Saletan On Kavenaugh

Very important points, though I doubt they rise to the level of "lying to the committee." They're more like the kinds of spin one should expect from an accused. Except for the blacking out one; that kinda seemed like, possibly, a straight-up lie.

   But, that point aside: all very important. I was under the impression that the alleged incident of pushing a woman against a wall had been debunked, but I guess not. We would, of course, need to know that said pushing wasn't consensual...because that's not exactly unheard-of behavior.

   This all makes me more in favor of an FBI investigation--and a lengthier one if necessary. Thus far all the accusations seem tainted. Ford seems to have "remembered" the incident in therapy, sans names, and so on. Ramirez only "remembered" her alleged incident after six days with a Democratic lawyer. Swetnick seems to be a nut. Normally I'd take the number of allegations to be evidence in itself...but that doesn't seem plausible when each one is so flawed.

   My new position this morning: neither Kavanaugh nor his accusers is/are particularly believable.

   One might reasonably think that that alone should disqualify Kavanaugh...but...I don't really think so. How someone acts in response to crazy, unjust, false accusations of sexual assault, and relentless, unfair attacks by a hostile party while on national t.v. and in front of the Senate Judiciary committee...well...if there's any situation more likely to bring out an unrepresentative aspect of a person, I can't think of it right off the top of my head. So this seems to throw the question back to: are the allegations true?

   If Kavanaugh turns out to be the scumbag, we'll--perhaps rightfully--see yet another ratcheting-up of "me too"-ish stuff. If Ford-Ramirez-Swetnick turn out to be the scumbags...what then? Will there finally be an admission that things have gone too far, and that false accusations of sexual assault have become (or, perhaps, have always been?) alarmingly common? I suppose I doubt it...