Supreme battle leaves gaping wounds

I was disgusted by what happened this week, and last week, and the week before.

Say what you will, there was no justification for the character assassination of Brett Kavanaugh, and the obviously coordinated efforts to de-legitimize him.

Well, there was no justification in my mind. Others, like the raging women in elevators and trolling the congressional halls had their reasons for attempting to destroy Judge Kavanaugh and his family.

But if you are a human being who truly cares about the dignity of each person, you do not act like a mob and try to force politicians to vote in your favor. You also do not try and intimidate witnesses who say things you don’t like, like the efforts to get Christine Ford’s friend Leland Keyser to “remember” a party she said she couldn’t.

You do not do a lot of things, because you agree to respectfully disagree, and you move on to other battles. Not so here.

This battle over the Supreme Court has become a bloody one, and while the broken bodies aren’t as obvious as the ones at Gettysburg, they are there.

The wounds are real, and the scars will take a long time forming. The performance of the Democrats in this entire confirmation process has been sadistic, and cruel.

It has run roughshod over every normal value and standard that we hold dear as decent human beings. Respect was shown to Christine Blasey Ford by the right, even though her accusations came late in the game and had absolutely no corroboration or credible basis in fact. And still, the Republicans tread lightly, with a few notable exceptions like Lindsay Graham, who is my new hero because he has his BS meter set to “High.” Overall, though, there was every attempt to be solicitous of a woman who said she was assaulted.

The others who followed, even less credible, were still afforded respect although that didn’t and shouldn’t have included FBI interviews of their fantastic, almost Harlequin Romance style stories.

If a man has worked in the public sphere for his entire adult life, has gone through six previous federal background checks, has been on the bench and has never before been credibly accused of anything, you do not believe a woman when she says “I was drunk and yeah, I think he waved his penis in my face.” You just don’t.

But #Metoo said you have to believe her, whatever she says. And that is wrong.

The Scottsboro boys would tell you that is wrong. Emmett Till would tell you that is wrong, if he still could. The Duke Lacrosse players and the guys at UVA will tell you that it’s wrong.

The opponents of Brett Kavanaugh were outraged that a man with a demonstrable prolife resume would be the new voice on the high court. They were terrified at the prospect that Roe v. Wade could be overturned. They hated the fact that Trump got to pick another justice not named Merrick Garland.

And so they weaponized their presumed victimhood as a cover for their anger, and they used it against Brett Kavanaugh to try and prevent a pro-life justice from making it to the court. They were thrilled that Amy Coney Barrett, even more conservative and pro-life than Kavanaugh, wasn’t the choice, because it looks bad to say that you are speaking out in defense of women and then try to destroy and eviscerate a woman.

But the thing is, these people don’t “speak for women.” Don’t believe that.

They do not speak for me, just as I do not speak for them.

They do not speak for women I know and love, who oppose abortion and do everything within our power to end its acceptance in polite society.

They do not speak for the women who manage crisis pregnancy clinics, or who stand outside of Planned Parenthood and pray.

They do not speak for the ones who, though victims of sexual assault, are the mothers of sons and believe that due process for men is just as important as sympathy for women.

And so this is really why I was disgusted by what happened this week.

My voice and my message were hijacked by people who shared my internal plumbing, and they tried to destroy a man in my name.

That they even tried to do so is an obscenity.

#Notinmyname