Let’s just acknowledge this right up front: Judge Kavanaugh is screwed. Regardless of whether or not he actually sexually assaulted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the guy is just flat-out screwed. Whether you support his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court or oppose it, there’s no getting around the reality that Brett Kavanaugh is totally and massively screwed.
Personally, I believe Dr. Ford. I’ve already written about that, so I won’t bother to repeat myself. I’m also opposed to Judge Kavanaugh’s elevation to the highest court in the land. I was opposed even before the allegations of sexual assault, and I remain opposed even if he’s entirely innocent of the alleged assault. I firmly believe his judicial decisions would be — and have been — moved as much (or more) by his political and ideological views than by the law.
That said, I have to acknowledge that the guy is screwed. No matter what happens now, Kavanaugh is absolutely and completely screwed. If he gets confirmed, he’s always going to be the SCOTUS Justice with an asterisk attached to his name. He’ll always be ‘Mr. Justice Accused Rapist’. If his nomination is rejected, he’ll always be ‘Judge Denied SCOTUS Because Rapist’. Even if he withdraws his nomination, he’ll always be ‘Judge Suspected Rapist’.
There is NO getting around that. Unless Kavanaugh can provide definitive, categorical, absolutely conclusive proof beyond any doubt whatsoever that Dr. Ford concocted her allegation out of thin air with the express intent to derail his nomination, there is literally nothing he can do to restore his reputation. Nothing at all.
If he’s innocent — IF he actually did NOT attempt to rape Dr. Ford when he was 17 and she was 15 years old — then what is happening to Judge Kavanaugh is terribly unjust and tragic.
I’m mostly okay with that. Not entirely okay with it…but mostly.
That’s a horrible thing to say. How can that be? How is it possible to be mostly okay with an innocent person being falsely accused of something horrible?
I’m mostly okay with it for these reasons. The unfair destruction of the reputation of one privileged rich white guy is small beans compared to the unfair destruction of the reputations of millions of women who’ve been sexually assaulted, then blamed for their own assault. The long-lasting shame and emotional pain Kavanaugh must feel IF he’s falsely accused of sexual assault is small beans compared to the long-lasting shame and emotional damage experienced by millions of women who’ve actually been sexually assaulted. IF he’s not guilty, the frustration and disappointment Kavanaugh will feel if his appointment is scuttled or tainted by this allegation is small beans compared to the millions of women whose lives and ambitions and dreams have been derailed because they were sexually assaulted.
IF Kavanaugh is factually innocent, then I have great compassion for him and for his family. Because he is utterly and comprehensively screwed, and there isn’t anything at all he can do about it. But if Kavanaugh is innocent, I’d argue he’s just another victim of a rape culture that’s been created, maintained, and perpetuated by him and people like him. If he’s innocent, it simply means rape culture has turned the table on him; it means he’s being victimized simply because he’s a privileged white man and his options are severely limited. Some would consider that poetic justice.
At the heel of the hunt, it comes down to this: if you think Judge Brett Kavanaugh is innocent, if you think he’s being treated unfairly, if you believe he’s being punished for something he has no control over, then the answer to the problem is pretty clear. The problem isn’t Kavanaugh. The problem isn’t Dr. Ford. The problem is rape culture. The answer is to work to destroy rape culture.
gregfallis.com 
Screwed like Clarence Thomas? I love how you are unwilling to even see this rationally and without blinders on. I am a big supporter of his confirmation but if there were a dozen women coming out from all walks of his life that claimed he was assaulting them in some way, making them feel uncomfortable because of his sexual overtones, then I too would not support his nomination. But then again I am not a party hack like you.
It is fine that you do not like his ideology but I find it hard to believe that you genuinely think Kavanaugh did this. Even now after all four witnesses Ford called to come testify all claim they were never any party with her and Kavanaugh and they last, a classmate even from her school, does not back Ford’s story and say she never met or knew of Kavanaugh. How is that and how is it that you still think she is telling the truth?
Lastly, now is the time for YOU to come clean. Did you do anything in high school that was illegal? Did you smoke pot? Drink beer or booze? Ever shoplift a candy bar from 7-11? Or were you one of those rare birds who never did a single thing wrong in all of your high school years?
