I Told You So

I’ve been saying all week that you could expect another late hit on Brett Kavanaugh over the weekend, and right on schedule, we have the New Yorker story, which, as Paul and Scott have already noted, is pretty thin gruel. But it was absolutely necessary for the left to come up with a story like this, for several reasons.

First, one thing that is true in virtually all cases of sexual predation (think Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and Bill Clinton) is that there is a pattern of behavior, and usually several other women stepping forward. This trait was conspicuously absent until now. We know that the media—and no doubt large portions of the Democratic establishment—have been trolling feverishly to find another woman with a story. This is the best they can do—a hazy, indirect, recovered memory?

Second, even a story as thin as this—even if it falls apart upon further scrutiny—reinforces a subtle aspect of the leftist narrative against Kavanaugh, which repeats the argument made against the wholly innocent Duke lacrosse players a decade ago—namely, that Kavanaugh, as a product of Georgetown Prep and Yale, is a product of “privilege,” which for the collective-guilt left these days means you must atone for the sins of your class. (Recall that something like 80 Duke faculty members signed a declaration attesting to the guilt of the lacrosse team based wholly on this ideological ground.)

I’d love to be able to do a confidential survey of Georgetown Prep (and Holton Arms, Dr. Ford’s prep school) alumni about how they feel about the left’s sweeping attack on the supposedly reprobate “culture” of their schools. Alumni of those schools can’t be thrilled at being dragged into the mud in this way. (I note that some lefties are mocking Kavanaugh as some kind of nerd for having his calendar from 1982. Well it turns out I have one too, though I don’t know where it is at the moment—likely in a storage box in the garage. Back in 1982 I was a serious runner—two marathons and two triathlons that year plus a lot of road races—and my wall calendar is where I made my daily notations of my distance and training schemes, as well as travel and even movies I went to. I’ll confess to being a nerd.)

Third, I think this entire late gambit has been one huge bluff by the Democrats, intending to intimidate Republicans into dropping Kavanaugh. I don’t think Dr. Ford has any intention of testifying before the Judiciary Committee this week, and I expect come Wednesday we’ll get a self-serving announcement attacking Chairman Grassley and the Senate Republicans for “bullying” and creating a “hostile environment” in which Dr. Ford cannot “safely” tell her story. At that point, Grassley should call for an immediate committee vote to proceed with the nomination. This latest story in just another attempt to keep the intimidation fires alive. Fine: I say let’s call the bluff and request that Deborah Ramirez, the source of the new allegation, present herself for sworn testimony before the committee.

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