# The Democratic Sexual Assault Playbook **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 30, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210 "2018-09-30T11:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/21 "2018-09-30T18:59:06Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Imagine how catastrophic it would be if the shady Democratic Operatives approached the wrong woman, and she blowed the whistle on this plot. That’s a pretty enormous risk the Democrats are taking. It would backfire tremendously. Also, keep in mind that “the wrong women” here means “anyone who cares more about sexual assault being taken seriously _and_ their own well-being than republicans being able to put exactly Brett Kavanaugh on the supreme court”. Which seems like a lot of people. > [@](#): > > Let’s assume the conspiracy theorists are right. Democratic operatives are bribing these women to fabricate false testimony. This is an **extremely** serious charge if true, and the people behind this conspiracy should be punished, don’t you agree? It’s the sort of thing that an FBI investigation might uncover. Why wouldn’t you want to get to the bottom of this? Why would you oppose a thorough investigation? Seriously, this is the kind of thing that would convince me that it’s time to abandon my party. But nobody seems to be acting as though it’s actually true. Because it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/22 "2018-09-30T19:15:44Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Imagine how catastrophic it would be if the shady Democratic Operatives approached the wrong woman, and she blowed the whistle on this plot. That’s a pretty enormous risk the Democrats are taking. It would backfire tremendously. > > Let’s assume the conspiracy theorists are right. Democratic operatives are bribing these women to fabricate false testimony. This is an **extremely** serious charge if true, and the people behind this conspiracy should be punished, don’t you agree? It’s the sort of thing that an FBI investigation might uncover. Why wouldn’t you want to get to the bottom of this? Why would you oppose a thorough investigation? Heck, I’ve wondered if, in a multiple accuser situation, one (or more) of the accusers might recant and say that that is exactly what happened. That would neatly discredit the truthful accusers and cast doubt in all cases going forward. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/23 "2018-09-30T20:51:02Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Republicans are referencing this nonexistent Democratic “playbook” in an effort to make a case that all accusations of sexual impropriety on the part of Republicans are purely political, thereby avoiding any need to address them on a case-by-case basis. > [@octopus](#): > > I wouldn’t say that it’s an official strategy in the political realm. Many of the accusations seem to be credible if, and I’m not sure if this is a forbidden sentiment, belated. > > Is it that cartoon accurate? Some of the book marked pages are actually tactics used, successfully, here. Such as slander, sexism claims, and false accusations. Where I disagree with that cartoon is lumping in sexual assault accusations as a dishonest tactic because, again, I think there is a lot of credibility in many of these cases. Yes, that is worrying, the poisoning the well for this type of allegation in general as just one more “dirty politics as usual” tactic. But even more pernicious is what **Exapno Mapcase** foresees, in embracing it as a strategy about when the wheel turns, being able to back the other side into the corner of: _“We’re going to make it so NOBODY you run or nominate will do so without allegations of heinous offenses, we’re going to force you to elect/confirm someone who has been so accused, and there will be no proof to the contrary we accept.”_ Because a lot of the public will not draw from that the simple “I say you lied about me so now I’ll lie about you, we’re even”, but instead will conclude that it means \*everyone \*in the career track to high office \*did \*do or enable something that opens them to accusation: more erosion of the necessary confidence in the institutions and processes. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/24 "2018-09-30T22:05:05Z")
> [@Budget Player Cadet](#): > > Evidence. EVIDENCE. Where is the actual evidence that this is what the democrats are doing here? That this is what they plan to do at all? Why the fuck would Christine Blasey Ford go through all this shit - this shit that always happens to women accusing powerful men of sexual assault? She’s not some hardline partisan, and Kavanaugh isn’t some uniquely awful candidate. Feinstein didn’t find her, Ford came forward of her own volition. It’s important as well to remind readers that Dr. Ford began searching for someone in Government to hear her story when she first learned that Kavanaugh had been shortlisted for the SC position, _not when he had been formally nominated_. In other words, she had no declared objections to other potential nominees on the list, just this one, on the basis of her described history with him. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/25 "2018-09-30T23:00:39Z")
