Ex-Hillary Clinton Aide Says Biden’s Explanation About Touching ‘Really Doesn’t Wash’

Former senior Hillary Clinton aide and current CNN political contributor Jess McIntosh said that former Vice President Joe Biden‘s video attempt to put his “personal space” controversy behind him “just really doesn’t wash.”

On Thursday morning’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto, anchor Poppy Harlow asked McIntosh about Biden’s video, during which the potential 2020 hopeful said “Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it. I get it. I hear what they’re saying. I understand. And I’ll be much more mindful.”

“Okay. He didn’t apologize,” Harlow noted, as many others have as well.

“Yeah,” McIntosh replied.

“What does that mean for him? Will it hurt him if he runs?” Harlow asked.

“I think he’s got to take responsibility,” McIntosh said. “I think that’s what women are waiting to hear him do.”

“This excuse that societal norms have changed just doesn’t wash,” she added. “I mean, that sort of paternal behavior towards women, in a professional setting, has been making women feel uncomfortable for generations.”

“The only societal norm that has changed is that men seem to be taking us seriously when we complain about it now,” McIntosh said. “So the idea that this behavior used to be okay, and now it’s not, just really doesn’t wash.”

When co-host Jim Sciutto asked if she’s seen any evidence of Biden’s support softening, McIntosh took the opportunity to observe that Biden’s non-candidacy is drowning out the policy rollouts of women in the Democratic race.

“Yesterday, Kamala Harris put out a proposal to have DREAMers work in Congress, Elizabeth Warren put out a proposal to make it more easy to jail bankers who defraud us,” she noted. “If we had spent a day discussing those policy proposals and what those might mean for the country, I think we would be engaged in a better, more uplifting Democratic primary than when we time on candidates who haven’t even announced yet.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

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