The spectacle of the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing last week was riveting, as many of us across the country watched their testimony.
I won’t rehash the facts each person presented because ultimately neither side can prove or disprove their own allegations. Except that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was truthful when he spoke of the convoluted process that has taken us to this point.
First and most important, the only reason why the Senate Democrats have any legs with Americans on this issue is because the mainstream media have gone all-in with their coverage and unflinching support for Ms. Ford the accuser, and the Senate Democrats.
Otherwise, this would be just another pitched political battle within the Senate, albeit a critical one, because we’re talking about the confirmation of a justice who potentially could tip the balance and views of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Even I, as a conservative Democrat, can’t fault the Dems entirely for playing their games with delaying the accusation letter, making this only about the victim, which is one-sided, and muddying the waters as best they can.
Look, if the shoe were on the other foot, the Republicans would be doing the same thing.
Thankfully, however, Americans have revealed in a brand-new poll that they think the confirmation process has indeed become a disgrace.
A national survey by Rasmussen of 1,000 likely voters, conducted October 1-2, asked: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: 'This confirmation process has become a national disgrace. The Constitution gives the Senate an important role in the confirmation process, but you have replaced advise and consent with search and destroy.'”
Overall, 56 percent of those polled agreed with the statement, 30 percent disagreed; 77 percent of Republicans and even 51 percent of Independents agreed. And a strong plurality of 40 percent of Democrats agreed as well.
What this means is, despite the hype and propaganda-rich storyline from the mainstream media, Americans see this charade for what it is.
Here’s where the Democrats screwed up:
U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein says Dr. Ford’s life has been “upside down,” and that “she deserves better.” Yet, the only reason Christine Blasey Ford didn’t testify privately in California, which would have spared her this anguishing time, is because she says her attorneys never told her she had that option.
These are the same attorneys Sen. Feinstein suggested she retain.
Clearly, this entire theatrical production was choregraphed by the Democratic-activist, anti-Trump lawyers in cahoots with Senate Dems because they wanted it played out on national television to either defeat the nomination and/or to motivate their base in the upcoming midterm election.
Either way, Dr. Ford was either “played” or duped. Given her level of education, it appears she was “played,” perhaps even willingly.
She may be anguished, but I bet she soon gets a book deal or speaking fees for the 120 minutes of “fame” she sought because it was her “civic duty.”
You can’t be a “victim” of this process, if you voluntarily put yourself in that chair in D.C.
It hasn’t been mentioned much, but the independent Arizona prosecutor the Republicans used in questioning Dr. Ford subtlely brought out the fact that Dr. Ford purposely misled the committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Americans when she said she was fearful of flying.
Because, then we learn under closer questioning that she flies every year to see her family in Delaware, that she flies regularly for her job and that she’s even flown to the far reaches of the Pacific on vacation.
That hardly constitutes a fear of flying; in fact, her own testimony is, she flies pretty regularly for work and play.
So, if Dr. Ford lies about her “fear of flying,” how can one believe anything else coming out of her mouth? It’s not like she’s been repressing her fear of flying because of the sexual assault.
Moreover, her inability -- or unwillingness -- to even recall if she had given her accusation letter to a Washington Post reporter a few weeks earlier, also calls into question her veracity, much less her ability to recall seemingly even very recent events.
Suffice it to say that sometime today -- Friday -- the Senate will initiate the procedural votes to begin the final phase of this confirmation.
As U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham so eloquently said, NBC News has become a “co-conspirator” with the Democrats as far as perpetuating the one-sided story that we hear throughout each day.
I would suggest that Sen. Graham is wrong only in one respect: ABC, CBS, CNN, ad nauseum are all co-conspirators and it’s why the credibility of network television and journalists is at the lowest point ever.
It’s hard for me to feel concern about President Trump’s attacks on the press when the press takes every opportunity every day to attack him, his family, his policies, his administration, and his ideas.
They don’t simply report anymore, they attack.
Of late, it appears that Meghan Kelly is the only NBC personality who’s willing to present both sides of the story, even if it means disagreeing -- on the air -- with one of her fellow NBC reporters.
This is not, and never has been, about sexual assault or drinking habits. This is a political hit job to derail a nomination, and the fact that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer presaged this epic battle from the very beginning just shows the minority party will go to any length to keep Kavanaugh off the bench.
The sad truth is that the mainstream media have put on full display their willingness to exacerbate the divisiveness in this country to help Dems against Trump, for purely political reasons.
Oh, they try to characterize this about sexual assault, but where is their righteous indignation about Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison’s sexual assault of his girlfriend?
That story has been deep-sixed because he’s a liberal, Muslim-Democrat.
If we’re going back 30-some years, how come no parallels are being drawn by the mainstream media to President Bill Clinton’s sexual picadilloes?
Finally, I hear all the time about how this event is going to motivate Democratic women to vote in November.
Don’t forget that Republican women can be just as motivated to eek out retribution on the Democrats in November.
Barney Bishop III is a conservative Democrat who served as executive director of the Florida Democratic Party in the early 1990s.
