Since news surfaced of allegations against Brett Kavanaugh of abusive conduct in high school 35 years ago it has not been possible to make any judgments about it. But now the accuser has come forward. Christine Ford is a psychologist and researcher at Palo Alto University. Her account appears to be highly credible. (You have to read the full report below.)
She describes drunken forceful groping by Kavanaugh at a party in a room with a buddy Mark Judge who later wrote a recovery memoir "Wasted: tales of a Gen X drunk". The conclusion I draw from it is that Kavanaugh and his friend were hard drinking partiers in high school who when intoxicated were dangers to women and probably themselves.
Judge denies any recollection and Kavanaugh denies the incident entirely. But her account makes the Kavanaugh denial insufficient. Whether he remembers or not Ms.Ford's account demands a real response. At least it seems that he must acknowledge that he knew her, that he sometimes drank to excess, and that he may not recall what he did when intoxicated. And he owes a real apology.
Judge Kavanaugh now faces a deep test of character - how he responds to credible allegations of sexual misconduct in this moment of acute awareness. - gwc
California professor Christine Blasey Ford, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about sexual assault allegation - The Washington Post
She describes drunken forceful groping by Kavanaugh at a party in a room with a buddy Mark Judge who later wrote a recovery memoir "Wasted: tales of a Gen X drunk". The conclusion I draw from it is that Kavanaugh and his friend were hard drinking partiers in high school who when intoxicated were dangers to women and probably themselves.
Judge denies any recollection and Kavanaugh denies the incident entirely. But her account makes the Kavanaugh denial insufficient. Whether he remembers or not Ms.Ford's account demands a real response. At least it seems that he must acknowledge that he knew her, that he sometimes drank to excess, and that he may not recall what he did when intoxicated. And he owes a real apology.
Judge Kavanaugh now faces a deep test of character - how he responds to credible allegations of sexual misconduct in this moment of acute awareness. - gwc
California professor Christine Blasey Ford, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about sexual assault allegation - The Washington Post
Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than three decades ago, when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. Since Wednesday, she has watched as that bare-bones version of her story became public without her name or her consent, drawing a blanket denial from Kavanaugh and roiling a nomination that just days ago seemed all but certain to succeed.
Now, Ford has decided that if her story is going to be told, she wants to be the one to tell it.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Ford said that one summer in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” Ford alleges — corralled her into a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers at a house in Montgomery County.
While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
Ford said she was able to escape when Kavanaugh’s friend and classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling. She said she ran from the room, briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house.
Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband. The therapist’s notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh’s name but say she reported that she was attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.” The notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist’s part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room.
