One would have thought this train would have wrecked long before the SCOTUS nomination, but as is common in "real life", sometimes people only see what they want to see. If you're a Democrat, watching this millstone around the neck of the GOP should be a cause for celebration, not concern, even (or especially) if Justice Kavanaugh does get confirmed. The Republic will survive. It may just take a few hits in the meantime.
9
Thank you for this column. On the day that Bill Cosby is being sentenced, it is not only timely, it's critical to creating what we as a country like to brag about.... equality.
27
Having just reviewed the Title IX injunctions at my workplace, I'm kind of wishing I could cite Ms. Goldberg as "denigrating a group" because that is exactly what she is doing.
28
We have here a telling juxtaposition: Bill Cosby is convicted and sentenced to jail for committing a felonious assault on a woman who bravely came forward (along with other women who claimed Cosby has sexually assaulted them). And Mr. Kavanaugh denies that he ever committed any physical assault on a woman. He is fighting for his career and advancement to a seat on our Supreme Court. And yet, unlike Cosby who worked his way up from very modest circumstances to become a popular TV and movie star, Kavanaugh took advantage of his privileged status from his youth through college and into his professional career. One is a man of color; the other a white male from the top ranks of social pedigree. Both men are tainted. Both men have cause grievous harm to women. One will serve time. The other may lose his reputation.
30
Vote every last male out of office. Imagine the good that could be achieved if more sensible women ran the show!
52
“It is unfair to judge him by the company he keeps” — why? On the contrary, few characteristics of a person are as clear a determinant of his/her values than the persons with whom he/she shares time and association.
While this pattern of misogynistic affiliation cannot be the sole barometer of Kavanaugh’s future judicial predilection, the fact that his high school friend Mark Judge has written books that read like contemporaneous notes of contemptible behavior against women can neither be ignored nor dismissed.
59
I won't advocate one way or the other, I'm simply going to acknowledge what I'm seeing. Women are changing, not men. The assumptions that we have all lived under, such as women are "expected to be nice" or that they "have a lot to lose" by angering men, are fading very rapidly. More and more women no longer care, are aggressive, are taking vengeance, and are making their own path. Even that most radical of radical feminists, Andrea Dworkin, had an overtone of pleading as she exposed the violence men do to women, attempting to dissuade the behavior through... what? (shame?, I'm not sure). That premise is evaporating. Prediction: women will begin meeting violence and threats with the same rather than pleading for societal protection or better behavior from their abusers.
Women have always understood men's vulnerabilities. We can be silenced and sent fleeing by simply ridiculing such basic things as genital size. What's new is that women are now laughing and mocking as they never have before and the pathetic men who tried to abuse them are being crushed. More women are caring less if branded as a "man-hating feminist". Because, you see, the hate is definitely real now.
No, there is a shift, and it appears to be irreversible. Women will no longer be asking permission, they will begin dictating terms, and if there's anything men understand, it is dominant behavior and credible threats.
38
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines "the straw that broke the camel's back" as "the last in a series of unpleasant events that finally makes you feel that you cannot continue to accept a bad situation." My only hope is that the Republicans despicable words and actions in this affair may be the last straw. Whatever else you may do in the remainder of 2018, be sure to vote on November 6. It's time to throw the bums out.
48
I am 68, an attorney, and somehow I escaped all this. I guess I refused to play their game as I was always brought up to think I was (ha ha) smarter than everyone else. Oldest Jewish daughter and all that, but I operated on the assumption that men were jerks unless proven otherwise. I was never taken advantage of. Men like Kavanaugh pick on those perceived as beneath them. They are cowards.
Yes it's totally a rigged game. Women do all the work while men sit and watch TV. Women go to work and raise the kids while men watch football and drink.
I saw this years ago but kept quiet lest I would seem too cynical. The truth is out, and women and minorities -- we are all treated the same by certain men. Thank goodness for the awakening. I didn't think I would live to see the day.
Caveat, I do have a male grandson, but his Mom and Dad have raised him right. He is sensitive and introspective and has total respect for women and others.
300
Here is my usual mantra: Be careful what you wish for because you may -- and in this case probably will -- get it.
Are you ready for living in a society whose leaders are chosen and judged on the basis of their extracurricular behavior/misbehavior in high school? Are you sure?
As it is, the quality of people motivated to enter politics (including would-be judges) is declining. In a recent State of the Judiciary statement the Chief Justice noted with concern that fewer than half of new federal judges have private practice experience, the rest being former government bureaucrats.
Too many good people have been driven out of politics as it is, and with good reason. What smart, successful people would want to subject themselves and their families to this kind mistreatment? We live in a society that treats juveniles differently because we understand that their judgment is not yet mature. Teenagers who become would-be judges deserve no less. So even on the basis of supposed and as yet untested "facts" of Kavanaugh's accusers, are you ready to live in a society where a teenager's misbehavior in high school ruins his or her career prospects for life?
Back in the day, you wanted a sexual revolution. You got it. Whish is in the nature of revolutions. The French stormed the Bastille under the banner of freedom, equality and fraternity. What they got was the reign of terror and ultimately Emperor Napoleon. Those who ignore the lessons of histoty, . . .etc.
18
This is the USA, officially we do not have any sort of "ruling class"...my parents came to this country to get away from oppressive class & caste culture barriers...it makes me sick every time I hear an American citizen refer to our "ruling class" ...we do not have one and in the USA we are supposed to succeed based on our talent and effort not family ties or wealth or DNA. Aristocrats do not exist in the USA for good reason nor do they deserve our respect....our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves.
7
We can respect each other and still party, even in ridiculously crazy ways. Don't confuse the two things, and try to make class warfare out of it.
11
While I was opposed to Kav's nomination before reading this and other information about the crucible he was in, I am sickened by his nomination.
It's too bad the folks in the fly over states refuse to read articles like this. I bet there is not one of them that would want their daughter or wife near him.
33
I attended Catholic HS, but we were coed. Not so easy to dismiss someone as an object when they are sitting next to you in a class on a daily basis and struggling to get a grade just like you were.
It should go without saying that the yearbook was nothing like what's been described for Kavanaugh. The students on the yearbook committee were mostly young ladies. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. And I can't claim that alcohol wasn't consumed by some, but not at school and not as any measure of respect. It was a totally different world compared to Kavanaugh and Georgetown Prep.
So, now we have elitist republicans attempting to protect their elitist candidate for the Supreme Court. We are back to viewing women as objects to be used and disposed of. That is on the republican senate schedule for Blasey Ford. And if Deborah Ramirez would like to be vilified by the republicans, I imagine they will be happy to accommodate her. Any woman who gets in their way can expect the same treatment.
Here's a thought. Anyone who believes that other people should be treated with respect regardless of their sex, their age, their skin color, their religious beliefs, their economic circumstances, their sexual preferences, their educational attainment, etc...might want to ask themselves if they believe they would be well treated by the republicans if they were appearing before the committee to testify about some incident with Kavanaugh they had observed.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
46
Michelle Goldberg wrote: "There’s no equivalent culture in which girls reap social capital for misbehaving. You rarely see women in politics or law who flaunt college reputations as party girls."
Yet there was such an equivalent culture in the Jazz Age. The women were called flappers and had a great deal of social cachet. They flaunted their sexual conquests and reputations as party girls. Even First Lady Grace Coolidge imitated their independence and fashion styles.
This latter culture of empowerment and the archetype of the liberated woman was salient in 1920s Cinema (e.g. Coleen Moore's "Flaming Youth" in which a daughter enters into a ménage-à-trois with her mother and her lover) and 1920s Literature (e.g. Gertrude Atherton's "Black Oxen"). Many 1920s novels and films makes positive reference to them.
The flappers were suppressed by the forces of the Catholic Legion of Decency and their notorious bludgeon "The Hays Code." The culture thus disappeared by the 1950s and was replaced by the Cult of Domesticity in which women were expected to be chaste, submissive mother figures. This was part of a national backlash against all behaviors deemed "immoral" or "godless" and thus aligned with socialism.
My point is this...
It's sad how the sexes were slightly more equal—in some respects—in past eras of American history than they are today. Progress is rarely a smooth ascending curve to perfection. It is jaggedly inconsistent and requires constant tectonic pressure.
24
Michelle, are you sure you want to impugn an entire gender of upper-class Americans? The Ivy League "ruling class" you equate with the "rotten foundations of elite male power" also includes Robert S. Muller III, whose y chromosomes do not prevent him from conducting himself with honest and decency. I'd choose him in a heartbeat over Sarah Palin.
33
I went to college in the early eighties and these scenarios were certainly present. Many, many young women were used and thrown away. No males were reported or censured for their behavior. Women were scorned, laughed at, threatened and bullied into submission. All women were ranked from 1-10 based on their looks and whether the guys could get them into bed. Just a conquest. The men that I associated with worked and studied hard and did not have this attitude toward women.
My realization, blatant that it is, is that women have a long way to go to be treated fairly. Shameful behavior of the Republicans will cost them in the upcoming election. The FBI should be doing their job and Trump can take away the “unfairness” by assigning the investigation to the FBI.
Further, these old white codgers need to retire. So many are out of touch with reality. Move over for the men and women that will clean up your mess.
36
Reading this article and the comments that follow makes me wonder, what would all of you say if Brett Kavenaugh is actually completely innocent of what he is accused of? What if Dr Ford and Ms. Ramirez are mistaken and it wasn't Kavenaugh who accosted either of them? Will you change your opinion of him? Any of you? If it were made obvious that he is not guilty of the crimes he is accused of would any of you feel remorse for assuming his guilt? I highly doubt it. If this article is any indication then you will continue to think him unfit for the bench because he is a member of the evil elitist male establishment and therefore must be guilty of something.
19
We have reached a new low when the majority of the members of the Senate apparently believes that no potential Supreme Court candidate will pass muster because all have engaged in improper sexual actions when young. Did they all do so themselves?
22
Let's all try to fix this mess of unwanted male sexual aggression. But the problem is not all cultural. Some of it is unalterable biology. Men will always be the more aggressive sex in their sexual interactions with women. So try to factor that "fact" into the equation.
6
Trump, McConnell and the GOP struggle to reconcile the piggish underbelly of their crowd that lies just below their carefully crafted skin-thin facade of elite decorum and prep school virtue.
When drunk, Kavanaugh's crude impulses emerge and wipe away the veneer of respectability and the idealized vision of life the GOP and religious right want us to think they are sole champions of.
Pigs to the core, and currently running / ruining our nation.
25
Kavanaugh and some of his group "may" have done some pretty bad things at Georgetown Prep and Yale, but that in no way supports the conclusion-"Pigs All the Way Down." I understand you have a point to make (about Kavanaugh) but why engage in the same discriminatory stereotyping that the Far Right applies to blacks, Jews and Muslims? Do Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein and Jimmy Carter get an honorary "pig" designation too? And there are plenty of negative stereotypes about "mean girls", manipulative women, overly strident women, "feminine wiles" etc. that don't apply to most women. Your reasoning makes even less sense than the "turtles all the way down" philosophical nonsense explanation.
18
The left has no credibility on this issue. Countless articles churning out of the liberal press stating flatly that it does not matter if Kavenaugh is innocent of these allegations, he should still go down. The voters are watching this smearfest and will render their judgment in November.
16
Really creepy stuff. I can't imagine why these women would come forward if they were just making this stuff up. I believe them, and think Brett K. ought to be not only voted down, but also disbarred.
I hope further that Ms Goldberg write with similar intensity about Asia Argento's sex attacks on Jimmy Bennett, and about NYU Prof Avital Ronell's coercing her male advisee to have a sexual relationship.
Boys make up over 1/3 of child sex abuse victims, and 40% of their attackers are female, as are 15% of the attackers of underage girls.
21
The patriarchy, specifically the white male patriarchy, has got to go. Time's Up!
11
We have to take seriously the idea that far from disqualifying Kavanaugh for the positions he has held, his raunchy sleazy behavior has counted in his favor--it has allowed those in his circles to know he can be trusted to uphold the values they've grown up with and regard as perfectly normal, indeed as de riguer for membership in their official and unofficial clubs. Are they shocked that one of theirs might have acted in ways he is accused of, or just shocked that he hasn't been successful in hiding his past from those hovering closer to the unwashed and unanointed?
15
We should not forget that half the "pigs" in "our rotten ruling class" are privileged white females like Goldberg who obviously will lie and steal and effectively murder someone's reputation in order to be anointed as a feminist hero of the democratic party, to get million dollar book deals and 50K per lecture fees. And its time for pundits and legal scholars to start reminding the public and our cowardly law enforcement leaders about laws against false swearing to the police, and accompanying jail sentences that have not been enforced in many recent instances of similar admitted or proved to be false sex assault accusations. Which in turn of course explains the sense of entitlement, a license for any particularly 'ruling class' women like Ford to kill the reputation of any man with a false accusation that has been granted by our rotten political and 1% media class to 51% of the population in exchange for their vote and profits to be gained from their customer loyalty.
14
This commentary is the height of hypcrosy, calling one class of American’s “pigs” in the name of equality. What is so different about the people who attend elite schools, do they not send their children to fight wars, do they not pay taxes, do they not volunteer in their community. The opinion of Ms. Goldberg is no less offensive than Canidate Trumps calling Mexican immigrants rapist and murders.
15
What a pig’s breakfast as we say. With apologies to our four legged friends. How much longer do we have to endure this charade before Kavanaugh withdraws his own nomination and faces the truth? It is the only decent and mature thing to do considering the serious sexual assault allegations, lying, and withholding of critical information. It’s quite unbelievable that this has gone on for so long already, driven by Republican tyranny. And now the Fox spectacle of denial and too-rehearsed answers, dragging his ashen-faced wife into the mess. Ugly. There are a plethora of great candidates for this position; we don’t need another lying misogynist holding the balance of power.
11
How ironical that Amy Chua, the self-professed ‘Tiger Mom’ is actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Shame on her and her husband for aiding and abetting this culture of misogyny. It is sickening.
22
Dear GOP,
Trump has his own self-preservationist reasons to nominate Kavanaugh, but wouldn't it make sense for you to shift your support to Amy Coney Barrett? She's just as conservative, will likely live much longer, and would help mitigate your privileged, old, white misogynist image.
Sincerely,
Bewildered
7
Wefeelthat: Pigs have dignity. Do not compare human micreants to them. Please.
13
I went to a good, albeit not Ivy school, managed not to join a fraternity, and generally lived a fairly serious life that included respecting our women classmates. Most of the people I knew followed that path, although there were certainly those in certain fraternities, who were known to behave a bit differently. I would guess that the same was true at the Ivy schools as well; some behaved well, and some chose to behave badly.
There seem to be many who knew Kavanaugh in his earlier life who paint a picture of a heavy drinker who may have disrespected women and their rights. That Kavanaugh has chosen to deny this, rather than to admit to his own need for maturing and growth, makes me wonder whether he is inherently dishonest and should not be trusted on the court. However, I cannot rationally condemn anyone who went to an elite institution and believe the writer has gone too far to make her point.
10
If you vote these pigs out , pigs come in both liberal and conservative pig skins and not all are male
cant pick and choose your pigs !!!
6
Isn't this exactly the Eastern cultural elite that Trump voters explicitly voted against? Isn't this exactly what Trump voters elected him to drain the swamp of?
23
When did this so-called "ruling class" take over the Supreme Court? Back in the day, a Chief Justice could be the son of a railroad worker (Earl Warren) or the son of a freight inspector, and who attended law school at night (Warren Burger). Elites like Kavanaugh have no idea of the lived experience of the vast majority of their countrymen. Their sense of self-entitlement is appalling.
26
RE: "You rarely see women in politics or law who flaunt college reputations as party girls"
True. You also rarely see men in politics or law flaunt college reputations as party guys.
I've never seen a man running for office boast in his stump speech about how much partying he did in college.
9
Regarding a position of this importance, the mere suspicion should warrant an investigation that effectively pauses the confirmation process until sufficient evidence can either clear or condemn the candidate.
6
So lets extrapolate on this current societal theme for a moment. Look at the state of our government for a moment,and really the state of the entire country. We have been brought to this condition through the election of government officials where THE MAJORITY OF ALL OF THEM are of the caliber of Kavanaugh. Not just him alone. Everyone needs to recall that it is these types that used burn people at the stake for what they decided was heresy (or a threat to their power). These types will do it again if we allow it.
7
An old adage seems appropriate here: We ought not judge people by their family, but the friends they keep.
Moral: We do not choose our family but we certainly choose our friends.
Judge Brett by his friends.
12
An old adage seems appropriate here: We ought not judge people by their family, but the friends they keep.
Moral: We do not choose our family but we certainly choose our friends.
Judge Brett by his friends.
5
I worked for Glacier National Park in 1987 as a young man. During the first staff meeting I attended, a new experience for me, the superintendent, Gil Lusk, warned his staff that he would not countenance sexual misconduct. This, of course, was at a time when few leaders addressed sexual misconduct in any way. He provided specific examples of what he meant. He spoke with authority and seriousness. I remember that staff meeting all these years later because it was the first time I had ever heard a leader address the matter of sexual misconduct and he got me to stop and think that I had a responsibility to the organization for which I worked to behave appropriately. I sincerely hope that this latest round of soul searching in America will inspire the leaders out there, leaders of institutions like Georgetown Prep, to take charge! They need to communicate their extreme distaste for sexual misconduct. Leaders need to do their part in setting the tone. As long as sexual misconduct goes unaddressed by leaders, is tolerated, or at worst, is encouraged, we can make little progress towards becoming a more enlightened society.
26
When will the U.S. hit bottom?
14
Yes. Thank you. "Pig" is the operative word. And we are all being pulled down into the trough.
5
How on earth do women support the republican party these days.
Its clear in everything they do - in gop policies, candidates, and character - that to them, women are second class citizens. That women's rights matter not.
The president, is an accused and admitted sexual assaulter; they nominate men for high office with histories of pedophilia and disgusting behavior, they are coming for abortion (Susan Collins - for heaven's sake get a spine), and they are fighting tooth n nail to get this lying, sleezy dolt kavanaugh on the US Supreme court.
What kind of people support this? It is surreal. And I hope the "incandescent rage" Michelle writes of exists and is unleashed at the polls this November and in 2020.
26
@Homer
Don't you remember the Democratic Party supporting an accused rapist? Don't you remember the Democratic Party supporting The Man who was fooling around with an intern half his age in The Office? Don't you remember the Democratic Party defending The Man who said "it depends on what "is" is? How could women support that political party?
12
So the proper response to the victimisation of women is retaliatory victimisation of Republicans? I don't get it...
18
Most of us 85 percenters, not wealthy enough to attend Georgetown Prep or similar institutions may be shocked by the stories of boys so drunk at house parties that they pass out, throw up and can’t remember what they were doing, but many seem willing to dismiss what followed as ‘boys will be boys.’ Really? Where is the outrage at parents who would leave their home to a bunch of hormone-charged teen-agers? Apples do not fall far from the tree. What does that say about the values they pass on to their kids – and to the behavior they are likely to carry into adulthood?
15
Men are pigs. They've been that way since Adam took advantage of Eve (because he could).
Woman need to be smarter. They need to know not to get stumbling drunk at Frat parties, or go to married men's homes for "meetings" when the wives are not home.
