Republicans don't need a hearing to 'determine the truth' behind Prof. Ford's accusations

Last edited Wed Sep 19, 2018, 09:56 PM - Edit history (2)

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...they already know what she's accusing Kavanaugh of, and they already know his defense.

What republicans want is the opportunity to use their weighted, partisan committee to take Prof. Ford's claims apart. They want to see if they can unnerve and rattle her as she bares the intimate details of a traumatic attack which occurred in her youth. They want to try out a few lines dismissing her claims they think will insulate them or advantage them in the upcoming elections.

How comfortable is anyone here watching Trump so sanguine about the process unfolding? There's a fix underway, likely orchestrated in those back-to-back WH practice sessions with Kavanaugh and his lawyers. How absolutely cozy to have a presumptive SC nominee conspiring with the Chief Executive to subvert justice.

Republicans are also trying to protect their brand from the wave of opposition which followed the advancement of Thomas after Anita Hill had similarly bared her private life for the committee, country, and world.

They don't really need Prof. Ford to appear, to complete their cynical process. After all, there's no guarantee that the party which tried several times to take away health care from millions; turns their backs as their president strips children from immigrant mothers -separating them permanently in many cases; no guarantee that the party (and a few of the same actors) who advanced misogynist Thomas to the Court, nonetheless, after the compelling testimony of Anita Hill, won't just ride out the storm and vote Kavanaugh in anyway.

It's no mystery why there's a full-press effort from the WH and Kavanaugh defenders to dismiss the potential impact and importance of having the FBI take a moment and question the principals and presumptive witnesses. It would put a damper on the ambush republicans have planned for their Monday hearing.

Lost in the cacophony of dismissals of a role for the FBI in helping make a determination of truth or culpability - lost among the cynicism which has greeted Prof. Ford's call for an investigation before she appears - is the absolute and clear diminution of even the strained standards set by the Anita Hill hearing.

Then-President Bush eventually agreed to a review of Anita Hill's accusations by the FBI. This republican party, and this republican president, are angling to take the country backward, apparently learning nothing less cynical than persistence prevails, in the end, when your majority party has the votes (and sometimes, if the minority helps, when you don't).

Prof. Ford is going to get her story to the public. The only question is whether the republican majority is going to actually take her accusations seriously and genuinely weigh her claims against the advancement of Kavanaugh to the Court. That judgement never hinged on them determining the truth of the claims, more than the theater they're staging in the Grassley committee. Posturing without her there, and voting regardless, has little to no additional value for them.

They need to understand that the public will still, ultimately, be able to fully judge the veracity of Prof. Ford's accusations, with or without the benefit of having Kavanaugh there to rebut the charges. It's their call.