Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is praising the move by GOP Judiciary Committee members to use outside counsel to question the accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during Thursday’s hearing. It’s pure genius, he said, because, frankly, GOP men simply can’t be trusted to act culturally appropriate toward a woman.
“I think it’s really smart of them to get outside counsel,” Corker told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. When asked why he thought the all-male Republican members of the panel shouldn’t handle the questioning of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford themselves, Corker responded:
“Somebody will do something that you guys will run 24/7 and inadvertently somebody will do something that’s insensitive.”
Gee, “insensitive” like calling Dr. Blasey Ford “mixed up” such as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) did or saying her sexual assault claims have been a “drive-by shooting” of Kavanaugh like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did? Both are members of the Judiciary Committee but, really, how could any man be expected to know that dismissing a PhD and trauma victim as “this woman” or “that lady” is sexist? C’mon, give the fellas a break—people are so touchy touchy these days about basic human decency.
Republicans, by the way, could have put women on the Judiciary Committee, as Democrats have done, but they didn’t. That’s purely a function of their caucus and how they run it and the fact that male seniority is more prized by Republicans than the concepts of equity and inclusion. Republicans did it to themselves and fashioned one of the most powerful and consequential committees in the Senate as an all-male club. Now they’re trying to hide the fact that, in their party, men run the show by pushing to the fore a hired female gun—who’s not elected and won’t even have a vote—to do their bidding.
Gee, what could possibly be more sexist than hiring a woman to do the dirty work while the men ultimately continue to retain all the power?
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