Empathy, Accuracy, and Credibility

Victor Davis Hanson

"It is considered taboo even to suggest that an emphatic Professor Ford at times was inexact and inconsistent in her prior written and current Senate testimonies.

"But the result of her sometimes-moving account still remains that she seems to have little recollection of how her still-private therapist’s notes or versions of notes ended up in the hands of the Washington Post and were to be used as corroborating evidence — even though they at times seem to have contradicted elements of versions of her allegations.

"Ford, unfortunately, seems to have little memory of how her original letter requesting anonymity surfaced in the media. Nor does anyone else in the small number who had access to it. Ford, apparently, has little recollection of an offer — widely reported in the media — from Senate members to fly out to California to alleviate her anxieties about flying. Strangely, she did not explain how such a fear of flying contradicted her own record of relatively recent and extensive flying both for business and leisure.

"One wished that Ford could at last have named one witness who could corroborate her allegations that the 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her 36 years ago in a place where witnesses were apparently present, or at least produced convincing evidence that the testimonies of those alleged to be at the party who had no memory of her narratives were sorely mistaken.

"Ford might have been deemed more credible had she just been able to locate the scene of the alleged assault, or to explain how and why the alleged gender and number of those at the scene of the alleged assault were not reported by her consistently, or to remember how she arrived and left the scene." . . .

Some Democrats are pledging to investigate Judge Kavanaugh if they retake Congress and are floating the possibility of impeachment.

Get out and vote for Republicans!

Daily Caller  "Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh might keep facing political attacks from the left if he is confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

"Kavanaugh faced an onslaught of attacks from Democrats and liberal activists even before Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of drunkenly trying to force himself on her while the two were in high school. Kavanaugh denied Ford’s accusation once again in an emotional testimony Thursday.

"Brian Fallon, former press secretary on Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, predicted Kavanaugh “will not serve for life” if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

"Fallon leads Demand Justice, a Democratic dark money group dedicated to opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and previously called for Kavanaugh to be impeached from his current position on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals." . . .

Illustration from Ian Macfarlane:

Obama says he never attacked the press, and gets a scathing history lesson

The Blaze  Former President Barack Obama is being applauded by many on the left for leaving the political sidelines and jumping into the fray for the midterms, but others are criticizing his lack of historical honesty for comments he made about freedom of the press.

“You never heard me threaten to shut them down”

Obama appeared to lob thin-veiled critiques against the current president in a speech at the University of Illinois Friday.

“It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say that we don’t threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish stories we don’t like,” Obama said to loud applause.

“I complained plenty about Fox News,” he continued, “but you never heard me threaten to shut them down, or call them ‘enemies of the people.’

“Under Obama, the DOJ and FBI spied on reporters…”

The former president was clearly criticizing Trump for his attacks on the media, but the comments were immediately undermined by those who remembered Obama’s own less vocal, but more legal, attacks.

“Did substantially increase leak prosecutions, however,” Maggie Haberman of the New York Times objected.

“Leak prosecutions were a big deal under Obama. It wasn’t a frontal attack, but it was a stealth one,” she added in a response to someone defending Obama.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins responded with a quote from the New York Times summing up Obama’s actions against the freedom of the press.

“Under Obama, the DOJ and FBI spied on reporters by monitoring phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to others to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify,” the excerpt read." . . .

Sexism from women is just fine.

grrrgraphics.com

Ridiculous Tweets From Liberals Accuse Kavanaugh Of ‘Mansplaining’ To Dianne Feinstein  "Liberal activists and pundits were quick to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of “mansplaining” to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein at Thursday’s hearing.

"The California senator asked Kavanaugh why he didn’t call for an FBI investigation into professor Christine Blasey Ford‘s allegations against him. Kavanaugh answered that he’s open to whatever avenues the Senate Judiciary Committee seeks to pursue and noted that the FBI wouldn’t be able to arrive at a conclusion.

