Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

In a comically desperate attempt at opposition research, several right-wing supporters of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have sought to tarnish the reputation of Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were high school students in the early 1980s, by citing what they claim are unflattering student reviews on RateMyProfessors.com.

According to Jim Hoft, head of the conspiracy theorist website Gateway Pundit and the Dumbest Man on the Internet, Ford’s former students describe her as “dark, mad, scary and troubled.” An anonymously published story at Grabienews similarly highlights student reviews that describe Ford as “vengeful” and “unprofessional.” The stories went viral, with the Grabienews one alone receiving nearly 22,000 engagements according to BuzzSumo as of posting time. They were shared on social media by several prominent conservatives, including Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin.

There are a few problems with their argument. First, it’s patently absurd to try to call Ford’s story into question on the grounds that her students don’t like her. Second, the idiots making this argument are looking at reviews for the wrong Christine Ford.

Christine Blasey Ford is a research psychologist who teaches clinical psychology at Palo Alto University and in a consortium with Stanford University, according to The Washington Post. Kavanaugh’s defenders are citing student reviews for Christine A. Ford, who taught in the social work department at California State University-Fullerton. The Grabienews story has since been retracted.

My God.

These people.





Are idiots.

This pathetic attempt to smear Ford -- one of many the right-wing press has tried since she came forward -- recalls Breitbart.com’s 2014 attack on the wrong Loretta Lynch.