Rockey's Thoughts

For the last few weeks the Senate Judiciary Committee has been holding confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. During the hearings, the Democrats asked questions trying to disqualify Judge Kavanaugh while the Republicans asked questions to show his qualifications. I'm not a legal expert, so I won't comment on the effectiveness of the questions or the fitness of Judge Kavanaugh to be a Supreme Court Justice. However at the end of the confirmation process, the Democrats must have felt that they had not achieved their goal of discrediting Judge Kavanaugh based on his testimony and credentials. So they changed their strategy to deflection and delay. They introduced a newly discovered sexual assault accusation from many years ago when young Brett Kavanaugh was in high school. This deflected the topic from Judge Kavanaugh's legal credentials to the victimization of women. It delayed the process as the accusation was investigated and the Democrats want to further delay the process by also having the FBI investigate the accusation. Then the Democrats followed this up with what I call the accusation de jour so they could delay further with each new accusation that must be investigated.

Two weeks after the accusation was released, the Democrats brought their star witness Dr. Christine Blasey Ford (Ph.D. in psychology) to testify before the committee. Dr. Ford told her emotional story about her memory of an attempted sexual assault. She named her assailant to be Judge Kavanaugh. Then Judge Kavanaugh gave his testimony that categorically denied the accusation. I emoted with each of them as they gave their testimony, but at the end of the day I was left with nothing more than she said he said. That is exactly the position I was in before the day's testimony. I felt that both the accuser and the accused were traumatized by the process. After the hearing, both Democrats and Republicans claimed victory and declared that their witness was the one that should be believed. Democrats and never Trumpers noted that Dr. Ford had a clear memory of the event while Judge Kavanaugh, because he drank beer in High School, was so drunk that he couldn't even remember the party. I find that leap of faith hard to swallow. The Republicans noted the lack of corroboration for Dr. Ford's accusation and Judge Kavanaugh's adamant denial. It seemed to be a deadlocked tie. I don't think that I will ever really know for sure what happened. I was not there. What a conundrum.

Is there any other evidence that might allow me to draw a logical conclusion? To corroborate her story, Dr. Ford named several people who were at the party where she remembered the attempted sexual assault to have occurred. The committee reached out to each of the people that Dr. Ford named including her best friend at the time who was also in her wedding years later. Each person responded to the committee that they knew of no such party. Her best friend added that she didn't know Judge Kavanaugh and had never attended a party where he was present. In Dr. Ford's testimony she claimed not to know how she got to the party or how she got home. If there was no party, there would be no memory of the trip there or home. Dr. Ford also testified that she didn't remember the date or the location of the party. Again if there was no party there would be no memory of the date or the location. These statements corroborate the other named individuals assertion that there was no party. What is in glaring contrast to this is Dr. Ford's clear memory of the attempted sexual assault. Now think about this. Dr. Ford has a clear memory of an attempted sexual assault at a party that the evidence tells me never occurred. Let that sink in. Do I think that Dr. Ford may have a clear memory of an attempted sexual assault at some point in her life. Yes, that is quite possible.

What about this clear memory? I certainly emoted along with Dr. Ford as she recounted her fright and trauma. I've had a day since the testimony to let my emotions calm down and my mind to mull over the details. I've listened to pundits and various subject matter experts share their opinions and conclusions. In the end I'm left with the impression that I've watched a frightening dream sequence or the overcoming the monster story from a B rated horror film. Without giving a motivation, Dr. Ford testified that she went up the stairs in the house. If watching a horror film, everyone would shout: “Don't go up the stairs.” At the top of the stairs the monster comes out of nowhere to push her into the bedroom where she falls on the bed. The monster jumps on top of her and begins pawing at her clothes. Someone turns the music up at this dramatic moment and the monsters are laughing. That was the first thing that triggered the feeling that I was being fed a movie script. The monster can't get her clothes off because she is wearing a one piece bathing suit under her clothes. An anomaly like that is common in dreams, they don't have to be logical. Then a second monster jumps on the bed causing the first monster to momentarily lose control of her. In the confusion she escapes the monsters, finds a bathroom to hide in, locks the door and waits for the monsters to leave. When sufficient time has passed she flees the house without her friend. Then the dream or scene ends and there is no dramatic reason for us to know how our heroine got home that night. As I said, that is just the impression that I'm left with. I feel foolish, like I've just been flim flammed.

The Democrats tell me that I must believe the female victim even though the evidence does not agree with her story. Judge Kavanaugh must prove that he didn't assault Dr. Ford. In logic, it is impossible to prove a negative. The Democrats want Judge Kavanaugh to prove three negatives: no party, no date and no location. I and I believe most Americans have an ingrained sense of fair play. I also believe that we hold dear the principle of innocent until proven guilty. For me, the Democrats have violated both of these foundational tenets of American culture.

What then have I observed has come from all of this? The hard core partisans of both camps are still exactly where they were. However on my timeline I've lost count of the number of people who have said that they are moving away from the Democrats because of their actions in this matter. Some claimed to be independents that were going to register as Republicans and never vote for another Democrat. Others were life long Democrats who said they could no longer be a party to the Democrats political shenanigans. I didn't see or hear of anyone moving towards the Democrats because of the hearings. Most people probably didn't do an analysis of the testimony and facts to come to their decision. They just intuitively knew that something wasn't right. I always find it interesting to hear the one reason that motivated another person to take action. Now I understand that there will be another week long delay to allow the FBI to investigate and update their vetting of Judge Kavanaugh. Do I think that President Trump and the Republicans were forced into this delay? No, I think that they were happy to do it. There is a presumed famous quote that I couldn't attribute to an originator. It says: “Never interfere with an enemy that is in the process of destroying himself.”