This is a short post, but I don’t really have more to say than this…
The Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee simply cannot be present at a Committee meeting as now proposed by Grassley. Folks argued that they should not have been at the initial hearings under the circumstances, but this is at another level.
As it stands now, the politics of the next couple days are simple if nothing else changes. The Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee cannot participate in any hearings that do not involve the obvious witnesses that must be called or a legitimate investigation.
It is clearly complicated if Dr. Ford does testify on Monday, but those complications aside, the Democrats should simply not participate in the process to show how illegitimate it would be. This will undoubtedly make the proposed process much harder for Dr. Ford if it goes as planned, but I do not see how the Democrats on the SJC can grant the hearing as planned legitimacy.
I understand an argument that the Democrats cannot simply throw Dr. Ford to the wolves that the Republicans clearly are, but I don’t see any effective alternative.
I may well be wrong, and I want to hear your thoughts and comments.