The Hearing

You know what I'm talking about.  Today's Judiciary hearing to receive the testimony of Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh.  If you don't...well then stop reading because you won't have the context and background to understand.  I don't want to get into a big, long analysis because so many have.  And as so many have said, this comes down to "he said, she said".  I was able to watch or listen to much of it today.  At various times it was inspiring, boring, maddening and sickening.  But at the end of the day it truly comes down to "where you stand depends on where you sit".  So here are a few of my own takeaways from today:

• Christine Ford was said to be credible.  Okay, I guess.  She came off as believing what she said.  But for me, she had clearly been coached to play the unsophisticated, scared, innocent woman who just wanted to tell her story.  I was very struck by some of her answers that showed a very intelligent woman (2 Masters and PhD) who could recite impact on sections of the brain of sounds from 3+ decades earlier and yet couldn't remember what happened within the last few months.  Someone who can be a professor at a major university and yet can't figure out what to do with important information about a Supreme Court nominee without advice from "beach friends".  Someone who doesn't know who's paying for what during this whole ordeal.  Someone who professes a fear to fly and yet is documented to fly all over the world for work or recreation.  Someone who has a manner of speaking that is designed to make the listener believe in the "poor me" syndrome.  Someone who can be attacked one night and smile and say hi to her attacker a few weeks later.  Someone who wants to get her story out and yet professed to not know that Grassley offered to send investigators to California to interview her.  Unless she was living under a rock, this is totally unbelievable.  Someone who has hired the most partisan Democratic lawyers in the country.  Someone who has a GoFundMe sight that as of this afternoon is approaching $1M.  So no...I'm not buying it.
• And beyond all that crap above, I'm not buying it because there is NO evidence and all of her corroborating witnesses have refuted her claims.  Her details are so sketchy as to be laughable.  
• Kavanaugh was pissed.  As anyone would be.  He was emotional, angry, determined and protective.  He probably was too strident in his own defense.  I say that in the context of the critiques that he will get, but I don't blame him one bit.  His defenses to me are credible.  But for me I think even if he was an obnoxious 17-year old kid, that is irrelevant.  
• At first I thought that the Republicans made a mistake in hiring a prosecutor to ask the questions of Ford.  But on retrospect, that was a smart move.  The idea of all those Senators asking her probing questions wouldn't have resulted in any positive results.
• When it came to her, the Dems wore kid gloves.  They "believed her" even in the light of no evidence and no credibility.  When it came to him, the Dems were obnoxious, insulting and not remotely credible.  The worst was Blumenthal.  He is the "stolen valor" guy.  He claimed to have served in Viet Nam and was found to have lied about it.  He is scum.  
• There has been a continual hue and cry for an FBI Investigation.  If you're someone that believes that an FBI investigation is warranted, you're either ignorant or a left-wing partisan.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has all the investigative powers of the FBI.  They have professional investigators.  They can take sworn testimony.  They investigated every case in minute detail.  And the Dems didn't participate.  So shame on them.  
• This sordid episode lies squarely in the lap of Diane Feinstein.  It is a shameful legacy that will haunt her long career.  
• Lindsey Graham was a rock star.  His impassioned speech may have tipped the scales.  Whatever you have thought of him in the past, he certainly put a marker down today.  
• This really needs to be recognized for what it is.  The Dems desperately don't want him on the court.  The Dems hate Trump with a passion.  The Dems will do anything, stoop to anything, tell any lies, and take up any tactics to thwart this appointment.  When they saw that the hearing wasn't going to achieve their goal, they decided to play hardball.  It was a serious erroro.  I don't think that they believed he would fight back.  It also has to be said that the other low-life moves to bring out other accusers who have been discredited as nothing more than partisan attacks have served to undermine their frontal attack using Ford.  These other claims were a serious tactical error that hasn't helped them.  And make no mistake, they orchestrated them.
• I hope this one is true but am not sure.  I think that a lot of Republicans are pissed.  I think this is going to bring them out to the poles in droves.  I think the Dems seriously overplayed their hand and have done great damage to their prospects in the mid-terms.  We'll see if I'm right, but everything I read tells me that this has been a turning point for Republicans.  Especially those like me who like to view ourselves as moderate and willing to consider both sides.  This episode has largely driven many of us off the fence in the middle and solidly to the Republican side.

There are others but it's late and there has been a lot of emotion.  Personally, I hope he is confirmed.  She has no evidence.  He is a good man who doesn't deserve what has happened to him.