9/27/2018

BRETT KAVANAUGH/HEARING/SEX ABUSE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WOMEN: “She was nervous as anyone would be describing the worst moment of her life, choking up at the memory of a violent encounter that happened 36 years ago. Her voice at times was high, her manner deferential, even solicitous. He was bristling with outrage and grievance, fighting back tears, his voice trembling, a man who saw his own life unraveling before him. He lashed out, interrupting senators and defiantly proclaiming his innocence. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh sat in the same chair before the Senate Judiciary Committee one after the other on Thursday, separated by about an hour and a reality gulf so wide that their conflicting accounts of what happened when they were teenagers cannot be reconciled. In effect, they asked senators to choose which one they believed. It was surely the most explosive and surreal confirmation hearing since Clarence Thomas and Anita F. Hill 27 years ago. A nominee for the Supreme Court was asked if he was ‘a gang rapist’ and a blackout drunk, while defending himself by describing how long he preserved his virginity. His accuser described him ‘grinding into me,’ covering her mouth when she tried to scream and fearing that he ‘was accidentally going to kill me.’”

Peter Baker, “In Emotional Hearing, Kavanaugh and Blasey Present Senators With Stark Choice,” The New York Times online, September 27, 2018