They need to get out and vote. Not demonstrate after a pig is made president.
Vote. Be smarter. And teach your sons to respect woman they way they should. Woman are smarter, nicer, and tougher then men. Men, get over it.
21
Things may change a dozen times more between today and Thursday – but if they don’t, you’ve won...
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/republicans-hire-female-sex-prosecutor-t...
Though you all haven’t yet completely found your voice...
Your adversaries have just completely lost theirs...
Keep practicing...
As you know – practice makes powerful...
"Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game. As they realize that, their incandescent fury is remaking our politics."
God, I hope so, devoutly. I'm a guy myself, but I'm utterly sick and ashamed of the ones in the rabble who run this country.
28
Privileged, unethical, unaccountable Trump chooses to surround himself with privileged, unethical, unaccountable appointees (white nationalists included), so it's no surprise his SCOTUS nominee may hide a sordid, unaccountable past. "Pigs all the way down" surely summarizes it, Ms. Goldberg. Such sleaze spreading from our highest office —
a toxic, unchecked plume.
Vote. In every election, at every level.
Democracy depends upon it.
12
As a 67 year old female I fail to understand anyone's surprise by the Kavanaugh debacle. Just look at any movies from the 50's, 60's, 70's and you will see viral Kurt Douglases and Burt Lancasters embracing struggling females who suddenly go limp and succumb to their charms...I remember in college hearing my male classmates speculate as to the cup size of my bra - and this was not considered at all rude or unusual as far as banter went. Lets all wake up and take responsibility for the sad state of male/female relationships in the West, and acknowledge that we all have gone along with mysogyny for far too long.
20
Plenty of "predatory romance" in 80s movies, too. Han Solo in the original Star Wars. Rocky in the first movie in that franchise. Lots of women saying "no" or "I'm not comfortable," but the men keep on moving in. And it's chalked up to "playing hard to get" or other no-means-yes nonsense. Which is then made legitimized by their succumbing with seeming full consent. And we're still getting these themes in films. Most recently the very rapey, very unsettling Passengers sci-fi "romance."
6
Anyone else wondering what Neil Gorsuch chose as quotes on his Georgetown Prep yearbook page? I’d love to see a comparison of his page and Kavanaugh’s, hoping that Gorsuch’s isn’t so foul and misogynistic.
8
The author's last sentence says iy all. We won't have equality until women are as disgusting as men. I can hardly wait for that glorious day.
5
Absolutely right. Pigs, All the way down. And this is an opportunity to do something about it. Vote the pigs out!
8
Michelle Goldberg is the best Opinion writer the NYT has!
7
Mr. K is a protege of Mr. T. "Look, son. This is how you handle these bimbos. Do what I do and they don't stand a chance."
2
This represents an expositional awakening. And it never was about sex. It’s about Power. Always has been. Just more gang warfare. And frankly, pigs would be insulted to be included in this slop.
15
As someone who dated a Georgetown Prep student in the mid-80s, who never ever dangled his penis in my face or pressured me to have sex, and who also was raped while drunk in my 20s by a man who has gone on to be a top "vulture fund" investor on Wall Street, I have two main points today: 1. We have a serious cultural problem with how boys are taught to be boys, and then men. Senator Grassley makes an idiotic comment about not wanting to be held accountable for what he did 35 years ago because there are SO MANY, men like him and Kavanagh who were taught to always take advantage of anyone "weaker," and also taught that alcohol and drugs make convincing or forcing sex easier. But no one can argue that "ALL boys/men do this, so no one can be held accountable". 2. For Trump to try to discredit Ms. Ramirez because she admits to having been drinking is absurd, and is exactly what my rapist said to me the morning after. We don't say "oh you were asking to be robbed/shot/stabbed because you were drunk". Sexual assault is NOT sex, it's violence. We need a systemic revision in how reports of sexual assault are evaluated given that, due to trauma, so many come years after the attack, and many happened under the influence. I am an artist so I made this video piece, "A Letter to My Rapist" (https://vimeo.com/209024890), which has been screened in galleries and festivals, as well as the HR department of my rapist's firm.
20
Seems to me that the basic issue here is the sense of entitlement possessed by the participants in these drunken parties and the resulting victimization of selected, vulnerable persons.
My own college experience was much, much different---I was way too busy trying to earn tuition money while working full-time and attending class, and making time, somehow, to study the material and prepare for exams in order to get good grades. Same for other students I knew at Wayne State University, a working-class commuter school where I got a first-rate education, though not the "connections" that one makes at places like Yale. The students I knew were all too well aware that we had to be very focused on school in order to succeed.
By contrast, people like Kavanaugh and his peers know practically from birth that they "have it made," regardless of what they do. I am sure that there are plenty of people from privileged backgrounds who do not victimize vulnerable people for their own sick enjoyment, but as we are seeing now in the Kingdom of Trump, many who come from a background of privilege think they can get away with anything.
Yet another reason that we need to fight against plutocracy in this country as if our lives depend on it.
15
Nine Supreme Court Justices are not enough to represent America, and its racial, religious, ethnic, sexual and class diversity. If all voices of America are not represented, we need to enlarge the SCOTUS by four justices, to reassure Americans that a narrow perspective will not determine Americans' freedoms.
4
@Oldie
Supreme Court Justices are not supposed to represent America. That is the job of Congress and the President. The Supreme Court was designed to interpret the law. Maybe your problem is that Congress refuses to do its job and pass laws to reflect what you want.
9
@Oldie So you want Trump to pack the court with 4 additional constitutionalists? Sounds great to me!
2
Here is the thing--men have convinced themselves that they are not doing anything wrong; ergo, they feel that their behaviours are not criminally despicable acts.
Henceforth the vicious cycle begins: Impulse to take what you want when you want, establishing a habit that then leads to a routine and, all for the grand reward of retaining power.
Seems to me this type of thinking happens in all walks of life--Universities, Churches, all types of offices, Professional Sports, and even husbands who physically abuse their wives...
16
This is misandry, plain and simple.
12
Evidently, just like Trump, Kavanaugh has experienced no penalties for bad behavior throughout his life. Sounds like some form of official disapproval is long overdue for both men. I sincerely hope Kavanaugh is not confirmed and Trump's policies are overwhelmingly repudiated by the midterm elections.
15
Will this make any difference? Without women's votes, Democrats cannot win. And white women have proven that they are willing to vote for a Sexual Harasser in Chief even when he admits to doing harassing women on on tape, on the record. There just aren't enough women of color to make up the difference.
5
@Sipa111
Why would it matter? They'd just chose not to vote like they did in the last election.
The principal at Georgetown Prep needs to listen to Al Pacino's speech delivered to the principal of a similar school, at the end of the movie "Scent of a Woman".
https://youtu.be/lAtzy-l3H1g
5
Now we know the pipeline for a life-time appointment to the Federal Bench and Supreme Court; elite boy's schools; Ivy League Universites; clerking for another Court Justice....the ultimate Affirmative Action job-
and all this time I foolishly believed it had something to do with merit.
20
The 'boys will be boys' culture appears to include the male of the species of all ages. Privileged males, especially, grow up in a male dominated society that has always tolerated whatever abuse they wish to force onto women.
In the US, at least, the lasting damage to women on the receiving end of this abuse appears to be surfacing and calling on the guilty males to answer for their crimes. This is a great thing for all: As in all the Kavanaughs out there now "had it coming".
The old white men in congress fighting their 'good fight' to the last may have simply exposed themselves to retribution from all of us who don't share that particular aberration. Their leader, Trump, is the living epitome of that disgusting culture that is left over from as far back as history goes.
Our so called leaders then are no better than the Taliban.
17
I know a little about the culture described in this article. I don't know about Judge Kavanaugh in particular but the yearbook entries describe the culture accurately. Whatever the reality, the Yearbook's "alumni" references do not connote the occasional, platonic date; any claim to the contrary is just plain silly.
That said, the Brett Kavanaugh of that era was a teenage boy, and evidently a major jerk. In this, he was hardly alone. One hopes that aging brings maturity and acceptable behavior. This sentiment, however, fails to wipe clean the contemporary mendacity of the Judge if the more serious sexual allegations against him are found to be true.
5
@John lebaron
Yes another "teenage boy" commenter. Hey lets even say most teenage boys are jerks for argument's sake. But hey, we're talking about the Supreme Court here. The Supreme Court! Them.
Can we not find that teenage boy out there who wasn't a jerk? And leave the teenage jerk to do whatever nonsense he's supossed to be doing now. We're not proposing to send him to jail after all. Just find a non-jerk for the Supreme Court.
10
@James. In no way does my comment argue or even hint that Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court. In fact, it doesn't mention the Supreme Court at all.
I don't know how angelic you were as a teenage boy but, full disclosure, I was totally "orificially challenged," though no in the way attributed to BK.
No SC nomination for me, I guess, but I still think I'll sleep soundly enough tonight. BK? Maybe not so much.
@John lebaron, that “teenage boy” nonsense is just a free pass. Really offensive. But I’ve been less interested in the specific accusations against Kavanaugh then I have in his (evident) mendacity and defensiveness, and the reactions of all the men involved with the confirmation and all the men opining on it (on all forms of media and among the online commentariat). So much misogyny oozing through their words. I am thoroughly disgusted by the entire mess.
5
"According to The New Yorker, Judge confided in an ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Rasor, about an incident where he and other boys took turns having sex with a drunken woman. (Judge denies this.)"
Actually, this does not qualify as "having sex." It qualifies as rape.
24
@Saylor oh please
"In fact, Rasor alleges that Judge admitted to engaging in an arguably far more disturbing act, saying he "ashamedly" told her of an incident in which he and other boys took turns "having sex with a drunk woman."
Rasor said Judge had claimed the act was "consensual" when he confided in her. He also made no mention of Kavanaugh being a participant in the incident.
“She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated. But Rasor was disturbed by the story and noted that it undercut Judge’s protestations about the sexual innocence of Georgetown Prep,” Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer wrote in The New Yorker. "
- Newsweek
2
The sense of entitlement these men exude is beyond chutzpah , it is abusive , and typical of such a group . Not surprised he was Trump's first choice as they seem to display the same traits and probably trade so called "locker room " talk . Misogynists united in the great hypocrisy of "Make America Great " again . Sickening .
7
Check out Michael Avenattis's appearance on Rachel Maddow last night. The Kavanaugh nomination is about to be blown to pieces.
9
I do wish he'd come forward with the goods already and stop baiting us endlessly--while I hope his heart is in the right place, he seems a bit too Trumpian for my tastes. I can see him running for President as an Independent and peeling off a good 6% of the Democratic electorate, causing Trump to win again. Buyer beware!
@The Iconoclast
Bad ham actor Avenatti has withdrawn his claims that he has an "accuser" who will come forward, and locked his personal Twitter account.
2
All the “comments” I’ve read, so far, reflect the same hysteria that occurred during the McCarthy era......and probably the Salem Witch Hunts!!
Shame on us Democrats!
15
@Shanala
Or they could reflect the horror people felt when they found out about abusive priests, the magdalene laundries, child labor, condition in the mines, medical experimentation........
9
@Shanala
SO true.
Dangerous times, these.
#thetrumanshow
#no-rule-of-law
#1984
4
1. I hardly think ye a Democrat.
2. Sounds like you like McCarthyism?
3. Hysteria is a misogynistic term when used in this context as it means the mania of women.
4
I am decidedly middle of the road and try to be intellectual honest and pragmatic. This has gone too far and is loathsome.
I don't care if it's Kavanaugh and would have been quite happy with Garland - unless, he was accused by a 14 year girl from 40 years ago - anyone can claim victimhood now.
BTW - I was molested by a baseball coach at 13 - I have that element of credibility.
Feinstein didn't think this worthy of an investigation two months ago and now screams with everyone else who vowed to defeat whomever was nominated -- at all cost.
Hillary tried to take down Bill's accuser's as an aside.
Two men and a woman who were said to have been at this party all denied it.
Honesty? Due process? Innocent until proven?
What was a 15 year old girl doing at a drinking party without any parents in the house? Drinking culture knows no gender.
Maybe it happened?
But be honest, thoughtful and an adult about it all
14
Let’s be quite clear - honorable men do not participate in Animal House behavior. Bill Cosby, Charlie Rose, Harry Weinstein- all deniers’ Hillary Clinton suffered humiliation by believing Bill Clinton. I feel for Mrs. Kavanaugh- another woman standing by her man. So sad!
4
Kavanaugh does not belong on the Supreme Court because the so called president who is appointing him does not belong in his office.
The entire make up of our government is the way it is because of the interference in our election by Vladamir Putin. That is foremost in this debate. The republican majority and t rump are there because of this interference.
We must vote this November and we must vote exclusively for Democrats and hope they find the courage to expose this rot for the rot it is.
I take a bit of exception to the use of the word pig. Pigs are really quite remarkable animals; highly intelligent and pretty loyal. Nothing like the vermin who occupy our high offices.
In fact, vermin are probably more highly evolved than any of the republicans hosting this charade.
Maybe we should compare them to the pig waste that is now polluting the Carolinas, thanks to the men who ignore the forces of nature.
10
It's pretty sad and pathetic that the Ivy League Old Boys Network remains strong and closed to any outside intrusions by uppity women making sexual abuse claims and it's 2018, for God's sake. Another article here today was about what teens think about this Kavanaugh mess and how the GOP fossils in Congress think he's a "great guy, doesn't deserve this, it well qualified and upstanding" while plenty of people who knew him in high school and college attested to his heavy drinking and inappropriate drunken behavior with girls/young women in both places. All of a sudden, he reformed after college? Doubtful. And he has the nerve to go on Fox and tell an interviewer that he was a virgin throughout high school and college? Puh-leeze. His high school yearbook is an essay on drunken behavior and black-outs. I'm sick to death of this all-white, super conservative, out of step, religious wingnuts determining our future when they are in the minority of the rest of the country. Time for term limits in Congress and the Supreme Court, no more deflecting from answering legitimate questions posed by House and Senate Committee members for SCOTUS seats. #Enoughisenough #Timesup #Resist
10
It is interesting to note that Clarence Thomas, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton all went to Yale. One has a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, another was twice elected president but couldn't resist a WH intern and the third lost to another Ivy League man who makes Thomas and President Clinton look like altar boys.
4
He just told Fox News (of course Fox News) that he was a virgin in high school and college. Oh yeah I believe that. Maybe he was too drunk to remember. Maybe he’s parsing words like Clinton- but of course Kavanaugh was a part of that inquisition. What goes around comes around.
9
Kavanaugh's self defense would be so much more believable if we didn't have Matt Judge's book "Wasted," including "Bart O'Kavanaugh."
It's obvious why nobody in Washington really wants to investigate -- all sorts of ugly stuff is sure to come out, even though it may never settle the specific issue of whether Kavanaugh assaulted Blasey to beyond a reasonable doubt ... there's no possibility of a semen-stained dress here.
The Catholic church will not recover from the current child-abuse scandals -- these are mostly homosexual.
The Christian right should take warning: you don't want to own groping and sexual assault of women ... or maybe you do?
5
I went to an elite private school as a kid (grade 3-6). Bullying of vulnerable children was pervasive and poisoned the atmosphere like a noxious gas. At grade 7 I happily left for a public school and the atmosphere was better--it was more accepting of difference and offered a larger playing field for making friends and participating in activities. Of course all schools, elite and public have serious problems, but there is a particularly quality about the elite bully that Michelle Goldberg successfully identifies in this article. It's one of the reasons I'm a firm believer in public education and wish we didn't have the Yales and Amhersts which perpetuate unlevel playing fields, narcissism, class hatreds, and life lessons for boys and young men in how to get away with anything. Just ask Trump. He knows and has exploited it to his unending advantage.
10
Justices can be impeached and the SCOTUS stacked. McConnell's vision of 40 more years of regressive jurisprudence will not happen, abortions will not become illegal, prayer won't return to schools, guns will be regulated, election finance will be reformed. It may only take one or two elections to undo what Mitch and his Neanderthals have foisted on this country - including Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
9
There is not a shred of a proof, not a single witness who validates any of these accusations (most deny or claim no knowledge).
Yet, it seems 99% of the commenters here have already convicted and judged Kavanaugh based on nothing but vague accusations (which we all know are false). Wonder why? Ah, that's right, tribalism. Politics.
14
@Klue
there are plenty of shreds--but there can be no proof or witnesses without an investigation. there will be no investigation because the republicans are afraid of one. wonder why? ah, that's right. they are afraid of the truth.
3
@Klue Kavanaugh's own words in his high school year book persuaded me.
4
Unfortunately, this selfish, immature, dominate male culture is on display every day Trump's foreign policy. Take a look at Trump's most recent speech. It is no accident that most of Trump's supporters are males with a similar world view. Is that what we want leading this country?
8
Kavanaugh boasts of underage drinking in his privileged private school yearbook photo and caption. Not a good look for a Supreme Court nominee.
10
Interesting that the NYT spent a week trying to corroborate the Yale story but could not. Then handed it over to the New Yorker (as per the NYT) who immediately published it. This is simply a political hit job. I am not a supporter of the nominee and have a very different view point. But it is right to call it what it is...
14
@Keith
Thanks for dropping by, Mr. Kavanaugh.
6
When I was Director of Research at the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry, in the mid 1970s I learned the criminal sexual conduct motto: "Seduction is for Sissies. A Real Man Likes his Rape".
In the prison culture, con men are reviled; rapists are revered.
3
@Nat Ehrlich
Really? I had always heard that people in prison for sex crimes were at the bottom of the totum pole. Are you sure you're not just making things up?
1
One wonders if all the genders in all this were reversed would the same conclusions be arrived at? I sincerely doubt it with the level of misandry so blatently displayed in this article. Labeling men as pigs is equally offensive as anything the republicans have said about the acusers. What would be said if some male called these women pigs. In fact some males have already said such things and been roundly rebuked for it. What gives you the right to label men... your gender?
13
@Ben, please explain how the abusive behaviors described in the Kavanaugh accusations could be the behaviors of women. Ever.
8
That is easy -- having managed hundreds of women without a single accusation (nor reason for one) --- I have witnessed how women can take others down quite easily, because they are women --- and "others" means other women, too --- with things a man would never do ---
1
These are not equal definitions. When men refer to women as pigs, it refers to their opinion as to the woman’s attractiveness. When the author referred to these men as pigs, it is that some men have no shame in their degradation of women, their automatic blame placed on women and their own clean hands attitude about their beliefs. That boys will be boys and we should all just accept that and move on.
3
You hit the nail on the head. Pigs. Kavanaugh does not deserve the most respected legal position in the country. However, his elitism is all too clear in his refusal to step down from the nomination - he feels entitled to this position. He feels justified despite his moral incompetence, his frat boy attitude, and nasty treatment of women. After all, he has earned this position by agreeing to continue to play with the boys club - keeping Trump from impeachment and keeping women controlled by laws affecting their bodies.
9
Only in Republican world does a nominee for the Supreme Court accused of a sex crime, nominated by a president accused of sex crimes get a hearing with no witnesses or an investigation into the allegations.
Even if you're a Republican woman this should be a wake up call. To the rest of us this is just a dismal reminder of how bad things are in Republican land.
