossible to function properly in the job. Telling thousands of documented lies in office, paying off porn stars, and urging people to ingest Lysol meets that standard.
I thought Blasey Ford was credible, but her testimony against Kavanaugh didn’t interest me, because she was talking about an episode that allegedly occurred during high school. Kavanaugh only lost me when he responded to her statements in an angry, partisan, Trumpian way that was inconsistent with the demands of the job he was seeking. By contrast, I don’t believe Tara Reade for all of the reasons I described in a previous post, and because I don’t feel compelled to “believe women” any more than I believe men. But even if her allegations were true, a single incident that occurred 27 years ago wouldn’t prevent me from voting for Biden, particularly when the alternative is Lysol man.