In September of 2008, former President Obama referred to John McCain’s presidential bid as an attempt to wrap old fish in clean paper and say it does not stink. Most famously he said, “you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig.” McCain feigned outrage and called out Obama as sexist, asserting that the comment was aimed at Sarah Palin. Ignore McCain’s joke in 1998 deriding, First Daughter Chelsea Clinton’s appearance, after all, that was just part of the maverick’s candor. Republicans nominated Sarah Palin for Vice-President attempting to pat their female constituency on the head by offering up a totally unqualified woman as Vice- President of the United States. I can imagine Orrin Hatch, currently a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in backroom conferences offering his opinion, let’s give the mixed-up women something to get excited about.
Of course, I have no evidence to accuse Senator Hatch of using such words, or do I? In recent weeks the good Republican senator from Utah said that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford must be “mixed up” when she accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempted rape. Now the Republicans are again insulting the intelligence of women by using a female “assistant” who happens to be a 26-year trained sex crime prosecutor to question Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. Not only should women be horrified but men need to admit this is a brazen attempt by Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and his cohorts to avoid the appearance of bias and their responsibility. Eleven white men who would most assuredly fake probing questions into her allegations are literally hoping to hide behind a prosecutor in a skirt who will make their case; leaving it to Maricopa County, Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell.
Republicans have thrown away any appearance of even trying to look fair in this process, Mitch McConnell has said the Senate will “plow through” the hearings and voting process. Any detective, investigator, county sheriff, F.B.I agent or even Barney Fife will tell you an eyewitness to an attempted rape is the rarest of circumstance, yet we have one [Mark Judge] and the Committee feels it is not necessary to hear from him. Today 55-year-old Julie Swetnick, formerly employed by the US Department of Mint and reportedly vetted numerous times for her successful security clearance, is the third woman to attest to Kavanaugh’s alleged criminal behavior. Again, she claims to be an eyewitness to Brett Kavanaugh’s actions.
Where is the serious inquiry?
We have an anomaly that people who investigate sex crimes only dream of, alleged eyewitnesses, but no one in charge cares to look.
[Incidentally, according to drinkingmap.com, the legal drinking age in Maryland in 1983 was 21. Kavanaugh was born in 1965, that would have made him 18. Apparently, the judge cannot adjudicate his own case.]
The default position when disputes arise over sexual misconduct is to first find a reason why the woman would be lying. No one asked if Donald Trump is psychotic for publicly lusting after his own daughter, although Anita Hill’s sanity was questioned in 1991. No sane father thinks like that, not even in jest. Despite the overwhelming numbers of women who have proven to be right after making accusations, the onus of sanity and truth continues to fall to the woman.
Vote in ’18 for Change.