IT STILL COMES DOWN TO SHE SAID HE SAID

Both Kavanaugh and Ford sounded credible

After watching every minute of the Senate Judiciary Committee circus, I’ve come away with several observations.

To begin with, it was obvious to me that the Democrats were there to destroy Kavanaugh and the Republicans tried to defend him. Both Kavanaugh and Ford sounded credible in their opening statements. Ford said she was 100 percent certain that it was Kavanaugh who tried to rape her. Kavanaugh said he was not at the party Ford described and that he never assaulted her or anyone else. So it still comes down to she said he said … and who does each committee member want to believe.

Republican prosecutor Rachel Mitchell pitched softballs in her questioning of Ford. She elicited some minor contradictions, the most notable of which was Ford’s claim that she was reluctant to come to Washington because she feared flying. Ford admitted that in spite of her fear of flying, she had flown to many professional conferences, to visit her parents in Maryland once a year and to far-away vacation destinations.

Kavanaugh started off like a ball of fire, defiantly accusing the Democrats of waiting till the last minute to “destroy” his good name with “vicious and false additional accusations.” He said the Democrats have “replaced advice and consent with search and destroy.” He referred to the hearing as a “national disgrace” and a “circus.”

Kavenaugh’s opening statement was about 45 minutes long, a bit too long I thought. About two-thirds of the way through, he began to start hesitating between sentences, which in my opinion weakened his otherwise strong presentation.

Ford answered every question while Kavanaugh was often evasive in responding to the hostile questions thrown at him by the biased Democrats. Mitchell’s softball approach and Ford's defenders on the Democratic side made Ford look bright throughout. At times Kavanaugh looked like a deer staring at the headlights of a car.

Something that got my dander up was that twice Ford’s attorney Michael Bromwich interrupted Rachel Mitchell’s questioning of Ford by invoking the attorney-client privilege. Neither Mitchell nor committee chairman Senator Charles Grassley called him down on that. They and Bromwich must have slept though Law 101. The attorney-client privilege is incumbent only on the lawyer, not the client.

Asked about his drinking, Kavanaugh said “I liked beer. I still like beer. We drank beer.” You can bet that had he mentioned a brand, that would have been a TV commercial by the next day.

To me the highlight of the hearing came when Senator Lindsey Graham blasted the Democrats on the committee. Graham, who has often criticized President Trump and usually gets along well with the Democrats, called the hearing a sham. Here are some excerpts:

“What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020. You said that. Not me. I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy, This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t do what you’ve done to this guy.”

“I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy. This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t do what you’ve done to this guy.”

Graham also warned Republican fence sitters that by voting against Kavanaugh, they would be “legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics.”

If Senator Jeff Flake agrees with Graham, the committee vote will be 11-10 to confirm the nomination. Now all the the Republican leadership will have to do is to persuade Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to join them in voting to confirm Kavanaugh’s nomination when the full senate votes on it.