Brent Kavanaugh to give the Senate calendars that support his claims that he did not attack a woman when he was 17

Brent Kavanaugh at his Senate Confirmation hearings. New York Times

Supreme Court nominee Brent Kavanaugh will give the Senate calendars that support his claim that he did not attack a woman in 1982. The New York Times. The calendars, which were reviewed by the New York Times, did not show a party with the people named in the complain made by Christine Blasey Ford, who clams that Kavanaugh groped her when she was 15 and he was 17. Kavanaugh kept meticulous records and showed that he was out of town or otherwise busy for most of the summer and listed some parties but none that were consistent with the alleged attack. Ford's claims have been denied by Kavanaugh as well as the witnesses she listed in her letter to the Senate. 

My Comment:

These calendars are of course not rock solid proof that Ford's claims are not true. Kavanaugh may not have listed every event he attended and the entire thing could be a fabrication. But, if nothing else, it is evidence. And, along with the claims of the witnesses who say this story is bunk, it's the only evidence at all. This case seems like a clear case of political theater with the main objective being derailing a legitimate SCOTUS pick. It's probably revenge for Merrick Garland, but that doesn't make it right. 

I haven't talked too much about this case but that's largely because I couldn't contain my disgust. In my approximation the chances of anything at all happening between Kavanaugh and Ford are about 1%. It's not clear that they even interacted and I'm not even 100% sure that Ford even exists as anything other than an attack on the Trump government. 

We have seen this pattern before with GOP officials. It was first attempted with Justice Clarence Thomas but it didn't work there as I think it won't work here. Then they tried to get Trump with the same thing even after the New York Times said that Trump's record with women was impeccable and then all of a sudden a dozen women erupted from the woodwork to attack Trump. And it was successful at derailing the campaign of Roy Moore but only after he was the Senate candidate and not before the primary, timed for maximum damage. 

None of these claims were credible and none of them were ever elevated to the crime of rape. Though serious, the claims always lacked witnesses and did not have police reports filed. It seems a very clear pattern is that if you can't beat a GOP candidate on the merits you simply accuse him of sexual assault. No matter how little evidence there is and how long ago the event took place the media will cover it like it is a legitimate story while in actuality the accusations would be laughed out of any real court. 

That being said, I do think that sexual assault is a problem, especially among the countries elite. I am sure that there are enough GOP politicians out there that really have committed sex crimes. But those accusations don't happen during the end game of elections or during confirmation hearings. They happen when people go to the police. Ford never did and she still hasn't contacted local authorities to report this supposed crime. 

I also think that false reports like this are extremely damaging to pretty much everyone. Real assault and rape victims will now have to fear that their legitimate stories won't be believed and everyone else has to worry about being falsely accused. I am starting to think that the Mike Pence rule, don't be alone with any woman that isn't your wife, is going to be more widely adopted and not for the reasons Pence came up with it in the first place. If you are running for office it's probably better to not have any contact with women at all if you want to make sure that these kinds of charges don't stick. That's obviously bad for women as they will likely be cut out from advancement and the halls of power because the men they would work with are too afraid of being Kavanaughed. 

Yesterday on Twitter I went on quite a rant about the GOP and how they don't ever seem to fight. The proper response to these accusations about Kavanaugh would have been something to the effect of "either prove theses allegations with actual evidence or shut the hell up. Bring it up again without proof and our children's children will talk about what we do to you in response." But GOP leaders? They are bending backward to try and appease people that both hate us and hate the rule of law. 

I have long said that one of the most important American values is the concept of innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This case would have never been brought to trial in a regular court room and given the age of the case, the statute of limitations would have been long gone. The Democrats are saying that Kavanaugh should be forced to step down because of 35 year allegations with zero proof and if you disagree you are some kind of misogynist that  hates women? Well what about the rule of law? Does that matter at all anymore? Do we really want to live in a country where a mere allegation without proof is enough to destroy someones career? 

My hope is that this case will force the Democrats to pay a political price for this. I know that I am going to vote against them come hell or high water. As a gun enthusiast I was going to do so anyways, but now I have one more reason. We can't let this kind of thing continue, and not just because it is damaging to one political party over another. We need to preserve the concept of innocent until proven guilty and right now that concept is under attack...