Drum roll, please.
That should have been the announcement by commentators immediately prior to the 3 PM announcement on October 5, 2018, by Senator Susan Collins (Republican, Maine) as to whether or not she would confirm Judge Kavanaugh as a justice on the Supreme Court. She put on quite a show.
I was hoping she would say she would not confirm him. But she was something of a mysterious holdout, so I listened to her announcement.
She could have just said that she would vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Not my choice, but I could see why it would be hers. Instead, she did something disgusting: she put Dr. Ford back on trial.
Here are excerpts from the transcript of her speech that I find very offensive (the full transcript link is below):
Mr. President, I listened carefully to Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee. I found her testimony to be sincere, painful, and compelling. I believe that she is a survivor of a sexual assault and that this trauma has upended her life. Nevertheless, the four witnesses she named could not corroborate any of the events of that evening gathering where she says the assault occurred; none of the individuals Professor Ford says were at the party has any recollection at all of that night.
Professor Ford’s life-long friend Leland Keyser indicated that, under penalty of felony, she does not remember that party. And Ms. Keyser went further. She indicated that not only does she not remember a night like that, but also that she does not even know Brett Kavanaugh.
In addition to the lack of corroborating evidence, we also learned some facts that raised more questions. For instance, since these allegations have become public, Professor Ford testified that not a single person has contacted her to say, “I was at the party that night.”
Furthermore, the professor testified that although she does not remember how she got home that evening, she knew that, because of the distance, she would have needed a ride – yet not a single person has come forward to say that they were the one that drove her home or were in the car with her that night. And Professor Ford also indicated that even though she left that small gathering of six or so people abruptly and without saying goodbye and distraught, none of them called her the next day – or ever – to ask why she left – is she okay – not even her closest friend, Ms. Keyser.
Ms. Collins padded her comments regarding Dr. Ford with her statements regarding the #metoo movement as well as her statement that “Every person—man or woman–who makes a charge of sexual assault deserves to be heard and treated with respect.” Yet her comments which I cited above regarding the lack of people coming forward who remembered the party Dr. Ford attended or who even remembered taking Dr. Ford home, suggests to me that she has missed the point entirely: the memory is seared into Dr. Ford’s brain is because it was her trauma. It is not seared into others’ memories because it was not their trauma.
At the end of Senator Collins’ spotlight moment all I could think of was “Wow, someone got to her” because it felt like she had been prompted to cover a lot of territory in her speech to make the GOP look good.
Although I disagree with her decision to vote to confirm Kavanaugh, I think I would have been more forgiving if she had ditched the fanfare and stated simply her last sentence, “Mr. President, I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”
And then she should have SHUT UP.
Collins transcript: ( http://time.com/5417444/susan-collins-kavanaugh-vote-transcript/)
A Little Off Plum 