Let me start off by stating this: I personally believe the crime of rape is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed. Right up there with murder if not worse. I would love to see people convicted of rape to be at least put in jail for the rest of their lives. I by no means in this piece intend to attack Dr. Ford, but rather state the facts that I believe are most important to consider in this case. Facts that have half this country trying to ruin not only Judge Brett Kavanaughs career, but also his life and his family’s life. I am going to advocate for why I believe at the time of this writing, and given the current set of facts available, Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Should the facts change at any time and a trial prove Kavanaugh’s guilt or even provide tangible evidence of Kavanaughs guilt (such as the case with Roy Moore), I would no longer support or endorse Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Some people are trying to use the defense of, “he was only 17, he was a juvenile.” I intend to make no such defense. Personally, I don’t even agree with a lot of cases being tried in juvenile court such as those including rape and murder.
I find it repulsive that Dianne Feinstein would hold back this letter for seven weeks and ask Kavanaugh no questions about the incident during the dozens of hours of hearings and questioning he was put through en route to this country’s highest court. If she found this to be such a credible claim when she received it, why is it not coming up until now, the eve of the Senate vote? Regardless of the appearance of this being a targeted hit job, let’s dig into the specifics, or lack thereof.
Dr. Ford gave no details about the incident and even said she couldn’t remember a lot of things that happened that day. She said at one point that there were four boys present and at another time said two. She can’t remember the date it happened (she believes it was Summer ’82), she can’t remember what party it was, she can’t even remember whose house it was. The only other person who was alleged to be at the scene was Mark Judge who continues to say this is a ridiculous allegation. This is why the FBI won’t take the case. There is virtually nothing they can do at this point nor does the claim indicate a federal crime could have been committed.
If Dr. Ford can’t provide details about the case, how in the world is Judge Kavanaugh going to exonerate or even defend himself. He has already said he was at NO party. That seems like a pretty general statement and one that would be incredibly easy to debunk if false, yet nobody who wants to see Kavanaugh taken down is even attempting to go after that statement. This makes it seem like even more of a last minute hit job, similar to the one put forth against Clarence Thomas right before his Senate vote, as we recall – “Nothing short of a high tech lynching.”
There is a reason we have statute of limitations laws. It’s because human memory is far from perfect and as time goes on, details begin to become obscure and even altered.
I don’t necessarily believe Dr. Ford is fabricating the story either. She may believe this is true. It may even be true. But there is absolutely no way to prove it is true at this time given the details that have been provided. There hasn’t been a sliver of corroborating evidence to align with the case. If we are going to start believing accusations like this with no evidence and without any burden of proof over one person’s word decades after crimes occur, there is absolutely no limit to the damage that can be done to people who become public figures or even those who don’t.
Imagine your daughter or son, mother or father, being accused of sexual misconduct in which the plaintiff says they accused them of rape but can’t remember the time, the place, who was there, and have no witnesses or corroborating evidence. Now add that the plaintiff refuses to testify or give any additional details during a hearing. This is what Dr. Ford and her attorneys are doing as they now (as of Thursday 9/20) refuse to show up for the hearing that was reopened by Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) and set up for Monday. They are also refusing to answer emails and calls from the committee who is interested.
Again, are you okay with setting the precedent of completely ruining someone’s life with no proof? What is to stop someone from attempting revenge and coming out with a claim like this against you because you had to fire them from a job or give them a bad grade on an exam?
This is why we need to continue making efforts to encourage and support victims of sexual assault and rape to come forward as soon as possible so that investigations and trials can take place to put garbage human beings behind bars for acts of sexual predation, assault, or rape with high efficacy and as soon as legally possible.
On Wednesday, Senator Feinstein (D) said in an interview that she didn’t even know if the allegations were true or not. Wouldn’t she have wanted to ask Kavanaugh some questions during the hearing? It has become clear to me at this point that the Democrats are more interested in prolonging this trial for 7 weeks in hopes of taking the Senate in November to block Trump from nominating a 9th Supreme Court Justice.
Finally, since I know I’ll have someone make a comment about the polygraph, I’ll go ahead an address that here. There is a reason polygraphs aren’t called lie detectors. They are incredibly inaccurate and were created to measure changes that are associated with lying, such as sweat and changes in heart rate, but not factors that prove someone is lying. The tests are then interpreted by the person administering the test to judge the results and personally decide whether the person is trying to deceive or not. This is why they are not admissible as evidence in court.
