Yesterday the nation’s attention was riveted to a U.S. Senate hearing room where not only the future makeup of the Supreme Court, but the very rule of law, hung in the balance. Would we allow due process to be thrown out the window and become a nation where a mere, uncorroborated accusation was enough to deem someone guilty not only in the court of public opinion, but in the halls of the United States Senate?
Dr. Christine Ford’s emotional testimony elicited sympathy from millions of viewers, Democratic senators, and media pundits. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post tweeted: “I can’t imagine how many thousands of women, around the world, are in tears as they listen to Christine Blasey Ford’s voice cracking.”
Dr. Ford’s testimony was described as “compelling,” “powerful” “credible” and “believable” in spite of the fact that she presented no facts to corroborate her story.
Call me a skeptic, but tears and a shaky voice aren’t proof of truth.
Dr. Ford couldn’t remember any details about this supposed traumatic event – where it was, how she got there, who and how many were there. She’s given five conflicting accounts of who supposedly did attend the party, but the only consistent fact is that all those she claimed were at the party deny it. Dr. Ford’s testimony was riddled with other inconsistencies from her supposed fear of flying to questions regarding her polygraph. She couldn’t remember if she gave her therapist’s notes to the Washington Post just last month, but we’re expected to believe her uncorroborated claim from over 35 years ago.
Yet as Brett Kavanaugh very graciously asserted, Dr. Ford may very well have been sexually assaulted at some point in life. Her tears could reflect a very real traumatic experience that has damaged her immensely. Unlike the Democrats, we should not presume her guilty of knowingly misleading the nation without a preponderance of proof.
As Christians, our response to her should be the same as Brett Kavanaugh’s 10 year-old daughter – to pray for her. In a day filled with powerful moments, perhaps the most powerful of all was Kavanaugh shedding his owns tears as he spoke of his daughter remembering Dr. Ford in her bedtime prayers.
In the midst of one of the most rancorous, hate-filled, divisive events in recent political history, a child reminded us of Christ’s call to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
But as we love our enemies, it doesn’t mean letting them run rough-shod over the truth. Will we reduce determining what’s true to who puts on the most emotional display? Why are Ford’s tears compelling, but not Kavanaugh’s?
Yet while the Left labels Ford’s emotion as ‘believable”, Kavanaugh was described as “angry” and “unhinged.”As just one example, a writer for the Globe and Mail outrageously tweeted: “Kavanaugh’s unhinged, entitled rage is making it easy to imagine him grabbing a teenage girl, throwing her on a bed, and forcing himself on her while muffling her screams.”
The anger any of us would show when falsely accused is now being used against him by the media to claim he doesn’t have the judicial temperament to serve on the Supreme Court.
In watching Dr. Ford, I contrasted her testimony with that of the victims of USA gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar. Last January, 160 young women spoke one after another at Nassar’s hearing before he was sentenced to 40 – 175 years in prison. These young women spoke with authority as they confronted their abuser. It wasn’t their tears that convinced me of their abuse, but their outrage and righteous indignation.
It was also righteous indignation that I saw in Brett Kavanaugh as he confronted his “abusers” – the Senate Democrats who orchestrated the assassination of his character.
As Rich Lowry writes for National Review: In his opening statement, he was personal about the devastating effects of the charges levied against him, both on his reputation and on his family. He was excoriating about how Ford’s allegation was handled by Senate Democrats, who sat on it until the last moment. He scorned the ridiculous charges that have been layered on since, including that he was party to gang rapes. He invoked all he had invested in public service and in his friendships over the years. He expressed regret, as he should, over juvenile references in his high-school yearbook. He acknowledged enjoying beer, as a teenager and still as an adult. And he was angry, very angry, at the Democrats who have attacked his integrity and welcomed any bottom-feeding allegation, including a grotesque smear dredged up (by)publicity-hungry lawyer Michael Avenatti.”
Kavanaugh was at times furious over the smears and schemes of the Democrats, and at other times he wept as he spoke of the impact on his family and others. It was heart-wrenching and emotional, yet he also gave a compelling display of facts and reason as he powerfully disputed the false allegations against him and reminded the Democrat Senators before him and the millions watching that we are still a nation of laws.
Yet the circus that has surrounded Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, as one side abandoned all that is right and decent in order to win a political coup, also reminds us that our freedom, the rule of the law, and even the authority of the Constitution hangs by a thread.
Pray that such evil tactics do not prevail.
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