"Kavanaugh was guilty of “mansplaining” in that answer, liberal critics charged.

“ 'He is mansplaining the FBI to a US Senator. So, you know, that’s going well,” remarked Christina Reynolds, vice president of communications at Emily’s List, a pro-abortion group.

“ 'Brett Kavanaugh is mansplaining to Sen. Feinstein about how the FBI works,” claimed Terrell J. Star, a reporter at The Root."

Mazie Hirono tells men to "shut up"

Lindsey Graham fought back: “I know I am a single white male from North Carolina, and I am told I should shut up, but I will not shut up.”  . . . "Sen. Lindsey Graham took a subtle jab at Democrat colleague Sen. Mazie Hirono for one of her comments made last week in regard to the handling of sexual assault allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his opening remarks to the Judiciary Committee on Friday morning." . . .

Kavanaugh’s fate now rests with three GOP senators — Flake, Murkowski and Collins

Committee Vote Scheduled For Friday On Kavanaugh, Floor Vote For Saturday

Yahoo  "It was a seesaw day of directly conflicting testimony and partisan sniping, but by the evening, the fate of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court lay — as it has all along — with three Republican senators.

"Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will determine whether Kavanaugh’s nomination moves forward toward confirmation this weekend, is delayed or goes down altogether." . . . Flake isn't exactly a fire-breathing "yes".

Being a "glass is only half-full" kind of guy, I'm a bit afraid of being optimistic, but let's hope this turns out to be prophetic. TD:

Conclusion from yesterday's hearing: Kavanaugh will be confirmed 
Ford's inconsistencies listed and explored.

She couldn't answer if she paid for the polygraph, and her attorneys had to answer that they paid for the polygraph.
She hired the attorney, Katz, recommended by Senator Feinstein.  Instead of reporting the allegation to the entire Judiciary Committee, Feinstein referred her to an activist Dem attorney.

. . . "Kavanaugh showed resilience and courage, like Trump.  Kavanaugh was real and honest, unlike Ford.

"Finally, the Republicans on the committee, led by Senator Graham, got tired of the lies by the Democrats and stood up to defend Kavanaugh.

"Senator Grassley responded forcefully to the Dems who kept whining about an FBI investigation.  Grassley pointed out that the Dems hid the July 30 letter, preventing the committee from investigating the accusation until after the confirmation hearings.

"Senator Graham summed it up perfectly: Feinstein and the Dems leaked the July 30 letter after the confirmation to delay the confirmation vote until after the November elections."

Kavanaugh compromise for Dems: Confirm now, impeach later. . . "I wish I could say we've seen the depths of darkness from the left.  Sadly, we haven't.  Things are going to get much darker."

Sen. Corker says yes  . . . "The senator concedes that Kavanaugh is "qualified to serve on the Supreme Court" and will be voting to confirm him." . . .

Compare and contrast Kavanaugh's and Ford's testimonies

Ian Macfarlane

Ethel C. Fenig  "Overcoming her fear of flying for oh, the several hundredth time, overcoming her terror of speaking  about her alleged assault supposedly by then-high school student Brett Kavanaugh – "I am here today not because I want to be.  I am terrified." – Dr. (in psychology) Christine Blasey Ford appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., quiveringly answering their questions as best she could.  

"Her terrified best was riddled with several significant gaps.  Though she had several weeks to prepare to relate an incident that occurred 36 years ago and supposedly deeply affected her to this day, she couldn't definitively reply to the most fundamental questions about the alleged incident, such as how she arrived at the party, where it supposedly happened, how she got home, or who even paid for her questionable polygraph (lie-detector) test.  As Doris O'Brien observed here a few days ago, "Prof. Ford Flunks as a Female Role Model."

"Yes.

