So Many Rabbit Holes... #2

The insanity in Virginia is changing faster than I can write about it.  This blog post would have been very different had I written it just yesterday.  And the path through the weeds and down this rabbit hole are even more convoluted than what I blogged about a few days ago.

As briefly as I can possibly put it:

Governor Ralph Northam attempted to answer a question about Virginia's new abortion bill, which would roll back restrictions on a woman's right to an abortion where there are risks to the woman or likely severe fetal abnormalities.  Northam, apparently not a really smooth talker, stumbled in his response, giving right wing media and politicians the opening to portray the bill as in support of infanticide.

Never willing to stop at mere distortion of facts, the right wing media dug up -- excuse me, investigated -- a tip by an anti-abortion activist, found and published the now infamous yearbook photo of someone in blackface standing with someone in KKK garb.  The esteemed publication was Big League Politics, and I urge you to check out the article as well as the ads.  I, myself, will be clicking to see what that object is that I should stick in my ear to cure my tinnitis.  In other words, not the Washington Post.

But apparently, the yearbook page and photo exist.  The predictable result was that Northam was immediately pressured by Dems across the country, and especially presidential candidates, to resign.  And then... one day, Northam was apologizing for the photo, the next day he was saying it wasn't him.  This is what I think happened:

Northam, a good guy who is a good governor, was a med student in the 80's.  Strange times.  Michael Jackson was a phenomenon, that we all remember by now.  But there was also Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer, which is a lame remake of Al Jolson's 1927 performance in the original.  In neither were blackface an insult, although by the 80's I have to say, "What on earth were we thinking???"  By now we understand so much more about the times when blackface was intended as an insult and how any blackface can bring back the bad old days.  We white folk mostly cringe when we hear about blackface, as we should.

So when Northam was asked about the photo, which he hadn't yet seen, he recalled the time he performed as Michael Jackson in a talent show in med school, and he cringed.  Then he apologized, profusely.

Then he saw the photo, and he was confused.  I believe he knew that it wasn't him, not the guy in blackface or in the KKK robe.  He had nothing to do with the photo being placed on his page (come on, people, we know it's not the students who put their own photos on their yearbook pages).  But in his denial, he was trying to be honest.  And it comes out just as clumsily as his statement about the abortion bill.  Guilty of tripping over his tongue?  Absolutely.  Guilty of being a racist?  I say no.

Then, amid the pitchforks and torches, came word that his proposed successor, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax had been accused of sexual assault in 2004.  And then another woman came forward.  Now we had a Brett Kavanaugh deal, with three important differences.  Fairfax is a Democrat, and he is African American.  And there was no beer involved.

As Rick Perry might say, "Oops."

The interviews on CNN and MSNBC were fun to watch, as Dems began to rethink everything from their demand to have Northam step down to whether they had been premature in demanding Al Franken's resignation without benefit of a hearing.  Sadly, I heard a well-respected black man give the Kavanaugh defense, saying there was no way to prove the allegations, and so we would have to take Fairfax's word that he was innocent.

You know what?  Way back before a lot of you were born, when a woman was raped, the rapist more often than not got away with it, because rapes just don't happen in public (unless it is with a group of like-minded buddies, as with Kavanaugh).  And if it did happen, we were told, it was with the consent of the woman -- whether she knew it or not -- because she was asking for it with her body language, her clothes, or her very presence.  And you know what else?  That remains true today.

We were all patting ourselves on the back with the success of the #MeToo movement when Kavanaugh came along to remind us all in a very eerie way that Clarence Thomas could indeed happen again.

SNL had some fun with the blackface thing.

And I would like to say, mockery is just about where we should be when we talk about Michael Jackson impressions in the 80's.  Let me repeat:  the KKK pic was horrific, and any blackface at all should not be happening today.

So, as far as Northam goes, let us keep in mind that what he did (and I am assuming he did not star in the KKK pic, which was abhorrent) was not illegal, just dumb.

But what Fairfax is being accused of is illegal.  He is asking for an investigation, and I welcome that... except that if he is guilty, and it happened privately, how many others will have to come forward before he is required to step down?  And let us not forget that we are not talking about criminal charges, but what we demand of our government leaders.

There is a lot of grey area to mine when the talk is of sexual assault.  Who of us women have not felt coerced but gone along with the pressure to engage in a sexual act?  Who of us women have felt shame and anger in retrospect and done nothing about it, because we know we will be seen as complicit and shamed even further?

When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford stepped forward, her greatest fears came to pass.  She was viciously attacked by those in authority, she and her family threatened, and Kavanaugh heralded as the victim, finally being confirmed to the highest court in the land.

We really have to ask ourselves why one women, much less two, would want to walk into that same scenario with another popular political leader.  All they can expect is denial and attacks on their integrity, while having to revisit the experience that has been haunting them in private, but now in public.

