Why don’t you defend Ford for not contacting Keyser and Smythe? Set me straight, please.
Do you realize how unhinged this sounds? McConnell is basically a bland, run-of-the-mill Republican. AFAIK, he’s never drowned any young women in his car, never raped anyone, never kicked a puppy, etc. He just holds political beliefs you oppose, and for that, you think he’s “evil”. Shrug I can’t do anything about the crazier opinions out their in the world except disregard them.
- Not only that, but she should have some serious corroboration from the person that gave her the ride home. She said that she does not remember, but from her testimony, she should remember. Why?
She testified that the house near the country club was not within walking distance of her home. She also testified that she hid in the bathroom until believing it was safe to leave and bolted/ran/got the hell out of the front door.
So there she is in 1982 (and no, she did not say that she used a cellphone) and needing a ride. She either:
a) Walked 7 miles in the dark.
b) Walked back into the house she just escaped from to use the phone to call a ride.
c) Walked to a neighbor’s house to use the phone to call a ride.
Any of these would implant an indelible memory in her mind, and the person on the receiving end of that call would have been sufficiently worried to make further inquiry.
-
Further, was she barefoot? If not, then the entire assault happened with her shoes on. Not impossible, but something that to me seems out of place.
-
If she does not recall the house, why the upstairs bathroom? In my experience, an upstairs bathroom in a two story house is reserved for the homeowners. They also have a downstairs bathroom for guest use. The use of an upstairs bathroom seems unusual that she would not have familiarity with a house. Again, not a deal breaker, but it raised a question in my mind.
-
What were Judge and Kavanaugh doing upstairs? Just hanging out and waiting for the next girl to use the restroom? There were only two girls there. It might be a while before someone comes up there. Nobody at the party said, “Where in the hell are Mark and Brett?” They both were sufficiently hidden and quiet that she did not know they were there? She said she didn’t see them. Wouldn’t she have taken an immediate left or be facing forward to see these guys? Why would she be facing the bedroom to be pushed in the back?
She also equivocated on several things:
-
Her fear of flying.
-
The second front door: Was it claustrophobia or for hosting Google interns? The claustrophobia does not make sense. She had no trouble getting out of the house once she reached the single front door. If she asked for a fire escape in the bedroom, that would make more sense. She went from 1982-2007 with only a single front door and never expressed a need for a second one?
-
Not telling her parents: Was it trauma or because she did not want to tell them she was at a beer party?
All of these things does not necessarily mean she was lying, but as a defense attorney, I would have destroyed her on the witness stand. They are the types of details that when I point them out to my own clients, they typically admit that they lied to me.
It would have probably helped Swetnick if one of her named witnesses wasn’t deceased. It seems like Avenatti skipped a step somewhere in there.
Collins to vote yes on cloture; announce final decision today at 3pm
Why would she do so? She spoke to her therapist for therapy reasons. She approached the government only because there was a possibility of Kavanaugh being nominated to the Supreme Court and she felt that she needed to speak out. There would have been no reason before Kavanaugh turned up on the shortlist to contact Keyser and Smythe.
You seem to think this was a years-long plan to file criminal charges. It was not, and there is nothing “reckless and irresponsible” about what she did. Indeed, the fact that she came forward knowing that she would be dragged through the mud and with no personal benefit sounds pretty damn “responsible” to me.
If she was going to make up a story for the purposes of bringing down Kavanaugh, why would she make up such a bad story with so many holes and include so many people who could discredit it–especially his best friend! All Mark Judge has to do is make up some lie about how he remembers the party and Ford was pissed she wasn’t invited so she started making up rumors. He could instantly and easily totally discredit her story. There are much better fake stories she could come up with that would be much harder to discredit if that was her intent.
I give Ford the benefit of the doubt that she was so traumatized that she couldn’t remember how she got home.
However, since she swam daily at the country club, her mode of transportation getting to and from the club is something she must remember. This has been never brought up. If her parents or her brother brought her home regularly, perhaps they would remember not bringing her home that night or having to pick her up earlier than expected?
Note that Pence is not presiding over the cloture vote. McConnell must be sure of at least 51.
I just cannot begin to explain how ridiculous I find this sort of Monday-morning quarterbacking of someone else’s memories. It’s absurd. why should she remember that?
About twenty years ago, my best friend and I were hot from behind while driving on Gardiner’s Road in Kingston, Ontario. It was a pretty bad accident. We were northbound and I could take you to the exact spot it happened. I can tell you four cars were involved, because we were hit so hard that it threw my buddy’s car into the car in front of us and IT was thrown into the car in front of that. I remember it was his Oldsmobile. I remember it had been raining.
I cannot tell you
- What kind of car it was that hit us,
- What year it happened, though I can narrow it down to 1994 to 1998,
- Where we were actually going,
- How we got home,
… and a thousand other details.
I’m sure you could tear me apart on the witness stand, Counselor, as you could any number of women who’s been assaulted. That accident still happened, though.
I have been in townhouses that did not have so much as a toilet-and-sink half-bath on the ground floor. In fact, my mother lived in one for several years.
Or the house where this happened (doesn’t have to have happened on 7/1/82) could have been a split-level. Many split-levels, you have to go 1/2 flight up or down from the main floor to get to a bathroom. (My sister and her husband have lived in a split-level like this (in Rockville, MD, practically next door to Bethesda) for the past ~25 years.)
Following her up. Duuuuuuuuuh.
Unless they have a truly photographic memory, I doubt they’d remember. I doubt I could tell you with any detail all the times I picked up my kids last year and when their schedule differed. I know sometimes they went home with other friends and I didn’t get them, but I don’t remember exact details about each and every time.
That is a truly scary article. The guy is a rabid anti-environmentalist, and his claim of being balanced on the issue is so grossly distorted that it rises to the level of yet another a blatant lie. Virtually all his conservative peers in similar positions are far more balanced and moderate than he is. Kavanaugh is not just a blatantly dishonest douchebag, but a dangerous ideologue.
Cloture happening…Collins and Flake are aye so far.
Well, looks like I was wrong on the cloture vote. It’s happening, and they’ve got the votes, dammit. 
Where are Manchin and Murkowski? Firing up a fattie in the cloakroom?
Manchin aye
Murkowksi no on cloture!
His base will not easily forgive him for that.
Murkowski votes No - to end debate. Flake, Collins, Manchin yes.