Decency dies in the Senate

For those of us closely following the Judge Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, I think I can reliably describe us as outraged and saddened at the lengths to which the Democrats are willing to go to deny Kavanaugh a seat on the Supreme Court. Until a week ago, the left had been unable to block Judge Kavanaugh's elevation to the highest court due to his sterling record of judicial temperament and the quality of prodigious rulings in his current role as Circuit Court judge for the D.C. Court of Appeals. It's important to note that several of his rulings have been upheld by the Supreme Court – unlike the oft overturned Sonia Sotomayor.

So, while not totally unexpected, it's still a bit shocking how the left is ruthlessly shoving aside all semblance of fairness, especially the time-honored principle of innocent until proven guilty. In their manic, ends-justifies-the-means destruction of Judge Kavanaugh, the Democrats are crossing a line that shreds a universal principle of justice, replaced by mob rule and guilt by accusation. Not one, not two, not three, but four people have now come forward to reject the accuser's claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. As of this moment, she has provided not one shred of evidence to support her allegations. So if one false allegation is not enough, why not two? Right on cue, another woman has supposedly come forward alleging sexual impropriety. But none of these allegations makes any sense or fits what we know of Kavanaugh's life or character, even as we learn of his accuser's far-left activism and rather checkered young adult activities in high school. For the fair and objective among us, none of this passes the sanity test – not even close. Undeterred, the Democrats, their strategists, their lawyers, and their media assassins are doubling down as they smell blood. In the bigger picture, the coordinated character assassination of Brett Kavanaugh affects us all, and it's not an understatement to say this bright line of simple fairness, once crossed, will be ill redrawn, nor should its deep wounds be trivialized. And it's not the destruction of just one man, who is by all accounts completely innocent of the charges against him. It will be a triumph of the feral street – the raging mob, lusting for blood and accepting nothing less than the head of its hated enemy. Perhaps we are spiraling toward our home-grown version of the Reign of Terror, where youthful impropriety, a careless or indiscreet word, or even an earnest expression of feeling to those we think we can trust later metastasizes by design into red meat for a vengeful and bloodthirsty mob demanding nothing less than annihilation to satisfy its ever morphing outrage. There is an apt corollary to these circus hearings: the 1954 hearings led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. During questioning between Roy Cohn, lead counsel for the committee, and Joseph Welch, the lead counsel for the Army, an exasperated Welch replied to Cohn and McCarthy's harangues, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" At that moment, Senator McCarthy lost his momentum, but more importantly, he lost the moral high ground. While McCarthy was correct that communists were salted throughout the bureaucracy (especially the State Department), he overplayed his hand – as I think (or hope) the Democrats have now. Will we see such a moment this week? Will someone – anyone – rise above this insanity and ask the leaders of the mob, Have you left no sense of decency? Unfortunately, as the Democrats have neither shame nor conscience, and the Republicans seem sorely lacking in moral fortitude, it's doubtful that anyone will be challenged – except, of course, the accused. W. Michael Caswell has been a devoted reader of AT for ten years. He frequently comments under the pseudonym Janus.