![\"Where](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/04\/2013_U-1.S._Supreme_Court_Building.jpg\")
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Despite the continual claims by a certain anonymous internet critic of mine who\u2019s been publicly attacking me for years and years and years, I don\u2019t have much of a temper. \u00a0I\u2019m rarely angry. \u00a0I\u2019m pretty much what was once, at least, called a \u201cType B\u201d personality<\/a>. \u00a0(In that regard, I take after my father considerably more than I resemble my mother, who wasn\u2019t always exactly what one would call \u201csedate.\u201d) \u00a0In this respect as in many others, this critic has me just about as completely wrong as it\u2019s possible to be regarding another human being. \u00a0(I\u2019m not sure, though, that he cares.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But I have to confess that my indignation is growing over what I\u2019m inclined to regard as the vicious public destruction, for purely partisan political reasons, of the life and reputation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. \u00a0I have repeatedly and freely granted that I do not know for certain that Judge Kavanaugh is innocent of all the charges, although I lean rather strongly toward the view that he is. \u00a0However, the accusations against him are so deeply problematic and so remarkably devoid of corroboration \u2014 as of the time I\u2019m writing this, anyway \u2014 that I cannot understand why so many people seem so cavalierly willing to acquiesce \u2014 when they\u2019re not in fact eagerly participating \u2014 in the destruction of the man\u2019s good name, injuring his wife and children, wrecking his career, and subjecting him to public torment and humiliation on the basis of so very, very, very little.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s accusation was weak enough, but Deborah Ramirez\u2019s charge is far more dubious still, and the allegation made by the grandstanding Michael Avenatti\u2019s client is, as things currently stand and unless some very substantial supporting evidence is presented, simply ridiculous.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n People\u2019s reputations should not be destroyed on such flimsy grounds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But his has<\/em> been. \u00a0And, if I had to guess at this very moment, I would say that Brett Kavanaugh will never sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He would not have been my first choice. \u00a0But he\u2019s a solid judge, even a brilliant one, and, by just about all accounts until a few days ago, when Senator Diane Feinstein finally unleashed her long-hidden and carefully-withheld doomsday weapon against him, Brett Kavanaugh was esteemed a decent man, indeed an unusually good one.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I do not believe that he deserves the treatment that he\u2019s received over the past few days. \u00a0I know<\/em> that he deserves fairness and justice.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I understand those who now demand a full FBI investigation. \u00a0It would be very helpful to know the solid, firm truth. \u00a0But I doubt that that truth is knowable at this remove in time, without corroborating witnesses, with such vagueness about time and place, and, obviously, without actual physical evidence. \u00a0Still, we could already have had<\/em> such an FBI investigation, had Senator Feinstein disclosed the existence of Dr. Ford\u2019s letter in an appropriate and timely fashion.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It seems painfully obvious that, with the midterm elections approaching, the plan has been to delay a vote on Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination as long as possible, in hopes that the Democrats might gain control of the Senate. \u00a0And, evidently, there are some party tacticians who are willing to frankly admit what they\u2019re up to:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Townhall.com<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cSurprise: Democratic Operative Admits Derailing Kavanaugh is Really About \u2018Saving\u2019 the Supreme Court from Trump\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Fine. \u00a0I get it. \u00a0But to casually destroy a man\u2019s reputation in order to achieve that partisan end is, in my view, contemptible. \u00a0I have mixed feelings about the Senate Republicans\u2019 refusal to vote on Merrick Garland\u2019s nomination to the Supreme Court during President Obama\u2019s last year. \u00a0But Judge Garland didn\u2019t emerge from that process as damaged goods, with his reputation in tatters. \u00a0He wasn\u2019t subjected to a barrage of accusations of unethical, immoral, and even criminal behavior. \u00a0His name wasn\u2019t dragged through the mud.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This is perhaps the ugliest, most distasteful, most discouraging thing that I\u2019ve ever seen in American politics.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a real shocker:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cChuck Schumer Calls For Brett Kavanaugh To Withdraw US Supreme Court Nomination\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Now, though, for some really good commentary pieces on Judge Kavanaugh and his accusers:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Ford\u2019s Statement Previews the Coming Impasse\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Burden of Corroboration\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n New York Post<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cEight big problems for Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s story\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFord\u2019s Polygraph Statement Inconsistent with Letter to Feinstein\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOld Character Assassinations Don\u2019t Support New Character Assassinations\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAvenatti\u2019s Sleazy New Charge\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAvenatti Client Was in College When She Claims to Have Attended Gang-Rape Parties With High-School Students\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n New York Post<\/em>: \u201cThis \u2018accuser\u2019 looks like just another Avenatti stunt\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSeven Questions About the Avenatti\/Swetnick Story\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJudiciary Committee Staff Have Asked Avenatti for Evidence Six Times\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n