Ed Whelan’s tweets have created a second Kavanaugh scandal
Did Brett Kavanaugh know a friend of his was planning to smear a private citizen?
On Thursday night, conservative legal operative Ed Whelan sent a series of tweets suggesting that the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh were likely a case of mistaken identity. His evidence was that a high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s kind of looked like him, and lived in a childhood home that sounded similar to the home where Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, described the assault taking place.
This thin evidence was quickly torn apart. Political observers from across the aisle blasted Whelan for posting the classmate’s name and photograph and strongly implying, without evidence, that he committed sexual assault. It turns out the classmate, a middle school teacher whose name I don’t want to disseminate, was someone Ford knew; she told the Washington Post that “there is zero chance that I would confuse them.”
By Friday morning, the backlash was so overwhelming that Whelan, who is currently president of the conservative Ethics & Public Policy Center, deleted his entire tweetstorm and apologized:
Don't repeat Anita Hill nightmare with Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford
First, this will not be a hearing and certainly not a fair fight. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley will seek to put Ford on trial, working with his Republican colleagues — all men — to undermine her credibility, destroy her character, and label her a liar.
In Hill's case, Thomas was permitted to testify first, beginning the process of destruction and laying the onus on Hill to respond. Democrats should insist Ford testify first so that Judge Kavanaugh must answer the charges, not Ford. She is not the one who has allegedly perpetrated a sexual assault.
Second, if Ford wishes to have corroborating witnesses, every one of them should be called to testify, before Kavanaugh’s rebuttal. In Hill's case, proceedings were ended before supporting Hill witnesses were allowed to testify. That was a fatal mistake, as Democrats serving on the committee at that time have subsequently admitted. Hill was literally and figuratively alone.
Third, the polygraph test Ford voluntarily took should be admitted as pertinent to the hearing. The hearing is not a court of law, and Ford’s willingness to take a polygraph and its results are relevant. Kavanaugh should, of course, be given the opportunity to take his own polygraph, should he so desire.
Fourth, Republicans will attempt to make process arguments that the timing of Ford’s allegations was politically motivated and are thus inherently suspect. Democrats must soundly reject process arguments. Anita Hill, a private citizen, deeply underestimated the cruel questioning that awaited her. A secondary tragedy of her treatment by the Senate was that it showed other survivors — past, present and future — what awaited them should they decide to come forward.
POLITICO Race Ratings: GOP grip on House continues to slip
7 GOP-held seats move toward Democrats.
Two suburban-oriented, Republican-controlled seats are now in serious jeopardy of flipping. The congressman representing one of those seats, Erik Paulsen, has seen notable recent deterioration in his reelection prospects — it’s a far cry from 2016, when he won his suburban Minneapolis district by nearly 14 percentage points.
Donald Trump is a big part of Paulsen’s problem. Paulsen’s constituents have never taken much of a liking to the president. Trump lost the district to Hillary Clinton by 9 percentage points in 2016, a significant shift from four years earlier, when then-President Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney by less than a single point — even though Minnesota, as a state, moved toward the GOP between 2012 and 2016.
What’s happening in Paulsen’s district — according to a recent poll, 62 percent of likely voters in the district disapprove of Trump’s job performance — is also playing out, to some extent, in suburban seats across the country.
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