Doing the right thing: Brett Kavanaugh

“Do what is right, not what is easy nor what is popular.”
                                          - Roy T. Bennett

Our Sunday school teacher put this quote up on the board yesterday.   It’s sad that so many people fail to follow this simple principle.   That includes many of my fellow Republicans that are still backing Kavanaugh’s nomination.   It’s time they stepped back and DID THE RIGHT THING, even if it’s not the popular thing.

KAVANAUGH’S OWN TESTIMONY AND BEHAVIOR ON THE STAND ILLUSTRATES THAT HE IS NOT QUALIFIED TO BE ON THE SUPREME COURT.  Christine Ford’s testimony was not needed at all in order to reach this conclusion.

Let me start be saying how disgusted I am that certain Democrats sat on these allegations and released them at the last moment.  They knew about them from the start.  If they were not willing to release them back in July, they should have never released them now.

But, regardless of how they were released, once out in the open, they needed to be investigated. 

I watched, but mostly listened, to almost all of Christine Ford’s testimony.  She came across as sincere and believable.  She was obviously not a professional activist nor witness, and it was apparent she was very nervous throughout the hearing.  Yet, her story was consistent, despite the attempts to nit-pick it apart.  I have no doubt that she was sexually assaulted as she described, and believe her attacker probably was Kavanaugh.  An incident such as this would be a life-altering one, and it would be one of those times that is indelibly pressed into your memory.  It would be one of those events where you always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened.

I believe Brett Kavanaugh was in a drunken stupor, and probably does not remember the incident.  Ford herself said that this particular party was not anything special, and she stated that Kavanaugh was falling-down drunk and was bouncing off the walls in the hallway and staircase.  Ford did not report the incident to the police or even tell a single person about it.  That would mean that nobody else at the party except for the three people in the room would have any reason to remember that party as out of the ordinary.  It is likely that Kavanagh was not even aware that she was resisting. He was a varsity football player, and was so drunk he was unable to remove or even rip any of her clothes.  That does not excuse his behavior.  He chose to drink alcohol, and is responsible for his actions. 

As horrible as his actions were, and, while he should have been punished at that time, almost forty years have passed.  He grew up, and, by all accounts, has been an pillar of the community for all of his adult life.  That must be taken into consideration.

After hearing Ford’s testimony, my heart went out to her for all of the suffering she has gone through, including the last few weeks.  But, when compared against almost forty years of exemplary behavior, I could not punish the man now.  As a Christian, I believe in Forgiveness and redemption.   (This is the same reason I am so adamantly opposed to deporting illegal aliens who have lived here in the U.S. for many years and have led upstanding lives.)

I do support a delay, however long is reasonably needed, for the FBI to re-open its background investigation to ensure that this incident was indeed a one-time, out-of-character, drunken act of stupidity by a 17 year-old kid.  If the investigation were to reveal other similar incidents or a pattern of behavior, that would, of course, be immediately disqualifying.

I watched most of Kavanaugh’s testimony live, and I watched it all again over the weekend.

BUT IT WAS KAVANAUGH’S OWN TESTIMONY AND BEHAVIOR ON THE STAND HAS CAUSED TO CHANGE MY MIND.  I would have reached this same conclusion had I not seen or heard ANY of the testimony from Christine Ford.  I stated above that my support for Kavanaugh was not changed by her testimony; my opinion was changed by his.

I completely understand his anger and frustration at these charges, especially since I believe that he really does not remember it and that he believes he really is innocent.  I would be angry as well.   But his statement clearly showed political bias, and judges are supposed to be above that.

As a judge, he should be able to control his anger and emotions, and let reason prevail.  I am not referring to his emotions when he was describing the effect it had on his family; I am talking about the anger he was directing at the Democrats by invoking conspiracy theories and claims that it was all made up as revenge for the Clintons.   As I said earlier, I am disgusted that the Democrats waited so long to present the allegations, but their failure to act timely does not diminish the veracity of the claim.

I am especially disturbed that, during cross-examination, he seemed to be less than truthful when answering questions about his past drinking, behavior, and language used. I graduated the same year as he, and my memories of my own high-school during that time echoes his own school.  While I cannot say he outright lied, he was less than truthful with at least three statements: 

When asked if he passed out, He claimed he just “went to sleep”.  Since passing out IS going to sleep, that statement would have been correct.  But “going to sleep” has a connotation that it was an conscious action take because one was tired, as opposed to an involuntary action over which he had no control.

Second, he stated that he had no connections to Yale, when he was a legacy student.  Again, while it’s possible he did not use his grandfather’s connection to Yale to get in, it does not change the fact that he did indeed have connections to Yale.  I find it highly unlikely that he would have been unaware that his grandfather had attended that school.

Third, he made it a point to state that drinking was legal at age 18 when he was in high school, implying that he was legally drinking, when, in fact, he was only 17.  While not technically a lie, it was misleading, and a failure to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. 

His demeanor in court was not appropriate.  He repeatedly evaded direct questions, and questioned his questioners.  “I don’t know.  Did you?”   That kind of behavior would not fly in any courtroom, and, as a sitting judge, he knows that.

But the turning point for me came when he refused to support a proper FBI investigation.  He intentionally attempted to deflect the question several times when asked, and finally simply refused to answer.  Now, the Democrats will claim that is because he knows he is guilty and has something to hide.  I won’t go that far.  To me, it means that he worries, and rightfully so, that any delay can only harm his chances for confirmation.  An FBI investigation cannot clear him since there were only three people in the room and all physical evidence is long since gone.  The best he could hope for is for the FBI to state that they could find no corroborating evidence and no evidence of similar behavior and incidents. 

