Giving her best shot in the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford told her story, much as she’s done in broadcast and print media since the story of her alleged abuse by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh leaked Aug. 30. Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Diane Feinsten (D-Calif.) miscalculated her strategy, holding a secret letter from Blasey-Ford for six weeks before the Judiciary Committee’s expected vote. Democrats argued today to give the FBI a chance to investigate Blasey-Ford’s 36-year-old charge that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a 1982 suburban Maryland party. Blasey-Ford was given great deference by the Committee, hiring Maricopa County sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to do the interview. Mitchell showed sensitivity while implying Blasey-Ford was part of Democrat conspiracy to sabotage Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Blasey-Ford listened to Democrat senators on the Committee thanking her for her courage and, going further, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), called her a hero for opening doors for victims of sexual assault. Showing how partisan the hearing, Democrats 100% believed Blasey-Ford’s description of events without one corroborating witness, including her high-school best friend, Leyland Keyser, who said she has no recollection of any such “party” or knowing Kavanaugh. Democrats spent considerable time validating Blasey-Ford’s lie detector test, something not admissible in federal court. What Democrats don’t accept is that Blasey-Ford would pass a lie detector test because she’s convinced the events really happened. When you examine her testimony, she hurt her credibility due to her shaky voice, and, more importantly, weepy, overly emotional testimony.
Watching Blasy-Ford, it’s tempting to conclude that she carries her teenage trauma with her everyday of her life, admitting to Mitchell she suffers from anxiety, claustrophobia and post traumatic stress disorder. While that’s all possible, it’s doubtful that her symptoms were based on a single-episode that happened 36-years-ago. Most trauma victims have repeated exposure to horrific life’s events, like rape, robbery, violence, suicide, natural disaster or military combat. Blasey-Ford told Mitchell she suffers from anxiety, claustrophobia and post-traumatic stress due to the single episode of sexual assault by former D.C. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavaaiugh. Kavanaugh acknowledged that something bad must have happened to Blasey-Ford, just not with him, denying completely that he ever sexually assaulted her. Yet Democrats on the Committee all believe Blasey-Ford.
Asked repeatedly why he didn’t submit to an FBI investigation, Kavanaugh said he deferred any investigation to the Committee. Democrats ignored past testimony by former Vice President Joe Biden who, while a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, said he opposed FBI investigations. Sen. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) repeatedly asked Democrats to give Kavanaugh the same courtesy-and-dignity given to Blasey-Ford. “My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations,” Kavanaugh told the Committee, referring to other victims accusing him of lewd conduct and running a gang rape operation. Kavanaugh pulled no punches defending himself, blaming a determined left wing smear campaign from keeping off the High Court without any corroborating facts or witnesses
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) set the partisan tone, harking back to Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook, where a tongue-and-cheek description failed to mention Kavanaugh’s academic, athletic and community service accomplishments. Several Democrats senators questioned Kavanaugh’s drinking in high school and college. “There’s a bight line between drinking beer, which I gladly do, and which I fully embrace and sexually assaulting someone, which is a violent crime,” Kavanaugh said, denying that he ever assaulted Blasey-Ford of anyone else. Kavanaugh’s presentation addressed no Democrats but targeted fence-sitting GOP members of the U.S. Senate, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Jeff Flake (Az.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Ala.), all waiting to make their choice based on all the facts presented at today’s dramatic hearing.
When you add up all influences in today’s hearing, it looks like Kavanaugh rescued his nomination. While Blasey-Ford got through the hearing unscathed, she presented herself as someone with so many lingering problems, like anxiety and claustrophobia, it could affect her recall of events. Kavanuagh was so forceful in his denials, it forced GOP members of the Committee to question not the veracity of Blasey-Ford’s claims but her reliability as a witness. “Throughout my 53 years and seven months on this earth until last week, no one ever accused me of any kind of sexual misbehavior,” Kavanaugh said, refuting Blasey-Ford’s testimony. While Democrats vote against Kavanaugh for partisan reasons, fence-sitting Republicans looked for compelling testimony. Showing the righteous indignation of a falsely accused person, Kavanaugh saved his nomination.