"Compare and contrast her behavior in front of the committee with that of the accused, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  Although unexpectedly and surprisingly smacked with career-killing, family-, friend-, and colleague-killing charges a week and a half ago, Kavanaugh refused to wallow in victimhood, as Ford has.  He gathered his evidence and prepared to answer questions from the committee.  Speaking passionately and eloquently in his own defense, displaying emotion when mentioning his ten-year-old daughter's prayers for Ford's well-being, Kavanaugh replied forcefully and factually.

"Granted, testifying and speaking before adults is essential for lawyers and judges, so Kavanaugh presumably benefited from years of experience.  However, Ford is a professor and should also be accustomed to public speaking.  And she was the accuser, he the surprised accused.  But, but, but...this indicates that Kavanaugh is an example of toxic masculinity, especially the malevolent type prevalent at the elite school that Kavanaugh attended so he would be confident, while females at elite schools such as Ford's alma mater must endure the toxicity, according to some.

"Uh, no!  The sex-neutral conclusion in this instance is that Judge Kavanaugh passes with honors as an adult role model.  Ford flunks."

Blasey Ford’s Speech Pattern Conveys Vulnerability  "And then the speech pattern. It’s an odd speech pattern for an accomplished woman. I’m not denying that it could be legit. But it’s a speech pattern that garners sympathy. You can’t say that out loud like I just did, but I’m known for saying things you can’t say. And again, it’s the up-speak or the up-talker. There’s a pattern. There are patterns of speech, and they have been clinically analyzed and categorized and named, and she comes off as an up-talker, ends sentences with an upward inflection, which is how young girls — young teenage girls — come off."

"It makes the speaker sound uber-nice and harmless, non-aggressive, sensitive, vulnerable and so forth, like there’s not a mean bone in their body. She even appears uncertain… Her lawyers are turning pages for her. Her lawyers are covering the mic and conferring with her as to what to say and what the correct answer is. Which is fine, which is why they’re there. She has got four of them there. You can see two of them.

"One of them is the Democrat activist, [Debra] Katz. The other one’s Michael Bromwich, who tried to take Apple for as much as he could in the antitrust case involving iBooks. That’s another story unrelated to this, other than who that guy is. She also admitted that she’s been in the East for a long time. Remember we were told that she’s afraid of flying? But she has been in Delaware and New Hampshire in August for her vacation and so forth." Rush Limbaugh

Rachel Mitchell's disappearing act confirms GOP blunder

Politico

"Senate Republicans thought that bringing a female prosecutor to question Christine Blasey Ford would help them avoid looking like they were ganging up on an alleged victim of sexual assault.

" But once the hearing was underway, they seemed to quickly regret outsourcing their work to former sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell. She lasted through the first part of the hearing featuring Ford, but was quickly relegated to the sidelines once Brett Kavanaugh started testifying, never to be heard from again. 

"At the outset of the hearing, Mitchell's seemingly picayune lines of questioning failed to dent Ford's credibility and put Republicans on the defensive over the sexual abuse allegations against Kavanaugh. The five-minute rounds of questioning — a request from Ford's legal team that not every Democrat was comfortable with initially — didn't help the GOP's cause, either. Mitchell couldn't establish any rhythm, clearly frustrating Republicans. 

"I haven’t seen the whole thing, but I wish our counsel had a longer period of time rather than breaking it up into five-minute segments,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “It’s just chopped up [so] you don’t have … a really good fact-finding type of exchange. That’s been unfortunate.” 

"During a lunch break a little more than halfway through Ford’s testimony, some Senate Republicans expressed concern on the chamber floor over where Mitchell was going with her questioning, according to a GOP senator present for the exchange. They were told that Mitchell was not trying to score points against Ford, but that she would put together a case that Republicans could lay out Friday during the committee vote on Kavanaugh. 

"The No. 2 Senate Republican, Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, said Mitchell was doing “very well” midway through her questioning of Ford, crediting the prosecutor with asking "respectful questions and [getting] pertinent information." But Cornyn acknowledged that the format was “a little awkward with five-minute rounds.” 

