Ford/Kavanaugh is a Victory for the Right

The Ford/Kavanaugh debacle has been a bizarre spectacle. The fact that these hearings even happened is a sign of how unhealthy our country is at the governmental level. But there is a silver lining. Unless the FBI finds some bombshell (which is extremely unlikely) everything ultimately went the right way. This has become a massive political disaster for the American left. The main contributions to this failure for the Democrats came from seven people.

1. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Her highly credible testimony was riveting. She did a fantastic job modeling what a #metoo moment should look like. She was honest and vulnerable. She wasn’t defensive or demure. She didn’t sling mud she simply told her story. But the most important thing about her testimony was that she proved beyond reasonable doubt that the DNC, if not intentionally then unintentionally, used her as a political pawn. In other words she is not a partisan actor, she is an unwilling pawn in a ridiculous game. That doesn’t mean she isn’t biased by politics. She is, we all are. She’s a democrat who disagrees with Kavanaugh on some fundamental issues. That must have played some role here, but it should play a role. If she believes that Roe v. Wade was correct and good for women then she should try to protect it (not at all costs). That makes her a person of conviction not a partisan agent. The “agents” are the ones who did not go through the confidentiality process that this committee has in place for witnesses who wish to remain anonymous. Those same “agents” also blocked her knowledge that the Committee could have come to her in California further delaying this excoriating process. Ford came out unscathed and vindicated herself as a woman of integrity. I have no idea what actually happened to her all those years ago, but my beliefs don’t really matter. She believes that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her in the manner she described. That is an embarrassing thing to discuss and still fills her with undue shame. All victims experience shame because there is no rational answer to the question “why me?” A little voice inside tries to answer that question by saying: “because this is how you deserve to be treated.” But she didn’t deserve to be treated like that. No one does. And so she mustered her courage and stood before the world to tell her story. Any woman or man out there right now struggling with the decision to name their abusers needs to look at her example and see that this is how you should conduct yourself, and sooner rather than later. You don’t know where your abusers could end up and who they might abuse in the meantime. Come forward. Dr. Ford didn’t want it to be this public and it shouldn’t have had to be this way. But she didn’t point fingers at the patriarchy or imply that we have a “rape problem” in this country. A fellow Biola alumnus (whom I have thankfully never met) came forward on Facebook last year to name her alleged rapist and she did none of the things Dr. Ford did. She sounded like a crazy person seeking revenge and the only people who believed her were woke radicals or her friends. She raved about rape culture at Biola and how the La Mirada police department was involved in a conspiracy to silence victims. She provided no evidence and decided it was time to ruin her alleged abuser’s lives. This approach silences other women because they’re afraid they’ll been seen in the same light. Dr. Ford has done the exact opposite. Follow Dr. Ford’s example. A life characterized by self respect and humility is far better then one based in revenge and mania. Her testimony has holes in it, but so do all testimonies. But at least she hasn’t tried to make up corroborating details to create a smoother story. Her lack of specificity on many things adds to her credibility, but conversely that does make it much harder to use her testimony against Judge Kavanaugh. Ironically that too adds to her credibility. Her testimony is not that useful, so she’s probably doing her best to tell the confusing truth.
2. Senator Diane Feinstein. Whether or not Feinstein is lying about leaking Ford’s testimony doesn’t really matter. In fact the leak doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Feinstein didn’t bring Ford’s testimony to the committee in confidentiality. If she had the committee would’ve agreed that the preponderance of evidence was too low to bring Ford’s accusations into their decision making process. This is assumedly why she didn’t bring it in the first place. There simply was no evidence. Feinstein knew this. And if she had gone through the appropriate channels it would have protected Ford and Kavanaugh. When or if the testimony eventually leaked it could’ve been summarily dismissed because the committee would’ve already dealt with it. There probably would’ve been outrage if it made it into a mainstream media outlet. But it wouldn’t have mattered very much because the investigation would’ve shown there was nothing there. This is either Feinstein’s failure or her design. Either because her withholding was a calculated risk or because of incompetence. Incompetence seems the most likely cause. But if she took a calculated risk it would have been because she knew the testimony wasn’t actually worthy of being heard before the Senate but wanted to use it as a weapon anyway. Because if it comes out the burden goes onto the GOP to deal with it. And that is exactly what happened. Either way this circus was an indictment of Feinstein and the DNC. The poor old lady knows this, that’s why she remained so demure throughout. This was her Benghazi. At least her attitude showed a certain level of remorse, even while she’s trying to dodge the consequences.
