Thursday's Kavanaugh hearings were compelling, heartbreaking, enraging, and disgusting. It was a naked display of the depths the Democrats on the committee will go to in their attempts to destroy a good man...while blithely also ruining the life of Christine Blasey Ford, who they callously used as an expendable political pawn.
Dr. Ford's testimony about an attempted rape 36 years ago was riveting, emotional, and made a convincing case that she believed what she was saying. But over the course of the hearing, it became quite clear how ruthlessly and dishonestly she has been used by the Dems.
She had requested anonymity to avoid having her life shattered. But her identity was leaked to the press when only Dianne Feinstein, her staff, and the legal team they quietly arranged for Dr. Ford had the information about her complaint.
Dr. Ford didn't want to appear in the spotlight to be grilled by politicians, but her handlers knew that a woman in emotional distress would make for good TV, no matter how damaging the experience might be for her. Which is why she showed clear surprise when she was asked why she hadn't agreed to give her testimony privately, have members of the committee fly out to her home, or simply answer questions on the phone: her legal team and handlers had never told her that these were options.
In a moment of perfect irony, when questioned on this matter, the woman who claims to have been traumatized for a lifetime by having a hand clamped over her mouth was cut off from speaking by one of her handlers who suddenly clamped her hand over the microphone.
When it was Judge Kavanaugh's turn to be questioned, he revealed himself to be a man on fire in the best possible way. In his lengthy and passionate opening statement, he went on the attack about the disgusting and dishonest spectacle that his confirmation hearing had become. He choked up when describing the nightmare this has been for his family, and the undeniable fact that his good name has been stained, if not ruined, forever.
While Ford's testimony contained not a scintilla of actual evidence (all of the "witnesses" she named have said, under penalty of perjury, that they have no recollection of any such event), Kavanaugh was able to produce an abundance of exculpatory evidence about his past, his whereabouts during the time period of the alleged incident, and overwhelming testimonials about his character.
In return, the sneering Democrats stuck to a carefully scripted playbook, asking Kavanaugh repeatedly why he seemed unwilling to put the nomination process on hold and march into the Oval Office to demand that President Trump call for a full-blown FBI investigation of Ford's utterly unsubstantiated and unprovable claims. Note to the Dems: it is not the nominee's job to conduct the investigation.
And in fact, the committee has investigators at their disposal who can check out anything the Senators want checked out. Tellingly, the Republicans on the committee did use these resources to check out every allegation against Judge Kavanaugh, while the Democrats refused to participate.
In the end, we believe that Dr. Ford was sexually attacked many years ago and is sincere, but that she is wrong about Brett Kavanaugh's presence or involvement. We further believe that Kavanaugh would, and hopefully will, make an extraordinary Supreme Court justice.
But the whole sickening spectacle of this Grand Guignol confirmation circus will leave indelible scars, not just on Ford, Kavanaugh, and their families, but on the entire process of confirming future nominees (assuming anyone is even willing to go through this meatgrinder again). The stench of this shameful spectacle will linger for decades.
The Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are, to a member, unspeakably vile. We can only pray that the November mid-terms don't add to their despicable ilk.
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