Ford's Demands, Threats All Around, Why It Matters

by Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Ford's Demands - Late yesterday afternoon, lawyers representing Dr. Christine Ford issued a list of conditions for her testimony. Here's what they are demanding of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

• Dr. Ford will not speak on Monday. After saying she would testify, it seems Monday does not fit into her schedule. She wants to wait until Thursday to present her case. No judge would permit a witness to determine the court's calendar and Ford does not get to decide the Senate's schedule. Judge Kavanaugh sent Chairman Grassley a letter yesterday afternoon promising to be there Monday to "clear my name."
• Kavanaugh must testify first; Ford insists on speaking second. But how can Judge Kavanaugh defend himself if he doesn't even know what Dr. Ford is going to say? Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz blasted this demand as "the most absurd, anti-due process, anti-American concept."
• Kavanaugh must not be present during Ford's testimony.
• They are demanding that the committee subpoena Mark Judge. But Judge has denied that the event Ford described ever happened, as has another alleged witness. And Judge never asked to testify about it, so why should he be dragged through the mud too?
• No questions can be asked by committee lawyers. This is intended to maximize political optics. They know Republican senators are likely to pull their punches, not wanting to appear "mean" to the female witness. And if they do aggressively question her, Ford and/or committee Democrats will react angrily to their "verbal and emotional abuse."

These demands are ludicrous. They make a mockery of the process. They are blatantly political and only further undermine Ford's credibility. And it does not help that Dr. Ford is surrounded by left-wing lawyers and political hacks who have a history of savaging Supreme Court nominees.

Here's something to consider. Progressive senators and commentators -- who have never met Dr. Ford and who do not know her -- are running to the nearest microphone to vouch for her veracity. They have already condemned Judge Kavanaugh. What happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty?

Meanwhile, three alleged witness have said the incident never happened. And there are hundreds of people -- judges, lawyers, clerks and neighbors -- who do know Judge Kavanaugh and not one of them has come forward to accuse him of anything. They know him to be a man of great ethical and moral character.

And no one on the left is calling for an FBI investigation of Rep. Keith Ellison, the deputy chairman of the Democrat National Committee. The allegations against him are much more recent and include much more evidence. There are multiple accusers and even police reports.

There cannot be one set of rules for sexual assault allegations against Democrats and a completely different set of rules for allegations against Supreme Court nominees.

Sadly, the left is now fantasizing about sending Kavanaugh to jail -- even if he is confirmed. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow noted last night:

"There is no statute of limitations for a felony like this in Maryland. Local authorities . . . now say that . . . the reason they have not opened a criminal investigation of this matter is because they have not received a criminal complaint [from] the alleged victim in this case. . .

"[Ford] could, at any point, make that criminal complaint to the police in Maryland. Such a complaint could start a criminal investigation of a sitting Supreme Court justice for felony attempted rape. . ."

Threats All Around - Ford's lawyers are really playing up the fact that she has reportedly had to leave her house due to threats. Well, someone finally noticed yesterday that Judge Kavanaugh and his family have also faced threats. In fact, some are so vile they could not be read on network TV.

I am sure that Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and anyone else prominently serving in the administration can testify to receiving the same kind of garbage from the left. I certainly can.

When I served President Ronald Regan, I regularly received threats against me and my children. We had to hire security simply because I was promoting the Reagan agenda.

My point, my friends, is simply this: The left's vitriol and the breakdown of our public discourse is not Donald Trump's fault. The left has been bitter, angry and violent for decades.

Why It Matters - During my remarks at the Values Voter Summit today, I reminded the audience about the history of recent Supreme Court battles and why this one is so important. (If you missed my speech, you can watch it here.)
In 1987, Ronald Reagan nominated an intellectual giant, Judge Robert Bork. The left savaged him. Democrats invented a new term -- to "Bork" a nominee. Bork's defeat gave us Anthony Kennedy, who was not a reliable conservative.

In 1991, George H. W. Bush thrilled conservatives when he nominated Clarence Thomas. Remembering what happened to Judge Bork, I created a committee to support Thomas. Virtually every conservative in Washington knew and respected Clarence Thomas. But at the very end of his hearings, Anita Hill emerged.

Thomas had overcome much in his life, but he made one mistake: He was a black man willing to defend conservatism and the left had to destroy him. Thomas fought back, and he was confirmed. Year after year since then, he has been the most reliable conservative on the Supreme Court.

Here we are today. The left is terrified that there might be one more vote on the Supreme Court to limit abortion on demand. So it has to "Bork" Judge Kavanaugh. When the left can't win the argument, it resorts to intimidation.

But if this smear works, what conservative judge would be willing to submit themselves to that kind of abuse and character assassination?

The left must not succeed in destroying Judge Kavanaugh.

It must not succeed in destroying the Trump presidency.

And that is why we cannot let the left prevail at the ballot box this November.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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