"Despite Cornyn's claim that Mitchell performed well, she asked only two rounds of questions of Kavanaugh and then was effectively yanked by Republican senators who chose not to cede more of their time to her." . . .

Charles Hurt: Caligula exits the arena, vanquished

Washington Times

Democrats on the committee not only tried to destroy a man. They tried to destroy the boy he once was.

. . . "We have come a long way since Paula Jones was called a liar and trailer-park trash by Bill Clinton’s war dogs after she accused the then-governor of exposing himself to her and sexually harassing her. Those charges were corroborated, and Mrs. Jones was ultimately vindicated.
"But James Carville’s disgusting treatment of her could never be erased.
"Mr. Grassley does not play those vile games. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about others.
"Over the past two weeks, sitting senators have publicly and enthusiastically denounced the single most fundamental tenet of fairness in America: the notion that an accused person is presumed innocent until proved guilty.
"Judge Kavanaugh was accused of a very serious crime. Instead of being allowed to rebut the charges and clear his name, the accusations were allowed to sit and fester like a dead body rotting inside an upstairs room of an un-air-conditioned house in the Southern heat.
"By the time the authorities arrived, the body was unrecognizable. Judge Kavanaugh had deformed into a monster.
"It is little wonder.
"As soon as Judge Kavanaugh was nominated, Democrats warned that women would suffer and millions would die if he was elevated to the Supreme Court.
"During his confirmation hearings, Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat, set the tone of the ridiculous circus, excitedly declaring it his “‘I am Spartacus!’ moment.”
"No, sir, Mr. Booker. You are not Spartacus — except in that you will ultimately lose.
"You are Caligula." . . .

Kavanaugh Post-Hearing Assessment: Home run, call the vote

Lindsey Graham on Fire: ‘This is the Most Unethical Sham Since I’ve Been in Politics’

Legal Insurrection

"I can’t remember a time I have been as angry over politics as I have been watching what has unfolded the past two weeks."

"Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony is over. I assessed Christine Ford’s testimony earlier, Mid-Hearing Assessment: Christine Blasey Ford believes an untruth.

"I heard Kavanaugh’s opening statement, but missed over half of his question and answer because of another commitment. So I’ve been catching up via Twitter, highlights and reports. I think I have a good sense of how it went.

"It was a home run for Kavanaugh. I was surprised that he came out so aggressively in the opening statement, but it was the right choice. Ford was so controlled and contrived that he was at risk of losing to the sympathy vote.

"Kavanaugh was emotional during his opening statement. You could see how Democrats came close to breaking him. Most people could not withstand the Democrat smear machine and sleazy POS social media, entertainment industry and political operatives.

"I can’t remember a time I have been as angry as I have been watching what has unfolded the past two weeks. The earlier hearings were bad enough, but at least those smears were about politics. This was personal, and attempt to destroy the man and his family because they could, a blood sport.

"In an earlier post I mentioned that there but for fortune could go you or I.

Never was that more clear that today. What they did to Brett Kavanaugh could be done to any of us, and is being done to many of us on campuses and in workplaces.

"Those NeverTrump Republicans who argue that Democrats need to win in 2018 and 2020 to save the Republican Party want to throw the rest of us to the wolves who attacked Kavanaugh while they keep their newspaper, cable TV and book deals.

"Fortunately, Republican Senators abandoned handing off questioning to the Arizona prosecutor and stepped in to make their points during Kavanaugh’s testimony. This may have been Lindsey Graham’s finest moment.

"There is going to be a political reckoning. It needs to start right now with a vote confirming Kavanaugh."

How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America: "The hard left is nothing but a lynch mob with alternative tools."

