When Christine Blasey Ford opened with her testimony at the additional hearing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation Thursday morning, one thing was apparent: She has experienced some sort of trauma. To anyone watching, it would be difficult not to have reached this conclusion. Ford was likable, emotional, and fearful. To be on the national stage with such a spotlight on you is obviously nerve-wracking. Throughout it all, she held her own against a barrage of questions and statements.
But likability isn’t proof that testimony against another individual is solid. Emotionalism, though moving, holds no actual weight against the truth.
[Click here for complete Kavanaugh coverage]
During the questioning from sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, Ford admitted to not knowing when the specific incident in question occurred. Those in the audience are left with no date and location, and the timeline of events is a bit muddy as well. Ford admitted to leaving the party, but is not sure how she got home. Even the number of partygoers has fluctuated in her written statement, polygraph, and other declarations. To be sure, there is much doubt surrounding Ford’s assertion that Kavanaugh was “the boy who sexually assaulted me” as she described him before the panel. The lack of evidence is a glaring problem with her statements and casts even more of a shadow upon her already shaky testimony.
However, she was emotional. Her soft voice and ready smile showed her to be a pleasant individual. She seems to come from a place of sincerity inasmuch as declaring that a trauma has occurred in her life. But apart from her own words, the truth available to us does not point the finger of blame in Kavanaugh’s direction.
Ford has been confused by the protocol and directed to do certain things by her handlers, even without having all the information at her disposal to make a decision. She has been surrounded and spoken for by individuals, of the political variety, who don’t have her best interests in mind.
She is being used as a pawn in one of the greatest attempts of political brinkmanship ever seen.
In this #MeToo era, she is the perfect spokeswoman for the case. Unfortunately, those interested in promoting the idea that all men are predators have taken her evidence-free accusations and worked to artfully destroy a man and his family.
It would be a foolish thing, indeed, to offer blind belief to anyone, including both Ford and Kavanaugh. The moral fabric of our nation demands that we treat sexual assault allegations with the seriousness they deserve. While we may feel for the accuser, it should not cloud our thinking.
Absent any substantiation, we should only reach one conclusion in this ongoing drama: Brett Kavanaugh is not responsible for Christine Blasey Ford’s very obvious pain.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a senior contributor at RedState.com.