3. Michael “I want to be Trump when I grow up” Avenatti. Of Everyone who was not present at the hearings Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer had the biggest impact on this debacle. Avenatti is inherently toxic. He’s like Trump but lacks whatever secret wizardry our President possesses allowing him to survive scandal after scandal. Up till this point the mainstream media has mostly covered for Avenatti. His life is riddled with financial, ethical, and personal scandal. He’s on the verge of financial collapse. He just went through a very nasty divorce, and not for the first time either. And I showed that Alan Dershowitz proved (on Television mind you) that Avenatti has violated the most basic ethics of the American Bar Association. In any case his insertion into this situation with the absolutely ridiculous affidavit from Julie Swetnick basically turned the tide in Kavanaugh’s favor. Avenatti has essentially brought the #metoo moment to a screeching and embarrassing end. The left should be furious with him. Swetnick’s affidavit was inherently unbelievable. She is unbelievable. An ex boyfriend has discredited her. Her association with Avenatti discredits her. Her account discredits her. If she’s confident that she went to exactly ten of these rape parties then her testimony simply cannot be trusted. She’s claiming an exact number from thirty years ago? Unless she has dorky calendars (ala Kavanaugh) there’s no way she can be certain that it was ten. A credible source would say around ten, or a lot or around a dozen. But exactly ten? If she is convinced of that after thirty years then she’s an idiot or a liar, and probably a little of both. The simplest explanation is that she’s lying. The claim that she went to multiple gang rape parties is even more damning. Because if she did this there’s something seriously wrong with her. Why didn’t she report this horrendous activity to the police all those years ago? Ironically if she’s telling the truth then she’s a pretty horrible person and shouldn’t be trusted! Avenatti’s attempt to piggy back on Dr. Ford deeply hurt the DNC’s cause because it put the right on the offensive and the left on the defensive at the same time. Avenatti switched their footing from the high ground to the low. And this account is so much more severe that it softens the original allegations. They don’t seem as bad anymore or as credible. The right gained a moral reason to fight back instead of just try to withstand this onslaught. Avenatti made them dangerous and weakened the DNC simultaneously. The DNC knew exactly how bad Avenatti made them look because they hardly referenced Swetnick at all during the hearings. And conversely the GOP senators were given their best talking points because of Swetnick. All they had to do was ask Kavanaugh “are you a gang rapist” and any rational person listening understood that this has gotten completely out of hand. Avenatti knows that these are lies, that’s why he’s been so careful to qualify his statements. They aren’t accusing Kavanaugh of being a rapist. They’re just accusing him of being around rapists or drugging women. So that when this all blows up in his face he can escape charges of slander by saying “No no, I never said he was a rapist.” Swetnick is so sure Mark Judge and Kavanaugh were there but she can’t remember who actually gang raped her? Those are the ones she should be going after. Especially because they would probably be more than happy to finger Kavanaugh! It’s all fantasy. Avenatti should be a pariah after this.
4. Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell. Usually I would say Alan Dershowitz’s commentary is unassailable. But in this case his opinion that Mitchell did a terrible job is incorrect. Mitchell was perfect. And she was perfect for all the reasons that Dershowitz thinks she was awful. Because Ford wasn’t on trial here. In many ways neither was Kavanagh. In the public eye it was the GOP and #metoo. The so called “optics” of GOP white men interrogating Dr. Ford would have been death. If they treated her with kid gloves they would’ve seemed weak to the right. And if they had destroyed her they would have been seen as misogynists and bullies. Their decision to pick Mitchell to do their interrogating work was a stroke of genius. She’s a women and she’s not them. The left was depending on the cultural currency they would gain from the GOP’s soundbites towards Dr. Ford. But they gave none. This was essentially like tying a boxer’s hands behind his back. All they could do now was dodge and weave. They had nothing to attack with. But if Mitchell did what Dershowitz described as the appropriate method for a cross examiner then Mitchell would’ve become a weapon anyway. By putting no pressure on Dr. Ford and doing very little to expose how weak her testimony was from an evidentiary stand point she essentially led the GOP past a minefield safely. This may or may not have been by her design or the Senators on the right. It may have been a happy accident. Ether way it was a hugely successful strategy. If Dershowitz had been there he would’ve lost Kavanaugh’s nomination completely. He would’ve exposed all the holes in her testimony, but that would have forced the left to double down. Her testimony didn’t need to be picked apart. It proves nothing. She simply needed to be heard.
