Republican Senators Are Doing Themselves No Favors with Their Quotes on the Kavanaugh Hearings

Republican Senators were already demonstrating just how little respect they have for women and the American public with the shameful circus of the Kavanaugh hearings, and their own words don’t prove much else.

Reporters Sarah D. Wire and Emma Dumain followed two senators during the proceedings, and their responses to the trial were alarming, if not necessarily surprising.

Asked as he left for the lunch break if Ford is credible, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said “It’s too early to say. I don’t think she’s uncredible, I think she’s an attractive, good witness.”
Asked to clarify what he meant by attractive, Hatch said “in other words, she is pleasing.”

— Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) September 27, 2018

A woman just told @LindseyGrahamSC she was raped. He said, as he headed into an elevator, “I’m sorry. Tell the cops.”

— Emma Dumain (@Emma_Dumain) September 27, 2018

Dr. Christine Ford opened with a harrowing, eight-page testimony in which she detailed her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but it looks like Sen. Hatch has other criteria in mind when considering whether to believe women who choose to come forward with some of the most painful stories of their lives. Sen. Graham, too, doesn’t offer much empathy for those who choose not to report for any number of reasons, something that the GOP response to Dr. Ford’s allegations has made clear on an unavoidably public scale.

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl also had this to report from Graham, as though Dr. Ford being questioned about her own alleged assault at her attacker’s job hearing made their experiences in any way comparable.

“She is as much a victim of this as Brett Kavanaugh” – @LindseyGrahamSC

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) September 27, 2018

It’s worth reiterating that Dr. Ford was 15 when she was allegedly assaulted, that she and her family have faced harassment and death threats since she came forward with her story, and that she is one of multiple women who have made similar allegations of sexual assault against someone who might still make it onto the country’s highest court for life.

The official GOP response, both online and off, has been to drag out some of the most well-worn defenses of men accused of sexual misconduct.

#IstandWithBrettpic.twitter.com/ZSfpWfN5kd

— GOP (@GOP) September 27, 2018

At this point, it seems unlikely that the hearing will do much to stop Kavanaugh’s nomination, in which case Americans will bear the consequences for at least a few decades. The stories of Dr. Ford and other women like her, though, will not be forgotten.