We Democrats need to get our priorities straight, and fast.  We can't be led by oppo research or the media's obsession with the shiny object.  We have all done something in our past that embarrasses us to this day.  We all have skeletons in our closets.  Now we need to put them in perspective.

There is a difference between donning blackface to impersonate Michael Jackson and forcing a woman to have oral sex.  That means, in this case in Virginia, that we have to take a look at our biases about race and sex.  Acknowledge that sigh of relief in urging Northam to resign because we had what appeared to be a good black Democrat waiting in the wings.  How about next time some nastiness is leaked about one of our own, we start off by demanding an investigation rather than immediate resignation?  And how about if we work on gaining some perspective into the severity of the "crime"?

We can't honestly talk about giving criminals a second chance when we rush to toss someone out of office (or out of the race) as soon as some dirt surfaces.  And we need to have a solid footing about right and wrong, stupidity versus crime.

Right now we have a sexual predator in the White House.  We have had a racist, the KKK variety, as attorney general, and one who has let it be known that he plans on taking his Senate seat back in 2020.  Those are the lines that need to be drawn.

And we need to continue to remind journalists and commentators of the difference.  We cannot allow them to draw false equivalence and focus on inanities while crimes are being committed by those in office.

We learned a painful lesson in 2016, and we have been paying for it for too long.  We need to insist that our political leaders and candidates be judged on moral character and actions and not youtube videos and yearbook photos.  We need to focus the media instead of following it down the rabbit hole.  To mix my metaphors, when the right wing tosses a bone to the media, and we chase after it, it become a grenade with which we will only end up blowing ourselves to smithereens.

Don't let it happen again.

Lindsey v. Women

The thing about the tantrums we saw last week, both from Brett Kavanaugh and Lindsey Graham, was that they both sounded like men who had been spending way too much time with the "president."  It makes sense, doesn't it, that if he can get away with it, they can too.  And they did.

Women like Susan Collins, who pretend to be pro-women, are really throwbacks, as are any republican women who will tolerate and make excuses for raging men, and minimize the assaults on women.  I guess because she is a women, successful in the republican party, she knew to keep her head down, study the notes she was given, and act like she was taking the high road.

The double-talk we heard last week may have taken us by surprise, but shouldn't have.  It was the same double-talk we heard during the Clarence Thomas hearing.  The woman was confused; the woman allowed herself to be put in that position; the woman waited until she had something to gain (?!) by coming forward when she did; while we sympathize with the woman, we don't believe her.  The man is having his reputation destroyed; his family and career are being harmed; his sincerity cannot be doubted.  Lies excused, attacks rationalized.

Why wouldn't Kavanaugh stick it out?  He had powerful and loud men on his side.  Donald Trump has insulted every-damn-body in the world, and knows that they will stand by him as long as he has power to wield.  And, like Clarence Thomas in 1991, Kavanaugh ends up not having his family and career destroyed:  he ends up with a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.

And then there is Lindsey.  He has been taken for a ride -- and not just on the golf course -- more than once by Trump.  But he has what Trump preys on:  ambition.  So he has been strung along since November of 2016, at first tentatively throwing his support, and then with more fervor, no, fever.  What we witnessed from Graham last week was nothing short of hysteria.  He was indeed crazed.

Like Kavanaugh, he had been spending a lot of time listening to presidential rants and invective, to the point where reason was a distant memory, calm was no longer even in the repertoire.

So it was no surprise that after Graham's rant, women -- and good men -- across the country rose up with outrage.  We need to do something NOW, and the passion and determination is NOW.

I was not surprised to receive an email during that time from the South Carolina Democratic Party.  What did surprise me was that they were promoting past chair and bombast Jaime Harrison as their choice to oppose Lindsey Graham in 2020.

First of all, I have heard Harrison speak just a few times, including a couple of appearances on Rachel Maddow before the 2016 SC primaries.  I may be wrong, but it seems that whatever question he is asked, Harrison will respond with a long-winded replay of who he is and how he got here.  Harrison's success as chair can only be summed up by the Democrats' losses in local, state and national government during his reign.

That said, the most important thing about where the party stands today is that they are not RIGHT NOW promoting a woman to run against Lindsey Graham in 2020.  With the successes of women running for office across the country, with the rage and determination that resulted from the mockery of a Senate Supreme Court nomination hearing, it never occurred to our state party that Graham's assault was an invitation.

Had the situation been reversed -- and I am happy to say that wouldn't have ever happened -- but if it had -- by the end of the tirade, there would have been meetings and "bindersful of women" to parade in front of the electorate; fund raising emails promising the revenge of victimized women would have gone out in minutes.

While republicans disdain women, they know how to use us.  That is why we had a Nikki Haley as governor, but we can't seem to promote and elect a Democratic woman governor.  It pains me to say it, but they will use Nikki all the way to the presidency, and she will be happy to be used.

