On Thursday, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford spoke for herself, in her own voice, without any political postures or attitude. Maybe that’s incorrect – she did have an attitude, and it was an attitude of “I hope I’m being super-helpful, this is my civic duty!” She had the energy of a kind and thoughtful cool-mom professor, and I’m guessing that she’s probably one of her students’ favorite professors. She also had an appealing naivete – as I tweeted yesterday, it was so telling and so charming that she really did not understand why she would need to hire a lawyer, as many of her friends advised her to do. She truly did not understand the messy political world she entered. And that’s what made her so believable – she’s never been a political operative in her life. She didn’t come forward as part of any kind of agenda. She truly thought she was being helpful, and she truly hoped that a more suitable candidate would be chosen for the Supreme Court.
There were tears in the courtroom all around during her opening statement and throughout her testimony. Here’s her opening statement:
I saw tweets from men and women online that there were tears all around. After her opening statement, the senators got five-minute slots to ask her questions – the Republicans were too cowardly to pose their questions directly, so they hid behind Rachel Mitchell, a sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona. Mitchell asked nitpicky questions about street names, her friends’ names, etc. I’m not sure Dr. Ford understood why she was being asked those kinds of questions. The Democrats all professed their belief in Dr. Ford’s testimony, and one of the most visceral moments came when Senator Leahy asked her about her strongest memory of the assault:
Sen. Leahy: What is your strongest memory of the incident?
Dr. Ford: "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two." pic.twitter.com/OpmSolmXDV
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 27, 2018
It should be noted that many of the Republican senators seemed to believe Dr. Ford… up to a point. They believed she was a victim. But my guess is that they think it’s all a case of mistaken identity. Either that or they believe her story 100% but they just don’t care – they think Brett Kavanaugh is probably a rapist but that he should still be on the Supreme Court.
Dr. Ford said she was “100%” sure that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her:
DURBIN: I'm asking you to address this new Republican defense of mistaken identity directly. Dr. Ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?
FORD: 100 percent. pic.twitter.com/52DBPveSiZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 27, 2018
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
I am also 100% sure that Judge Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her.
Oh, its clear as day. Anyone still claiming not to believe her at this point is lying. They believe her and just don’t want to admit it.
Yes, I am too. And if I’d had any doubts (I didn’t), his behavior under questioning would have erased them. He is the embodiment of white male privilege, and his response to Senator Klobuchar when she asked him if he had ever blacked out from drinking (he replied by saying something like, “I dunno…Have YOU?!?”) showed what an arrogant BULLY he is.
She was amazing, esp with the questioning from Mitchell (who I might add seemed to believe her story as she couldn’t really poke holes in it and it was not just because of the format of the questioning).
She was poised, calm and honest – compared to the over emotional hate filled entitled twat who followed who clearly hadn’t had a drink in a least 2 days (this is exactly how heavy and consistent drinkers behave when they’ve been dry).
Kavanaugh showed us his ass yesterday and it was not pretty. He’s a nasty, woman hating, entitled, douche bro who’s clearly never been held accountable for his actions, ever. Plus he’s an abusive drunk – I can see why his wife is so timid, if this is how he treats female Senators then I can only imagine what she has to put up with at home.
Plus I think I might have a little crush on Sen Booker.
She was amazing and I think this whole ordeal is more upsetting than Trump being elected. Because instead of billions of faceless voters we have a small group of people, elected to represent us, who can stop this. And yet they will not.
Booker was fantastic, as were Harris and Klobuchar but I have to give a shout out to my own Senator, Dick Durbin, who always comes through as well.
Yes, Digital, I so agree–he has all the signs of alcololism, including the reddened, blotchy skin of Steve Bannon. And as he testified—especially in his responses to Klobuchar—I found him the epitome of the privileged bully and it was in that moment that I KNEW, rather than merely believed, that he is an abusive man and a lifelong drunk, and that he absolutely DID try to rape Dr. Ford.
Until it came time for the Republicans to defer to Mitchell during Kavanaugh’s turn. They knew they were losing after Mitchell’s failed attempts to find holes in Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony, and Kavanaugh was starting to crack under Mitchell’s questioning, so they just used their 5 minutes to blather on with barely a question to Kavanaugh.
“But my guess is that they think it’s all a case of mistaken identity. Either that or they believe her story 100% but they just don’t care – they think Brett Kavanaugh is probably a rapist but that he should still be on the Supreme Court.”
IMO it is the latter.
They all know what happened. They know who they are putting on the Supreme Court. They don’t care.
This was never about a fair hearing and getting to the facts. It was a show trial that they hoped would give them a sliver of plausible deniability to hang their decision on so they can go on pretending they are good and decent people.