Pathetic.
18
@Robert Westwind
Why don't they subpoena the guy who was in the room to testify under oath? He was an accomplice in the context of a crime, but could be given immunity.
2
@Robert Westwind
Only in Democratic world does Bill Clinton, accused of rape, sexual harassment and having oral sex with an intern, get defended by people pretending to be feminists and having respect for women. Another reason people don't believe a Democrat is sincere when he accuses a Republican of not respecting women.
7
This is a great thoughtfully written column. I hope you will do a book. I was in my 20s when the women's movement started and now I am 70 and it seems that men haven't changed. The behavior exhibited reflects hostility toward women. On some level, it is a way of keeping women down, threatening them and excluding them. There are a lot of complexities to this kind of behavior. In Kavanaugh's case, he seems to be Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde but I suspect the mean drunk side is his real side. The Boy Scout side is the ambitious side that wants to get ahead. We really need to wait and have an FBI investigation of these allegations. But why do we need two Supreme Court justices from the same elite private school? Whose religious beliefs make them likely to restrict access to abortions? In Kavanaugh's case, the boy with the gang-rape mentality will be deciding whether a rape victim can get an abortion. And we have a president who is under investigation for the Russian meddling, whose foundation is charged with wrongdoing, who has been involved in a lot of litigation like with Trump University, making two lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. This column has made me remember so many incidents over my life, including at work. They affected me in deep ways. Enough is enough.
11
These people make me sick.
oh- bonus points for the Tiger Mom angle!
Their superiority is completely imaginary.
4
Every feminist should be weary of pronouncing these men as pigs. Even if they deserve it. Any derogatory generalization risks the recruit of men to the feminist movement, whose participation is actually needed. Visceral remarks don't elevate any ideal. They stifle it by seeming reactionary, and consequently, cheap and weak. It's easy to claim to understand a depraved system, and quite another to understand the psychology of power and its sexual nature. No excuses here. It just pays to have thoughtful perspective.
8
I guess the nuns were right, 'Girls are good and boys are bad'.
2
Great article by Michelle Goldberg, expressing exactly what many of us are thinking. Here is Judge Kavanaugh saying "what happens in Georgetown Prep stays in Georgetown Prep", and enforcing the code of silence all the way down, as the books, rumors and experiences splash out. He doubles down with his wife on Fox, declaring himself a member of the American Taliban. He seeks to impose the abstinence only movement from above, while his rotten culture stays alive and continues its party. The stench of hypocrisy emanating from Fox was overwhelming. The judge who would ban birth control and abortion, while all his buddies circle the wagons on his debauchery, closing ranks on how many women they assaulted and raped. Evangelicals must really want to win dirty.
9
I wish journalists and just about everyone would stop referring to sex predators, abusers and other obnoxious individuals as "pigs." Pigs are among the most intelligent of mammals. As long as male pigs are neutered (and female pigs spayed), the male will not become an aggressive boar.
People should consider Judge Kavanaugh as what he appears to be according to the allegations so far and that is a man who was sexually aggressive towards non-consenting women when he was inebriated. Personally, I believe that disqualifies him for appointment to SCOTUS. Perhaps he was so drunk, he does not remember his disgusting and dangerous behavior. That lack of memory should also disqualify him.
4
The triple bro culture of Frat X Ivy L X Athlete can produce thee very worst brand of entitlement, bad behavior, sexual exploitation, and a “master race” view of self that’s above the law and decency. I’ve witnessed and been a victim of it in my college past, unfortunately.
3
Wow Michelle Goldberg has summed it up well while hitting all of the points: White Male Privilege puts you there, people who are paid to put up with you keep you there, and the system perpetuates and rewards your bad behavior. While women are chewed up, kicked out, or remain on the sidelines regardless of how well they have performed.
7
Good Lord. I did not know that Kavanaugh was the protege of a judge who had to resign because of sexual harassment. These guys are creepy beyond words. And they are running our country.
13
Plagiarizing somewhat.....
We need your voice.
We welcome your on-topic commentary, criticism and expertise, and your practice of the art of making relevant connections.
And your civility.
:-)
Fox Interview:
“So you’re saying,” Ms. MacCallum interrupted, “that through all these years that are in question, you were a virgin?”
His face frozen — and his confirmation on the line — Judge Kavanaugh had little choice but to respond. “That’s correct,” he said.
It will be interesting to see if he repeats this under oath.
8
@Joyce Ice, the question shocks me more than the lie.
"I didn't expect that reaction . . . ." President Trump cogitated on the Blue Wave midterm election.
2
My country is scaring me .... Ms Goldberg is scaring me. I hope I'm alive to look back and say this was our Salem trials .. a time when we forgot -- or lost our soul as a country.
Having read every drop on this subject - there are too many holes to ever make the judgements people are making.
You can't be partially sure of something when you accuse someone of this type of offense.
10
Why do I get the feeling that Trump was uninterested in Kavanaugh until they started exchanging stories of how they assaulted women?
3
Senator and Mrs. John Blutarsky
4
I am astounded every day by the press calling this a "me-too" moment as if something has changed in my 60-year life as an American female. Nothing has changed. No amount of indignation will address the power gap between men and women in this world. And remember that the women who do succeed know how to play those men and have to. That's how it is. There are so many decent men but decency has never been a route to power in a man's world.
4
If Donald Trump continues to expose the venalities of all of his friends and colleagues, he really might make America great.
The Mark of Trump is on Kavanaugh. When Donald is done with him, the judge won't even be a lawyer.
2
Supreme Court Justice Biff Tannen.
3
What do think private, all male social clubs are for? In the nineties we referred to this as “rape culture”. Kavanaugh’s just the latest poster boy but it’s nothing new.
8
I'm a 68 year old white male heterosexual. I became aware of 'girls' in the prurient sense what now seems a long time ago. In my experience there was not then and there is not now a shortage of "pigs". Unfortunately many of them are also self riteous hypocrites as well.
8
@Mike Marks
I have a similar memory from the '70s. Some people I knew were involved in "pulling a train". I was young and naive. I knew it was bad but I tried to rationalize what I was hearing because I knew and liked some of the people involved. It wasn't long before I realized just how bad it was. This occurred at a prominent religious university but it was happening elsewhere. I had a friend tell me it happened at his frat at an Arizona state school. I am not saying it was an everyday occurrence. Quite the opposite, most of the men at my school would never do such a thing. The event happened among the jocks, who were elevated to hero status at the school.
What makes these reports about Kavanaugh and his schoolmates more repulsive, if that is possible, is that it seems to be motivated by a combination of entitlement and ambition. (Maybe not so different from the jock culture and, now we know, the upper echelons of business after all.) Just as Kavanaugh seems to feel entitled to a seat on the supreme court, he seems to feel entitled to elevated sexual status through his reprehensible treatment of women. (I believe the women.)
Thanks to the #metoo movement we are shining a light on how the combination of entitlement, power and ambition lead to sexual abuse. Let’s not let it also lead to a seat on the supreme court.
11
Sexual inequality has been perpetrated by the Bible for millennia. Let’s start there and strike the nonsense from those passages that treat women like property.
1
Best last paragraph ever.
2
Bad behaviour knows no class boundaries but being rich and entitled offers certain protections against being exposed or punished for bad behavior. Anita Hill possessed "steely self-control" but Clarence Thomas played the victim game. The good old white boys club circled the wagons even if Thomas was a black guy. Kavanaugh went on FOX last night and played the weepy victim but so far has resisted a polygraph and has not insisted on an FBI investigation. The good old boys club is alive and well in the courts, the legislature, the boardrooms and most certainly in the WH.
It is encouraging to see so many women running for public office. With a better balance of power maybe women can finally expect fair and equal treatment.
4
Thanks Michelle, you are knocking at the correct door, and hit the nail on the head numerous times in this piece. And beyond the pigs...the prep school, ivy league fraternity, male privilege culture that we allow to assume such prominence in our government is a huge problem. Why should a Supreme Court nominee who went to the same school as a sitting justice even be seriously considered? Let alone several people from the same schools, all of whom are WAY out of touch with average Americans.
3
What is coming to light, though still muted by wealth and power, is that we have long since lost our democracy, and are completely ruled by an oligarchy, a government "Of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy". Trump's claim of being for working people is the polar opposite of his true allegiance. His entire career has been spent taking advantage of everyone, especially working people, not blinking an eye at stiffing workings and small businesses, declaring bankruptcies and leaving "lesser" people to pick up his tab. That he is labeled a populist rankles the sensibilities!
And can the media stop labeling Trump and his supporters as "populists"? Anyone who supports his fascist agenda is certainly NOT a supporter of the rights of workers and the 99%. FDR adopted a populist philosophy (with much pressure from Huey Long), spawning the Neal Deal. Has anything Trump proposed or tried to enact even remotely look like the New Deal? In fact, he and his conservatives are working tirelessly to undo every part of the New Deal and subsequent labor rights!
You're right Michelle, they're all pigs, not just for their lewd and offensive behavior, but for their snouts up to their eyeballs in the trough.
9
Kavanaugh's crime is to be a conservative who will not make laws from the bench. And Bertrand Russell's quote is "Turtles all the way down".
1
I’m just a few years older than Kavanaugh and his circle, so I was in college when they were in high school. I attended a single-gender prep school and an ivy-league-equivalent university. I can tell you from personal experience that every story I’ve read, about partying among the Georgetown Prep and Yale crowd, rings true for me. In fact, I experienced far worse abuse from young men than anything I've read regarding Kavanaugh. That’s just how it was, in those days.
I reported none of it. I didn’t tell my parents, or my friends.
At university it was considered normal for a girl to be dragged into a guy’s dorm room, or his room at a frat. In my freshman year I was in a four-year dorm. The RAs would purchase all the alcohol for the get-drunk parties, where only a few attendees were of legal drinking age. The Resident Fellows (often members of faculty) participated as well.
The only thing that surprises me in the Kavanaugh debacle is that no one has mentioned drug use. Just alcohol.
7
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol”, just without the race and killing and such. See, we have made progress.
2
Michelle, your opinion piece has a lot of merit, but it loses credibility by painting this as a purely partisan issue. Apparently only conservatives and men who stray from your political beliefs are pigs - Kavanaugh, Trump, Neil Gorsuch, etc. By weaponizing such repugnant behavior for partisan political purposes you surrender the high ground and lose credibility.
As others have pointed out here, this is not by any means a partisan issue. If you are going to go after the "rotten foundations of elite male power" let's be non-partisan and totally apolitical about it. The other side of the aisle has its share of feral hogs with the Kennedy boys and Bill Clinton at the top of the list.
I, and I suspect you too, believe that our leaders, particularly Supreme Court Justices who are essentially appointed for life, should be held to far higher standards, and on that basis I do not think that Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed, but the fact is that so far all we know is that as an adolescent he behaved like a stupid, calloused cad. He certainly didn't drive off of a bridge and kill an innocent young lady like Ted Kennedy did at the age of 37. Yet you make no mention of the legions of liberal progressives that could and should be on your list.
Another problem I have with your "opinion" is the view that somehow Ivy leaguers have cornered this market. Your parochial view reminds me of Saul Steinberg's View of the World from 9th Avenue. The problem is not confined to a privileged few.
2
Here's the rotten underbelly of the one percent.
3
and the Republican's response is to have a woman stand in for the GOP's eleven angry white men in the questioning of Kavanugh's accuser because they are concerned about the "optics" ahead of the midterms.
5
There are two Brett Kavanaughs ....There is the black out drunk party boy who participated in all sorts of alcohol fueled hi-jinks in high school and college, and who, it has been alleged, may have also forced himself on women. Then there is the exemplary and learned jurist. How do we reconcile the two? Or should we even try. He is both...Should the fact that he caroused and possibly caused lifelong harm to one of his victims bar him from serving for life on the SCOTUS? Absolutely.
2
Rachel had Avenatti on tonight describing what his client (a victim) and corroborating witnesses will say. (Apparently about the gang rapes, "trains," that Brett and Mark took part in.)
https://boingboing.net/2018/09/24/third-woman-witness-and-vic.html
The client, a gov. employee who's been background checked by FBI, will make her accusations public in the next 48 hours.
She also wants to take a lie detector test if Kavanaugh will do so.
4
well said Michelle Goldberg.
1
Is Amy Schumer a Frat Boy? Rebel Wilson? Melissa McCarthy? I think Goldberg is missing some data in her assessment that this is entirely male behavior. Whom do these actresses represent, or is that no one at all, entirely fictions, with no analog in society? However Goldberg cherry picks her information and evidence, the premise relies on a rush to judgment, that even if the accusation bears itself out, is wrong. These are things you think after you know, not before. This thinking is is unfair to an entire sex, and casually strips an individual of his civil rights, particularly the presumption of innocence (no job interviewee has a political party paying operatives to smear him by any means available), and due process. If it can happen to one, it can happen to all. With this type of thinking, we are all subject to being deprived of due process. Why do I get a sense that this is heading the same direction as the French Revolution?
6
As best as I could discern from the evidence, Mr. Kavanaugh is a thoroughly spoilt brat when growing up and feels entitled to what he has and what he wants - a place on the Supreme Court.
To all the voters in the backwaters who supported Mr. Trump: it does not matter whether you vote Democrat or Republican, you are closer to undocumented immigrants than you think. You have nothing in common with Mr.Kavanaugh except for the color of your skin.
2
The sexual assaults are rightly the focus of attention. But what about the other elephant in the room that seemingly gets a pass: "a young man who frequently gets blackout drunk, as Kavanaugh reportedly did, is a fun guy". Everyone in this discussion obviously thinks this is OK, based on the lack of comments and outrage . I guess the Republican's elephant symbol is representative of all of these elephants in the room that are being addressed. Everyone is focusing on the sexual assault elephant. But I think there is a whole herd. By ignoring the drinking/judgement problem, or worse, using it as an acceptable excuse for other illegal behavior, we are condoning it and teaching our young men that it is an acceptable excuse. There is NOTHING acceptable about any of this and how Congress, the Republicans and their base think it is acceptable is an indictment of our society.
2
Every time some Republican supporter on TV makes a comment upon "How normal" Kavanaugh and his male friends' actions were in High School and College, my husband responds with "Not in my world."
It seems apparent that , not only were these rich kids raised on a steady diet of privilege, those who are ready to "judge" Kavanaugh's behavior were raised on the same diet. That is why they downplay the seriousness of the behavior, and Ms Ford's suffering. Every one of them are guilty of the same thing.
If I hear the words "Boys will be boys," one more time I think I will vomit. Most men did not engage in such behavior when they were teens -- they had been taught better. Ogle? absolutely, Molest? mostly, they would not dream of it. The ones that did were monsters, and their assumption of privilege needs to be cut off.
4
As children go through the process of growing up and "coming of age", mistakes are expected from them. It's how we all learn, sometimes painfully. As functioning adults, we also make mistakes. We are required to admit them, learn from them and--when required--apologize for them. I would have had respect for Brett Kavanaugh had he acknowledged his past behavior, expressed mortification over ever having done such things, and issued an all-inclusive apology to every young woman in his past who was impacted by his behavior. He also needed to demand an FBI investigation. Not to do so cements his guilt, as well as his sense of "how dare they" entitlement, in my mind. Mr. Kavanaugh, sir, you are a self-serving cad. The eleven old white guys who are too afraid of appearances to even question your accuser themselves are the worst kind of cowards, hiding behind their inflated egos.
5
Trump was probably aware of all these skeletons in Kavanaugh’s closet, but looked past that because of his reputation for promoting an unimpeachable Presidency.
3
I’m with Ms Goldberg in that what’s being revealed here -- yet again -- is the ugly systemic sexism that permeates our culture -- and not just at elite schools like Yale or Georgetown Prep. It’s everywhere in high school and college, even earlier. Impressionable, malleable students – male and female – are being immersed in it daily. Certainly some of our best known, most respected and admired leaders have emerged from this 'piggish' crucible and have gone on to careers of great service. But the fact that these same individuals have not looked back, recognized the system for what it is, and sought to dismantle it – or at least speak publicly about the need to do so – means that they don’t see a problem. In their tolerance or acceptance, might they be as culpable as the frat boy Kavanaughs of the world?
I wonder.
I think you should reconsider the headline of this column. The column is intelligent, well reasoned and compelling, while the headline is rough and inflammatory.
2
As a former fraternity member I can readily believe all the nasty things guys do when they get together.
For those who didn't attend High School or College. Guys generally don't commend each other for innocent kisses and dance partners. Not since 1700's Puritania anyway.
Guys egg each other on. It's a power game.
It takes real character to Resist going with the popular crowd.
Some can't resist. They have weak character that allows them to take any advantage, no matter how amoral.
I know guys just like Brett. We had three members who would weekly report on their after-party train conquests of drunk girls at the chapter meetings. Gross Humorous Entertainment for Guys.
America is a rich country. It has a wealth of candidates for this lifetime position who would make a better Judge than a boy like Brett.
1
The other scandal regarding Kavanaugh's clerks is that he seems to pack them with the children of other prominent judges and politically powerful people, including Kozinski's son and Chua-Rubenfeld's daughter. According to Wikipedia's observation of those that signed letters in support of his nomination, "A number of Kavanaugh's law clerks are the children of other judges and high profile legal figures, including Clayton Kozinski (son of former federal Judge Alex Kozinski), Porter Wilkinson (daughter of Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III), Philip Alito (son of Justice Samuel Alito), Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld (daughter of Yale Law Professor Amy Chua), and Emily Chertoff (daughter of former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff)." Another example of the perpetuation of class privilege.
8
Fraternities just amplify bad behaviors.
Why do colleges tolerate them? Young entitled men with unformed brains acting together as a pack of animals, what could go wrong??
Higher education lacks the backbone to weed out the bad actors in this drama. Animal house is funny but this is serious.
The Kav nomination may be the asterisk in history books finally marking some needed change.
Is it the amount of testosterone that makes adolescent boys and adult men have so little empathy and therefore so little sense of decency? How can you have any iota of empathy while gang raping anyone? Its of a piece with making millions of dollars on the sale of bombs without considering the thousands of innocents killed, maimed and displaced as a result. There must be missing connections in the brain that make these male leaders and their followers so blind and deaf to the existence of anyone but themselves. The Kavanaugh case is symbolic of the country's posture as freedom loving and benevolent while exterminating thousands around the world with a nod and a smile. Body chemistry ought be investigated since it is a predominantly male phenomenon of violence that haunts and devastates our world.
3
@LoveNOtWar
I wasn't aware the world was devasted. Maybe a bit over the top?
2
I had 2 sons recently go to Prep School and then University where they were members of Fraternities thus Frat Boys.
I had many a discussion on Drinking and how that one wrong move can ruin you life. Although I know that drank to excess I believe they were respectful to the opposite sex. That said I know in many cases some of the Girls were known to be more forward and sexually active then the Boys. I discussed the line and told them of a circumstance of my young adulthood where others made a huge mistake while I thought it best to head home. None of us knows what goes on but as a parent I know the consequences of drunk and inappropriate behavior on college campus with regards to both sexes. They are free of their parents and they are all trying to behave so stupidly grown up. Here we are 36 years later taking down a mostly good man for the sake of politics. Not right in my view.
