To The Republican Party

Judge Kavanaugh's accuser is a very credible woman.  Nobody's going to be able to make her look stupid; all you can do is hurt her by demanding that she relinquish the privacy that she tried to protect for her sake and for the sake of her family and friends. 

She tried to report the incident anonymously and confidentially; it is not her fault that other people didn't allow her to do that and didn't ask her what she'd rather that the next steps would be when it was clear that the media wasn't respecting her privacy.

The way that a lot of the media has addressed the situation ought to be a warning about how much illegal hacking of phones and email the media is doing to look for stories, even while the media accuses the White House of colluding to compromise democracy.

Nothing about this situation is auspicious.



https://twitter.com/RalphNorman/status/1042891247206191104


Rep. Norman really can't say "People really need to learn to lighten up" in response to criticism of his joke.  He couldn't have chosen a worse response.

No matter how you ask her to give her testimony, what she says and the entire proceeding will be a permanent part of the public record and of history.

I wish that you'd consider giving Judge Kavanaugh the option of withdrawing his acceptance of the nomination.  The sexual assault which he and his friend had drunkenly planned wasn't completed, so it might be possible to leave it in his past, unless he continues to lie about it.

The challenge that you have given her is one that she is not ruling out meeting, even though she's being targeted by death threats.  I am sure that if she testifies, even without the time and the investigation that she requested, she will defeat every attempt to make her seem confused, greedy, attention-seeking or deserving of ridicule.  That strategy won't work against her.  This is not a good public relations situation for you.  You can't subdue it by trying to intimidate her or by sending the nomination through regardless of what she says; everything that you're doing is making the story bigger and more indelible.

The world hasn't changed as much as it should, but it has changed, and you're not recognizing that.