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Hey Billy. Yes, I do genuinely believe it’s likely Kavanaugh did attempt to sexually assault Dr. Ford. You say all four witnesses Ford claimed were at the party have testified that they weren’t at the party. That’s incorrect. None of them have testified yet. Testimony is given under oath.
It’s true that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge say it didn’t happen, but Kavanaugh has reason to lie about it. Judge, who has written extensively about his blackouts while drinking in prep school, has stated he has “no memory” of the incident. He’s also stated he’s unwilling to testify under oath. Patrick J. Smyth says he believes he’s the PJ referred to in Dr. Ford’s report and said in a letter he has “no knowledge” of the party. And Leland Keyser says she has “no recollection of the evening” and doesn’t know Kavanaugh. Neither Keyser nor Smyth have testified under oath.
If the Senate Republicans were confident of these folks, why wouldn’t they call them as witnesses at the coming hearing? Why wouldn’t they have the FBI take their statements under oath? Dr. Ford and the Democrats have asked for an FBI investigation. They’ve asked to include other witnesses at the hearing. Those requests have been denied. Why? If those witnesses support Kavanaugh’s version of events, then let’s hear from them publicly and under oath.
And let me answer your questions, though they’re completely irrelevant to the issue.
Did you do anything in high school that was illegal? I absolutely did. But I didn’t attempt to rape anybody.
Did you smoke pot? Drink beer or booze? Nope, but I dropped acid and took other illegal drugs. I say ‘no’ though of course I tried pot and beer. I just didn’t like them, so didn’t use them. But I never attempted to rape anybody when I was high.
Ever shoplift a candy bar from 7-11? Nope. But I shoplifted other stuff, including an entire drafting table over the course of a couple of hours. And I never attempted to rape anybody. Also — and this is totally shocking to me — I’ve not been nominated to serve a lifetime position on the Supreme Court.
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…maybe you didn’t rape anybody. But what if someone whom you never met, came out and said you did?
What if everyone who knew anything about that event said you didn’t do anything?
Yet you were still convicted by public opinion and you lost your ability to earn a living? Lost the respect of your peers?
I look for patterns when things like this happen, like abuse by priest. If only one person said it happened 30 years ago. Not sure I would ruin a man’s life over that. But if 10 men, 20 men come out and said over the course of 15 years the priest raped them… then you have compelling evidence to assume he did it.
There is zero compelling evidence. Zero corroboration. Zero additional women coming forward to show a pattern.
Maybe something did happen and she was drunk and mistook everything for something it was not. Maybe she was think of a different boy and it was kavanaugh who came into the room and stopped the boy.
But the willingness of the left to destroy a man, a father, a son based only on an accusation with no evidence from 30 years ago, speaks volumes as to the levels the left is willing to lower themselves to in order to not lose power.
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Billy, I’d be happy to allow the FBI to investigate this case — to interview all the witnesses — and sort this out. The fact that the White House and the Republicans in the Senate AREN’T willing to let the FBI investigate tells me they’re not confident of the outcome.
And as far as “the willingness of the left to destroy a man” for political reasons, have you been listening to the president? He’s willing to destroy members of his own party for political reasons.
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The FBI is already stating that this is a political issue and not a law enforcement issue and they will not investigate. So waiting for the FBI to do something they are not gong to do is absurd.
If they thought this was an issue is should have been dealt with right after Feinstein got the letter. For the letter to conveniently get leaked in the last few days before confirmation, shows pretty clearly that this was political.
As for Trump destroying, I am fine with many of the republicans and democrats getting destroyed by Trump. That’s why I voted for the man, to get the establishment from both sides out. Plus the people he may or may not be destroying are career politicians who signed up for this chaos, Kavanaugh is a judge, not a politician.
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Mr. Woody, you wrote: “Screwed like Clarence Thomas?”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assume your point to be that Justice Thomas wasn’t screwed by the Anita Hill hearings (and that Judge Kavanaugh won’t thusly be screwed by this) – and I think that’s true – yet you go on to say: “Yet you were still convicted by public opinion and you lost your ability to earn a living? Lost the respect of your peers?” and “But the willingness of the left to destroy a man….” You can’t argue it’s unfair to ruin Kavanaugh while saying it wouldn’t hurt him one bit.
You wrote: “Did you do anything in high school that was illegal? Did you smoke pot? Drink beer or booze? Ever shoplift a candy bar from 7-11?”
To equate stealing a candy bar with (sexual) assault is offensive to every woman (and man) who has been assaulted. Nobody would have been hurt by me smoking pot in high school and theft of a candy bar would not give nighmares to the store owner.
There are other reasons not to back Kavanaugh:
“Brett Kavanaugh Can’t Be Trusted. We Know Because We Worked as Counsel to Senators When He Was in the Bush White House”
http://time.com/5398191/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-senators/
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What I was saying that in fact there is a possibility he can come out of this unscathed if the republicans do not whimper away and falter. Just like the Anita Hill charade, this too is a massive load of BS being played out in front of the American people.
However, if indeed some of the republicans back down to the faux public outcry from the left and decide not to vote for him and he does not get confirmed, then indeed his life has been ruined, his reputation tarnished, and he will be forever the justice who probably, almost, maybe, assaulted a girl some 30+ years ago and lost everything.
As for my candy bar analogy, what is insulting to every women is the use of sexual assault as a political weapon. If this were indeed something that had a modicum of truth to it Feinstein would have brought it up in the closed, private sessions with Kavanaugh because she had the letter back in July. But instead the letter was conveniently leaked just before the voting was to begin to throw the whole thing into chaos and turmoil.
Just like the left bitched and moaned at Comey when he re-opened the investigation on Hillary because of the emails on Huma’s laptop. Everyone blamed Comey and they all thought this was a ploy to get Hillary when the truth was the NY Attorneys office already had the emails and they were wondering why Comey and the FBI was not doing anything about it. So he was forced to act.
Now that is fine if you do not like Kavanaugh because you are against the constitution and the freedoms it guarantees, it guarantees your right to feel that way. However, elections have consequences and the people spoke loudly on election night and Trump has won the right to put his nominees on the high court.
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Billy, you wrote: “the people spoke loudly on election night and Trump has won the right to put his nominees on the high court.”
The people did indeed speak on election night, and voted for Hilary Clinton. The electoral college, however, had the last word — which is how the Constitution works. But the Constitution also only grants the president the right to nominate candidates to SCOTUS. It’s the duty of the Senate to advise and consent — and sadly, this is where politics have been playing too major a role since the nomination of Robert Bork. You may not agree with the reasons Democrats are refusing to consent, but they’re still exercising their Constitutional obligation.
You might also recall that the people spoke and elected Barack Obama, who nominated a judge who had actual bipartisan support in the Senate (with the exception of the Republicans who controlled the Judiciary Committee). So much for the “the right to put his nominees on the high court.”
You also refer to the “faux public outcry from the left”. I have to tell you, there’s nothing ‘faux’ about it at all.
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The electoral college is designed to protect the rest of the country from the classic “group think” that occurs in highly populated places like CA and NY.
It is entirely faux because if it were a democrat you would be writing posts on your blog about how it was 30 years ago, this women cannot even remember a single detail. Your outrage is stemming from Trump winning nearly 2 years ago. You have no rage against the actions of this man from 30 years ago. At least be honest.
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It is entirely faux because if it were a democrat…
Dude, I called out Al Franken and said he should resign from the Senate, even though what he was accused of doing clearly involved a joke. I know it’s hard for you to believe or accept, but I truly do believe that the only way to destroy rape culture is to cut it out root and stem. That includes politicians I like and respect, as well as witless wankers like Kavanaugh and Trump.
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Well if you did ask for him to resign I respect that. I actually defended Franken and said he should stay even though I disagree with nearly all of what he stands for politically.
I don’t like people being railroaded and losing their careers and reputations over bogus, bullshit claims, like Franken’s and Kavanaugh’s. I refuse to jump on the “ends justifies the means” train just because what was once considered normal is now called attempted rape or assault. All of this showboating by the left is watering down what truly is assault and rape. It is the same thing the left did when anyone said anything negative about Obama. If you did you were a racist. Period.
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You captured what i feel with this whole situation.
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