3
@Ken -- go look at Kavanaugh's yearbook page: he brags about being a falling down drunk (boofing), throwing up (ralphing), claims he had sex with Renate, claims he was in a two-men-one-woman sex triangle, .... there's a lot more I don't know the references to.
And that was in high school! You are seriously going to tell me that he's a "mostly good man?" Where is the confession and contrition? He claims to be a practicing Catholic.
This is revolting, even without Dr. Blasey's accusation of sexual assault.
3
@Ken-you consider a man who has been accused of sexually assaulting four women "mostly good"? That is a terrifyingly low bar for what men should be.
He's not being taken down. There are allegations of misconduct, and people are arguing against him being promoted. He'd still be a federal judge with a lifetime appointment, just not on the Supreme Court.
Also, for the record, I don't care how forward and sexually active I or any other woman may be, men should not sexually assault us. How is this something that even needs to be said?
Just so we're clear, rape is bad, and if someone is so weak willed and ruled by their own impulses as to be unable to be around a drunk or scantily clad woman without assaulting her, the fault lies in the assailant.
3
I have a lot of appreciation for Ms Goldberg's writing, and her willingness to speak for those who have no platform. But, once again, we find ourselves in a now familiar place: While we may find it easy to believe many ignoble things, about Brett Kavanaugh, we are still relying on private accounts, and anecdotal information about this Supreme Court nominee, with which to evaluate his decency. These claims have not been formally investigated, and Kavanaugh is "innocent until proven guilty". I am a vocal detractor of President Trump, and Mitch McConnell, and I believe these two are utterly without honor, but I must be able to separate my disdain for Trump and McConnell from Kavanaugh. Our very Democracy depends on
the presumption of innocence, a starting point that we ALL hope to have access to, if the need should arise.
4
@mmcshane
And it's reasonable people like you that will be driven away from feminist causes by this sort of unselective male bashing. This garbage is why we have Trump, yet the entitled feminsits just can't help themselves.
3
We know that Kavanaugh lied to the Senate when he said he didn't know memos were stolen. Why should we believe his denials now? Or was he lying in his Georgetown year book? Which of his lies should we believe?
4
As always, a brilliant column from Michelle Goldberg - always on target with her analysis and in seeking the truth, challenging the powerful.
Kavanaugh is the perfect example of the white male Christian ruling class that believes in the rule of law and tough enforcement of the law for women - even denying reproductive rights, basic human rights - for LGBTQ - denying basic human rights, for Hispanics, blacks, Muslims - not providing equal protection under the law, guilt by association, but when white male Christians break the law, even attempted rape, it’s just a youthful indiscretion, it’s ok to lie for decades - even commit perjury. So actually two sets of rule of law: gender and racial Apartheid.
3
It doesn't seem likely Ramirez will testify and I have my doubts about Dr. Ford. Based on what they have said, neither seems likely to gain much once on the public stage.
If the Democrats come up with a third "victim", that alleges Kavanaugh did something, but, they aren't clear on the details, well, not good.
If you are unfamiliar with the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", written by some old white men, in Europe, I suggest a review. Or, find a story, from a continent that has the appropriate amount of diversity and consider the consequences of falsely crying "Wolf!".
Henceforth, there will prerequisites before a claim will be investigated. Real victims will not be encouraged to come forward until all of the expected questions may be answered. And, "I don't remember.", "I was drunk or stoned." will be immediate dis-qualifiers.
3
What has happened to the truth seeking process? What has happened to honesty, integrity, and transparency? In its place we see a PR blitzkrieg, promoting Kavanuagh as if he was a political candidate running for a public office. But he is seeking a seat on the highest court in the land whose decisions will affect all Americans under its jurisdiction. Chest-pounding as we have seen in recent days is no substitute for seeking the truth, and no politician, from Senate Majority Leader McConnell to the president to Grassley as chair of the Senate judiciary committee, can change that. We have all seen what happened when Trump was elected, and as "unfortunate" as it will be, the selection of Kavanaugh will only repeat our mistakes with having voted for Trump. Remember, history will repeat itself if we don't learn from it. So, besides the donnybrook that now exists over Kavanaugh's alleged sexual and drunken behavior involving the opposite sex while a preppy at high school and then at Yale, remember his false statements given during his senate testimony. Remember that the Nat'l. Archives was not allowed to finish its review of 1,000s of pages involving him during his Bush White House Days; remember that Grassley does not want to hear from an eye witness to Dr. Ford's assertions. Have you remembered enough? This isn't the truth seeking process but a sham and a charade played out on the American public. Enough is enough! The Supreme Court does not need nor require Kavanaugh.
3
I did a double-take when I read the headline to this piece. It took me to a time, 15 years ago, when my daughter, embarking on a year’s exchange program to study in a faraway country, was taken aside by her father, and given a piece of advice: “Just remember. Men are pigs.” Whether this was taken to heart, I don’t know. What it illuminated was not only how ingrained such disrespect toward women is in our culture, but how it has become a measure of one’s masculinity – an attitude inculcated over not just hundreds but thousands of years, in cultures around the world.
The new awareness of sexual misconduct that has been revealed through the Me Too movement and brave individuals sharing their stories now needs to advance – from blame and calling out, to finding ways to change the culture. That will involve changing the way we raise our sons and the message of what it means to “be a man”. But on a broader level, it means looking at popular culture with its prevalent message of sexual conquest as the measure of a man and taking some visionaries to express a new ideal.
1
All men are not pigs. Just the ones who behave like Kavanaugh, The Con Don and their brethren.
4
1. We shouldn't judge behavior of 35 years ago by current social mores. Let's hope we evolve.
2. There were "elite" women at these binge drinking parties. Smart women who went on to excel in their professional lives. And, oh by the way, their families were rich.
3. Everyone should be heard, and when the stories are told each member of the public will form an opinion. But, just because a person believes something doesn't make it the truth. Without evidence - on either side - we will probably never know the absolute truth.
4. The fringe on both sides of this issue making death threats shame us all.
5. After we've heard from both parties the Congress needs to vote and the chips fall where they may.
6. Either way the vote goes, believe it or not, it's not the end of the world.
5
The debauchery bona fides of the classes has been well known, and documented, for centuries. Kavanaugh appears a worthy standard bearer.
At some level he may actually believe his version of reality.
"We’ll know things have changed when palling around with sexual abusers carries more stigma than being abused does."
Best quote of this mess so far.
3
If only some one of the questioners employed Judge Kavanaugh's approach to President Clinton. having failed to find a single crime, Kavanaugh pressed for questions that would trap Clinton into perjuring himself.
For example:
"Judge Kavanaugh, if Mark Judge said that he was not present during the alleged sexual assault on Dr. Ford, would he be lying?"
"Judge Kavanaugh, if Mark Judge said that you held down Dr. Ford, covered her mouth when she attempted to scream, and ground your hips against her body, would he be lying?"
"Judge Kavanaugh, if Mark Judge said you were not a virgin during high school, would he be lying?"
And so on. There is a very rich trove of potential questions here. Does anybody think it would be improper if further questions were as salacious and depraved as the ones he came up with for President Clinton?
Does anybody think it unfair to ask questions that would likely lead Judge Kavanaugh to perjure himself?
If so, why?
3
I was not surprised to learn what happened to Judge Kavanaugh's fraternity at Yale. When I was a student at the University of Maryland years ago, DKE had a notorious reputation. The stories I heard were disgusting. Things got so bad that the administration not only banned the fraternity. They also tore down its house.
4
Ah the fraternity Federalist Society- they have now banded together and want to run the country. It's not too much of a stretch to place most in one category. Haven't most of us met them in college? The quintessential rich guy who is utterly entitled, gets grossly inebriated and boast about his womanizing. The latter is often illustrated in overt sexual assault, date rape, and/or consensual drunken intercourse. The narrative can change soon enough. But god please don't put him, or those like him, on the highest court in the nation.
3
College years are times for experimentation, intellectually and socially, sexually and "alcohol-ly," if that's even a word, but you get the idea. But after we strip away all of his and our "youthful indiscretions" (admit it, we all did "something" back then, although probably not as bad as newly-cleansed "St. Brett"), the root problems with Brett Kavanaugh are his well-documented hard right-wing fringe positions. I have no doubt whatsoever that they would influence every decision he makes on the bench, despite his protestations. For those reasons, he should not be approved for the Supreme Court. The tragedy is that, barring and unforeseen miracle, he will be.
Goodbye, America. It was fun while it lasted.
2
The phrase "ruling class" makes me sick. It's a delusion that a democracy can have such a thing and still be a democracy.
No, I think this is a case of "the entitled believing they are entitled"... to no consequences for their actions, for believing that what they do when they are young will not follow them through the years. (Unlike young black men...)
Apparently that sense of entitlement extends to his finances. He had something $200K in debts that magically went away. I'd like to know how that was done. Did he declare bankruptcy, which is the option most of us have if we have that kind of debt. Did he have help from his family? Aren't there limits to how much you can get as a gift from family members without tax penalties? Are there gambling debts? Did someone who might like a favor help with his finances.
And there's his drinking. If he's drinking to the point of not remembering things, I have to believe that he's still a heavy drinker. That's a hard habit to break. Do we want a drunk Justice on the court, or one who is possibly indebted to shady characters?
1
@MWittry
I have news for you. We do have a ruling class and this is not a democracy.
In a democracy, the minority party wouldn't be in power.
Big money wouldn't trump votes.
The privileged wouldn't be abusing their power to cut their taxes so they can get more power.
1
Watching Bret Kavanaugh with his daughters makes me wonder whether he would allow them to go to schools that party with his alma mater.
His repeated categorical denials follow a familiar pattern, especially in situations involving ascent to positions of power. Deny. Deny. Deny.
This article rightly condemns the entire male aristocracy of our supposedly country of equality. As the twig is bent..." Until we excise these elitist and misogynistic elements from our culture, we are doomed to a class-based society, and class depends not on merit but on wealth, connections, race, gender, and the old school tie.
1
"We’ll know things have changed when palling around with sexual abusers carries more stigma than being abused does."
In order for that to happen, we need an actual conversation, one that cannot happen if every time a correspondent offering objectionable views is shot before they can be fully heard, much less their position once known, be properly litigated.
The company you keep does reflect on your character! At best, Kavanaugh comes across as a shady character who evades and lies to further his career - and it may be much worse. No country deserves a person with a lifetime Supreme Court appointment whose past raises so many questions. Senators who still support him without requesting an in-depth investigation by the FBI are blindly partisan and unwilling to do their duty of due diligence. They may believe that voters will forget, but the majority of Americans will give them what they deserve: a solid defeat in the upcoming elections.
In the late 70's to early 80's I was at a very large, Southern, land-grant university. The fraternities and sororities were a mire of young men and women behaving as these accounts of Ivy League debauchery have described. The men's behavior was bad. The women's was incomprehensible. Why submit to the fraternity brothers' disgusting behavior? For some of the women, it was in hope of landing a good "catch" -- a guy with a rich family (particularly in oil) -- for marriage. Imagine how unpleasant some of these marriages may have been.
This created a problem, however, for the rest of the female population there -- for the "rest of us". Here was a wealthy, entitled, group of men who acted with impunity. Nothing ever touched them. No punishment was ever meted out for anything they did because "boys will be boys". No expulsions. No imprisonment.
Friends of mine who were members of fraternities or sororities, at the time and in other locations, not the South, insist they "aren't all like that". I don't really buy it. Every time I hear of a hazing incident, an assault associated with the "Greek" system, or the antics of a Supreme Court bound male I remember the hassle I experienced just driving by a frat house.
There is much to do to stop this culture, to eradicate it. One step is to get rid of the "Greek System" entirely. If we can't do that, forbid our children from joining, and don't fund the sick medium that cultures this appalling behavior and attitude.
1
Yes, the Republican Party has become, or in this Me Too moment, revealed as the bastion of white male privilege and protectors of medieval behavior. It would be amusing, if not for the tragic consequences to their accusers, to watch these people come to terms with the new reality when women will no longer take this "lying down", so to speak. It is as if they are all in a Wile e Coyote moment when the ground they thought so solid has now vanished and all that is below them is a vast precipice over which their feet furiously run. Kavanaugh hopes that the old world men on the committee can save him from the hubris he presumed his due for pledging the Republican frat club. He hopes they can save him from his and their reckoning. Perhaps they will, but the tainted, bloodied hands will never come clean scrub as he might. Consider the case of Jason Miller who met his accuser at a Gentleman's Club frequently used by the Republican ad agency where he worked to entertain clients. Forget for a moment his guilt or innocence and simply consider that a strip club is where Republicans chose to meet. Pretty much says it all.
Boys who attend elite privates schools have to be continually reminded of the threat posed by ambitious and opportunistic girls. It is more pronounced there because these schools are social bubbles of the smartest kids from the wealthiest families. Unlike girls, who can abort an unwanted pregnancy or file a paternity suit against a father, boys have no choice once a pregnancy occurs. They have no legal say in whether a child is carried to term and their family wealth requires them to pay when a court demands it.
I knew a woman who dated a Harvard student when she was in high school. She said her parents suddenly didn't care where she was or when she returned home. They were that way when I knew her too, but that was some time after she messed up with the Harvard student.
The only thing you need to know is there is one party solidly behind Kav and one party open to women's rights and change. Which party purged people who engaged in boorish (being polite) behavior, and which party is trying to cover such behavior up and ram through a candidate? Until women send a strong political message, nothing will change.
2
This essay is astonishingly illogical and contrary to democratic standards of guilt & innocence, and yet sadly these opinions will be reflective of the sentiments of many people.
Guilt by association: Kavanaugh is male, and was a young student at places were drinking was common place. Therefore, that's already good enough reason for suspicion.
And another major theme of her essay rests on the premise that elite student institutions often have parties with excessive drinking. Well, so do many non-elite student institutions -- that should be obvious to anybody with awareness who has grown up in America. In addition problems with female harassment, assault, & rape is tragically endemic everywhere, not just at elite colleges and high schools.
It is disappointing that such irrational sentiments have major resonance throughout the political sphere and within news rooms.
5
In view of all the excellent legal talent that's available what's so special about someone like Kavanaugh who obviously carries a lot of baggage? Does he have a secret plan to solve the Palestinian-Israeli problems in his spare time on the weekend? (Sorry Jared, you had your chance.)
I'm pretty much resigned that this nomination will get pushed through regardless of the outcome of Dr. Blasey's testimony. The decision for Kavanaugh was made a long time ago, the confirmation hearings are just a big show to create the appearance of legitimacy.
But if you really care about the integrity of the process here - and everywhere else for that matter - then ask yourself how you feel in your gut about all this. Even if you're hard-core evangelical, do you feel in your gut that this is the right way to do things? Or is it 'right' because you (the evangelical) 'won'? And if that's true, what does 'America' mean for you? And for those who are sick about what's happening, what does it mean for you if your answer is different?
What it means to me is that there really are no 'shared values' between the conservatives/evangelicals and those who espouse the ideals and values we were taught to believe in as 'American'. As and when the tragic melodrama of the past couples years comes to a close there needs to be a reckoning, a good hard debate about who and what we are and what we're willing to do to protect it.
For all its wisdom and grandeur the constitution needs a good working over.
3
More than what he did when he was in high school and in college, what’s important is Kavanaugh’s actions now. It seems that he’s taking a page out of Trump’s play book: deny, deny, deny, and attack. In denying any wrong doing, I believe he is perjuring himself. And this, it seems, is not the only time he has done so in front of the Senate. That should disqualify this “high-quality person” as a candidate for the Supreme Court.
2
Part of the image and requirement to be a Stepford wife to a upcoming Yale elite has been to assume a boys will be boys attitude towards the men they serve. After all it would be assumed that their partner had sowed his wild oats and now that has passed which of course is probably problematical.
I am sure that this is not true for many of these women brought up as they did in the feminist movement, but the stereotype still exists and has some validity. But the women left behind in these escapades are rarely considered as they must hide what was done to them as to admit them would brand them as just 'damaged' goods. The courage of victimized women to stand up in our hypocritical society to the abuse they will continue to suffer as they reveal these wounds is incredibly and puts them far above the low life labeling that would try to bring them down. Amazing.
2
I always have a strong reaction to some young feminist or activist, or both, making sweeping generalities in an opinion piece, as if she has some received wisdom the rest of us can't access. This is one of those moments.
I don't like Kavanaugh: either his persona, or his right-wing Scalia-esque judicial cred. He's clearly been nominated to cement the SCOTUS's reactionary majority, satisfy the "owners" of our society (as George Carlin called the 1% elites), and promote, let alone sustain the transparent white nationalist agenda of the Trump regime. I am no fan. IMO, there are 100 people better suited to serve.
However, the idea that any responsible, law-abiding man should be held accountable in the present for alleged, unproven sexual misbehavior, that occurred 35 years ago at some drunken, and ubiquitous, college fraternity party (notwithstanding an accusation of violent rape) is both unfair and patently unreasonable on its face. It goes against any rational concept of due process, a preponderance of evidence, the limits of individual accountability and common sense.
Having said that, one issue is whether a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS requires a higher standard of scrutiny- and a more pristine track record of flawless personal behavior-than, say, being a successful stand-up comic, or CEO of a major television network, or a Hollywood studio.
At the very least, investigation of these allegations is clearly warranted. "Let the chips fall where they may."
1
@stonecutter "held accountable" means what? Convicted in a court of law for a felony, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
Kavenaugh is not facing any threat to his life or liberty. He is not even facing fine or threat to his property.
And unlike many men accused of sexual assault, he cannot lose his job.
1
Mr. Kavanugh is the essential frat boy made good. He moved up, and was noticed by the current president, by being a relentless hater and investigator of the Clintons. He may possibly be a nice guy in person and a good family man, but don’t get on his wrong side because he didn’t get where he is by letting those who oppose him walk away unscathed. Just the fact that Mitch McConnell and the president are so keen to have this man on the Court should scare everyone, and what other nominee has been given the spotlight on a national “news” program to defend themselves with softball questions and their wife at their side? Hypocrisy shall soon rule the Supreme Court, and no matter what happens to the man in the Oval Office, this nomination will haunt us for decades to come.
2
@Jsbliv
hypocrisy is not one-sided. Let's talk about how this article took 3 paragraph to convert an up-to-now alleged accusation into a proven fact.
As i this would be not enough, even the moderators are picking comments who take the accuse as fact too, implicitly, by saying that mr. Kavcanaugh is lacking empathy for what he did, that he is lying to the hearing about what he did, and so on.
Just get out of this echo-chamber already.
2
Lots of hand-wringing. Maybe useful for one election cycle. Where is the reliable voting block?
I've been waiting all my life, but thank you for your last line:
"We’ll know things have changed when palling around with sexual abusers carries more stigma than being abused does."
2
Sadly, I am waiting for this movement to expose the countless parents who physically and sexually abuse their own children. It is chronic and almost never reported. How could they report it? The child has absolutely no rights, and are rarely believed by their other parent, silenced with threats from all sides and ultimately expelled from the family as "the problem" as an adult.
This has to be the next movement. It has to be.
1
Start the call for accountability now by not appointing this creep to the Supreme Court. If we can't hold Supreme Court justices to a high standard, nobody can be held to a high standard. You have to be above reproach, above suspicion, and qualified to sit on the Court with a lifetime appointment. He doesn't meet the test. The vote has to be no.