5. Senator Lindsey “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” Graham. What Graham did was truly remarkable. He managed to explain simply and quickly why the DNC was acting with partisan malice towards Kavanaugh. He made them look weak and pathetic. But the most important thing about his attack is that it came from him. If Ben Sasse had done this it would have had virtually no impact. It’s not that Sasse or Mike Lee are known for these sorts of outbursts and Graham is not. But it’s believable that Senators like them, who are wonkish culture warish types, would make a speech like that. In fact they probably expected them to. No one would be shocked if they did. But Graham is a consummate southern gentlemen. This was like watching Jimmy Carter pull out a dueling pistol and say “You have besmirched my honor sir. And now I must kill you.” No one thought Graham would ever do anything like that. But southern gentlemen act the way they do because they’ve been taught self respect. And someone who respects themselves respects others as well. They aren’t being nice because its nice, they’re nice to others because its the right thing to do. And when you see someone’s honor being destroyed in front of you, especially by people you thought were your friends, people you respect…well the right response is to let loose. The polite response is to berate them. The gentlemen thing to do is correct them. And its notable that the DNC didn’t really have a response to Graham. Essentially he blew them away like a sniper from coverage. They had no idea this was even coming. The fact that they did the same thing to Ford and Kavanaugh is probably what sent the senator over the edge. But the person he was really shooting at was Avenatti. That’s why Avenatti should have kept out of this whole thing. He essentially poured lighter fluid onto a fire that was dying. Graham’s whole career made this moment possible. By being a consummate politician who tries to act in non partisan ways he gave himself the integrity and credibility to scold these idiots with all the righteous furor of a Mother Superior.
6. The Honorable Brett Kavanaugh. I didn’t like Judge Kavanaugh all that much. I have some minor concerns over some of his decisions. He’s kind of a weird guy, he seems a bit swampy. To put it mildly he’s no Neil Gorsuch. After his opening statement any doubts I had about him as a man are completely gone. I’ll never forget how it felt to hear him defend himself with righteous anger and conviction. That is exactly the way a judge should conduct himself when in the presence of Chicanery. And this too was ultimately made possible by Avenatti. This point cannot be overstated. Without Avenatti Kavanaugh goes into this trying not to make a mistake. But Avenatti turned this from a difficult situation into a ridiculously slanderous affair. That means Kavanaugh had to come out swinging. And swing he did. He looked like a different person. He made a case for himself around his character and the actual evidence. It was masterful. And the fact that the left has reacted so poorly is further proof of its effectiveness. They can’t respond to him intellectually so they’ve taken to almost universal slander and pathetic attempts to claim he perjured himself based on citations from the “urban dictionary.” Dr. Ford makes a significant contribution here as well though. She did a fantastic job. After her testimony it was obvious that Kavanaugh’s nomination was done. But when Kavanaugh came out on fire, then defended himself admirably for hours it completely flummoxed the leftist senators. No one was expecting that. And they all wilted.
7. Jeff Flake. Hate him or love him Flake essentially put the final nail in the coffin. The argument that everyone on the left made repeatedly was their idiotic insistence for further investigation by the FBI. They’re delaying and praying that something comes out of this. But even though its not necessary for the FBI to be involved at this point they exploited this fact by simply ignoring it. From a tactical perspective if someone on the right hadn’t called for further FBI investigation it would not have looked good. But more importantly its the only argument the left has now. So by calling for it Flake took away their last weapon. Unless the highly improbable occurs and some real evidence supporting Ford comes out the FBI investigation will only make Kavanaugh look better. But if something does come out then that’s good. The truth is what matters. And if Kavanaugh’s nomination is shot because of something they uncover the senators on the Right can show that they were the ones that called for further investigation. The consequences of losing Kavanaugh will be very mild. The GOP is unlikely to lose the Senate during the mid terms anyway and the next nomination might be much better than Kavanaugh.

This situation was very ugly. But some good things came out of it, especially clarity over the need for the presumption of innocence and the importance of evidence.