And if what Dr Blasey Ford was put through has a chilling effect on reporting rapes – well, they might not say it out loud, but that is a design feature, not a bug. Because no white cis man’s life should ever be impacted by something as trivial as being a rapist.
They can all go to hell.
remembering Julie Swetnick’s testimony about there being a TRAIN of teenaged boys lining up to get dibs, i wouldn’t be surprised that some men in that room thought “what’s wrong with that? i did it back then too…”
i’m horrified to think that in the break room or somewhere , they reminisced about : oh i did that girl or woman or whatever in the past too… what’s wrong with that?
much like how people casually shared they dropped acid and did hard drugs and it was fine because privilege.
Hey leave acid and hard drugs out of this
This is frighteningly true. They’re likely mainly concerned that women from their own past will start stepping forward. Imagine how many women have been left in the wake of these revolting creatures?
Hold everything!
The American Bar Association is recommending the Senate Judiciary Committee HALT its vote until the FBI can investigate at least 3 of the allegations against Mr “I like beer”/Captain of the basketball team/Devil’s Triangle sexual deviant Kavanaugh.
You can’t put a judge on any court who can be possibly disbarred by “The Gold Standard” of the ABA, right Lindsey ( “I just made a scene during the testimony for spot as AG when Sessions is fired” ) Graham?
So if he gets disbarred does it automatically mean his nom is invalidated?
And would he be removed from his current judge position? If so, that would be choice!
It doesn’t matter. Nothing does.
The ABA can’t disbar anyone. It is a voluntary professional organization that members pay a yearly membership fee to be a part of. The worst the ABA could do to him is refuse to take his money next year, if he is even a member to begin with. If he were to be disbarred it would need to be according to the standards of whatever state he is licensed as an attorney.
Apparently that is in the works too. Several attorneys have requested a character and fitness investigation in Maryland, where I believe he is licensed.
Democratic Senators yesterday are my new heroes especially Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar.
In her 5 minutes, Amy hit a nerve with Brett and exposed his true angry, privileged and misogyny when he sneered back at her and asked: did you have blackouts?
Then the wonderful Kamala Harris only asked two questions and both crusified Brett. He was forced to give a yes/no answer to the first question. But it’s her second question that really showed her amazing Prosecutor skills by asking him a simple question: did you watch Doctor Ford’s testimony?
And what did Brett do? He answered no and Kamala had a smug smile on her face afterwards. I wondered why and then I found out that Brett was pictured looking directly at the monitor while Doctor Ford gave her testimony. Kamala just got Brett commit an obvious perjury and that too for a simple thing.
Brett is finished either way as the American Bar Association just wrote to the Republicans to not vote/confirm Brett until a further investigation by FBI is conducted. He showed the world he doesn’t have the moral, temper, integrity to be a Supreme Court Justice. He gave the Democrats lots of evidence to impeach him even if he gets confirmed.
Doctor Ford took the responsibility of millions of abused women and won. Her voice was heard and it has affected the next generation of women and even men.
I’m not from the US, so I don’t understand the power of the ABA, why are they able to force an investigation?
Is it because they can take away his law licence and then he can’t be a judge?
they said they couldn’t:
https://twitter.com/ABAesq/status/1045339569032495104
No the power they gave us that they are prestige and Brett himself bragged about having a AA score from them.
The other idiot, the tantrum one, also bragged about ABA and used that as a shining example of how good Brett is.
No that very same ABA is demanding a through investigation. The irony is delicious and the Republicans are screwed even more.
The ABA traditionally reviews Supreme Court nominees and issues its opinion as to whether they are qualified to serve. It is not a binding opinion and really is more of a courteous acknowledgment of the role the ABA has played in developing ethical guidelines for the profession.
Can someone explain exactly how important the ABA FBI recommendation is? Will they really take away his ability to practice law?
As far as I can gather, it’s an institution or club you join but they don’t have any authority to disbar anyone.
Read the “Commentary” section for the ABA at
Americanbar.org
Pre-Trump, it would have mattered. Norms have gone out the window, along with integrity and morality.
Dr Ford is a hero. I hope she is able to have some peace knowing that there were millions of us sending her our love and strength. She is amazing.
Having flashbacks of Clarence Thomas with this. I only have the utmost respect for Anita Hill and her courageous testimony and remember well how they gaslighted her and smeared her reputation. My heart goes out to Dr. Ford and what she is going through and am sicked by the President of the United States and his blatant misogyny that he tweets with abandon.
#ibelievechristineblaseyfordandanitahill100%
Even the hired “assistant” Mitchell seemed to give up at the end of Ford’s questioning. Amazing how those loud geezers found their voice in the hallways and just a few minutes into their boy Brett’s questioning.