I would be impressed with Brett Kavanaugh if at some point in his life he had discussed the things he and other young men did, admitted to shame for his behavior, and turned to probity. He did not--he worked for Alex Kozinski, and turned a blind eye and deaf ear to Kozinski’s bad behavior, enabling it.
As a woman, I wonder about the mothers who allow Kavanaugh to serve as a coach to their girls. And I wonder why the “good” men and women of the Republican Senate Judiciary Committee support this man, who has so much in his background to be ashamed of, yet doesn’t speak of regret, repentance, and a need to be forgiven by the young women he offended? But instead goes on TV, on Fox of all places, and says he didn’t do anything anyone could object to?
There is a stench in the air all over our country, and it is the stench of dishonor, the stench of rotten minds hiding behind a mask of morality, and the stench, from the grave, of the men who were judges during the Salem Witch Trials. Have we learned nothing from our past?
Thank you readers, especially Lynne Shook, Mike Marks and Louis H Dunlap.
My gratitude to Michelle Goldberg for applying this story to our culture at large.
We as citizens have the power to speak and act on behalf of human well being and the institutions which reflect who we are.
I don't know what to say, exactly. Except I need to acknowledge this moment. Men who behave this way, including it seems, Mr. Kavanaugh, need to make heartfelt apologies to the women they abused and demeaned. Kavanaugh then needs to withdraw his name. The Supreme Court must regain it's credibility. And abused women must be given a chance to heal.
VOTE in November.
2
The Republicans seem to be having a contest for how sleazy nominees can be, in their youth and/or currently, and still be confirmed for high office because people of the class simply deserve high office. Anyone seeking to deny them the most important jobs in the country based on their lack of character is seen as trampling on their birthright.
2
I went to a fairly "elite" international school in the UK, where the students were mostly the children of international diplomats, scientists, intellectuals and high level corporate executives. But never, ever in my time did I encounter anything close to the debauchery and disrespect for women described in Kavanaugh's school.
For sure in my school we had parties, we went out with girls, sometimes we drank, every teenager obsessed about sex, but I cannot recall a single episode in which a girl was threatened, abused or forced to have sex by one guy, let alone by a group. We were no Franciscan monks, for sure. If a girl was interested in having sex with someone, it would be a consensual thing, and it was not unusual.
Looking back at my experience, I realize that we grew up in a culture of equality and respect for women. We considered the girls in our class as our peers, no more and no less. Perhaps the key was that ours was a mixed school. Male-only schools tend to bring out the worst primitive instincts in males who do not learn how to relate to women, they don't see them as their intellectual peers but only as sexual prey.
If we want to start breaking the cycle of male dominance and power abuse, let's start by banning those male-only schools for the elites.
2
Spot on as usual, Michelle. But, if I may, I'd like to add a slightly diversionary comment to many of the thoughtful responses to your opinion.
Much has been discussed regarding privilege, being an elite, and elitism. In my mind, these are very different conditions that should be described carefully when we discuss all that is happening now in our culture.
Privilege is something one can possess without earning it; "being born on third base", as it were. Being a member of the "elite" can be earned; Barack Obama, raised by a single mother and grandparents of modest means is a good example of earning elite status.
However, these states of being, absent humility and self-awareness, can lead to elitism and that, I believe is at the core of our dysfunctional ruling class.
Privilege and elite status are not problematic in and of themselves. It's only when we allow people in these positions to abuse their status that we run into trouble. And we have allowed that for far to long. My hope is that what we are enduring now signals the end or, at least, the beginning of the end of elitism.
1
There's a silver lining to this disaster. We're finally discussing class and privilege, what that truly means.
In this case it means a nasty person, a person who's demonstrated bad behavior and later, real cruelty (working overtime to torment Bill and Hillary Clinton, trying to find them guilty of murder in their friend's suicide; ugly, deeply personal and sexual questions when he worked with Ken Starr; worst of all Garza) on the highest court in the land.
People who are unkind shouldn't be anywhere near that kind of power.
I don't think Kavanaugh should be on the Federal bench at all.
But his class, wealth, gender and background practically guaranteed him some kind of position in life where the rest of us would be subject to him and his ilk, be it in the workplace or via political and social and economic power.
I saw this behavior when I went to school. I was much like Ramirez, a poor outsider, a scholarship student in a preppy Ivy League-ish environment.
Cruelty to "the other," to the poor, was blatant.
Cruelty plus power - abuse. And the US was founded in reaction against that.
We've been struggling since our inception because of slavery, the fact that women had no voting rights at all, people of color and women weren't fully human.
But we're struggling toward a more perfect union.
Let's keep working for that, and not against it.
3
Coercing his wife to sit beside him for the Fox News interview was cruel and inappropriate. Her body language and facial expression made plain to anyone she was uncomfortable. She looked trapped and duty-bound. I don't care whose idea it was, Kavanaugh himself or Trump or Fox. They all have similar attitudes toward women, just as women have similar attitudes toward them.
6
I read below one poster's comment that his utter lack of empathy or remorse by Kavanaugh is telling. I am reminded of Romney's comment that he did some things when younger that he is not proud. It wasn't an official "apology" but Kavanaugh, I believe, would be helped by simply saying, "even though I did not do the things I am accused of, I did participate in actions during my younger years which caused some people embarrassment and do not reflect the person I am today. I have grown from those days." I say that because of the frankly, craven and misguided behavior and actions his peers and close friends are known to have held and done. A person can change but it does us no help if Kavanaugh's only reply is it's all a smear, because isn't that a little too unbelievable considering the crowd he palled around with. Sounds like trump talk, which is sad.
363
@steve, they”apology” you suggest is a non-apology. It’s the equivalent of saying, “I’m sorry you are upset” instead of “I’m sorry I hurt you.” In other words, it’s a (typical) redirection. A dodge.
1
@steve Kavanaugh would be helped by an FBI investigation. If he's innocent they'll prove it. So why hasn't he asked for it? Why don't the Republicans want to properly vet this nominee?
2
@steve
Yeah, you'd like that would you? Why should he even open up that channel, like to say well yes I was a teenager and you know how guys are but don't get the wrong idea here I never did any of that stuff she said I did...
That's the last thing he needs to say. Liberal press would take that and run with it faster than a dog can trot.
2
"It may not be fair to judge Kavanaugh by the company he kept. "
I disagree. Heuristically, it is valid to judge a person by the company they keep since the values of the group are usually, to some extent, shared by the individual.
Clearly the values of the group send the message that it is perfectly acceptable to disrespect, debase and objectify those of the female gender.
Kavanaugh needs to withdrawal his nomination. It is the only decent thing to do.
3
@LMS Not saying I disagree with you, but then is it heuristically okay to say that because a young black man grows up in a project rife with crime and drugs, it's fair to assume he's likely to be criminal or drug dealer?
1
Rick, I'm shocked, shocked you allow womanizing in this establishment!!!
Here's your date, er, law clerk, for the evening Mon Capitan...
1
This is a terrible headline for a column. While I'd probably agree with Goldberg well over 50% of the time, her tone betrays my values and what I expect from the NYT.
3
How could a Supreme Court possibly be fair to working people in its decisions with two men on it from the same materially coddled backgrounds, in similar prosperous Washington DC suburbs, and both alumni of a ridiculously expensive school where one of them graduated fully qualified as a drunken lout and sexual abuser?
3
Thank goodness Bill Clinton, Ted and John Kennedy, Anthony Weiner and hundreds of other ivy league trained Democrats are free of this elitist tyranny against women.
6
This is the elite?!?? Sounds like “Porky’s II” to me.
1
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
4
One wonders if the girls at Yale and other elite educational institutions get a free ride. Referring to men as "pigs' is just another example of the NYT turning a blind eye / deaf ear to language that demeans an entire group of human beings that are not in favour at the moment. What would the glorious example of press rectitude do if the word "sows" were substituted for their male counterparts, e.g., "those drunk sows on the floor?"
7
Add this to the list of crass behaviors "Renate Alumni." See this link,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-ren...
The more we learn about this guy the more he becomes the poster boy for overly entitled spoiled rich brats at private schools for boys.
1
Who has not found herself sleepless, dazed out, lost in the nauseating unwelcome memories of high school, college, and middle-aged sexual predators the past two weeks?
Why would anyone have believed us? Who would have consoled and mediated our shame? Religious parents? Misogynist teachers? Our childhood priests during confession?
The multiple events we chalked up to "just being a girl"/"this is what all girls go through"/boys will be boys" have arrived in succession like slow-moving crashes: the man who followed me in a car and parked on the shoulder, seat back and masturbating. The two men on separate occasions who stalked wooded trails during college, groaning and jerking off, destroying the most sacred of running places. The stranger grinding against me during a concert. The subway groper. The "friend" who showed up at midnight when the rest of campus was away on winter break, derailing my life for the next five years to a depth I have yet to describe to loved ones. I did not drink at all during high school and college.
We wave goodbye to our sons and daughters daily and know that the leaders at the control$ could Care Less about Guns in schools, Rape Allegations, or Ownership of One's Body. McConnell and his mob stuck with their don for this moment: to overturn Roe v. Wade. These old white men continue to paralyze us with fear.
Women, Unite, Vote. We're at the Tipping Point.
6
Let's sum up: first they knowingly select a malignant, fantasist, racist, narcissist, accused of spousal rape in a sworn deposition, following taped confession of sexual abuse in addition to multiple believable accusations. The selection was done with the known assistance of a hostile foreign power, following the abrogation of their Constitutional duty in failing to provide advise and consent on SCOTUS nominee. The illegitimate, manifestly unqualified POTUS nominates a manifestly unqualified individual to the SCOTUS.
And just to be clear, indeed mama did always counsel that we are "judged by the company we keep." That coupled with our youthful school yard taunts (at least in the non elite public sector), "it takes one to know one." Should tell you all you need to know. Vote...no reconciliation without truth.
2
If this tainted nominee is confirmed, the Supreme Court will be officially trashed, dismissed as irrelevant as their every pro-wingnut decision is challenged and decent states make their own laws to step around those decisions like so many heaps of dog-doo on the sidewalk.
Or, more likely, he will be impeached for lying at the hearings when the Democrats take control of Congress and start investigating his pants off - so to speak.
When Bill Clinton faced impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice, not one democrat voted against him. At the time, the evidence was solid that he had a tawdry affair with an intern, that he's had state police drag Paula Jones, a state employee to his hotel where he had dropped his trousers and asked if she'd like to "kiss it," and that he mauled Kathleen Wiley in the Oval Office.
It was then alleged that he had forcibly raped Juanita Broderick. She had contemporaneous witnesses and a Polaroid of her split lip.
Yet the women on Capitol Hill then--who are on the hill today--said nothing. Apparently sexual assault is only a partisan crime.
4
Why didn’t you start with Bill Clinton?
5
@Jackson - Didn't we impeach him at the time?
1
Kavanaugh did start with Bill Clinton.
1
If we are able to navigate through the waters of attacks on our weak, byzantine voting system, we could produce the biggest repsonse in US history to our current failed systems of governance this November. But we have to VOTE. We have to tell everyone we know (especially those with excuses) to get registered if they are not, check the status of their registration if they are (to make sure their names haven't been purged) to mail in their ballots or get to the polls.
If you haven't donated to the many groups working very hard to register voters, get out the vote and protect voting rights - please do. They need your help. The Atlanta NAACP is working to try to contact thousands of state voters purged before this election. That's true of many national and local groups.
Certainly voting isn't the only thing we can do to address the steady erosion of democracy and human rights - but it is really, really important this November.
1
Perfect pedigree and golden resume, can be utterly faulty for a job like Supreme Court because it stinks of politics. If Brett Kavanaugh and his proponents were not so political and partisan in pushing his nomination through, maybe we the people would not have felt so orphan-ish like we feel now. As though there is really no one looking out for us humans.
2
Seriously?
If Ms. Goldberg is attacking the 'ruling class' the irony is in the answer to the question of who exactly is that? It's the Democrats. Yep. the Democrats are America's 'ruling class'.
The Democratic Party has controlled the House & the Senate for the substantial portion of the past CENTURY. Democrats are the 'Ruling Class' Ms. Goldberg.
Congress has been run by the DEMOCRATS 60 years since 1950; most of the 50's, all of the 60's, a majority of the 70's, 80's & 90's. For more than the lifetimes of most living Americans, except for the very youngest.
If she's denigrating the 'Ruling Class', it's DEMOCRATS Ms. Goldberg is calling out.
Can't be the GOP since they have held the Senate & House a mere eighteen years in total, since before FDR.
7
@still a taxpayer
Bully for you.
Clever and all.
Can turn everything into the democrats did it.
Doesn’t hating your countrymen and having no principles other than democrats did it get boring?
Me I am not a democrat. But I am bored with the boring.
2
I'm wondering what Condoleezza Rice is thinking right now.
@thcatt, she along with George W Bush administration had the single minded purpose of pushing Kavanaugh, literally shoving him down our throats.
3
Here is a summary of America: if you are a poor black teenager caught with even a small amount of marijuana, you can end up in an adult holding facility with hardened criminals for months waiting for a trial, a youthful mistake that destroys your life; if you are a poor Hispanic child or even baby who was with a parent that was legally seeking asylum or commited the misdemeanor of illegally crossing the border, you can be separated from your parent for days, weeks, months or permanently, destroying your life; if you are a young girl - white, non-white, rich, poor, middle class, any girl - 100% will be sexually objectified, face religious and cultural discrimination, huge percentage sexually harassed, disturbingly large percentage sexually assaulted and even raped (70% never even reported; only 6% of rapists jailed), traumatized for life, destroyed if you dare to speak up; if you are a rich white teenager who attends schools like Georgetown Prep or elite colleges like Yale, you can be a high school jock who gets regularly blackout drunk, openly brag about sexual conquests, sexually assault women, join all-male fraternities (why do they exist in 2018?) and secret societies where underage drinking, drugs, sexual assault are open and routine but almost never punished, you can be shown as loving husband, father, girls team basketball coach, a symbol of upholding the law, Federal Judge, SCOTUS Justice or even POTUS. That’s “equal protection under the law” in America.
9
@MC. Not sure your comment is on topic. Ms. Goldberg is saying America has 'rotten ruling class.' Not sure I agree with her.
First, who has been in charge during my lifetime?
Democrats have controlled the House & Senate for sixty of the 80 years my mother, 1st generation American, has lived on earth. As far as we know, Democrats are the ruling class.
to your off topic comments about how miserable the country is. I tend to disagree as well.
For perspective, of the world's 7.5 BN population, if you are fortunate to be born in America, you've won the lottery. 2 BN of those 9 BN live in utter darkness, no running water, no power, subsistence food. They'd trade places with you or me in a heartbeat. The next 3 BN have a life expectancy of less than 40 years old and live on dollars a month. They would trade places with you and me in a heartbeat. Another billion live at less than half the US poverty line. the remaining 1.5 BN are the developed world, the US accounting for 330 MM of that.
And yes, the US 'ruling class' is Democrats. If one doesn't like being 'ruled' by Democrats, the nice thing about this country is your vote counts and you can vote for someone other than a Democrat. Just hope enough will vote alongside you.
1
judge and his buddies weren't "having sex" with a drunken woman, they were raping a drunken woman.
7
Bravo!
2
Michelle Goldberg is brilliant and on target as always.
In sharp contrast, here is what NYT Op-Ed staff editor and writer Bari Weiss had to say (on MSNBC):
"What about the deeper, moral, cultural ... the ethical question here?" Weiss said. "Let's say he did this exactly as she said. Should the fact that a 17-year-old, presumably very drunk kid, did this, should this be disqualifying? That's the question at the end of the day, isn't it?"
"Brett Kavanaugh has a reputation as being a prince of a man, frankly, other than this," she said. "Now, I believe her. I believe what she's saying. I'm just saying, in the end of the day, it is one word against another.”
So Weiss believes Dr. Blasey Ford, that her accusation about Kavanaugh is true, but that sexual assault and attempted rape by a drunk 17-year old, with another drunk 17-year old assisting, against a 15-year old terrified victim should not be disqualifying to become Supreme Court Justice - just one youthful discretion from an otherwise “prince of a man.”
That’s an outrageous position.
Michelle Goldberg is an asset for NYT.
Bari Weiss is an embarrassment for NYT. Please send Weiss back to WSJ Opinion page and Tablet (her previous employers), where such a disgusting opinion about questioning if attempted rape by 2 17-year olds of a 15 year old girl is disqualifying for a SCOTUS Justice (or for any job or for being considered a decent human for that matter) is normal.
2
It's the 40th anniversary of Animal House starring John Belushi which glorified the antics of drunken, sex-crazed frat boys.
2
women are people. this is apparently news to republican frat boys
7
Michelle Goldberg is the best NYT hire since Krugman. This article gets everything right.
6
Will someone please explain to me why Kavanaugh's high school grossness was beyond the pale, but Bill Clinton's equally gross behavior doesn't bother anyone? And if we are lamenting the coarseness and crudity that's now acceptable/encouraged in this country, (and I would completely agree that this coarseness is destructive and has devalued and undermined relationships,) but if we are against this, someone please tell me why Stormy Daniels and sex workers are the left's new heroes.
6
@me, Do you have proof that Bill Clinton was a drunken molester in HS and/or College? If so, please introduce sources, but I don't think you can. Besides, Bill Clinton WAS impeached for his consensual sex with an adult female, so he, and the dems, took a serious hit for his admitted naughtiness. And finally, would you please tell me that Stormy (and the other "sex workers" you are attempting to smear) are not worthy of respect and protection as human beings? Nobody on the left says Stephanie Clifford is a hero, but we acknowledge her as a fellow person.
3
@karen "Do you have proof that Bill Clinton was a drunken molester in HS and/or College?"
Is an oval office dress good enough.
1
@karen "Bill Clinton WAS impeached for his consensual sex with an adult female,..."
No. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying. The truth was important 20 years ago.
1
Why are all the SC justices from elite, ivy colleges and law schools? Certainly there must be brilliant and dedicated jurists that were not born into elite families, who had to go the state schools, maybe even work their way through, who know something about living without privilege. Surely there must be room for a couple of those on the court.
6
@Caded, Thank you for this statement. I did not think it was fair of Ms. Goldberg to put Gorsich in the abuser category, by one casual mention of his name. We have enough unfounded smears coming at us from the right wing. That said, I am very concerned that trump's 2 appointees-- hand picked and mentored by the Federalist Soc., from birth it seems-- went to the same private high school, let alone that everyone on the court now is a grad of an east coast ivy league. My only argument is with your use of the word "had to" in front of "attend state schools." Some of the very best universities in the USA are public, let's start with UC here in CA. I sure did not attend UCSB as a second option to an ivy league school-- one of those was never in my consideration. And add to that: some of the very best USA high schools are also public. Brett K is living proof of my theory that most of the time, a private HS is an unnecessary expense, given the hormonal weakness and confusion of most or many teens. Let me further endorse your comment: we PS kids have the benefit of working part time jobs; meeting and collaborating with people from a variety of backgrounds; and having a sense of earned accomplishments vs. entitled resumes based upon connections.
