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One Mistake


There are so many issues around this Kavanaugh situation that it’s hard for me to pinpoint just one. Anita Hill of course comes to mind, along with Joe Biden’s recent pathetic excuse that he wished he "had been able to do more.” Just a reminder, he was the Chair of the Judiciary Committee during that hearing and knew other accusers of Clarence Thomas were willing to come forward under oath, yet he didn’t call them, which means he could have done more, but chose not to. That’s a very different statement.
Of course, with all the stories about Kavanaugh’s friend, Mark Judge, who was also, according to Christine Blasey Ford, in the room at the time of the encounter, it’s hard not to think about another drunk and privileged white male – Brock Turner. Orrin Hatch has actually stated that even if Kavanaugh committed this act against Ford that he thinks his colleagues should focus on the man’s more recent accomplishments, as if this one mistake happened so long ago that he doesn’t matter. How many Catholic Church scandals and lawsuits do we have to experience before men (and typically white men) realize that it does matter. Victims are terrified of coming forward due to the shame and fearing reprisals and additional victimization, with good reason. These men also need to understand that assault, and even near assault, at such a pivotal age can have a lasting effect on the victim, meaning that punishment should be available to the perpetrator without any time restrictions.
I agree with Ford’s attorney, that the FBI should fully investigate this allegation, especially as it doesn’t appear that they did a great job in their vetting of Kavanaugh beforehand. The GOP have acted all along as though they knew a bomb was going to go off and they needed to give the Democrats and the American people as little information about this guy as possible, all the while hustling him through this confirmation as if the fate of the world depended on it. Well, we can wait a while for a vote on this guy.
I’ve also been thinking about Zoë Baird, Bill Clinton’s Attorney General nominee who had to withdraw when it became known that she had used non-legal citizens, whom she didn’t pay taxes on, for child care. The irony that Trump would applaud Baird for getting out of paying taxes does not escape me. It does bring up the argument that if she should have known better, why should Kavanaugh be allowed to get off the hook, especially as his appointment to the Supreme Court would be for life, not just the duration of the Trump administration?
As Ford’s husband stated: “I think you look to judges to be the arbiters of right and wrong. If they don’t have a moral code of their own to determine right from wrong, then that’s a problem. So I think it’s relevant. Supreme Court nominees should be held to a higher standard.”
Yes, they should, whether Orrin Hatch or Mitch McConnell like it or not.

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