We do have fantastic women on the political stage in South Carolina.  While the party might jump on board when they smell success, they don't put their money or their mouth into finding and promoting women that are right here for the running.

We don't just have smart and motivated women, we have organizations right here in South Carolina that will help.

Right off the top, we have South Carolina Democratic Women's Council, and local chapters, including Charleston County Democratic Women.  I wish I could say women were well represented on the Democratic Party websites, but you have to look hard to find them.  If you want to hook up with the Women's Council or CCDW, your best bet is to look on Facebook.

Then there are the women's action networks that have grown HUGE since 2016.  WREN -- Women's Rights and Empowerment Network -- is fighting for women's issues across the state, from wage equality to healthcare to empowering women to seek leadership roles in business and, yes, politics.  Emerge America opened its doors in South Carolina in 2017.   I can't speak highly enough about the work they are doing to encourage and train women to run for political office.  Thinking you can do a better job than the jackasses now in office?  Get in touch with Emerge SC.  Want to help women who have decided to run?  Contact Emerge SC.

And of course we have great groups here in South Carolina like Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the American Association of University Women, both of which can be counted on to promote women in government as well as women's issues in healthcare and education.

Then there are all the women right here, right now, that we should be persuading to take on Lindsey Graham.  Just a few names come to mind; I'm sure we can put our heads together and think of lots more:

SC Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter from Orangeburg 

Linda Ketner, who in 2008 nearly defeated 4-term incumbent Henry Brown for US Congress District 1 

Margie Bright Matthews, SC state Senator for District 45

State Senator Mia McLeod from Richmond County, 

So, here we are.  Do we jump up and down and wave our hands so that our Democratic Party will listen to us?  Do we -- both women and men -- insist on being represented equally in government and especially in the Democratic Party?

And most important TODAY, after Lindsey Graham invited us to step up and challenge him, do we find a woman who will fight for us, so that a misogynist like Lindsey will not be holding down that seat and voting against our interests in Congress after 2020?

Write, call, email your state and local Democratic Party.  They won't take this step unless it is absolutely clear we will accept no less.  Spread the word on Facebook, at home, at work, community meetings.

Finding and supporting a woman to step up and take on Lindsey Graham for Senate in 2020 needs to start now.  And it should really be a no-brainer.

It is time for Lindsey to go.  And he seems to agree.

"I hope the American people can see through this sham."

The Times, Are They a-Changing?

I've heard quite a number of women now remark on Brett Kavanaugh's emotional tantrum during Thursday's Senate hearing.  They actually recognized his tears for what they were:  rage at having been called to question for his past.  Up until now, Kavanaugh has had the bejeweled life of a white boy who went to the best prep school and college, who was groomed for success.  He was so confident -- cocky --about his bright and shining future, that he had made jokes about his rambunctious past behavior in front of a group of a group of law students at Catholic University for gods' sake:

"...fortunately, we had a good saying that we've held firm to, to this day,... which is, 'What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep....'  That's been a good thing for all of us, I think."

Until today, that is.  Today the thought of this man having the power of a Supreme Court Justice was just too much for a few women to bear.  Until now, men like Brett Kavanaugh and his drinking buddy Mark Judge, and like his admirer Donald Trump, were able to treat women with condescension and insult, and assume that all the bad behavior of their past would be of no consequence to their fortunes.

Kavanaugh's statement was pretty unbelievable.  He states proudly that he showed it to no one except one of his clerks.  Maybe that was his first mistake.  His tone was defensive from the beginning, his face contorted into rage.  His attacks were many, and bizarre, naming the Democrats in general and the ever-popular Clinton conspiracy machine in particular.  I imagine that holing up for days in the White House while you plan your attack (i.e. defense) will do that to a person.

Let me admit here that I was planning on listening again to Kavanaugh's opening statement, but just could not do it.  Over the past weeks I have heard enough lies from this smart and conceited brat.  I have been, since 2015, tainted by the ugly comments of our now sitting "president," and don't have much stomach for that kind of bullshit.  I did hear him avoid asking for an FBI investigation, and noted his clever legal tap-dance around the issue.  I'll bet he didn't even need to rehearse his responses, he is so good at the maneuvers that have gotten him to this point in his life.

He took his attitude from Clarence Thomas, who did the outrage thing at his hearing in 1991.  But Kavanaugh did not count on women who, in 2018, are fed up with the hatred and rage spewed by men of power when they are held to account.  We hear it in his voice, and his words.

It may be that Brett Kavanaugh's behavior at one time so scared him that he turned to God and went on the straight and narrow.  But it may also be that he has merely sculpted himself to look like the type of man who has always done the right thing.  Studies, sports and church indeed.  And it may be that the powerful white boy's club we have in this country accepted his whitewash and welcomed him into their arms, and he has never been challenged before.  Indeed, he said in so many words that he has never been challenged the way he is being challenged now.

