Democrats abused Ford (and Kavanaugh)

The party of the Left has shown that there is no calumny it will not retail, no false or uncorroborated allegation it will not use to whip up ideological passions, and no depths to which it will not stoop to win and hold power. Let’s hope voters look at the noisome spectacle that has just taken place on Capitol Hill and deliver a resounding rebuke to the people who perpetrated it. Their behavior during the Kavanaugh confirmation process outstrips even the disgraceful conduct of their partisan forebears at the confirmation hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. Thursday was a black day, capping a period of bleak weeks in the history of American governance.

Let us focus on just one striking moment and Ford’s answers to two questions from Republican lawyer Rachel Mitchell. The prosecutor, who conducted herself with gentleness, respect, and restraint, asked Ford to whom she had given her letter accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Under oath, Ford made it clear that her lawyers, plus Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were the only people to whom she sent the letter.

Ford had chosen her lawyer, Debra Katz, on Feinstein’s recommendation. So how did her letter leak to the news media? The likeliest explanation is that Katz or Feinstein did the leaking, even though Ford had explicitly asked them not to share it. Ford made it clear in her testimony that she went to the Washington Post reporter only after the story began to leak and reporters began walking into her house to question her.

These reporters were sicced onto Ford by whoever leaked her story. It seems that Katz dragged her own client, or Feinsten dragged a sexual assault victim for whom she expressed crocodile concern, into a political maelstrom for entirely cynical ends. If Katz and Feinstein had wanted to protect Ford, they could have made sure her allegation was investigated confidentially rather than in the horror circus of the Senate hearing room where she was, by her own admission, terrified. Mitchell’s other illuminating line of questions was about how Ford, who fears flying, was nevertheless forced to fly across the country and testify in Washington rather under oath at home in California.

Ford said she would have preferred to have congressional staff visit her, but was told that was impossible. When Mitchell informed Ford in the hearing Thursday that Grassley had in fact offered to send staff out to California to spare Ford the trip, the witness reacted with real surprise. Neither her lawyer nor anyone else apparently had told her that this was an option.

Why would Katz hide this offer from her client? The answer is obvious if you look at the invitation to a fundraiser that Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., has scheduled for this fall. The headliner is none other than Katz. Katz is a party fundraiser and an abortion industry lawyer. She is on the same team as Feinstein. Neither is an ally of Ford. They are her abusers and manipulators.

That’s why Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was right in his anger to declare that Ford and Kavanaugh are both victims of Democratic senators. These left-wing political hacks purposefully victimized Kavanaugh, concealing Ford’s allegation from everyone, even in closed sessions with Kavanaugh, and then disclosing it as late as possible in the hope that it could delay or prevent a good man’s confirmation. Democrats didn’t want to help their star witness, they only wanted to use her. They didn’t want to get to the bottom of her accusations, they just wanted to keep a Supreme Court seat vacant for two years so a Democratic president could fill it after defeating President Trump. This isn’t our speculation. It’s what Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, has admitted publicly.

Many questions will not be answered by these confirmation hearings. But they have established one fact beyond peradventure. It is that Democrats are not interested in truth. They are only interested in power. Let us hope they do not get it.