Left Unsaid

I watched almost all of the nine hours of the Senate Judiciary session yesterday to hear testimony about the allegations concerning Brett Kavanaugh made by Dr. Christine Blakey Ford.

I have witnessed many of the highest profile Congressional hearings over the last 50 years—Watergate, Bork, Clarence Thomas, Clinton impeachment. I don’t know that any matched the drama and high stakes on display yesterday.

“He said, she said” cases are always difficult to assess. In this case both parties seemed sincere and credible. It was no different with Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill.

How do you assess truthfulness? A big factor favoring Thomas over 25 years ago was that there was no other credible allegation involving sexual harassment by Thomas that surfaced. There was no pattern of behavior. It did not mean that Hill was lying, it just seemed totally out of character for Thomas. Almost 30 years later this still seems true. If that was not the case we surely would have heard about it considering the Left’s animus towards the conservative record of Thomas.

The same also appears true for Kavanaugh. Are we to believe that he was preying on girls at 17 and 18 but then became a choir boy? Again, it is possible but this does not fit the typical behavior patterns of human beings.

Let’s put all the “He said, She said” aside and focus on what I thought was left unsaid at the hearing. I don’t know the answers but I would sure like to have heard something said about these points at the hearing.

1. The Democrats kept asking for an FBI investigation of the allegations. They also stated that President Bush had asked the FBI to investigate the Anita Hill allegations in the Thomas nomination. However, that charge involved sexual harassment in the federal government workplace. It was a potential federal crime. This is not the case with the Ford allegation. This would be a local crime. By all measures, the Judiciary Committee could bring more to bear in investigative muscle in this case than the Montgomery County,MD police.

2. Kavanaugh was supported by his wife and parents right behind him. I have read that Ford’s husband was not in the hearing room. Here she is in probably the most stressful moment in her life and her husband is absent? Why? Also, were her parents in attendance? They live in the area. If they were not there why were they absent?

3. Ford has maintained that 4 boys and 2 girls were at the party. She has given the names of 5 of the 6 she says were there. She is the only one of the five named attendees who remembers such a party. More significantly, she says the party took place near Columbia Country Club. However, all five of the named attendees (including Ford) lived over 6 miles from the club. Therefore, the party could not have been the house of any of those five. That means the house had to belong to the sixth person. Whose house was it? What effort has been made to identify the house since she testified she has a detailed recollection of the layout of the house?

4. Ford stated that music was playing in an upstairs bedroom when she went upstairs. She stated this music was turned up when she was “assaulted” to cover up her cries for help. She further stated that she heard Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge talking to the other kids downstairs before she fled. This would seem to indicate that no music was playing downstairs. No music at a party downstairs? However, music playing in an empty bedroom upstairs before she was “pushed in” the room from behind”. This does not make sense.

5. Ford states she was “assaulted” when she went to the bathroom on the second floor. Was there no first floor guest bath? Most people avoid using facilities at someone else’s home in their bedroom living quarters if they can. I have played golf at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, MD a number of times. The houses are generally older in the vicinity of the club and some may not have a first floor guest bath. However, this is also an affluent area and I would expect that it also would not be uncommon.

6. I only saw one answer from Kavanaugh that made we wonder what was left unsaid with his testimony. He was asked how he had known Mark Judge. He stated he met him in ninth grade. That would have seemed to me to answer the question. However, he then continued and stated Judge was smart, a great writer, etc. He then went on to recount addiction and other problems that Judge had dealt with during his life. It made no sense to me why Kavanaugh added these comments. They did not seem helpful to Kavanaugh’s cause considering Judge is his most important corroborating witness. Was Kavanaugh hedging his bets with Judge if his story changes? I thought it interesting that the Democrats never questioned Kavanaugh about this.

It is unfortunate there is still anything left unsaid at this late date. It goes without saying that Brett Kavanaugh has gone through more scrutiny than any Supreme Court nominee in history.

It is time for the Senate to “advise and consent” (or not) on Kavanaugh.

We know the Democrats don’t want him. The fact is they don't want any Trump nominee. However, as Barack Obama famously stated, “elections have consequences”.

The Democrats seem to have forgotten that. I guess you can say that is left unsaid in all of this madness.

Sent from my iPad