The older I get, the more clearly I see that nearly everyone running the country has at some point been at Harvard, Princeton, Yale or possibly Columbia or Stanford. I also see that institutional memory, business practices, "tricks of the trade", mentoring and ethics (how to subvert them) are passed down in these limited locations in addition to their fraternities and clubs, locker rooms and steam rooms, country clubs and 19th holes, and wherever cigars are smoked by like-minded fellows. Girls still don't have a chance.
1
I do agree that the persistence of white male privilege is an historic concern. I grew up in such white privileged bastion, though being female, I was neither equal nor did the moral (alternatively amoral) stance of the male hierarchy offer a safe environment for a number of women of multiple generations in my family. Alcohol was more than not the social mainstay of this culture.
I did have the privilege of a private school education, soon after oral contraception became available, I gained knowledge of birth control options in middle school. This empowering knowledge did not keep me safe from privileged male behavior socially or professionally but it did liberate me some control to develop meaningful opportunities in my life.
Freedom of religion, the right to vote, Title IX, Roe vs Wade, have served diverse women well in their gains towards equality and opportunity in our country. We live in a perilous times for women, white men of privilege continue to dominate in our government, in industry and church business. In concert, they are diligent in their resolve to overturn Roe and to suppress the availability of affordable reproductive healthcare for women. These efforts are intended to stop us in our tracks. Sexual harassment and sexual assault produce this same outcome; female citizens as unequal citizens.
9
Yes those pigs in the senate that think more of politics than actually confirming a judge based on his experience, education, and being very well qualified. And rejecting him due to something that might (I am being foolish in using "might") have happened in High School. Today there is massive objective evidence that he respects women, that he is an excellent choice for a justice, that the Dems just are playing politics.
10
I agree whole heartily with the article, except the words "It might not be fair to judge Kavanaugh by the company he kept". Oh yes it is. My father always taught me from an early age, that you are judged by the company you keep.Hence the old adage "Birds of a feather flock together!"
12
Yet another example of how low Republicans will go to serve their agenda. Elect a bigoted, low intellect narcissist, misogynist ( I could go on) to get a tax cut for the rich and now ignore damaging charges against a potential supreme court judge to ensure their conservative, white,Christian agenda is upheld (and maybe protect Trump from criminal charges while you are at it). Don't know if the charges against Kavanaugh are true or not, but Republicans don't seem care--they just want him confirmed to hell with what kind of person he really is. It's all so tawdry and depressing.
13
What a disgrace. Thomas was bad, but this guy is far worse. That august body....the Supreme Court....tainted by such a
person. But these are the times in which we live under the present administration.
6
Yes, it's pigs all the way down. And pigs are more equal than the other animals. Moreover, they have decided they will do anything to keep their unearned and unmerited piggy entitlements. They will sell out the farm. If they cannot keep their piggy entitlements, they will burn the whole farm down.
12
@Robert,
Love the Animal Farm reference!
Thanks for a good laugh - it’s not easy to maintain a sense of humor right now.
Kavanagh misled, lied, or both under oath to the senate committee. That's it. Done. Finished.
That he's a possible felon is horrible.
But this guy should have been flushed down the toilet once he was not forthright, perjurious , or both in his confirmation hearings.
11
"What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep...", enough said.
8
Please stop comparing disgusting human behavior to animals. Pigs are intelligent and loving animals. Your use of the words “Pig” and “ piggish” in the context of your story continues to perpetuate the false view about these wonderful animals.
6
The jig is up. First, the election of a serial assaulter and sex offender to our highest office, then a parade of swamp-dwellers appointed to cabinet positions. Now we have Kavanaugh, nominated for the Supreme Court, and we are all getting a daily diet of sickening tales of the culture that was the Petri dish for them all.
Women, the patriarchy can’t be smashed fast enough. The happiest day in recent years was the women’s march after Trump’s election. We can channel that same energy and power to throw the bums out! Vote as if your life depended on it! It does!
16
While there is plenty of smoke, Mr Kavanaugh is entitled to the due process of law. If he is truly innocent, he should welcome a legal forum to clear his name. However, it needs to be a venue that isn't a political circus. The problem with due process in a sexual assault or rape case is the cross examination of a victim who may be telling the truth. She will be attacked unmercifully and accused of either lying or being confused or being "a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty". The fact that these women are coming forward with full knowledge of the inevitable vicious questioning of their character lends credence to their claims.
7
Viva le Resistance.
2
The fact that he claims he was a virgin as a hail mary demonstrates that he equates sexual abstinence with purity, suggesting that in his hands Roe v Wade would indeed be on shaky ground.
13
l agree with the writer. This fratboy in power nonsense is sickening. The sense of entitlement runs through both parties and it runs deep. Clinton, Bush, Trump and others fit the mold. The arrogance is appaling.
7
We still have appalling differences in our expectations of wealthy white men and everyone else. Wealthy white men who can barely spell and have gaping, fetid personal flaws can become President. A black man has to be a member of the Harvard Law Review and a Senator first. A woman Supreme Court Justice has to be superhuman - did you see the Ruth Badger Ginsburg documentary, or read any of the current women justices' books? And now we have Kavanaugh. Already a proven liar with a closet full of skeletons. He's fit to sit next to Thomas in a cell. Neither man is fit to sit with Ginsburg, Sotomayor or Kagan.
18
And what of Zena Bash who has sat behind Kavanaugh during hearing proceedings. Her adoration of Kavanaugh appears obvious. Like Melania, Ashley Kavanaugh, should not be caught in the fray and yet she enables Kavanaugh to persist, when by now, for his own good and that of his family, he should have voluntarily withdrawn. Melania said of the President's words caught on tape "It's just locker room talk". "He's a decent man", said Ashley on Fox.
1
It's so funny to me when these people deny their behavior. Any woman who attended any college, anywhere, knows that these things happen all the time and none of us are surprised that an entitled drunk boy at an Ivy League school exposed himself to a fellow student. Own up.
14
Heard a bunch of old Geezers and one woman all about my age the other day defending Kavanaugh and of course his kitty grabbing sponsor Donald Trump. I guarantee you they would not stick up for Kavanaugh and Trump if it was their daughter or granddaughter sexually molested by one of these despicable Republicans who feel they have a right to treat women this way. Oh, sorry I forgot: Ya all knew about the kind of indecent, immoral guy Trump is before ya all elected him. So that's ok.
12
This is why this country, and indeed the world are a mess. These privileged white guys grow up in this sterile environment. They run the show. Hardly exposed to any Black people, or probably any Minorities for that matter. Where binge drinking is great. "What happens at Georgetown stays at Georgetown" is their childish motto. In most cases they can't even begin to feel and understand what the real world out here is like. Honestly it's hard not despise these people.
I don't want any of these guys on the Supreme Court or any where else. Mark Judge should made to testify. These Republicans are so corrupt it's sickening. Also what happened with that $250,000.oo. Season's tickets, that's bad enough. Who paid it off?
15
Christine Blasey Ford submitted to a lie detector test & passed it. Has Judge Kavanaugh offerd to do this ?
10
Connect the dots.
"Locker room talk".
"Lock her up!"
3
I don't need to wonder if there are such men. I know there are. And if you're a man you know that too. Of course you do. Of course you've met them. If you denied it I could only assume you must be one of them. There are hundreds of thousands of rapes every year, which implies that there are hundreds of thousands of rapists committing these offenses every year. Surely, many misogynists, including many of those rapists, vote, and to my mind that is as good an explanation as any for why Hillary was not elected president.
8
"...His story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges..." [op cit]
—
I think there’s a pattern to be discovered here. [Remember Chappaquiddick?]
—
What I think we’re observing is a “continuing code of silence," amongst our own ruling elite.
What I suspect, having read through the reporting on thus far, is that Judge Kavanaugh’s old friends and associates, both male and female(!), are "covering for him”; not for his sake alone, but because he is a coveted member of their class, which also happens to be America’s *ruling class.*
--
Its, "the elite, caring for one their own."
And is this so unusual? No. It happens here and in every other place, where you encounter a stratified social order.
--
The big question of course is this:
Who would be left in charge--in Washington, in the State Capitols, in the County Seats and in every Mayor's office--if all "ex male sex abusers” were removed from their positions?
—
In any event, would there be a sufficient number of willing and able women, ready, and waiting to "take over"?
—
Opportunity knocks!
7
I'm sure a debate between Goldberg and Jordan Peterson would be quite amusing since she seems to be wholeheartedly in the neo-Marxist anti-patriarchy camp.
1
Kavanaugh's confirmation:= Pyrrhic victory.
3
I knew guys in high school who were privileged jerks, then grew up to be privileged jerk adults. It’s funny how the guy you were in high school is, more often than not, the person you are as an adult. It’s true that the brain is not fully developed, but your moral self pretty much is, with some fine tuning ahead, one hopes.
7
Makes you long for the days of Bill Clinton, Dick Morris, Elliott Spitzer, and Anthony Weiner.
3
@NorthernVirginia what everyone tends to forget is the child molestation days of former GOP Speaker of the House...Dennis Hastert. GOP, the party of Family Values? That's not fake news as ghe not only went to jail, but a judge said that he can even be around kids.
2
@NorthernVirginia Pictures and DNA add so much to a story.
Are the poor schlubs who voted for this “populist” president really going to remain deaf, dumb and blind to the overwhelming evidence that at the very least his pick for SCOTUS is a privileged entitled ELITE — I mean, the very type they say they despise? Can Fox News really distort their brains that much?
11
@joymars well the first to go down will be the suburban voters in areas surrounding NYC, Chicago, etc who are not going to know what hit them after they do their taxes minus their SALT deductions. The rest will finally wake up three months after the next presidential election when the next big collapse will happen.
The lack of leadership overtaken by wealthy frat drunken puking punks on extended mendacity mars voyage long expeditions is now exposed as the root cause of all our problems? Heck, you're preachin' to the choir.
Try and show me a veteran who's done the same stupid junk repeatedly and still risen to the top rim of da porcelain bowl to be plucked and preened and freshly scented pushed forward and I'll be meetin you in the parking lot, because such an animal doesn't exist, we made them extinct and like elephants on LSD, they went off to their caves to die alone, as it should be.
2
It appears the Sexual Assaulters Stand Together (SAST) Club has quite a few members. A question for the members...How do you explain your disgraceful and appalling behavior to your family, friends and colleagues when said behavior is revealed?
3
@KB How do you un-tell a lie?
This is what you get when you accept to be nominated for a high-level government position in a venomously partisan environment. Some “progressive” opinion writer gets to write this about you:
“Pigs all the way down. Kavanaugh and our rotten ruling class”.
No evidence needed. Accusations are enough. Come what may, Kavanaugh’s name has been forever dragged in the mud. The lynching mob got their man.
And that in what used to be one of the most respected newspapers in the country, and the world.
3
Right On!
2
If all men are pigs and womanizers, then I guess all women are gold diggers and get pregnant so they can ensure they have a nice child support payment and quality of life for their offspring.
I am certain I went to a school where someone who also attended has done some unscrupulous things. But that certainly doesn't make me guilty by association nor for their actions.
This article is nothing more than the public mob wanting a lynching without giving the accused an opportunity to be heard and a fair trial.
This is a very slippery slope we are on.
7
Ahh yes the Early Eighties, Cocaine,Plato’s Retreat,and Animal House was the profile of students.
1
Privilege messes with your head, in some cases for a lifetime.
4
This column - full of spurious allegations and guilty-by-association claims - only harms our dialogue. Please, stop.
5
Michelle Goldberg has summarized the problem very well. The hostile incidents and hostile environments she recounts in her column are known and documented here and elsewhere. A simple side by side, set of pictures of the U,S. Senate who make up the current Judiciary Committee demonstrates the inclusion gap that exists between the two main political parties in the U.S. Judge Kavanaugh's nomination is problematic for all of us who do not see ourselves in the picture of the Republican Judicial Committee members. For decades, the Republicans have been campaigning against equality of any kind, dating back at least to the 1980 Republican Convention at which any and all pro Equal Rights Amendment material was barred from the Convention. No to equal pay, no to protecting voting rights, no to covering women's health and reproductive care, no to safe and legal abortion, no to funding child care, no to equal marriage rights, no to equal adoption rights, no to equality of opportunity in education and employment, fair housing laws and practice, and on and on. Judge Kavanaugh knows his assignment is to continue to shred the hard won rights of the people who do not find themselves in the Republican Senate Judicial Committee pictures. The Republicans are wrong and it is way past time to just say no on all these issues including who has a seat at the table. Remember the all white male Republican committee who were deciding which health care rights to take away from women recently?
7
Judge Kavanaugh and his golden resume were the ticket to the Supreme Court . However, we now live in the #MeToo movement. Perceptions have changed , haven’t they? He no longer looks like the apex of judicial achievement, but rather, the product of an alcholol soaked , locker room talk, shoving women around at the frat party bloke, who never had to learn to respect women. Therefore, he is unsuited for the job of deciding their fate on reproductive rights.
9
@Lisa Murphy, perceptions of the media has changed, of the public has changed, but don't expect the patriarchy that is the Republican party to change. Mitch McConnell is hell bent on thrusting Brett Kavanaugh confirmation down our collective throats. His dangling of penis in front of a hapless drunk girl, is not an excuse enough according to Mitch to ruin the senator's legacy of slamming two republican SC lifelong appointees on We the People who are no longer his priority. Clearly Mitch McConnell does not work for the American citizens, he works for Sheldon Adelson.
3
When American voters see “no issue” with electing a human to the highest office of this land who openly boasts about grabbing woman by their genitals, why should anyone puzzle over the same electorate having the same “talk to the hand” attitude toward another white, male being named to the highest court in this land who is only *alleged* to have been a sexual miscreant?
7
OK, Michelle, here are my thoughts concerning Kavanaugh's alleged attempted rape of Dr. Ford. I believe we have to look to his year book page and that of his friend (and mentor?), Mark Judge. Kavanaugh's Yr.book page says he likes "The Devil's Triangle" and he never was boofed. So, I asked my 50 year old son what those were. The first is sex with 2 men and 1 woman; boofed is male sex. Judge's page shows aggression toward women.
So, we have an admittedly shy 17 year old who wants to be one of the guys, have some adventures, and have his likes satisfied.
Maybe, Mr. Judge decided to assist his buddy, Brett, and they made a plan: find a party, get drunk, hide in a bedroom and grab the first girl that passed by.
You can figure out the rest, as that's just what Dr. Ford describes. Luckily, she had a one piece swim suit on and, as all women know, they are wickedly hard to get out of especially if wet.
The Judiciary Committee must subpoena Mr. Judge and ask some serious questions. I'm sure they can find others to testify as well but only if the committee leaders are serious about learning the truth.
I do think it's out of character for Kavanaugh to rape. It is not out of character to have been a follower or "prove" himself to other guys.
Now one has to ask is Judge Kavanaugh is still a follower. So far he's been pretty good at following "suggestions" from the Federalist Society, corporations, etc.
Think about it.
8
Sorry, but the only thing swinish that I find are columnists dabbling in character smears of unsubstantiated claims to kill a nomination they oppose for ideological reasons. That's piggish.
7
But Obama was okay, right?
Jack, what does Obama have to do with any of this? What are you implying?
4
@Jack
Yep, he was ok. He didn't marry a lingerie (nude) model, he didn't brag about grabbing women, he didn't cheat on his wife or on business deals, he didn't lie on a minute-to-minute basis, he didn't support neo-nazi groups.
He did, however, wear a khaki suit once. Shameful, according to republicans.
6
Of course. Obama was about as squeaky clean as someone his age can be.
Oh, you mean he was black.
Yeah, that's ok, too.
3
The Republicans will do anything whatsoever to end abortion in America.
If need be, they would nominate the Devil himself to be a member of the Supreme Court.
.
8
@lucretius They never will truly end it. They know it is the one thing that keeps their base together.
Who are the other women mentioned in Kavanagh's yearbook page? Wendy Whitney? Anne Daugherty? Why is there a "Wendy Whitney fan club?"
Ms. Goldberg is also engaging in very "rotten" behavior. It is called "stereotyping." Long used to debase minorities and the "other", it is the surest way of dividing societies and allowing a Darwinian ( truly inappropriate) outcome to flourish. The NYT needs to stop allowing this kind of thing and capture the high ground.
7
@Mark - Entitled young men, as a group, show an extraordinary tendency toward this kind of behavior. If you haven't read "Lord of the Flies," it's time you did. Prep schools and locker rooms are only marginally removed from that novel.
1
Applause.
1
In the rarefied social world that produces so many of our putative leaders, a young [WHITE] man who frequently gets blackout drunk, as Kavanaugh reportedly did, is a fun guy. A young woman who does so is a mess.
The proverbial “twice as good to get half as much” comes to mind. Minorities, of either sex, don’t achieve success by being such boors, as the judge clearly was. Is this man really where you want to make your stand GOP?
1
I wonder why the Ivy League hasn't shut this dumb stuff down, still today, it goes on. Perhaps, this in some way is a part of the Ivy League curriculum. Dumb and the Ivy League isn't supposed to go together though. Star Professors probably don't need the Ivy League, and Star Students also probably do not. Where do they go, I ask? What is the best School/University system out there in the World?
For those who would like to get-out of this dumbing-down rigged patriarchy as Michelle Goldberg points-out, I suggest doing what I did.... move-up, if you can. Go as high in the Higher Educational system as you can. Go for a Ph.D, go for a Post-Doctorate degree, go for adding IQ Points to your IQ Point total. Go for that Brilliant IQ Score. For me, brilliance is like Hanukkah every day.
Don't let the dummies be your Leaders, if you can... say no to memberships in stupid clubs ... walk away from the Frat Sorority system, walk away from the sex abuser Catholic Church, walk away from other patriarchal religions.... even if you are a man. Do not let someone who has a poorer School Report Card, poorer Resume.... be your Leader.
1
I came through a Catholic all boys high school, class of 68, in the northern Midwest, went to a university in state.
By 1980, I was teaching high school in southern Connecticut, with whiplash culture shock in many ways as befits a regional relocation.
So many students were wealthy and many, though hardly all, were developing a sense of entitlement, and the drinking party culture was huge. It was to a degree I'd never seen, and i wondered was it a change with time, or one of location.
Most important for the present issue, was the palpable sense the kids definitely got, that they lived along a 'ruling class' *power* strip, running from Boston through New York and down to DC. They saw it was about one-upsmanship, fast money, lots of alcohol, and getting away with whatever you could.
If caught, lie. Of course - what? Are you an idiot?
The network of prep school in particular were an intense breeding and proving ground for many, many future leaders - indeed, the ruling class. When Ms. Goldberg talks about the culture much of that class came up through in the east, it fits with lots of things I saw. Many Americans elsewhere have not seen this up close. I think it is NOT something that's seen "all across the country."
It's very much about the east coast, ruling class power trip. People get rolled over and hurt all the time - 'so what?'
And it's very well lubricated with alcohol and money.
11
@Ambient Kestrel - There is a degree of wealth and entitlement unique to certain schools & cultures, but excessive drinking and nearly sub-human behavior are the norm pretty much everywhere, at least in certain schools. Big 10, Pac 10, SEC, you name it.
