As Kavanaugh, Ford testify, riveted local viewers take sides
Senate hearing elicits strong reactions for or against accuser, judge.
The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh hushed the halls of Congress, trading floors on Wall Street and captivated viewers on jets as millions of Americans tuned in to decide whether Ford’s 36-yearold story of a drunken attack by Kavanaugh should be believed.
The scene was much the same across Palm Beach County, from offices to restaurants to gyms. And just as in the Senate hearing room, local residents took sides.
Santonio Holmes Sr., a West Palm Beach resident hanging out at Pizza Girls, 114. S. Clematis St., on Thursday afternoon, said he believed Ford.
“He did it. Give him 1,000 years,” Holmes Sr. said. And having a female prosecutor question Ford just showed that the Republican committee members were afraid to do their job, Holmes added.
So did George Poole, pizza chef at Pizza Girls, who also said he believed the California college psychology professor.
“I wasn’t impressed when he was crying,” he said of Kavanaugh, who choked up in making his opening statement. “It was like he was going for an Academy Award.”
Others said they believed Kavanaugh, who is President Donald Trump’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Elaine Fortune, 62, said she came to doubt Kavanaugh’s accuser as she watched Ford’s testimony before heading to Busy Body Fitness in Palm Beach Gardens.
“I have a hard time with her story, because first of all, no one that’s gone through something like that would go in front of the entire world and tell her story without shaking as bad as I am right now,” said Fortune, who said she was raped at age 10 and again at 21. Her attackers were not charged. “Look at her history, look at Kavanaugh’s history,” Fortune said. “That man is a Boy Scout.”
Phil Greco, also at the gym, said he believed some- thing probably happened to Ford, but he didn’t believe her story that Kavanaugh was the attacker.
As Ford testified around midday Thursday, a young woman holding a megaphone stood on the side of PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gar- dens with three dozen victims’ rights advocates and told her story of sexual assault — sim- ilar to the assault Ford had described moments earlier before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The event, sponsored by the Palm Beach County chapter of the Women’s March, collected more than two dozen letters opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination and delivered them to the office of GOP Sen. Marco Rubio on PGA Boulevard.
The young woman speaking at the event said the attack happened two weeks into her freshman year at college she went to a frat party. After some drinks, she said, she found herself locked in a room with a very drunk par- tygoer who tried to rape her. She escaped and told no one until Ford went public, she said. The Palm Beach Post is not naming her because of the nature of the attack and her request not to be identified.
“I never shared this story until this week,” she said. Like Ford, she said she tried to convince herself that the event was not a big deal because she was not raped. And she blamed herself for getting into the situation. “The time has come for these stories to come out of the shadows,” she said.
Two other women and the father of a girl who was sexually assaulted also spoke at the Women’s March event.
Robbyn Valerio, a 57-yearold West Palm Beach woman, said her sexual abuse began at age 10, when a cousin wanted to play doctor. At 17, she said, she was gang-raped while living in a group home. At college, she said, she was raped again. When she reported the rape, the campus police officer also raped her. She became pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption.
She now volunteers to help victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse. She can’t help but crying when Kavanaugh news comes on TV.
“I am a survivor,” Valerio said. “We have to speak up.”
Although Rubio’s office was closed, the women slid the letters under the door.
Around the nation, simi- lar scenes of debate and protests played out in private and public.
On Twitter, more than 8 million tweets had been posted about the hearing by 5 p.m. — while Kavanaugh was still on the witness stand. New York Times money colum- nist Ron Lieber tweeted the scene on his flight from New York to Salt Lake City.
“JFK-SLC. 16A: Crying. 14B: Crying. 17C: Weeping.”
Rubio posted moments before the hearing began.
“All the norms that once governed our politics & pub- lic discourse are gone. Today, my colleagues on the Judi- ciary Committee, on both sides, have an opportunity to set a better example for our country by treating Dr. Ford & Judge Kavanaugh with respect & listening without prejudgement.”
Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson did not tweet about the hearing. However, his office released a statement after a third woman accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault Wednesday: “More information continues to surface about separate but similar sexual assault allegations involving Judge Kavanaugh. I believe all of the women and witnesses deserve to be heard and the facts should be fully investigated before senators vote on a lifetime appointment.”
Noticeably quiet on Twitter were the Trumps. Donald Trump Jr. was the only family member active during Ford’s testimony — mostly retweeting posts by conservative journalists. In the only tweet he posted her questioning, he challenged Ford’s fear of flying.
“I’m no psychology professor but it does seem weird to me that someone could have a selective fear of flying. Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all.”
Ivanka Trump, who champions herself as an advocate for women’s rights, has never commented on the women who have accused Kavanaugh or used the #MeToo hashtag. First lady Melania Trump and Lara Trump also did not tweet about Ford’s testimony.