Decency

The Kavanaugh - Ford debacle, coordinated by the Democrats, reflects a ugly blend of the politics of personal destruction. The Dems express faux outrage over an 11th hour, unsubstantiated allegation that is being used to discredit a fully qualified candidate for SCOTUS, ruin his reputation for the rest of his life, and provide political leverage that just might wreck his chances of getting the nomination after all. They have the chutzpa to demand an FBI investigation that delays Kavanaugh's nomination even though they could have had an investigation completed had they asked six weeks ago. Instead, they have allowed last minute innuendo to ruin a decent man and at the same time, make demands that are so hypocritical, they would be laughable if they were not so dangerous.

The GOP looks like a deer in headlights, afraid to buck political correctness or MeToo hysteria to say ENOUGH! Correctly, the GOP has made an attempt to hear out Ms. Ford, even though her recollections are hazy and the event happened 36 years ago—in high school! But Ford has so far (predictably) demurred, demanding a 7th FBI probe of Kavanaugh after six turned up nothing that would indicate he is an abuser of woman. Of course, if an FBI probe were completed quickly, you can bet your life that Democrats would say that it wasn't thorough enough, that it was a 'rush to judgement,' that male bias pervaded the findings, that we must believe the accuser regardless of the outcome.

There appears to be nothing that would satisfy the Dems short of Kavanaugh removing his name from nomination—their overriding goal in the first place. This isn't about #MeToo or sexual assault or even about Christine Blasey Ford, who is either a purposeful tool or unwitting pawn in the Democrat's on-going psychodrama. The Dems have lost power and they cannot abide that. Any action, no matter how crass, that returns them power is acceptable and necessary. In fact, their recent actions vis a vis the Ford allegations are prima facie evidence why the broader American public has removed them from power.

John Kass is eloquent when he discusses this disgusting spectacle:

Because in their zeal to delegitimize Kavanaugh and delay confirmation until after the 2018 midterm elections, the Senate Democrats seem all too willing to delegitimize the Supreme Court itself.

Even if his nomination is confirmed by the Republican majority, the as-yet-unsubstantiated allegation of an attempted high school rape will hang from his neck for as long as he lives. And from the necks of his wife and daughters.

Ford’s charge is serious business. But having them duel it out publicly, for the amusement of jabbering knaves on Twitter and TV whipping up Democratic or Republican tribal outrage, isn’t the best way for a healthy republic to handle things.

Now it’s a freak show. And trashing the reputation of a man who has never, to my knowledge, exhibited even hints of such behavior is the way of our politics.

It is indecent that we accept this status quo.

Long before Kavanaugh was born, at a hearing in Washington on June 9, 1954, Joseph Welch, a lawyer representing the U.S. Army finally confronted Joe McCarthy [a GOP senator who is infamous for his dishonest use of anti-communist innuendo] on national television.

Welch offered a statement that ended McCarthy’s career.

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness,” Welch said. “… You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

It was indecent then. It is indecent now.

It was reckless then. It is reckless now.

Sen. Feinstein, have you no sense of decency?

Nah ... decency disappeared among the Democrats when Clarance Thomas was nominated to SCOTUS, or maybe it was when Donald Trump won the 2016 election. It has never returned. Instead, it has been replaced by a "freak show" that exhibits a level of cruelty and recklessness that is astounding.

UPDATE:
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Daniel Henninger gets to the core of this debacle by looking at broader motives:

Surely someone pointed out [to the Democrats] that based on what was disclosed, this accusation could not be substantiated. To which the Democrats responded: So what? Its political value is that it cannot be disproved. They saw that six weeks before a crucial midterm election, the unresolvable case of Christine Blasey Ford would sit like a stalled hurricane over the entire Republican Party, drowning its candidates in a force they could not stop.

In #MeToo, which began in the predations of Harvey Weinstein, Democrats and progressives finally have found a weapon against which there seems to be no defense. It can be used to exterminate political enemies. If one unprovable accusation doesn’t suffice, why not produce a second, or third? It’s a limitless standard.

The Democrats’ broader strategy is: Delay the vote past the election; win the Senate by convincing suburban women that Republicans are implacably hostile to them; seize power; and—the point of it all—take down the Trump government.

This is the “resistance.” This is what Democrats have become. Resistance is a word and strategy normally found in a revolutionary context, which is precisely the argument made by the left to justify its actions against this presidency since the evening of Nov. 8, 2016. Anything goes. Whatever it takes. Brett Kavanaugh is not much more than a casualty of war.

Yet, every shred of evidence, with the exception of Ford's wholly unsubstantiated allegations, indicates that Brett Kavanaugh is more than "a casualty of war." He is a decent, competent jurist, who has now been irreparably smeared by the Democrats. This is the party that the Dems have become—a cruel and vengeful collection of ideologues who are incapable of winning arguments on their merits but are fully capable of destroying anyone who stands in their way. They have no sense of decency—none at all.