The New York Times op-ed page has a regular feature that consists of a conversation between Bret Stephens and Gail Collins. From today's installment:
Collins:...it is pretty clear that Joe Biden helped Hunter get some business cred by reminding potential clients that Dad was vice president.
Stephens: ... Democrats are really underestimating the impact this could have on the election. A CNN poll published last week found that 61 percent of Americans think Joe was involved in Hunter's business dealings and that 55 percent think he acted inappropriately regarding the investigation into Hunter. What that does is to diminish Biden's claim to represent honesty and decency in the White House. A similar thing happened in 2016 when Democrats went after Trump on his sexual ethics, and Trump struck back by bringing Juanita Broaddrick to his second debate with Hillary Clinton, to remind the country about Bill's sexual ethics. The risk is that undecided voters conclude that both sides are morally tainted so they may as well vote their pocketbook interests.
If so eventually we might be reading about this more frequently and non-dismissively on the front page of the Times rather than toward the middle of an opinion-page conversation? As it is the Times news coverage has been almost laughable: for example the print headline "Testimony Rejects Claims of Wrongdoing by Bidens" over a news article that began:
Republicans who for months have accused President Biden without proof of crime and corruption thought that a former business partner of his son's could be the key to finally substantiating their most serious allegations....But the testimony this week of Mr. Archer, a former Yale lacrosse player who has been convicted of federal tax charges, fell well short of that, shooting down a bribery allegation Republicans have long promoted and generally rejecting the idea that the elder Mr. Biden had any material involvement in his son's business dealings. It was the latest instance of House Republicans promising far more than they could produce in terms of proof of their allegations against the president.
Only much lower down did the Times news article eventually concede "Although Mr. Archer's testimony did not live up to Republican expectations, it also did not produce a clean political win for Democrats. Mr. Archer testified that he could recall about 20 times when he and Hunter Biden were meeting with business associates, and Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone."
