A former Nevada state legislator named Lucy Flores wrote a personal essay that New York magazine published on Friday, in which she describes an encounter with Biden at a 2014 campaign event. Flores says the then-vice president came up behind her, touched her shoulders, and kissed the back of her head. The behavior, she says, wasn’t criminal, but it made her feel uncomfortable. Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide who recalls Biden rubbing noses with her at a 2009 fundraiser, similarly says the incident “wasn’t sexual” but also that there’s “absolutely a line of decency” and “a line of respect” that Biden crossed.

Flores’s account has raised some of the usual questions about what exactly happened and whose memory is correct. But the real issue with Biden isn’t the facts. The issue is what standard of conduct is acceptable for men in power.

The Onion’s parody character “Diamond Joe” Biden, whose autobiography was titled The President of Vice, was, of course, a joke. But the joke was that Biden really was an old-school presence in the Obama White House.

That presence extended to a habit of quite publicly making remarks about women’s appearances and frequent physical contacts that any modern HR department would probably warn against. For years, it was played off primarily as a joke — “Joe being Joe” — paired with some complaints from progressive writers and a larger volume of complaints from conservative writers that progressives were being hypocritical in not complaining about Biden.

In the wake of the heightened mobilization of women in the Democratic Party and the #MeToo movement, it was inevitable that this would become an issue if Biden ran for president. And even though he’s not quite in the race yet, he and his camp keep very heavily hinting that he will be soon.

The allegation isn’t that he has dark secrets, but that the stuff we’ve seen on camera and laughed off should be taken seriously as making public life hostile to women. Critics fear this will bring to life their long-held nightmare of #MeToo overreach, in which the idea of long-public behavior by a well-known and well-liked Democrat is suddenly unfairly castigated.

“I don’t think it’s disqualifying,” the California Democrat said Tuesday at a Politico event when asked about the allegations against Biden by two women.

She said Biden, who has long been known to be physically affectionate toward his male and female friends, needs to improve his understanding of the importance of people’s personal space.

“He has to understand that in the world we’re in now that people’s space is important to them,” Pelosi said.

A Connecticut woman accused Joe Biden of touching her inappropriately while she was volunteering at a political fundraiser in 2009, adding to the scrutiny the former vice president is facing for overly familiar physical contact with women as he mulls a run for the White House.

Amy Lappos, 43, told the Hartford Courant on Monday that Biden pulled her close to him to rub noses while she was working at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).

“It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head,” Lappos said. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.”

Lappos’ allegation came three days after Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state lawmaker, accused Biden of an “awkward kiss” at a campaign rally when she was the state’s Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014. […] Politico

Biden appears to be the strongest opponent to Trump IF Biden runs….and that may be even less of a possibility now given that, as of yesterday, a 2nd woman has come forward and accused him of “inappropriate touching.”

He’s 76 y/o…will turn 77 in Nov. this year. Despite nearly 40 yrs of public service (including 8 yrs as Pres. Obama’s VP) he may decide that all the vetting he’ll STILL have to endure is just NOT worth it after all.