Kirsten Powers

Opinion columnist

There comes a point in every woman’s life when she has to decide what she stands for. The five female Republican Senators face such a moment now.

As their male colleagues have demonstrated how little they have learned since the debacle of the Clarence Thomas hearings nearly three decades ago, these women senators have an opportunity to stand with women and against the shameful treatment of Christine Blasey Ford by their male colleagues. Trapped in a past that aggressively silenced the cries of abused women by attacking them as liars, loons or, as Orrin Hatch called Ford, “mixed up,” the male GOP members have made clear they have no interest in changing. They are addicted to the patriarchy.

If more women held positions of power in the GOP Senate caucus — or if the women senators flexed their muscles more aggressively — the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh would never have gotten so out of control. It never should have gotten this far. It was clear Ford was a reliable witness to anyone with any sense, and yet Republicans went on a smear campaign against her, attacking her for not being able to remember the exact date or location of the assault, even though it happened thirty-six years ago.

No excuse for senators ignorant of #MeToo

Only people who are willfully ignorant about the dynamics of sexual assault reporting could have ever believed that Ford’s lack of details about the date or location of the assault meant she was lying, or was confused about what happened to her. In 1991, perhaps senators could be excused for not understanding the dynamics of sexual assault. In 2018, the same cannot be said, especially in the era of #MeToo. Predictably, Ford’s accusation was followed by two more credible accusations and there is no reason to think there won’t be more. Confirming Kavanaugh cannot stop women from telling their stories.

The allegations alone are not the only evidence that exists. There are four sworn statements that Ford told people about the incident, beginning in 2012. In Kavanaugh’s raging testimony, he alleged that he is the victim of a “calculated and organized political hit.” He hasn’t explained why no such “hit” happened with John Roberts, Samuel Alito or Neil Gorsuch (who also attended Georgetown Prep) were nominated to the court.

Also for this diabolical plan to work, Democrats and/or Ford would have to be psychic.

They would have had to know in 2012 a Republican would become president in 2016, Kennedy would retire, and Kavanaugh would be nominated, even though he wasn’t on the original Federalist list of suggested judges. This is obviously nuts.

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Kavanaugh’s claim echoes the accusations from Republicans that Ford is a “pawn” of the Democrats. They have said — at least to me — that she is part of a “kamikaze effort” to destroy Kavanaugh and keep him off the Supreme Court. More Republicans than one would think is possible actually believe that a woman with a career, husband and children would lie, at risk of going to jail, about being sexually assaulted to keep a man off the Supreme Court.

Never mind that there are ten more Brett Kavanaughs waiting to be nominated to the court. Moreover, Ford reached out before Kavanaugh was nominated in hopes of keeping him from being selected. If she wanted to torpedo the next nominee in a last minute gambit, why would she do that?

In this bizarre — and misogynist — alternate reality, women are irrational nutjobs who lie and make false accusations all in the belief they will become a "feminist hero" like Anita Hill, who according to this narrative has gone on to live a fantastic life after being smeared as “a little bit nutty, and a little bit slutty” by the Republican political machine. This is an actual argument Republicans have made to me.

Female senators must stand with Ford

The reason that the women senators must stand against Kavanaugh is not because he is definitely guilty. It’s because the GOP has refused to take multiple credible accusations seriously. They dismissed Ford out of hand, have lied about whether the FBI conducts investigations in such circumstances (they do) and have refused to do a serious investigation that would include FBI questioning of Mark Judge, who was in the room during the alleged attack. They have portrayed young Kavanaugh as a combination choir boy/women’s rights advocate which his yearbook entries alone disprove.

The fact that the Republicans won’t have the FBI question Judge is what is known as a “tell.” They continue to use his vague statement to the Senate about not remembering the incident as “proof” in support of Kavanaugh. But if he could truly exonerate Kavanaugh, the FBI would have already visited him.

It falls on the women Republican Senators to demand a full investigation of all the claims against Kavanaugh before there is a vote. If his name is cleared, they can vote for him with a clear conscience. But if they follow the GOP flock and fast track a nominee under such a dark cloud of suspicion, they will be remembered for helping put an accused sexual predator on the Supreme Court.

Kirsten Powers, a CNN news analyst, writes regularly for USA Today and is co-host of The Faith Angle podcast. Follow her on Twitter: @KirstenPowers