By reputation, Sen. Lindsey Graham is more a decorous moderate than a political firebrand. But during Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court testimony Thursday, as Kavanaugh attempted to fend off decades-old charges of sexual assault, Graham defended the judge’s reputation with a passion and savaged Senate Democrats’ decision to sit on the allegations against Kavanaugh until the most political damaging time.
“This is the most unethical sham I have ever seen in politics,” Graham said, glaring in the direction of the Judiciary Committee’s Democrats. “And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you’ve done to this guy. … Boy, y’all want power. God, I hope you never get it.”
Graham insisted the Democrats were uninterested in getting to the truth of the matter, but simply in stalling out the nomination process until they regained control of Congress.
“You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford,” he said to the Democrats, then turned to Kavanaugh: “None! She’s as much a victim as you are. God, I hate to say it, because these have been my friends. But let me tell you when it comes to this: You’re looking for a fair process? You came to the wrong town at the wrong time, my friend.”
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee grilled Kavanaugh Thusday afternoon on various details of the sexual assault allegations against him, as well as ominous suggestions that have been reported in the press, such as secret meanings behind some entries in his high school yearbook.
“You have interacted with professional women all your life; not one accusation,” Graham told Kavanaugh. “You’re supposed to be Bill Cosby when you’re a junior and senior in high school, and all of a sudden you got over it. It’s been my understanding that if you drug women and rape them for two years in high school, you probably don’t stop.”
Graham concluded by exhorting his Republican colleagues not to allow the allegations against Kavanaugh to derail his nomination.
“If you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics,” Graham said. “And I hope that the American people will see through this charade.”