We had a helluva nerve.

He certainly had good cause to assume his confirmation would be a slam dunk.  That is the way the Senate works these days, provided you are on the right side of this right wing.  You will be protected.  You don't have to answer a question if you don't want to, and those in power will help you dance around it if the questioner is too persistent.  Chuck Grassley has done a fine job of that, cutting Democrats off in mid-sentence when the air gets too thick.  Even so, the questions continued to come.  And the women, brave hearts that they are, continued to come forward.

Appalling:  Brett Kavanaugh was appalled at being called to account for a past that he has never even had to hide.  I tried to  imagine the fate of a person in Judge Kavanaugh's courtroom being asked a question he did not want to answer and responding, as he did with Senator Amy Klobuchar's question about whether he had ever blacked out, "I don't know, have you?"  Imagine Kavanaugh tolerating the belligerence he himself demonstrated.

I have heard many comparisons now of Kavanaugh's testimony to that of Dr. Ford, who was restrained and polite, and obviously attempting to answer as completely and honestly as possible.  What this hearing put me in mind of, though, was all those hours Hillary Clinton spent being harassed by this partisan Congress.

Hillary, too, was hoping to be chosen for an important position in the government.  What happened to her in Congress impacted her and the entire country.  Through all the accusations, through all the tortured and twisted investigations of everything she had ever said or done, Hillary held herself with dignity.  She was knowledgeable and professional.  She was tireless.  She never tried to avoid a question, or an investigation.  She never had a tantrum.

Because if she had, the men (and, sadly, too many women) would have pointed to her and said that this was proof that she was lying.  Meanwhile, hours and hours of testimony made their way into the media and took over the narrative of her campaign.  Still, she never attempted to refuse or avoid an investigation.  Not just because she was innocent, which she was, but because that is the temperament of a leader.

Brett Kavanaugh did not feel the need to reign in his behavior or his attitude.  He reeked of haughtiness and privilege, and self-importance.  He demonstrated exactly why he should not be on the court -- any court.  He stated melodramatically that his name has been "permanently destroyed by vicious and false... accusations."

One has to wonder why he would think, if he were innocent, why his life would be "permanently destroyed."  Remember, this is a judge.  Who presumably believes in the law, and the courts.  And who would have no compunction at all in demanding that any of us in his courtroom answer his questions.  And presumably assumes that the innocent would walk away happy to have had their day in court.

Apparently, Brett Kavanaugh does not believe that the truth will set him free.  Wonder why?

And I also have to wonder why someone of Kavanaugh's intelligence, who can argue the existence of angels on the head of a pin -- or the right to prevent a young woman from having a legal abortion -- would resort to such a slew of transparent and insulting lies.  Attributing "ralphing" to a weak stomach.  Lying brazenly about yearbook entries:  calling cruel references to being a "Renate alumnus" as honoring their friendship and calling the "Devil's Triangle" a drinking game.  I could just about picture him as a 17-year-old giving these answers, straight-faced, and then walking out of the room and bursting into laughter at having lied so convincingly.

We have also heard the comparisons between this hearing and that of Anita Hill.  We have had too many years of the smug and silent Clarence Thomas flaunting his right wing privilege over the poor and powerless of the country.  Granted, if justice had been served all those years ago, we may yet have had a conservative justice in his place who spoke out against women and minority rights, but we would not be haunted by the overtly misogynistic acts of the man and those who ignored compelling testimony to vote him to the Supreme Court.

So, where are we?

I won't even say I feel cautiously optimistic about the decision to have the FBI investigate Kavanaugh and the accusations.  The FBI may be bringing us the Russia investigation, but they also brought us Hillary's emails, and the door slamming on her campaign days before the election.  I wonder who Trump is reaching out to on the FBI, and how he is attempting to pull the strings of this investigation.  You know Trump.  You know he is.

I admit, I will be surprised if what happens is a thorough "limited investigation," and I will be further surprised if the Senate (no longer Chuck Grassley but the even more vile Mitch McConnell in charge) proceeds in an open and professional manner.

What should have happened weeks ago is that Kavanaugh should have withdrawn his nomination.  But he wants that post and that power so much that he can taste it, and it tastes better than any brew he has ever chugged.  He knows that in 1991 a similar hearing was rigged to halt further testimony, and that justice sits on the bench today.  His belief that a sitting president is immune to prosecution assures him that the deck is stacked in his favor by the most powerful man in the country, the one he would protect.

So we wait and see.  I cannot imagine a world in which we don't vote to take over the House and the Senate in November.  I don't want to believe that Americans can be that jaded and, frankly, stupid.  But I was here in 2016, and I know the impossible can happen.  And in the weeks to come we will find out whether women's voices matter any more than they did in 1991, or whether the rage of powerful men will drown them out.