I was at the laundromat when Senator Collins gave her speech yesterday. There were 2 televisions that weren't synchronized; I had to hear her corrupt and disingenuous speech from both sides of the room, one word being closely followed by its echo. It was like a scene from a dystopian movie in which the trapped victim is being spoken to over a loudspeaker.
I finished my laundry as soon as I could and left so that I could stop shouting at the screen. I read the transcript of her speech today.
I don't know how the Republican Party could be more presumptuous.
Far from being resistant to a mob, it is the Republican Party that has encouraged mob behavior in the way that it addressed this confirmation process. It has betrayed the victims of sexual misconduct all over the world. It has evoked and promoted every vicious stereotype about women and every patriarchal excuse for the bad behavior of men. It has used a public process to demonstrate that powerful and connected men who are obviously lying and evading will be vociferously defended, while the people whom those men have mistreated and who are conciliatory, cooperative and honest in every respect will be patronized, even by those who claim to support them, and set aside as soon as their usefulness as political weapons seems to be fading.
What's also sickening is how quickly the public discussion was deliberately turned, by the media and others, from the blatant contrast between Dr. Ford's credible testimony and Judge Kavanaugh's blustering and unbelievable denials to the question of Judge Kavanaugh's demeanor. Of all liars, I dislike calm and malicious liars the most. His fear-driven anger was the only saving grace of his entire performance. I think it's true that he doesn't have ill will toward the women whom he knows are telling the truth. His denials were about self-preservation.
It is a disservice to all survivors to abandon the question of who is telling the truth.