Some SCHOOLS do succeed in reigning in this behavior to a degree, but most do not, and at least a core of the worst young offenders are well-verse in this behavior long before they leave high school.
And even (especially?) where wealth is not a major source of entitled behavior, elite athletes and frats fill the void. "The Lord of the Flies" is alive and well at American Universities.
1
@Ambient Kestrel
You are spot on! Having grown up in the Northeast, I can verify the "frat boy" culture's horrific behavior in high school and college. Mean spirited, entitled, amoral pigs. And their parents would always defend their "good boys", no matter what they did. God awful people, really.
3
Rotten ruling class? Like Bill Clinton? Barack Obama? Hillary Clinton? Elizabeth Warren and Diane Feinstein? Justice Sotomayor? Or are these people not part of the "ruling class"? Or is it only Repulicans who are vile and rotten through and through? Or only males?
2
@Cicero99 I was thinking more like former GOP Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert who molested children and went to jail for it!
3
Thanks, Michelle. It needed to be said. Let’s hope he withdraws soooooooooooooooon!
5
"I know his heart," says wifey by his side, using one of the born-again catchphrases made memorable by her former boss, W.
Well we know his heart too I believe. His cruel and disgusting code-worded braggadocio in his HS yearbook could simply reflect a passing boys-will-be-boys phase.
But then how to explain the vile and tasteless questions he proposed for Ken Starr to ask Bill Clinton regarding Monica Lewinsky? How to explain the 90% of his written record as Staff Sec. for W, deemed too toxic for publlc view, which one must assume shows a not-so-nice part of his "heart". And finally we must review the transcript of his recent DC Circuit minority opinion, in which he tries to delay the legal abortion requested by a scared pregnant 17-year-old immigrant. This young woman, whose pregnancy resulted from rape (and who was the same age as Kavanaugh was when he allegedly was severely inebriated and attempted to rape Dr. Ford) had endured several judicial delays. Had Kavanaugh's opinion been in the majority, she would endure further delays until she would have been too far along to undergo the procedure legally.
So, NO. His "heart" is about the same as it ever was. He may show special treatment for the girls' basketball team but beyond that, he's still the same selfish, thoughtless misogynist old Bart O'Kavanaugh.
13
Presidents are elected to office and can be voted out of office. Their maximum term is eight years.
Supreme Court Justices are not elected and can only be impeached. Justices serve for life.
The standard for a Supreme Court Justice should be considerable higher than the standard for a President.
Even the appearance of impropriety should be enough to prevent the appointment of a nominee to a lifetime position on the bench.
13
You Go, Girl! You are absolutely right and the media/press must speak out forcefully to inform the public of what is going on. Thank you.
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC 9 pm ET weeknights) interviewed Michael Avenatti (Stormy Daniels' lawyer) last night and he has another very credible victim and the people to back her up showing what a sleaze bag Kavanaugh is. They will go public in the next 24 or so hours and they other two identified victims are demanding an FBI investigation into Kavanaugh.
WE THE PEOPLE must keep the pressure on and not allow the International Mafia Robber Barons - the Koch brothers and brethren - to corrupt OUR U.S. Supreme Court with democracy-destroying people like this.
Not now. Not ever.
Please, Good People, call your U.S. Senator, the eleven old white supposedly "christian" republican men and Traitor Mitch McConnell today - and as often as possible - and tell them NO KAVANAUGH.
Here is the link to their phone numbers:
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact%5Finformation/senators%5Fcfm.cfm
9
Remember that only one track of the prep-Ivy privilege express forks into upper government, the Supreme Court, and the White House. The far bigger track - an astounding 60% or so of Ivy League graduates - go to Wall Street, where they get rich(er) when they gamble and win and get bailed out when they gamble and the world loses.
5
All of the comments by Ms. Goldberg and the commentators on male dominated societies and piggish behavior may well be spot on accurate. None of them, however, are anything close to proof that Judge Kavanaugh did any of the things he is accused of.
The question is, are we debating the societal effects of centuries of male dominance on the world as we know it, or are we debating the fitness of one individual to be confirmed to the Supreme Court? Both would be interesting debates, but the latter has somewhat more immediacy while the former has a longer lasting effect, and each need consider different points.
6
If Judge Kavanaugh has a sterling character as being described by the REPUBs, why don’t they release all his public service records during the last republican administration? After all, this is a life time appointment to a position that affects every US citizen. Any FBI investigations for his earlier appointments are not sufficient for this one. If there is nothing to hide, why behave like there is a lot to hide.
1
Instead of diverting attention to general issues of privilege, we would be better served by seeking to assure the process is fair and complete, e.g., demanding that Mr. Judge is questioned in a fair and complete way. Can Judge Kavanaugh or anyone else cite to a fair and complete investigation of an alleged assault where the investigators decline to question a third party alleged to have witnessed the assault? Any reluctance to testify can be resolved by a subpoena, and anyone searching for the truth would not be satisfied with a letter containing an untested assertion of a lack of recollection.
3
"There’s no equivalent culture in which girls reap social capital for misbehaving." Women are in far less NEED of social capital than men. Every person on earth has HALF as many male ancestors as female. This is another way of saying that, in the game of life - with procreation as the ultimate goal - men start with a large handicap. And as long as they can gain "social capital" from both men AND women via such behavior, it will continue.
1
@c smith - Huh? I have 1 male parent and 1 female. 2 male grandparents and 2 female. 4 each at the great-grandparent level, and so on.
Where do you get HALF?
And the idea that men in this world (and I am one of them) start with a large "handicap" is ludicrous, at least in Western / European societies.
1
I thought this article hit the mark in one sense. We need to be reminded of how far we have to go in truly being civilized. A civilized society promotes the ethos of the importance of protecting the most vulnerable. Its not news that the mix of alcohol and youth can produce debauchery. Alcohol is a truth serum, and an individuals' darkest avatars often rise up in response.
But the real issue at hand is whether this low bar is still high enough for an individual with an impressive pedigree to ascend to the highest court in our land.
I for one, am hoping not.
8
What Teenagers Think About the Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh
By Dan Levin
Sept. 21, 2018
• Maycee Wieczorek, a 17-year-old in Rapid City, S.D., said it felt odd as a student to hear grown-ups dismissing the significance of Mr. Kavanaugh’s character in high school.
“FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS HIS PAST IS OUR NOW,” she said.*
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/us/brett-kavanaugh-high-school.html
Kind of says it all, don't it?
* EMPHASIS mine.
15
I've always harboured suspicion about prep schools and the Ivy League, especially Harvard and Yale. This country was founded to distance ourselves from aristocracy--not to cultivate a new one. I'd love to see at least one person on the Supreme Court who went to a law school at a state university--better yet, from a non-coastal state.
18
@Max Brockmeier - you are quite correct, and it's not hard to find online:
John Roberts Harvard Harvard
Anthony Kennedy Stanford Harvard
Clarence Thomas Holy Cross Yale
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Cornell Columbia
Stephen Breyer Stanford Harvard
Samuel Alito Princeton Yale
Sonia Sotomayor Princeton Yale
Elena Kagan Princeton Harvard
Neil Gorsuch Columbia Harvard
Undergrad + Law, that's 18 Schools - 5 Harvard, 4 Princeton, 3 Yale, 2 Stanford, 2 Colombia, Cornell & Holy Cross. Neither Democrats nor Republicans showing much diversity there. Cornell is actually "partially" a State school, but basically it is all upper-crust private schooling, all MA, NY, NJ & CT, except Stanford.
1
@Max Brockmeier
I agree wholeheartedly. Can we at least nominate a down-to-earth kind of guy like Whizzer White, aFort Collins kid who did his undergraduate work at the University of Colorado,and got his law degree from the Detroit Lions (or something' like that)?
1
It used to be that people, and even politicians tried to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and were admonished to pick their company carefully as that's how you would be judged. Now, none of that matters. Regardless that this is not a criminal trial, all of these associations that Kavanaugh carefully chose for himself have no bearing at all, it seems. I don't want a DKE alumnus and T&C member serving on the Supreme Court, period. The thought of him smirking through cases pertinent to women galls me.
22
I can imagine Senator Grassley saying to Senator Feinstein,"I think it would preserve our precious decorum if the Senators on the committee refrained from asking questions of the witness and instead appoint a person who is not a Senator to do that. We Republicans have someone in mind for this task and hope that you Democrats will do likewise. That way we can wrap this up in a day or so."
1
Somehow we have created a "royal court" in place of the egalitarian culture that we supposed to be appropriate for a democracy. This bunch would have been right at home in Shakespeare's monarchies of Europe. Yet, Instead of pitchforks, we keep voting them back in. This is on us, fellow voters.
4
After Kavanaugh withdraws/goes down in flames, the only sensible move for the president and the G.O.P. is to nominate one of the many thoughtful female jurists the nation is blessed with.
7
@Brian Stewart - Sadly, there are some of those just as backward and reactionary as Kavanaugh, and rest assured Trump will find one of those . . . just as the Republicans found Clarence Thomas.
Kavanaugh does not deserve to be confirmed and a man with any sense of decency would step aside.
Kavanaugh apparently has none.
4
With the latest sexual abuse allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, the Republican Party cannot afford to confirm him without first having a very thorough investigation. Doing so will brand the GOP as the party of sexual abuse, and I for one won't stand for it.
I was raised to treat girls with dignity and respect. I have a wife, sisters, daughters and a granddaughter, all of whom will be disrespected and threatened by Republican acquiescence of sex abuse. I have been a registered Republican for over 40 years, but if the GOP confirms Judge Kavanaugh without first conducting a thorough investigation, then I will be ashamed of the party and I will change my registration to independent.
Regarding the allegations themselves, during a Fox interview Judge Kavanaugh said, "I never, never [sexually assaulted.]" A double negative, when parsed meaning that he in fact did the deed, as Judge Kavanaugh certainly knows. Was it perhaps a Freudian slip precipitated by feelings of guilt?
14
@Fred Dorbsky - "Never, never" is generally construed emphasis by repetition, not a double negative. "Never, ever" would be more formally correct, but it is also essentially repetitious.
And of course a double POSITIVE can be negative, too.
Yeah, right!
@Fred Dorbsky Did grab em by the...not change your mind? How about former GOP Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert going to jail for Molesting Children? Did that not change your mind about the GOP? How about former Trump campaign manger in OK and OK State Senator Ralph Shorty pleading guilty to child sex trafficking? Did that not change your mind?
1
This whole frat boy party animal story shows me that Brett Kavanaugh’s high school and college experiences distinguished him as a follower. He succumbed to peer pressure to drink so as to be one of the guys. He was not the alpha male in that pack. He did what the alpha told him to do.
14
You are correct to note that "It may not be fair to judge Kavanaugh by the company he kept." That is a form of stereotyping and there seems to be an awful lot of it going on. Stereotyping is an inaccurate means of predicting the past or future behavior of an individual, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, disability, etc. It should be avoided, despite the ease with which it may be dispatched. With Kavanaugh, however, you need look no further than his recent denials and appearance on Fox. The words "Me", "My", "I" and seem to permeate every sentence or statement. He feels entitled. His behavior in response to some serious alleged character issues shows that he lacks a broader understanding of the issue, or simply doesn't care. If it is the latter, I sincerely hope he is not confirmed.
6
Kavanaugh should not be on the Supreme Court, that much is clear. I do, however, feel we need to dial back the rhetoric about male immorality. Men--even young privileged men--are not broadly unscrupulous. What Blasey-Ford alleges Kavanaugh did (her accusation is far and away the most troubling) lands well beyond the boundaries of normal male behavior. But if Judge Kavanaugh did that he is the exception, not the rule.
1
It doesn't seem difficult to connect the dots and say there is an anti-democratic caravan that leads from Georgetown Prep through Yale and into the Federal government (a deep state).
The forgotten voter in flyover country should take a long and serious look at this situation. What and where is the deep state? Trump wouldn't know. He's too flawed, clueless, and narcissistic to know the deep state. Democrats should be turning the deep state over so Republican can take the rightful ownership.
The lead in this opinion piece is “Kavanaugh’s ... story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges.” This captures the essence of today’s GOP. You see it in of their Darwinian incantations: a Party of and for white men and funded by the 1% (US or Russian or Middle Easyern, they don’t care). If you want that perpetuation of priviledge to continue, vote GOP in November. On the other hand, if you envision America as a country that keeps the welfare of 100% of Americans front and center, you must vote Blue, even if you have been Team Red in the past. The current GOP, including Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, is corrupt to its core. Only be repudiating them utterly does the GOP have a chance to reconstruct themselves along principles that embrace our Constitution. The nomination of Kavanaugh is a tipping point in this battle for America’s future.
2
Excellent, informative article. Deplorable header. Sleazy, lying men like Kavanaugh are not comparable to pigs, animals who do not demonstrate the behaviors that he has, and has been accused of.
2
Kavanaugh’s successful appointment to the SCOTUS may be a sufficient provocation to end the Republican Party.
9
Ms. Goldberg mistakes the sexual intrigues of being human with class, with the culture of the Ivy League.
She should examine that. It seems that the culture that is sick here is not that of any particular niche of Western Civilization, but the entirety of it. Look to the reality of the complex animal we are for answers.
3
Go back to why the republicans withheld thousands of pages of requested documents. They know what he did.
6
"Watching all this unfold is radicalizing for reasons far beyond Republican mistreatment of Kavanaugh’s accusers. His story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges. Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game. As they realize that, their incandescent fury is remaking our politics. We’ll know things have changed when palling around with sexual abusers carries more stigma than being abused does." Yes correct - and hopefully that had happened already. But we will know things have changed for the best when their are no abusers and no one is abused. Being abused is sad - because people should know better than to allow themselves to be abused. Being an abuser is not sad - but despicable - and they should be banned from society.
5
@kdw - The sad part really is that people are no "better" than in caveman days, really. We have evolved society to protect the physically weak from the strong, the minority (to a degree) from the majority. But Kavanaugh and his prep-school ilk, elite athletes, celebrities, and the hideously rich everywhere display by their actions that when societal protections are removed, a significant number even of well-treated, well-educated, well-off people will revert to the law of the jungle.
Even those who openly and fervently subscribe to a religion supposedly based on love and care for fellow human beings have helped elect a man who is easily the President of the lowest moral character in modern history*, just because he promised to appoint judges like Kavanaugh, who will do all they can to control women's bodies and protect the white elite. These supposed "Christians" are among the worst of all.
(* and yes, I am counting Bill Clinton. He finishes second, but a distant second behind Trump)
"a young man who frequently gets blackout drunk, as Kavanaugh reportedly did, is a fun guy. A young woman who does so is a mess."
The "double standard" for boys/men, girls/women has persisted for millennia. "Don't covert your neighbor's wife" is addressed to men--as were all the Biblical commandments.
Women could be stoned to death for not proving virginity on a wedding night. Men had no virginal requirements--let alone burden of proof.
Solomon was celebrated for 700 wives, 300 concubines. But women were property--of fathers who sold them to husbands.
The original commandment read "Don't covert your neighbor's goods/property"--wife included. Some Christian varieties split it into wives (9) and goods (10)--omitting (2) Graven Images to still get 10.
The marketers determine the message. Wives as property no longer sells.
Do Bible Thumpers like Kavanaugh want a return to the good old days?
Does Trump envy Solomon?--Anybody doubt that?
9
Hooray for MIchelle Goldberg. Her contextual analyses and detailed accounts of social, cultural, and political events are wonderful. I read her column before any others.
I want to add to her welcome recognition of the huge price girls and women pay for this elite, white, sexist, and even violent privileged class that many men, white and other, pay another price, either as wannabees or as rejects. In universities, it's the frat culture, and for all the social capital it provides privileged men, it destroys the lives of countless other men and women.
I hope the #metoo and #resistance movements take this cultural violence on as openly and sweepingly as they should.
7
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune,” movie star looks, athletic prowess and sense of entitlement will do anything to score—and usually get away with it.
4
As painful and disgusting as this flood of information is, we can all be grateful that it’s finally coming out of the shadows.
This kind of nonsense has been happening since these schools came into existence, but this is the first most Americans have heard of it.
We need to challenge our anger into effective change, and let the “meritocracy” know that we’re tired of being played for chumps.
Let’s hope our meritocracy has studied enough history at their elite schools to realize that change is better than revolution.
4
Under Senator Grassley and the GOP members of the Judiciary Committee, Lux et Veritas (Yale's motto) is nothing more than a distant dream. They do not want light. They do not want truth. They simply want another conservative justice on the Supreme Court. An unconscionable abdication of their oath of office.
6
The prep school-Ivy League pipeline to the highest levels our government disgusts many of us on the West Coast. Something needs to be done to stop it.
9
@Garrett Clay It disgusts us in Michigan too!
1
@Garrett Clay - Yes, it's so nice to have an "inclusive" pipeline like "Manhattan Elite" Prep School (San Jose) to Stanford. All the kids in Richmond and East Palo Alto just RAVE about it.
Yes. Rigged Game. Even for the support staff in private law offices. Few men. Only pretty women. Few parents. Usually out by age 50. And after decades of employment left questioning the worth of your work. Hired for ability or décor?
15
Pigs are domesticated agriculturally important and wild ecologically essential animals. Calling these men pigs is an biological science ignorant insult. Leeches on down is more accurate and apt.
14
Excellent piece, Michelle. Most troubling to me about these elitist males who end up on the conservative end of legal thought is how their attitudes about women, as well as ordinary citizens, colors their decision making once they end up wearing a black robe. These men don't just happen upon a legal philosophy in law school by some socratic logic. There elitist and sexist worldview has already been framed and forms the foundation of their legal reasoning. Ones biases are what lead them to a legal trail to rationalize them. Not the other way around.
5
I will stand in line to ban decrepit and anachronistic fraternities like DKE from the universe. We are, however, talking about a serious allegation made against an individual who has had an outstanding professional record over a 30-year period. The public lynching leaves little room for due process; perhaps the columnist does not believe in fairness or the traditions of American jurisprudence that presume innocence until proven guilty.
The allegations made during the last several days are very thin on content and brought by people only because Kavanaugh is about to be seated in the US Supreme Court. These people did not find the behavior egregious enough either to go to the police or even confide in close friends when the alleged incidents occurred.
It smells rotten, rotten political. I feel in my gut that these are made-up stories- first rate lies, to be candid. They are presented knowing very well that a few corrupt politicians will champion their cause. No need to assess the veracity of the accusers or acknowledge the lack of evidence, politicians like Hirono and Feinstein would gleefully spew hatred and the media will gladly cover their utterances.
No person in the male species is immune to such venomous accusations from women who have had a messy personal life and want to take revenge or receive the famed 15-minutes of limelight.
Can a supreme court judge sue people for defamation of character? Judge Kavanaugh should do just that.
4
@Appu Nair K's record is not as an outstanding jurist but rather a political apparatchik. We can do better.
Wealthy people, especially the teens, truly believe they have their money and power, because they are superior to the masses. Thus, the males of that group do that which they will. If they don't end up in prison, and most likely they won't, not because they are innocent, they live out their lives and wallow in their debauchery. The advantage the wealthy have is that they are not a huge number. The masses on the other hand are many and it is perhaps not possible to coordinate an effort against the wealthy.