If Republicans really believe that their nominees will be met with an endless parade of sexual assault allegations, show the math. Do a deep dive investigation on a candidate until you know that man is as pure as the driven snow. Nominate him. Watch the false allegations pour in, have those allegations investigated, there you go. Find the recruiting process for these women who will lie. Are the Democrats approaching them? “Hey lady, free Kenyan passport and lifetime membership to Hillary’s Ice Cream and Sex Club if you lie about getting raped on national TV!” This seems risky because any women who say no would have to be Vince Fostered and that carries its own risks but anything for the cause one must suppose. Or do these women approach the Democrats, offering to lie? If so, that’s easy. Find some doe-eyed beauty, have her go to the Democrats offering to make up sexual assault allegations and record what they say. If you get back “if it is what you say it is, I love it!” congratulations, you’ve got conspiracy! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/26 "2018-10-01T00:42:26Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Imagine how catastrophic it would be if the shady Democratic Operatives approached the wrong woman, and she blowed the whistle on this plot. That’s a pretty enormous risk the Democrats are taking. It would backfire tremendously Recall that during the Roy Moore controversy O’Keefe and his crew tried to fake a Moore accuser to the Post and fell flat on their face. Just grabbing a rando and having them make an accusation will far apart real fast. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/27 "2018-10-01T01:42:15Z")
Aside: How is O’Keefe not currently in prison for his numerous felonies? ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/28 "2018-10-01T03:13:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aside: How is O’Keefe not currently in prison for his numerous felonies? Well-funded and white, same as Brock Turner. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/29 "2018-10-01T07:32:49Z")
Let’s pretend that _somehow_, despite the Democrats not doing this to Neil Gorsuch or Ben Carson or Rex Tillerson, henceforth this kind of hardball will be nonstop. First flaw in that plan is that if it’s all a baseless ploy by the party, some Democrat will break. The Democrats have terrible party discipline and include many moderates. Second flaw is that you don’t have to fall for it every time. The second time they pull this, maybe you can laugh at them and ram someone through. But this is the first time, maybe the only one. Right now, this candidate and this process look like an aberration. Third flaw: All the GOP have to do is nominate a woman. Amy Coney Barrett was on the shortlist. Amazingly pro-life, but hardly the walking manifestation of male privilege. Why wouldn’t the “culture of life” prefer her to an unsympathetic, angry, alcoholic brute like Kavanaugh? Kavanaugh has been an unprinicipled judicial activist, and after he’s shot down the next severely conservative candidate can look sane and moderate by comparison. You want this. This is what a Brett Kavanaugh is for; what he is not for is being an embarrassment on the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/30 "2018-10-01T07:46:19Z")
Both sides would do well to target 100 of the opposition’s best political & judicial candidates with sexual smears and allegations. It’s not beyond possibility that numerous politically motivated women are now telling their therapists about an assault on them by some young congressman from Michigan or Florida. Best also to email the allegation to a friend too. That recorded info will be important in 5 to 10 years time. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/31 "2018-10-01T07:59:55Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Both sides would do well to target 100 of the opposition’s best political & judicial candidates with sexual smears and allegations. It’s not beyond possibility that numerous politically motivated women are now telling their therapists about an assault on them by some young congressman from Michigan or Florida. Best also to email the allegation to a friend too. That recorded info will be important in 5 to 10 years time. The problem with being sarcastic about this is that I can seriously believe that this is what **Flyer** , **Shodan** , or **Ultravires** believes. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/32 "2018-10-01T10:25:44Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Both sides would do well to target 100 of the opposition’s best political & judicial candidates with sexual smears and allegations. It’s not beyond possibility that numerous politically motivated women are now telling their therapists about an assault on them by some young congressman from Michigan or Florida. Best also to email the allegation to a friend too. That recorded info will be important in 5 to 10 years time. So we’d essentially be deploying hundreds of sleeper agents on possible Supreme Court picks, who make up false allegations years in advance just to potentially torpedo nominations if the DNC deems it important enough. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/33 "2018-10-01T11:11:39Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > All the GOP have to do is nominate a woman. Amy Coney Barrett was on the shortlist. Amazingly pro-life, but hardly the walking manifestation of male privilege. Why wouldn’t the “culture of life” prefer her to an unsympathetic, angry, alcoholic brute like Kavanaugh? Well, look, I can give you an entirely cynical explanation for why the GOP decided that Clarence Thomas should be tapped to replace Thurgood Marshall; and I can give you an entirely cynical explanation for why they’d want to tap Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Which would you like first? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/34 "2018-10-01T12:23:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, look, I can give you an entirely cynical explanation for why the GOP decided that Clarence Thomas should be tapped to replace Thurgood Marshall; and I can give you an entirely cynical explanation for why they’d want to tap Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Which would you like first? From a cynical, _realpolitik_ perspective, Amy Coney Barrett would be a better pick. It’s pretty bad optics to have an all male majority destroy a woman’s right to choose. The conservatives could use her as a cover, “Oh, so you’re saying Amy Barrett is sexist against women huh?” ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/35 "2018-10-01T12:29:15Z")
