Amid the maddening fight over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s reputation and future, GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have considered having female staff question Christine Blasey Ford at Thursday’s hearing.
However, Dr. Ford’s attorneys are battling the notion.
On Friday, Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley — chair of the committee — sent a letter to lawyers for Ford, announcing the possibility:
“We reserve the option to have female staff attorneys, who are sensitive to the particulars of Dr. Ford’s allegations and are experienced investigators, question both witnesses.”
As reported by CNN, Ford will only agree to questioning by members of the Judiciary Committee, of whom all Republican members are male.
Surely this is — at least in part — a ploy to play the politics of sex against the GOP in the hearings and the court of public opinion.
As for the public, the veracity of the claim of high school indiscretion — which shouldn’t be called an “attempted rape,” as you’re about to read — may not matter: polling shows a high percentage of people don’t believe that the accusation, if true, should disqualify Kavanaugh (see here).
Trumpeting the allegation at Code Red level, by contrast, Sen. Dianne Feinstein — the leading Judiciary Democrat — has castigated Republicans for bullying. Last week, as Monday’s possible vote approached, she grandstanded via a statement:
“It’s clear that Republicans have learned nothing over the last 27 years. Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee — particularly at a time when she’s receiving death threats — is an extreme abuse of power.”
“Twenty-seven years” doubtlessly refers to the Clarence Thomas hearings, during which Democrats introduced Anita Hill, who accused Supreme Court nominee Thomas of years-past sexual harassment in the workplace.
The power of Feinstein’s words depend on the ignorance of her audience: no proof that Thomas — who was confirmed to the high court — had acted inappropriately was ever presented.
If Feinstein would like examples of bullying reported survivors of sexual misdeeds, she need not look outside her own brood. Bill Clinton — who settled out of court with Juanita Broaddrick for $180,000 — and his bevy of accusers would do nicely, partnered with claims of victim intimidation from failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Please see much more in my article here.
In the war for party supremacy, battle is an ugly sight. The Democrats, it seems to me, are poised to destroy a man’s reputation and career — and possibly his family — due to their lust for power in the fight for judicial dominance. As factions go to the mat in Washington, if innocent and good men are ruined along the way, so be it.
This is the current M.O. of the Left. And it is shameful.
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