Monday 1 October 2018

Blasey Ford's after party

How did Christine Blasey Ford get home? She refers to a sexual "attack", allegedly at the hands of a teenage Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge. She says she was pushed into a room, pinned down, groped and, most traumatically, prevented from screaming and almost of breathing by a hand over her mouth. This "attack" is now routinely described in commentaries as an 'attempted rape', even though the boys were, by her own admission, drunk and laughing, and it seems they gave up on her very easily after they all toppled off the bed and she made her escape. Victims of genuine attempted rapes, as opposed to drunken gropings, might not be convinced by this description of the alleged crime. But more importantly, if this 'attack' had been as traumatic as she claims, with lifelong repercussions, there would have been something to show for it afterwards. Fifteen year-old Christine Blasey would have been visibly shaken. She would have been dishevelled. Her clothes would have been a mess. Her face would bear the marks of the strong pressure from the assailant's hand. The person who drove her home would have noticed something very wrong, both in her physical appearance and in her demeanour. Her obvious distress would have prompted at least some discussion of what had just happened. And yet this mystery driver has not been named. No one has come forward claiming to be that driver. So far, all is silence. I don't doubt that something happened to Blasey Ford when she was younger, but her claim that, whatever it was, happened how and when she described it at the hearing is highly suspicious.

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