Any decent gentleman who is not guilty, faced with an allegation that, as a teenager, he treated a young girl in a way that came close to rape, would respond as follows:
“I have read your account of the incident that you endured as a teenager, and I am terribly sorry that you had to go through such a harrowing and scary experience. It sounds dreadful. When we are young we do stupid things, but your treatment was callous and totally unacceptable at any age. But it wasn’t me and forcing myself on a woman is not who I am. Suffice it to say, I have no recollection whatsoever of any such party or any such incident, and can only extend my sympathy to you.”
Instead, Judge Kavanagh responded to the charges with a brutal denial that illustrates his total lack of empathy and his exclusive preoccupation with himself and his career. In showing this absence of empathy he will be forever looked upon as an overgrown frat boy and a bully, and someone who has no business judging anyone else at any level of jurisprudence.
I spent today watching Ms. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Procedurally, the event was a circus. Ultimately, I thought the judge acquitted himself fairly effectively although, of course, there are those who will dismiss his testimony, however compelling. At the time, I had not yet see your blog post. This evening, scrolling down the blog, I couldn’t help stopping to peruse your epistle. “Whoa!” thought I. The judge’s testimony was exactly what you posited as the testimony of an innocent man! Your second paragraph, however, lamented what you had apparently picked up as his initial reaction to the accusation. While I had seen one of the judge’s earlier statements, I didn’t see one that I would have described as a “brutal” denial; only an unequivocal denial. Perhaps he had made another denial that I missed and you didn’t; one that could be described as “brutal”. Of course, some might argue that Ms. Ford’s accusation was “brutal”. It certainly had a brutal effect on the lives of the judge and his family. But, today, he followed your script of a proper denial so closely as to suggest he must be a reader of Epicurus Today, and adopted your advice to the letter.