I’d like to know how much it cost taxpayers for Mitchell to do their jobs for them.
I was drugged and raped at a party by two different guys in the same night when I was 16 years old. I may not remember the majority of the night but I sure as hell remember the bits and pieces of being violently assaulted in many ways. I’m almost glad that I don’t remember the entire night because I’m genuinely terrified of what else happened to me that I don’t remember. I didn’t tell anyone what happened to me for over 16 years b/c when I tried to tell my mother after it happened, she told me to shut up. That I deserved whatever happened to me b/c I was a disappointment to her and to god for being a bad kid. I had to drop out of school over bullying and death threats from people at my school being told I had a train ran on me and I was a whore. I finally told my husband what happened when I was 32 years old. He handled it so well, so supportive. We went to the same high school so I didn’t tell him who they were. He asked me not to b/c he would find them and kill them if he knew who they were. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself and he didn’t want to spend his life in prison away from me and our daughter. At the age of 37, I’m finally getting therapy for it.
I’m so sorry this happened to you and also sorry for the response you got from your mother.
You seem to have found a supportive husband and that is crucial.
You are worthy and NOBODY deserves what happened to you. This is not on you, it’s on the animals who did this to you.
I’m sending you a hug from France.
I hope you can find some comfort or peace, however small it may be.
Mel, thank you so much. Your comment brought tears to my eyes. Sincerely, I appreciate you.
Wow, this brought me chills. Does your husband know the guys who did this to you? I know you haven’t told him but just wondering if he personally knew them or were friendly with them. I hope you don’t run into those guys anymore and they live far away. I am so glad he’s been supportive and I’m so sorry your mom wasn’t there for you.
He has never spoken about them in the 17 years that we’ve known each other so I don’t think they were ever friends. However, I feel sure that he would know who they were if I told him their names. I know that one of them lives out of state but I’m not too sure about the other one. I randomly ran into one of them years after it happened at a nightclub. He made a beeline to me and offered me drugs and asked me if I wanted to party like we were the best of friends. The only time that I ever interacted with him was the night he drugged and raped me. Probably wanted to drug and rape me again. I left the club with my friends immediately.
Dear Skipper
I am so so sorry you had to go through this horrible ordeal and that your mom, the one person supposed to protect you, failed you and made you feel like it was your fault.
It is NEVER EVER the victim’s fault. You did nothing wrong and didn’t deserve what happened to you.
I wish you light and healing and am happy you have a wonderful husband who loves and supports you.
Every time I read another metoo comment it breaks my heart and keeps bringing up horrible memories and makes me question things that have happened in the past that weren’t OK but I somehow managed to shrug off.
How is it that we are all victims of male toxicity, in one way or another, however indirectly?
I’ve been reading this website for years but am always too shy to comment but I just want to say I stand with all of you brave, amazing, intelligent ladies and I BELIEVE YOU!
Thank you so much, Seraphina!
She showed so much courage and did a huge service to her country. The republicans are disgusting pigs. No words.
I believe every word she said, and I’m heartbroken because I know it’s not going to make any difference. The morally bankrupt GOP is going to ram him through. At this point, Kavanaugh could have admitted to, “a brief rapey period in my youth, but hey, I was blacked out through most of it so it doesn’t really matter and haven’t we all done that,” and the angry old GOP would have fallen to their knees praising his honesty and glorious repentance and we NEED him on the bench NOW.
We’re doomed.
Flake is a yes to confirm to the surprise of no one.
Then Collins and Murkowski will follow suit in the general confirmation hearing and a belligerent drunk who assaulted women will be the decisive vote to overturn Roe.
I am just sick about it!
I am emotionally exhausted from all of this.
I have had several similar things happen to me at several points in my life and at the time found them traumatic but considered them “not rape” because there was no penetration. When I lived in the dorms in college similar things would happen to at least one girl on my dorm floor per week. The normalization of this type of behavior is so pervasive. I obviously never reported anything and have only told a very few friends. Only in the last year or so since this #metoo conversation started did I start thinking differently about these instances. So many women coming out with these stories has made me feel less alone if nothing else.
She was poised, articulate, and strong. A true patriot.
The fury and heartbreak that so many women collectively felt yesterday was palpable. Our leaders have shown and told us over and over that our words don’t matter, our right to choose can be taken away at any moment, and that it’s a-ok if the president brags about assaulting us. I’ve had enough. Please vote in November, everyone.
Stephen King’s Twitter has a lot to say about this. He’s on her side. If you don’t follow him, do check it out anyway, interesting takes!
“…before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”