Victor Davis Hanson // National Review
When the Christine Ford saga finally ended with the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a lot of truth had distilled out, along with the evaporation of prior pretensions and misconceptions.
The Left
The hearing confirmed that the traditional JFK/Hubert Humphrey Democrat party, as once envisioned by a Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, or Jim Webb, is long kaput. In its place is being birthed a hard-left progressive movement that absorbs the ideologies and methodologies of its base and that now incorporates all sorts, from Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist hipsters to Black Lives Matters, Antifa, and Occupy Wall Street protestors.
The new progressives recently have come to believe that they gain traction by the theater of disrupting senate hearings, cornering senators in elevators, stalking them on the way to work, doxing their opponents on the Internet, and during the hearings throwing out the concept of due process. Any means is deemed permissible to enact visions of social justice, given legislative and executive power is lost for now — and as if proverbially ordinary Americans who watched the televised circus might applaud the performers.
Discussion (7)
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Re. Kavanaugh Casualties (October 9, 2018) Dear Victor - Thank you for two literary references. My wife and I enjoyed researching them this morning. 1. bathos: "ludicrous anticlimax, a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous" 2. "the movement ... had sided with Phaedra over Hippolytus": Phaedra falsely accuses her step-son Hippolytus of rape because he rejects her sexual advances. Another example for 2. could be: "believing Potiphar's wife instead of Joseph" [Genesis 39] It seems that false accusations have been going on a long time! R. W. Claggett
Great analysis, Victor!
You don't want to be an expert on search marketing also included with these techniques either. In addition, they can also reduce the page ranking # 1. It is a fun read, or at least I hope it often is!
Thank you, professor, for your always calm, clear-minded manner of articulating this and most important issues of our time. My adult children reached out to me in the midst of the chaos last week regarding the testimonies of the accuser and nominee and subsequent re-investigation. Simply put, they asked "What the hell is going on here?" I told them the facts as they appeared at the time, but told them we have to wait for the FBI final...and then distill out a summary of what transpired and what it means to us all. I explained how and why due process and probable cause were important in this, despite it not being a legal matter. With the compounding chaos of the proceedings, those iconic principles of American jurisprudence could very easily have been in jeopardy in future such cases and others. One thing in particular I pointed out to them was the fact that Ms. Ford had not filed a criminal complaint in the summer when it appeared that her identity was definately outed. The crime she alleged has no statute of limitation. I asked rhetorically how we could be expected to take Ms. Ford's accusations seriously if she did not take them seriously enough to file a criminal complaint this summer. I have no doubt that she was advised by counsel that it was highly likely that a prosecutor would not find enough evidence to take to a grand jury. Without that, there can be no probable cause. I think that decision speaks significantly to credibility. They rolled the dice that nobody would notice. We did. I have since shared this site with my kids so they have access to your work. Best wishes.
Mr. Hanson I love to hear you talk. You can say more in two sentences, than most people can all day. Chet Ferguson
Please sir.....with your considerable talent (I'm a HUGE FAN...I"M NOT KIDDING. I search for your every column) PLEASE, may I suggest, you write a essay about Hillary or the Democrats and what it would be like if She/They were to receive a letter from 'Screwtape'?
As I viewed the news clips of the anarchists during the Kavanaugh debacle, I was reminded of the mob scene from a renowned political movie. No, it was not from "Citizen Kane" or "All the King's Men". No. I rather expected to see a contemporary Madame Defarge, the bitter knitter in "A Tale of Two Cities".