Photosnark by Rich Terrell

Notice any familiar Democrat faces in the crowd behind them?*

American Thinker; 2011  . . . "Justice Thomas paid the media mob the compliment of calling them a "high-tech lynch mob."  Clarence Thomas was born in the South at a time when lynch mobs were very real.  But technology just amplifies what they already are, as moral low-lives.  Bull Connor passed out ax handles to the mob in the sixties, but today's high-tech lynch mobsters are no different when they try to destroy the careers, jobs, and reputations of good and decent people -- and even their children, like one-year-old baby Trig Palin.  Michele Bachmann was just threatened by one of the media mobsters, because now her 23 foster children are free bait for the media lynchers.  This is like mafia thugs walking through your nice family home and telling you what a fire hazard it is, and are you sure you don't want to sell out?

"They have no decency.  None at all." . . .

* Cory "Spartacus" Booker, Mazie "Shut up men!" Hirono, and Dianne "The world is heating up!" Feinstein.

The Mob and Judge Kavanaugh

National Review

Democrats’ standards of evidence are as low as politics demands

"Even before Professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that Judge Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were both teenagers, the Left was inflamed with fury against the judge.

"Kavanaugh was the nominee to replace Anthony Kennedy, the swing justice on a Supreme Court that has grown more and more important. He was the nominee of an unprecedentedly polarizing president, Donald Trump. And his nomination came after Senate Republicans had, in the minds of most Democrats, “stolen” a previous seat on the Supreme Court by declining to take up President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland and then confirming Trump’s nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

"Many liberals were thus able to convince themselves, on the flimsiest of pretexts, that Kavanaugh was guilty of serious misconduct — again, even before almost anyone in Washington, D.C., had heard of Blasey Ford. Liberal senators, activists, and journalists accused him of lying repeatedly in previous congressional testimony." . . .

Several Democratic senators, including Senate Judiciary Committee members Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Chris Coons of Delaware, announced that they “believed” Ford. Blumenthal said he believes survivors (and, implicitly, in question-begging). Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another Democrat on the committee, first said that men should “shut up and step up.” Then she argued, in two interviews, that in evaluating the claim of sexual assault Kavanaugh’s conservative views about the law should count against him. Coons and Blumenthal subsequently were asked about Hirono’s remarks and agreed that the burden was on him to disprove the allegations.  . . .

Ford Admits She Flies Often after Citing Fear of Flying to Delay Hearing

"During her public testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford admitted that she has flown often for business and pleasure in recent years despite citing her fear of flight in requesting that the hearing regarding her allegations against Brett Kavanaugh be delayed.
"In explaining why their client could not grant Committee chairman Chuck Grassley’s request that she travel to Washington, D.C. to testify on September 17, Ford’s lawyers cited her unwillingness to fly, which they claimed stemmed from her fear of enclosed spaces. Ford’s attorney’s further alleged her claustrophobia was brought on by the alleged assault.
"Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor retained by the Committee to ask questions of Ford and Kavanaugh, established during the hearing that Ford traveled by plane to Washington, D.C. to testify regarding her claim that Kavanaugh pinned her down and tried to remove her clothes when they were in high school.
“ 'May I ask, Dr. Ford, how did you get to Washington?,” Mitchell asked.
“ 'By airplane,” Ford responded." . . .

Ford’s Testimony Has Changed Everything and Nothing  . . . But it’s also very important to note that Dr. Ford’s testimony has changed nothing about the underlying evidence in the case. She has made her claim, there are no corroborating witnesses. No one else can place the two of them together at the party — not even the witnesses she’s identified. She is inconsistent or forgetful on a number of key points. She can’t even identify who brought her to the party or who took her home. He’s denied the claims and will deny them again.

"That’s thin — very thin — evidence of sexual assault. The evidence is no stronger this afternoon than it was before Dr. Ford testified. When this controversy began, I said that her claims were serious enough that, if true, Kavanaugh should not be confirmed. Further, I said that that she should only have to carry the lowest burden of proof — to establish that her claims were more likely than not. If you step back, look at the totality of the evidence and consider that she has brought no new evidence to the committee, I still don’t believe she has met that minimal burden.