No matter what your opinion may be on the circus of the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, everyone should have great sympathy for Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, regardless of whether you believe that a teenage Kavanaugh committed what she alleges happened over thirty-five years ago.
If you fall on the side of believing Prof. Ford’s allegations, then the reasons for sympathy are obvious.
If you are skeptical of the allegations, and think yourself a decent and reasonable person, you should recognize that it is possible to place no value judgment on her timing in publicly disclosing her trauma while recognizing that there are legal ramifications in waiting 30-plus years in disclosing it to the world. Those ramifications include the loss of physical evidence, loss of potential eyewitness account to both direct and collateral facts, and the tricks of memory.
Memory is not Memorex; it can be influenced by time, by the mind’s attempt to make sense of senselessness, and is more often than not cobbled together from both individual and shared experiences. But how a memory is made does not make it any more or less real to a person — to them, it simply is their truth and they believe it because that is their fragile foothold on reality. As the noted psychologist Elizabeth Loftus once stated, "It’s very compelling to believe someone's memory, especially when they cry. But I've seen people cry over false memories, as well as over real ones."
Further complicating the determination of whether a memory without corroboration is real is the false credibility that pop culture has granted to polygraph tests, which reports supporting Prof. Ford’s account hang their hats on. However, there is a reason why courts of law choose not to rely on “lie detectors," the science behind them is inconclusive at best, no matter how many times Maury tells a cheating boyfriend “that was a lie” on your morning television.
All of which leads to a bitter pill for Prof. Ford: while a reasonable person can be understanding of her reasons for the delay, the real consequences of her choice is that her truth and "the" truth can never be publicly reconciled. Which is sad.
Then on top of that, she has been additionally victimized, as her truth has become a political tool of those she entrusted with the information. Which is cruel.
It is cruel that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) took Prof. Ford’s story — and her trust — and sat on it for weeks without acting on it. As Sen. Chuck Grassley so eloquently put in letters to his Democratic colleagues sitting on the Judiciary Committee, Feinstein waited until the most politically opportune moment to thrust Prof. Ford into the brightest of spotlights. Scoring political points should never outweigh a person’s well-being.
It is cruel that Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) has chosen to use Prof. Ford’s story to score #MeToo points, only to be hoisted by her own hypocritical petard when reports emerge that she gladly accepted political cash from a Democrat elected official who reportedly admitted to hitting his wife.
It is cruel that Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) manipulates Sen. Grassley’s offers to accommodate Prof. Ford with her choice of testimony as a means into a twisted political argument that Republicans and the Trump administration are trying to “silence” her because they have refused to launch an investigation that would singularly consist of… testimony from the parties involved.
It is cruel that Joy Behar of "The View" runs right over Prof. Ford’s dignity, and bypasses the judge and jury by proclaiming Judge Kavanaugh “probably guilty.”
It is cruel that as a result of the shabby treatment afforded to Prof. Ford, it now seems like being a hack and a hypocrite is a requirement of the Democratic Party in order to hold high office. How else can you explain how Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) can sit in judgment of allegations of sexual misconduct, having once admitted in print that he once took advantage of a female? Or how most Democrats remain silent while Karen Monahan struggles to bring attention to the alleged physical and mental abuse at the hands of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN).
Now imagine if you will that Prof. Ford was your mother, wife, or sister, and that she has had her “truth” used for political opportunism with a rogue’s gallery of hypocrites, grandstanders, and talking heads opining on what is best for her when they only care about what is best for them — and tell me you feel no sympathy for Prof. Ford.
Gene Berardelli is a street-smart trial attorney who, through his time as the Law Chair of the Republican Party in Brooklyn, New York, has developed a solid reputation as an election attorney successfully representing conservative candidates.
Russell Gallo is a security expert and combat veteran who attained the rank of First Sergeant in the New York Army National Guard, earning a Combat Action Badge in Iraq. Together, they host Behind Enemy Lines Radio, a national award-winning radio show and podcast broadcasting out of "The People's Republic of" New York that airs weekly on AM and FM radio stations as part of the Talk America Radio network. To read more of their reports — Click Here Now.
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