WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 20 (DPI) – There may be – or may not be – a hearing Monday to give the Senate Judiciary Committee a better idea of what exactly happened between 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh and 15-year-old Christine Blasey back in the early ’80s.
But more likely Senate Republicans, with an accuser who now unwilling to testify without an FBI probe, will cancel those hearings and try to push through the nomination of 53-year-old Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, securing confirmation before decisive November elections. The scenarios going forward pose great risk to both political parties, each of which could be punished if voters conclude one is acting rashly or the other is acting irresponsibly.
And of course the confirmation vote is no longer a slam-dunk for Republicans, who only days ago were confident about placing a reliable conservative on the 9-member Supreme Court.
The irony of it all is that the political leadership of the US – the greatest democracy in history, with an abiding dedication to the rule of law, with legal institutions committed to fairness and justice and legal rights for all – is witnessing or is engaged in a capricious, hearsay-based and utterly extra-legal power play to decide who winds up on the highest court in the land.
Indeed, what used to be a civilized and buttoned-up process – which led to near-unanimous confirmation votes barely 25 years ago – is now a kind of free-for-all in which any tactics are permitted in today’s fraught political climate. Whatever its origins – many cite the sexual revelations brought about by the Me-Too movement – the process today doesn’t even bother nodding at the rule of law and due process.
It all suggests that the divisions today – male versus female, black versus white, rich versus poor, secular versus devout, urban versus rural – have all hardened and embedded themselves in the two dominant political parties, and anyone interested in politics or voting are faced with a Coke-Pepsi option even when one can’t stand either.
The sex-assault accusation that Blasey, a university professor who lives in California, has directed at Kavanaugh reminds the nation of Anita Hill’s testimony at the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. And it has prompted soul-searching among those who lived through the alcohol- and drug-soaked 70s and 80s.
Readers who post comments on news sites are deeply divided, with thousands of posts with theater-quality outrage and anger, across the spectrum. Here are among the most popular comments among than 1400 from a WSJ.com report on the “stand-off” between the parties today:
“Stand off? ” No, it’s a joke. A silly game. The right to confront one’s accuser and have an opportunity to rebut the charges goes back through the mists of time to Runnymede. It lies at the core of our rights and liberties. These leftist hacks now want to dispense with our rights and traditions and adopt a Soviet style of rule. This is not OK. It is not American. It is not fair.
The ONLY reason the Democrats get away with this nonsense is because the MSM is nothing more than the communications and propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. Nothing more, nothing less
The irony is that the democrats, under the guise of women’s rights, are exploiting women and using them as tools.
If she doesn’t want to testify, that’s fine. Then let’s vote. Dems can move their never ending outrage to another issue.