More gibberish from the right designed to discredit the accusers and the accusation. In their world, everything is a plot, everything is a conspiracy, nobody genuinely believes what they say. It’s all just smoke and mirrors and influence peddling. It’s disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/36 "2018-10-01T13:06:17Z")
It is not raised as a serious point. It it just part of the endless whataboutism the right embraces. -Trump has groped 22 women. –Bengazi! Emails! Democratic conspiracy! Nobody with more than two brain cells to rub together actually believes any of that shit. It is just a effective method of changing the subject. Hence the overwhelming sound of crickets in regard to serious rebuttal of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/37 "2018-10-01T13:10:06Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > It is not raised as a serious point. It it just part of the endless whataboutism the right embraces. > > -Trump has groped 22 women. > –Bengazi! Emails! Democratic conspiracy! > > Nobody with more than two brain cells to rub together actually believes any of that shit. > It is just a effective method of changing the subject. > > Hence the overwhelming sound of crickets in regard to serious rebuttal of the OP. I even PM’d the two members I quoted in the OP. I’ll see if they get back to me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/38 "2018-10-01T13:20:42Z")
Just something to clarify - if this kind of thing works, and Kavanaugh is not confirmed based on unsubstantiated allegations, it is not just the Democrats who are going to try it again. The Republicans are going to do it just as hard, the next time a liberal is nominated. Recognizing that the sides will flip-flop instantly, and that allegations with exactly the same amount of evidence will instantly become not credible when made against a liberal judge - it will still happen. The Democrats do not hold the moral high ground here. They have chosen to take the game to the next level. That’s where it’s going to be played. I would like to believe that Republicans are better than this, but I don’t. And all the “no fair - he hit me back” in the world will make any difference. “I’ll take my revenge and then we both have to stop” doesn’t work. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/39 "2018-10-01T13:33:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Just something to clarify - if this kind of thing works, and Kavanaugh is not confirmed based on unsubstantiated allegations, it is not just the Democrats who are going to try it again. The Republicans are going to do it just as hard, the next time a liberal is nominated. > > Recognizing that the sides will flip-flop instantly, and that allegations with exactly the same amount of evidence will instantly become not credible when made against a liberal judge - it will still happen. > > The Democrats do not hold the moral high ground here. They have chosen to take the game to the next level. That’s where it’s going to be played. I would like to believe that Republicans are better than this, but I don’t. And all the “no fair - he hit me back” in the world will make any difference. > > “I’ll take my revenge and then we both have to stop” doesn’t work. > > Regards, > Shodan This presumes that credible and damaging accusations against politicians are easy to manufacture. I see no reason to believe this is the case. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210/40 "2018-10-01T13:46:42Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Just something to clarify - if this kind of thing works, and Kavanaugh is not confirmed based on unsubstantiated allegations, it is not just the Democrats who are going to try it again. Okay, but would you like to address the OP? Would you like to back up this theory you continue to assert as though it was plain as day? Specifically, this: > [@](#): > > The Democrats do not hold the moral high ground here. They have chosen to take the game to the next level. “The game”. Y’know, because _clearly_ it’s impossible that Brett Kavanaugh is being accused of sexual assault _because he sexually assaulted someone_. Clearly, the only reasonable explanation is that democratic operatives are crying wolf to undermine his supreme court run. Various people, including me in my opening post, have pointed out how this makes little to no sense whatsoever. That this is a truly bizarre thing to even allege. I’m wondering if you could, y’know, make the case for it, if that’s what you believe. Not just restate “this is a thing, here are the consequences of that”, because that does nothing to make it any less ludicrous. Or are you making a claim more similar to **Velocity** ’s, in which case I would refer you to my response to him in post 17, particularly the “If my side is made of _absolute goddamn fucking monsters_ I probably shouldn’t be part of it” part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-sexual-assault-playbook/822210.md?page=3)