I've been thinking a lot about this idea of other scandals emerging, and I think it goes a long way to explaining the GOP's current strategy here. First off, that's why they are so adamant in sticking to this artificial deadline which they created and which absolutely does not really exist. The hope seems to be "if we can just get him confirmed by early next week maybe no new bad news will have enough time to surface!" That's why they don't want to delay for an FBI investigation (Hill's took just 3 days), why they won't allow anyone but Ford and Kavanaugh to make any statement.
it also explains their thinly veiled hostility toward Ford. Its not about her, it's about making any woman who might have had a similar encounter too scared to come forward. They've been very clever about this thus far, seeming to 'hear her out' while making sure its clear that any accuser who steps foward will face public scrutiny and scorn.
I still think its a very short-sighted approach, and that the worst thing which could happen to the GOP here is to have more credible accounts occur after rushing through his confirmation. But I think this at least explains their actions a bit more...
Or it could be a way of neutralizing the clearly political nature of the timing of the break of this story. The timing is obviously designed to derail his nomination at the last minute, and hopefully push the confirmation of Kavanaugh or anyone else Trump may replace him with, to after the mid-terms. The hope is then that they can exact their revenge over being denied Garland. I am a republican, (Luke warm on Kavanaugh) and I couldn't help but think "Well played" when this came out... and that it's pretty clear how cynically the democrats view the MeToo movement.
At any rate, I'm not sure how I feel about Kavanaugh at this point. On one hand, the GOP should look for someone less encumbered by an accusation like this. There is still time, There are other qualified candidates, and he sure mis-remembered alot of things that happened during his time in the Bush administration. The democrats have burned up a lot of their energy freaking out about Kavanaugh... nominating someone who is just a smidge to the left of kavanaugh would make the democrats look as foolish as they are if they continue to speculate hyperbolic about what he might do.
On the other, I do not think the GOP should lend legitimacy to the idea that questionable, unsubstantiated, unprovable, inconsistent and politically timed accusations should be a silver bullet to anyone democrats don't like. People do lie about things like this for a variety of reasons. You know the head-line grabbing cases. I can point to one that happened in my circle of acquaintances where a 13 year old girl about destroyed someones life because she thought it would be funny to see what happened. I think it is perfectly reasonable to be skeptical of someone who first came forward with this to Dianne Fienstein.
I guess we'll see how the hearings and testimony play out.
If this were actually the case, I might be inclined to agree with you. I think that she specifically discussed this with her therapist long before Kavanaugh was considered for SCOTUS, and she is also asking the FBI to investigate. People who are making things up out of thin air generally do not go out of their way to invite the scrutiny of the FBI. I think the behavior described in the accusation, if taken to be true, is disqualifying. Would you agree that the behavior and actions should be disqualifying if you independently had reason to believe the accusation (and I understand from your comment above that you believe it does not have merit)?
She did not mention Kavanaugh when she talked to the therapist. Ford remains unclear about many key details: When, where. She only seemed to specify that it was Kavanaugh after he was nominated for the SCOTUS. that seems to be the only concrete thing she remembers. Given her documented political activities, skepticism is clearly reasonable here. There has been zero evidence of subsequent things like this from Kavanaugh, and the evidence shows that this is something people don't tend to grow out of. I see no reason she would be afraid to invite FBI scrutiny into something that is totally un-provable either way.
To be clear - if Kavanaugh did infact attempt to rape her, then he is unequivocally not fit for the SCOTUS, his present office, or any public office. That the alleged rape was unsuccessful is a distinction without a difference.
anyway, imagine the story and the evidence shown was leveled against Obama....Would you be calling for his resignation? I am certain you would not if it came to it.