All four of them got in on the act of recklessly smearing Brett Kavanaugh, when the chips were down, when a man's career and reputation were on the line. It reveals not just an intellectual bankruptcy in the Democrat Party, but also a moral bankruptcy.
I've commented in detail on this before. (the context) A brief recap:
(1) Biden is quoted by AP (9/28/18) as saying that Dr. Ford, Kavanaugh's accuser, gave credible testimony (9/27/18) and that both he and the country believed her.
(2) Harris appeared on CNN on 9/18/18, two days after Ford's accusation became public, to say she believed Dr. Ford. This career prosecutor said this before hearing from both sides. This is in addition to her almost surreal interrogation of Kavanaugh in the main portion of the confirmation hearings (where it turns out Harris wasn't holding any cards).
(3) Warren on her facebook page (9/28/18) referred to "multiple, credible accusations" against Kavanaugh, including the ridiculous Swetnick allegation of serial drugged gang rapes (which not only falls apart on its merits but about which Swetnick herself fell apart under scrutiny).
(It should be noted that all three of the above are career attorneys, charged with the professional duty to assess the credibility of putative evidence with care.)
(4) Sanders, in a 9/27/18 press release on his own Senate website, said he believes Dr. Ford.
Ford couldn't remember details about time or place of the alleged incident. Not only that, no one else came forward to say where and when this event might have taken place. Not only that, all of the supposed witnesses to the alleged event, including her friend Leland Keyser, provided sworn statements - statements Biden and Warren, at least, chose unaccountably to disregard - that they have no memory of the alleged event. Not only that, Kavanaugh supplied what would be exculpatory evidence in the calendar he kept.
All this, while fellow Democrats and their enablers in the media either fed the anti-Kavanaugh hysteria (which exploited and weaponized the otherwise honorable and valuable #MeToo movement) or failed to speak up about the injustice of the smear campaign. This goes, as far as I can tell, for all the other '20 Democrat candidates. This goes for the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who withheld Ford's accusation for weeks until leaking them to the press at the last minute. My sentiments are with Sen. Graham.
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| Well-placed outrage |
Donald Trump hasn't forgotten about any of this, and will do whatever he can in the general election to eat them alive because of it. As far as I'm concerned, these four leading candidates are caught dead to rights in their epistemic criminality, which they conducted for the sake of power and partisanship. I have some choice expletives for these creatures which I'll refrain from stating here.
What these Demon Rats would have you believe is that their media-frenzy-fed-and-feeding smear campaign is normal and acceptable. They might have you believe that this smear campaign was necessary because the man accused wasn't just anybody, but someone who would assume a position of great power and therefore needs extra "scrutiny." And they would gaslight the rest of us when it comes to standards of evidence and credibility. They then turn around and give fellow Demon Rats a pass under similar circumstances. And if they're this bad when it comes to this no-brainer, how bad must they be on matters of ideology and policy, pray tell? This is the best crop of leading candidates this party can come up with?
The only '20 Dem candidate with much of any prominence in the polling or betting markets, who hasn't morally and intellectually stained himself with this ugliness (except perhaps with his silence about this intended injustice), is Mayor Pete.
"But Trump" or "but Kavanaugh's high school yearbook" (whatever that shows) won't save them from the truth of their own sliminess.
What makes them think they can get away with what they did?
