Sen. Susan Collins is my hero

I joined millions of viewers who watched all 45 minutes of Sen. Susan Collins' announcement Friday that she would vote to affirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. She used facts to support her vote. She articulated points of his judicial background, shooting down widely- (and wildly-) held propaganda points put forth by those opposing Kavanaugh's nomination. She cited case law. She took a reasoned, detailed approach, which was refreshing given the chaotic atmosphere in the halls of the Senate.

She stood up for what she believed, she stepped into the public limelight, and she gave a rational response to justify her vote and attack wrongs committed by those who wanted Kavanaugh ousted. She is being vilified by the far left, and she is a target of big-money efforts to unseat her. Her crime in their eyes? She had the audacity to come to a different conclusion than they had.

One of the big wrongs committed (and I wrote about this in a blog entry) is that the standard of evidence was said to not be a necessity in these proceedings. This is a job interview, not a court of law, they said. That is an argument for those who know they don't have adequate evidence to convict. They opt instead for appearances and allegations to be the standard. That misses the point of our system, and that higher standard must be upheld even in the politically partisan atmosphere of the Judiciary Committee and the Senate. Sen Collins attacked that urging for a lower standard, and I applaud her for it. (I mean, I actually applauded parts of her announcement.) That push for lower standards won't go away. I watched people on Facebook declare that repeatedly in the aftermath of Sen. Collins' speech. I hope none of us ever face a situation in which we are judged by appearances and allegations instead of hard facts.

Sen. Collins also attacked those who leaked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's name to the media, which then outed her and trashed her desire for privacy. She stood by Sen. Feinstein's statements during the original hearings that her office wasn't the source of the leak. That hardly clears the room of possible leakers. Congresswoman Eshoo's office could be the one. She was the first person Dr. Ford contacted with her allegations against Kavanaugh. So could the offices of every Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. I can say with 99.9 percent certainty that the leak came from one of those offices. Dr. Ford was victimized in the process. The problem with my 99.9 percent certainty is that I don't have evidence to state that categorically, so I can't say it's the truth because I am basing those statements on appearances and allegations. (I do find it not so funny that no news organization is launching an investigation as to the leaker's identity, but that's a side issue I won't detail here.)

Sen. Collins also attacked the timing of the release of the new allegations. Nothing about Dr. Ford's contact with Eshoo's office or Feinstein's was brought up even in the private rooms of senators on the committee although that information was known to Democrats in early or mid-July. There was no nonpartisan sharing of information, even a notification that excluded Dr. Ford's name and respected her need for privacy. That was intentional for political reasons. Judge Kavanaugh apparently had a clear path to the court, and the story was published (with Dr. Ford's identity made known) to delay his appointment or possibly have the nomination withdrawn. That is as disingenuous as pushing for a lowering of standards to appearances and allegations as the guiding forces to a decision. (I also wrote about that in an earlier blog.)

Here are two other areas that haven't been as publicly talked about, and I find both to be troubling. First, Judge Kavanaugh has been through nomination processes for other posts. Those processes included background checks about his public and private life. Those checks looked for trouble spots such as a propensity for alcoholism, drug use, or other areas of moral turpitude (infidelity, sexual abuse, and other instances). Kavanaugh never was a major issue until the eleventh-hour assault by the Democrats. That included his appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and his appointment to the Harvard Law School, which was approved by current Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan while she was the law school dean. Somehow, some way, being a closet drunk as a younger man would have come to the surface, but it didn't. My second point of discomfort is the therapy sessions Dr. Ford had in 2012, the ones in which she unveiled her abuse as a young woman. My discomfort comes from the fact that every therapist or counselor I know is a mandatory reporter, which means he or she MUST file a report if sexual abuse or rape is involved. I can't determine why this wasn't done, but I can ask questions. Did Dr. Ford not name her abuser at that time? If she did, why did her therapist not report it as required by law? Such a report would be available for those combing for information about a candidate's moral standing, whether it be for a spot on the federal bench or a teaching position at Harvard Law.

I stand with Sen. Collins. I also stand with Dr. Ford, which might be hard for some of you to fathom given my first sentence in this paragraph. She was a victim in more ways than one. I see some possible conclusions to be reached by Dr. Ford's testimony. She has no witness corroboration and one must dismiss those claims for lack of evidence. I have not hidden my belief in that; neither has Sen. Collins. You can also say that Kavanaugh is being protected by the old boys' network of rich white folks who have country club memberships and protect their male offspring and friends no matter the cost. That theory has been advanced by Facebook friends. I have seen such impact of networking in my career and life, and I admit to having a certain amount of bias toward those who come from families with large amounts of money and get access to great schools and great jobs because of it. My moral foundations, though, won't allow that bias to overpower my conviction that evidence must be present, and we Americans don't presume guilt when that evidence is lacking.

Maybe I'll consider a move to Maine. I saw several people post that they are sending money to the state to back Collins' challengers. Her loss would be a disservice to Maine, the Senate, and the nation. I won't stand idly by and watch that happen. The thing many yelling loudest about is that there is a wave of political activism surging through the liberal ranks. Guess what? It's surging through conservative ranks as well, and voters will turn out in greater numbers. The key element, as it almost always is, is the independent voter, and those ranks are swelling as Republicans and Democrats play a game of mud tossing for political advantage.

Will I vote a straight Republican ticket? No. There are good Democratic candidates for some offices in South Carolina (yes, that's possible even in a good ol' red state), and I might vote for some. I will research, weigh evidence (there's that key element again), and cast my vote accordingly. And, yes, I am registered here. I am filled with more fervor than ever because of the actions during these hearings, and by the bellicose language and advertising used. (You can check out my harsh criticism of an ad Democrats are using to spur young voters to turn out, and they use attacks on senior citizens to create a divide in the nation they can exploit. That ad is Trumpian in tone. Follow me on Facebook and check my replies to others' posts in recent days.)

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