What he was doing was putting his ambitions and desire to be on the Supreme Court over the good of the country, and over the need to seek the truth.  In my mind, that alone is a disqualifying act for a candidate for Supreme Court Justice.

I believe that Brett Kavanaugh is a good person who has led an exemplary life throughout his adulthood.  He appears today to be a man of high morals and good character  a great citizen.   

But we require more than that for our top Justices.  We already hold law enforcement officers, lawyers and judges to a higher standard than the average citizen.   We must always hold our highest leaders to the highest of standards. 

Sadly, Brett Kavanaugh is not one of those leaders.  It was not his alleged behavior from forty years ago, but, rather, his own testimony and behavior on the stand this week that demonstrates to me why he does not reach those highest of standards.

George W. Bush withdraw Harriet Myers from consideration for reasons far less serious than Kavanaugh is facing today.  Kavanaugh still has a life-time appointment to the D.C. Federal Court, arguably the second-highest court in the land.   President Trump should withdraw his nomination and choose another candidate.   There is no shame in that; it would be the right thing to do.  We are not in a race against time; we waited almost a year before replacing Scalia. 

Surely, we can take some more time and find the next truly great Supreme Court Justice.

The Ends do not Justify the Means

The Trump Administration has had significant accomplishments over the past year. I am very happy that our economy is booming right now.  Just this week, the report came out that unemployment reached the lowest level in decades.  We have a new Supreme Court Justice who will serve us well for many years.  We are in talks with North Korea for the first time in decades.  A lot of excessive regulations have been rolled back, removing unnecessary burdens on our businesses.  Congress passed a long-needed reform on Business taxes, bringing our business tax code in line with every other nation. 

But, the ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS.

EVER.

It is NEVER OKAY to dismiss unethical, corrupt, and immoral behavior in order to achieve a goal.   We all should have learned that in Kindergarten.

I am not talking about the petty issues that the Democrats keep bringing up. I am not talking about his being “politically incorrect”.  I am not talking about his making everything all about himself.  All that just goes to his personality, and we have had plenty of presidents with eccentric personalities.

But don’t confuse character and morality with personality. That’s something totally different, and it’s one’s character and morality that counts.

When Trump repeatedly lies on an almost daily basis, that is a moral failure of character, and we must stand up and speak out against that. I am not referring to his statements of opinion or statements that can be construed in different ways.  I mean the flat-out lies that have been disproved beyond doubt, but that he keeps repeating over and over again.  We are brought up to respect our leaders, and it we inherently want and need to believe and trust our leaders.  When one repeats the same lie over and over again, people actually start to believe it; especially those who don’t have the time to research and find out the truth.

When Trump falsely attacks every media outlet that publishes something he does not like, labeling it “Fake News”, that is a moral failing.  Some of these media may be editorially liberal, but very little of what they have reported has been proven wrong.  Reputable conservative-leaning media, such as the Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Economist, are reporting essentially the same facts as the liberal media.  Even Fox News reports these same facts during their regular news programs, such as Shepard Smith’s segments in the afternoons. 

When Trump claims that our Justice Department and FBI are corrupt and are out to get him, that is not only a moral failure, it’s an attack on our very Democracy, and one I WILL NOT STAND FOR.  Our law enforcement agencies are made up of dedicated, hard-working Americans who put their lives on the line every day for far too little pay, and that includes those at the very top.  Both James Comey and Robert Mueller are Republicans, and both have a decades-old reputation for honesty and integrity. Neither one of them has ever been caught telling a lie, and it is beyond belief how anybody could believe the ridiculous accusations made against them by someone who tells lies big and small almost daily.

When we have a President that spreads conspiracy theories that are so outrageous that until now only the radical far-right or -left nut cases actually believed them, that’s another attack on our democracy.  There is no “deep-state” conspiracy. It is virtually impossible for two or three people to keep a secret.  Can anybody really believe that hundreds of people on both sides of the political spectrum are part of some wide conspiracy that controls every part of our government? 

Our party was founded 150 years ago on a set of core values, and followed by our greatest leaders, including Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan.  These values are based on honesty, integrity, and morality. 

I AM A REPUBLICAN, and I believe in the core values our party was founded on 150 years ago.  Our own Virginia Republican Creed pretty much sums up exactly what I believe: That the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and economic justice, that all individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice, and opportunities and should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society, that fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government, that the Federal Government must preserve individual liberty by observing Constitutional limitations, that peace is best preserved through a strong national defense, and that faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers is essential to the moral fiber of the Nation.

BUT MY INTEGRITY IS NOT FOR SALE, and I will not compromise my own values by staying silent while a corrupt leader mocks these very values on which our party is based. 

There is nothing wrong with supporting the policies of our President, especially when they follow our party’s positions.  But we also must call out and condemn immoral and unethical behavior with just as loud and united of a voice.  We can never allow our ethics and integrity to be compromised by any individual.

OUR LOYALTY should ALWAYS be to our COUNTRY and to TRUTH and HONESTY, and then to our PARTY, and NEVER to any individual.

Right now, too many people in our party are allowing these core values to be sacrificed, and this is wrong. When we have a leader that lacks moral character, it becomes a CANCER that spreads throughout the administration and throughout the party, and that has been clearly evident ever since Trump took office.  This corruption has flowed all the way down to the local districts.