This post began as an exploration of presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden's positions on the issues. I imagined myself chatting with him while he was  endeavoring to campaign from his basement. But the charges of sexual assault against him by a former staffer, Tara Reade, are getting a good deal of media attention. Biden was slow to respond, allowing former staffers to speak on his behalf. But Friday morning, he issued a statement, which you can read here. He speaks of his pride in the role he played in developing the Violence Against Women Act, and then he says: