This is the kind of background info that lends credibility to her accusations.
There is at least one other victim out there IMHO. This happened so long ago that I seriously doubt it is what they were expecting when they put together the 65 female whitewash. I think they were surprised by Ford. I believe they were preparing for a different episode(s) from his past.
Just saying…
Quite possibly. How could this be a singular incident? It’s the kind of behavior that is part of a pattern. (The boys I knew in high school who were gropey were gropey with just about everybody, although to be fair to them they did not try to rape people.) I hope Mark Judge can be induced to testify. It appears that he has deleted his social media accounts, but he is such a prolific writer that there must be a lot of fodder for questioning out there.
Something that helps make Dr. Ford’s story ring true to me is the Starr Report. At the time I read it, I thought “This Kenneth Starr guy is sure a dirty old man.” Now that I know it was written by Brett Kavanaugh, that thought has been revised only to the extent that the author was a dirty youngish man. Whoever wrote that tome was clearly obsessed with sex, and not in a good way. I mean, it recounts every blow job or heavy petting session in excruciatingly explicit and unnecessary detail. I suspect there is much more in Kavanaugh’s background that is likely to come to light.
Yep. And if one does come out he’ll need a lot more than 65 women to sign on to a letter. It will be over for KavaNO.
Interesting! That hadn’t occurred to me, but it makes sense especially if BK and his friend were as intoxicated as Dr. Ford says. He may not have even remembered assaulting her and she may not be the woman he was worried about coming forward in the first place.
I can’t imagine the courage it must take for her to speak out. I’m fairly certain that I just wouldn’t be able to do it. I imagine that there are a lot more women like me who just wouldn’t, for various reasons, be able to put themselves and their families through that sort of scrutiny and all assault from the right. And it’s not just about you either. It’s would be a nightmare for your spouse, kids, parents, siblings, etc. Plus, not every victim goes on to lead the kind of stellar life that it sounds like Dr. Ford has. A victim who has struggled terribly, maybe even as a result of the sexual assault, might be too afraid of having her demons exposed and her reputation dragged through the mud. Because these days it’s not like you just have to worry about the wing nut media attacking you, or some crazy person with a gun, you have to consider that you’ll very likely face an onslaught of tweets from the highest vestiges of power on the planet.
Just brainstorming here, but I think one of the things dems should take away from this is that for future high level nominations, a public statement should come out inviting past victims of the nominee to submit their stories confidentially with the understanding that the story has to be verified in some way, it’s harder to prove if the victim wants to stay anonymous, etc. Sure, it could invite abuse by clowns, but that’s the world we live in today when we can’t expect background checks to find unreported stories or nominees to incriminate themselves.
Republicans should also have this takeaway, but they won’t.
IF there are other women—and I’d be shocked beyond belief if there were not—they’ll come forward after Ford testifies.
One by one, drip by drip, and Kavanaugh will be forced to resign from the bench.
I’d be satisfied with his nomination to be one of the Supremes crashing and burning. His having to resign his current position would be like the icing on the cake.
I think Kavanaugh is toast, but who ever follows is not likely to be any better. With the selection of Trump as their leader, now a days just being a Republican is a moral failing.
I’m glad she has this courage. I was 50 before I even admitted to myself some of the worse. (After 40+ years my mind still cringes from the memory of the worst and I’ve never spoken about it or even written about it.)
Kavanaugh was urging that Clinton be asked how many times he ejaculated in Monica’s mouth. There is obviously something deeply wrong with that guy.
Yeah. As I remarked when this godawful nomination came up, Kavanuagh is the fear that lurks in the back of the mind of every woman, and just looking at his face fills me with revulsion.
I like the idea of him having to resign for the mere fact that maybe some of these guys with rapey pasts will stop putting their names in contention for positions that involve high levels of scrutiny. Lord knows plenty of women who were victims have taken a step back from the limelight for fear of anyone discovering they were victimized.
I’m sorry you had to go through that too. That’s why #metoo, as awful and painful as it all is for so many of us, is so damn important. But it’s important for us to talk about because when we do we help expose the ridiculousness of the idea that women like Dr. Ford are just mistaken about who attacked them.
Funny you said that. I had not been able to pinpoint what it was about Kavanaugh that I found so dang creepy and suspect. I’d assumed it’s just because, well, he’s a Republican and they’re all creepy to some extent. But it was more than that. There was something about the way I felt like he was parading his wife and daughters about, the commercials with the seemingly normal women who were vouching for him. I felt like he and his advocates were trying especially hard to send the message that, “He’s okay, ladies!” There was some of that with Gorsuch, but it just wasn’t as obvious. Now we know why.
I wish I could offer some reassurance to Blasey (note to TPM: that’s the surname she prefers) but the fact is she will be confronted by a pack of vile, soulless men who will stop at nothing to discredit her. The plus side is that I think there is great benefit for a person to be able to finally speak the truth in public, especially about some long-hidden secret and under such difficult circumstances. It can have a liberating effect.
Meanwhile, here is the attitude that she will be faced with. And this, incredibly, is an attempt to put a best face on that attitude. From an editorial in the WSJ, which also includes some discussion of the Salem Witch Trials (!):
"The thing happened—if it happened—an awfully long time ago, back in Ronald Reagan’s time, when the actors in the drama were minors and (the boys, anyway) under the blurring influence of alcohol and adolescent hormones. No clothes were removed, and no sexual penetration occurred. The sin, if there was one, was not one of those that Catholic theology calls peccata clamantia—sins that cry to heaven for vengeance.
The offense alleged is not nothing, by any means. It is ugly, and stupid more than evil, one might think, but trauma is subjective and hard to parse legally. Common sense is a little hard put to know what to make of the episode, if it happened."
Kavanaugh’s defense is she did experience that horrible tragedy, but I am not the one that did it. She has mistaken me for someone else.
I sure hope you are right, but I thought the subtext of this article was that Ford is getting cold feet, especially in light of Grassley just saying that Ford hadn’t responded to his request that she testify Monday. If she starts waffling now, this could be a political disaster.
I agree, but I thought it was a defense created for his position on Roe v. Wade. Don’t worry little ladies. Nothing to see here.
And the really sad thing is that there are probably others and their speaking up maybe, and only maybe, be the only thing that gets some folks to believe her and him thrown out.
Possibly but not necessarily, even if there are victims.
There is a reason why Ford is reluctant. For private individuals, turning their private life public is difficult, there are no buffers except family and friends. There is no money in it, they do not have access to PR firms, and lawyers in this terrain cost serious money. You are completely open to being “torn to shreds” without good counsel, and she most certainly will not have access to that.
Unlike Kavanaugh.