1
The movie "Animal House" is looking less like a comedy and more like a documentary.
13
Here's a start: parents, stop sending your kids to schools with a Greek system or a bad rap on the sexual assault front. Tell the school reps why your kid is not applying. Bonus if they have high SAT scores. That goes for private high schools as well. Consumer rules. Refuse to fund it and let it die. People are highly influenced by their peers and culture all around them at that age. Don't let your kids swim in a cess pool. They won't come out like roses, trust me.
12
In my view, it is a supreme irony (pun intended) that, according to published statistics, the majority of white women voted for Trump in the presidential election. In so doing they voted to legitimize the piggish male "culture" from which Trump and his merry men come, and for which they (now self-righteously) stand.
2
I've been a woman in the work world for decades and recognize some truths in this article. I've dealt with some disgusting pigs and put up with them so as not to make waves. One learns how to protect one's self.
At the same time, I am so grateful to the bosses and male associates I had who were not pigs but so naturally respectful of others it was inconceivable they would ever cross lines.
In retrospect after decades, they now stand out as the most successful leaders I encountered. People trusted them and gladly followed. By contrast, most of the pigs came to no good end.
Perhaps it comes down to self-confidence and measuring manliness on a higher scale.
7
If a degree from Yale Law school and other Ivy league holds so much prestige, along with the right to earn it, comes the responsibility of upholding its dignity, and that includes sexual predatory behavior. Violating that unspoken tenet should have consequences, including rescinding the aforementioned degree and all all the benefits it confers.
1
The foundations of elite male power have been co built by women. Women are fascinated with "bad boys". They want to be inside the bad boy clubhouse not with at a boyfriend's house watching TV with his parents. Men won't change because women won't change. It is hard wired in our genders.
5
@Erin - I think there is a valid point there, and always incomprehensible to me as a life-long "nice guy."
The problem is that the bad boys (or at least a lot of them) do not want to acknowledge that their behavior must have limits. Whether it is sexual abuse of women or general abuse of male peers, THEY will decide where the limits are. And every time we excuse bad behavior up to point A, we encourage them to try for point B, point C, and beyond. We ALL have to be taught at home and at school to respect others and treat them with decency, and as adults we all must be held accountable when we do not.
My, my, my Michelle. Are we judging, and convicting this member "...of the rotten foundations of elite male power..." on hearsay, and without a fair trial?
4
One hopes there has been a change since the mid-eighties. Of course those are the ones in power now.
Also, I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the ivy ripped off these school walls. I’d love to see a Supreme Court Justice come from a state university. Trump isn’t the only one infatuated by an Ivy League education
9
The proud Jesuit tradition includes some of the earliest scholarly works on the right to a living wage and the humane treatment of all. I wonder what Kavanaugh's Jesuit teachers at Georgetown Prep make of this raging anti-worker misogynist frat boy.
13
This isn't just elites. I grew up middle class and learned early on that boys in groups were horrid to girls. It was confusing to simmer in their presence for any amount of time, listening to their hatred of all things related to girls. Then one girl came along with a mild facial disfigurement and like a pack of hyenas they descended on her for the remainder of her miserable high school years. I've never seen her at a high school reunion since. The worst of the pack are still with us and still bullies to the hilt, and now their beautiful Republican wives sit smug and submissive.
8
Yale should get rid of their idiotic secret societies once and for all. and their frats if any are left. as one with many Yale connections including a daughter at Yale college, I find these stories extremely disheartening and I'm certain other alumni feel similarly.
1
I have been at the receiving end all my life, of rich, well-endowed, politically connected thugs who got a great deal because they plain forced themselves on me, or intimidated the heck out of people in charge (who were pretty stern with me, but giggling fools with them). Guys like Kavanaugh have kicked sand in my face for ever, while laughing their heads off.
I am, however, suspicious of currently proposed solutions, rooted in notions that this sort of behavior is 'allowed' to occur by someone. And even more so, that that self-appointed arbitrators of "what is allowed to occur" can fix the problem.
Here is what I mean. While I brushed off the sand, and found ways to connect to the world in ways to sustain myself, I am currently facing self-appointed do-gooder committees claiming they are here to redress, who have the power to compel attendance to endless sensitivity training.
I must now justify to the do-good committees, how a class on applied statistics to graduating seniors teaches sustainability, diversity, multiple points of view, and produces a multicultural experience.
How about: "I don't want the sand in my face, nor this."
"Oh look at the multiple ways in which all this is terrible, someone should do something," leads to ineffectual solutions.
And people like me (terrifyingly ordinary) are at the receiving end of horror, from those who perpetrate it, and those who claim to solve it. Is what I am saying.
1
Pigs certainly accurately describes our disgusting ruling class. However, it neglects to note that the ruling class produces the NYT, WAPO, broadcast news, and lead the DNC.
Unsubstantiated and most likely falsified accusations have become the prime currency of the rapidly eroding elitists (NOT elites) who control the media in this country and who (hilariously) claim to be "progressive".
4
The usually reliable Ms. Goldberg misses the mark here. All college campuses have a problem with excessive student drinking, not just the Ivy's.
And as far as elitist associations are concerned, one need look no further than the Obama white house. Washington is a 'who you know city' and power in the private sector translates to corresponding power in government. And it is still mostly male power.
Secondly, let's not start insinuating guilt by association. Kavanaugh will stand or fall on his own, as it should be.
How quickly we forget that President Clinton was a notorious womanizer as AG, governor of Arkansas and merely continued his ways in the white house. Some of the victims of his power and lust argue quite persuasively that Hillary was his defender.
Patriarchy and chauvinism run deep in our culture and Dem's and the GOP are equal offenders. The question is what can or should government do about it?
Better enforcement of existing civil rights laws is always important. But we need to reach deep and start changing our culture.
There are no lack of smart feminist scholars that have been studying these issues for years. How about having each state establish a commission on gender equality charged to look comprehensively at the full list of equality barriers to women?
We need action beyond Bret Kavanaugh, Bill Clinton or Bill Cosby. Let's put that on the agenda for the midterm elections.
229
@drspockNo one has forgotten Clinton's appalling behavior, and few people excuse him for it. This is not a case of tit for tat. Clinton had to leave office after eight years--though he long refused to leave the stage. Kavanaugh is being appointed to a life-time term on the Supreme Court, where he will issue rulings that have to do with gender equity (or not), along with many, many other life-shaping questions. We need to make certain that his privileged, frat-boy behavior doesn't make its way onto that stage.
6
@drspock OK but these studies have been done over and over and it is not the answer to move on and give all this a pass. This is not a game - and it is transparent and obvious that those who abuse are not entitled to be in the game at all.
2
@drspock I don't think that anyone has forgotten that Bill Clinton was a notorious womanizer. And I think we already have an adequate list of equality barriers to women. I agree that we need to change the culture. One important step toward that will be rejecting the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the U. S. Supreme Court.
1
@MaryKayKlasson - This is slightly off topic but I can't not challenge your statement that Hollywood sexualized women and feminists "lauded" the sexualization. I'm a second wave feminist and nowhere have I ever seen evidence of actual feminists lauding the sexualization of women. Such objectification of women is one of the very things feminists, including myself, have objected to and worked hard to eliminate from our culture. To be a feminist is to work for a society where everyone has equality of opportunity. The sexualization of women is the exact opposite of equality. My opposition to Kavanagh becoming. Supreme Court judge comes from all the indications that paint a portrait of Kavanaugh as someone who does not support equality for everyone, including women, even though he does coach girls' basketball.
5
A clinical psychologist friend sent me this:
An esteemed colleague, a psychologist with forensic training, wrote these observations (permission was given to share, please do if you want).
“As I watched Kavanaugh's TV interview today and his bid to win on the court of public opinion, I found myself thinking about two things:
1) Apparently the man has or had a major alcohol problem. Even if one assumes that everything he is saying he truly believes is accurate, it appears there were multiple times when he was so intoxicated that accurate memories would be unlikely. No mention of this in his talk, and more importantly:
2) He keeps saying he wants the Senate confirmation to be "a fair process" but there is no fairness involved when several key committee members who will be voting are already on record on how they will vote before they hear from Christine Blasey Ford. Any judicial officer would recognize this for the confirmatory bias that it is; and any ethical officer of the court would refuse to participate in such a staggeringly unfair proceeding. So completely independent from whatever Ford is going to say, my take is that if we're not talking about Kavanaugh being deceitful, then we are talking about someone with an inadequate understanding of addiction which is unfortunate since addiction is such a common theme in lawsuits; and a man with a grossly impaired commitment to just legal process.”
9
All the dems on the committee said before the hearings began that they would vote against Kavanaugh. This 110% political and has little if anything to do with qualifications . Reverse the parties with a D president and a D senate and the roles would be reversed 180’.
1
Hi frat had "a reputation for womanizing?" Is that what they call drunken assaults?
7
Even those favored males of the elite class that aren't perpetrators of mysogeny are not who we need tp lead our country. They lack the values earned by gainful employment in the real world and almost never serve our country's military. they haven't faced the decision making that our children face when leaving high school. Face staggering debt to seek a professional career, possibly choosing serving in our armed forces, seeking employment at a low wage., with minimum wage of $7.25 .
So to give a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS for someone who never had a job except at the public appointed job, who never attended a public school but received an Ivy league education without competing for it. Gives us leadership such as Trump. We deserve better.
12
Can we please have a nominee who went to a law school west of the Hudson River.
2
... His story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges.
Millions of women voted for TRUMP on the promise he would make abortion illegal with such a supreme court nomination.
It sure seems like Kavanaugh is capable of overturning Roe V Wade. The voters got what they wanted.
It's no revelation that privilege begets privilege but comes with no guarantee of classy behavior. It gives me great hope to see this column call it out. I love seeing 1000 + comments. I've never seen so many comments on any article, ever.
Thank you.
19
Reading this, one might wonder why presidents, and not only Trump, are so obsessed with appointing Supreme Court justices who have lived charmed lives, attended snobbish Ivy League universities, and have held jobs that keep them isolated from us ordinary people. They have no concept of or empathy for the ordinary lives that most people lead. They issue rulings that inflict real pain on real people, and rationalize their decisions with a torrent of legal gobbledygook. Chief Justice John Roberts is another prime example. We need more Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges who have been on the ground as prosecutors, public defenders, attorneys for nonprofit service organizations, and state court judges.
31
@ch. Yes, when I read K's dissent in the case of the poor pregnant teen, I was astounded by its harsh and cruel tone. He did not empathize with her situation at all, referring her to 'demanding' an 'immediate' abortion, even though the federal government had delayed her request for many weeks.
6
Thank you, Michelle Goldberg. We needed this statement.
Kavanaugh certainly lived at least his early life in a way that calls into question the image he is attempting to sell currently. The picture he painted of his high school days from his own yearbook is completely at odds with the person he claims to have always been. He joined a fraternity and another group at Yale whose self-cultivated reputations (and even nicknames) tell a story far different than the one he is trying to portray now. His life-style choices, particularly his financial history, are at odds with the sober, socially conservative, respectful man he claims to be.
I get the feeling this is a man who is very uncomfortable in his own skin, who is one man inside and hopes to seem to be someone far different on the outside. He currently wants the adulation and admiration of the world for being solid, reliable, and wise, but that’s not who he really is, or if it is, he simply doesn’t know how to pull it off credibly because he has another wilder person he has always truly wanted to seem to be.
Who is the real Kavanaugh? Which one would sit on the Supreme Court? Would it change depending on the day, on the case? I find the enormous split in him untrustworthy and creepy. I hope his nomination fails.
18
This goes to the very core of our culture's definition of leadership. As long as we depend on these atrophied "preparatory" institutions to educate our supposed elite, such insanity will continue. The conclusions they reach are simple: Anything they decide to do is right merely by virtue of the fact that it was they who decided to do it. That includes lying, by the way.
12
One lesson learned, parents don’t send your kids to Georgetown Prep or Yale!
7
Why does the reporting on Kavanaugh not include that the president who nominated him is a sexual predator?
17
The Secret Societies at Yale, The Final Clubs at Harvard, the Senate ....
They were careless people – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made
18
Like their heinously arrogant “stewardship” of the bones of Geronimo?
Please Everyone Read:
Tailspin by Steven Brill
It describes how all these prep school elites control politics (and everything) and how we can take it back from them.
Yup, replace the elephant with a pig....
11
“ judge Kavanaugh hired women with a certain look,...” oh gag me ( chua and hubby shame on u!)but did u see the same shade of blonde stepford wives/ handmaids, reading their encomiums of coach Brett , last friday, with sara fagan getting the ball rolling? The ruling class pigs and their phoney chua- handmaids are OUTED AT LAST. Thank you Michele Goldbeeg!
16
Well, Kavanaugh sure fooled me until this week. No decent person would approve him for a spot on the court now. He's a pig in the mold of Trump.
16
At its core, this is about moral character. If you're a boy who forcibly pins a girl down, covering her mouth to muffle her screams while you grope her, you are severely deficient of moral character.
Full stop.
23
They've weaponized the #metoo movement and its going to backfire, because you cant do this trick too many times, and what trick is that- a women comes along and says a guy molested them, 30 years ago, she never reported it, there are no other humans who witnessed it, she didn't even tell a friend, but she swears it happened, and they think that's all it takes to bring down a powerful man. It's not going to work this time, and its going to fail every time, a crime must be reported, it must be reported immediately, that's the proof that something really happened..don't report it 30 years after the fact and expect anything but skepticism.
6
@artfuldodger
So, you are saying that you do not believe the hundreds of victims of Catholic priests who are now coming forward with their stories after 10, 20, 30, 40 years? Most of these victims told no one at the time.
But I believe them.
When I see a Senator spending my tax dollars ask a potential Supreme Court Nominee, “why does he use a sharpie instead of a pen or pencil?” I realize that the Senator does not take his job seriously.
He would have be smarter not to ask anything.
This whole thing stinks! And for that reason alone Kavanaugh should withdraw.
If he was a real judge.
4
These are the true elites that we should fear, not people who read books. Hard to believe that blue collar whites think they have anything in common with these sleazoids.
13
It's strange that Kav's high school years are almost indistinguishable from his college years. The people, the behavior, the attitudes. Is that just how it is for the rich? When I went to college, there were literally no similarities between the two institutions, other than sitting in uncomfortable desks. I guess we live in our (unimportant, sad, little) universe and the elite live in their totally distinct one. The right likes to talk about the elites they are fighting against. Jared and Ivanka and Kav are waging war against the elite left. It's all so pathetic.
6
Enough. My mother taught me that you ARE known by the company you keep. This aphorism applies equally to men and women.
If Kavanaugh somehow managed to avoid participating, he certainly did nothing to stop it. His requirements for female clerks alone are offensive enough to disqualify him even ignoring his perjury and the allegations made against him.
15
Kavanaugh is a fool to think he will emerge from this questioning of his ethics while attempting passage into the SCOTUS. He is forever tainted. A smarter, less greedy man would withdraw his candidacy and walk away with perhaps an inflated stature.
9
Frankly, at this point only professional parity in positions of power will change things. Never mind Kavanaugh, we need more women in the Supreme Court. Preferably from less élite backgrounds, too.
(Your reference to pigs also reminded me of David Cameron´s antics while at Eton. Truly, pigs rule.)
5
It IS fair to judge a person by the company they keep. “Show me who your friends are, and it will show me who YOU are.”
7
There are just too many negatives about this GOP candidate. The recent revelations in the New Yorker compound the seriousness of the other allegations. He should resign.
10
Ms. Goldberg speaks the truth. I grew up in this entitled male environment- prep school, college, fraternities, and beyond. This group's activities would land people of less privilege in jail for sexual assult, illegal alcohol and drug use, unlawful public behavior, academic dishonesty, etc.
I believe Dr. Ford, and the other women. Kavanaugh thinks his position entitles him to act this way. To him none of this was assult so he can't remember it as such.
BTW, you could take any bright child out of poverty and give them the same privilege and thay could be smart enough to be a Supreme Court judge, too. This man is not special, except as a predator.
27
In talking about this with my wife, of 50 years, she shared with me, for the first time, a Kavanaugh type situation she experienced on a college break in Florida. Same scenario, my wife, who had a few drinks, finds herself in a bedroom with a guy trying to undo her shorts--he was so drunk he couldn't get them undone--and with him attempting to force her to touch his male member. She also was screaming help..when her girlfriend, thankfully, came in and broke the attempt up. Within a few minutes, the same guy tried to get my wife back into that room, but, thankfully, her girlfriend got her out of the house and the party. She then went on to tell me that throughout her professional career, she had a number---at least 4 or 5 men come on to her, one when she was pregnant...So, if you are asking me if I believe Kavanaugh...what do you think...
19
Kavanaugh fits the true definition of elitist: entitled, insulated from rules and consequences which only apply to the lower castes. He committed sexual misconduct with impunity then. And lies about that and much more now. This little weasel may be on the SC for the rest of my life?!
12
A;as it seems that to succeed in Trump's Washington, one must demonstrate such piggish qualities that Kavanaugh is accused of.
4
More than anything, I want to ask the question, "where were Bret Kavanaugh's parents?" We ask this question all the time when young men of lesser means get themselves into trouble, especially when those men are minorities. And yet here, nobody's asking it. What a double standard we have when it comes to conduct.
1083
@Jeremiah Crotser I wonder, as well, where Dr. Ford's parents were. And the headmasters and headmistresses to which both parents entrusted their children.
@Jeremiah Crotser
The American story line is one, long double standard.
Sad... But true.
2
...they were saying, ‘(My) Boys will be supreme court judges.
Now in my 7th decade on the planet, I wonder how my life would have been different had I not been born, white, male, and Protestant, although, not affluent.
I recall being promoted over two very qualified women with substantially more seniority than myself. In retrospect, it had to be simply because of my gender.
It is past time that we males in society recognized women as equals and with skills that may surpass our own. Women, our mothers and the mothers of our children, have long shouldered the work of raising children and now occupy at least one half of the workforce. They have been on the lower rungs of the economic ladder since the beginning of the Republic.
Now in 2018 with record numbers of women running for public office, the future looks brighter for them and, as a result, for all of us.
19
The real problem of Kavanaugh and members of 'his class' is that in going to elite prep schools and then elite colleges, is the assumptions of privilege they have. I have heard people mention judges like Ginzburg, or someone like Joe Biden,having gone to elite schools, but they leave out that there are people of talent at those schools who had to work very hard to get in there and have an idea of what it is to come from a background where it is rare to go to places like Yale. The question underlying judges like Kavanaugh is do they understand the impact of their decisions on people, or will they rule in ways that shows they only know their privileged little world? Obviously, there have been "well bred" old boy judges who have done things to the detriment of their class, and there are others who after being in that world from modest backgrounds, go the other way (Clarence Thomas for example).
I am not brushing off what Kavenaugh may have done here, just saying that the kind of arrogant attitude towards women exposed in these allegations has other considerations, too.
The kind of men who treat women in this manner feel entitled to behaving this way just because they are men. Some of this might have been modeled at home by their fathers. They do not respect women. In their eyes, women are not seen as equals who merit respect. These men are narcissistic bullies, and they do not belong in the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
5
Ya know... just reading the sanitized, holier-than-thou statements from lawyer-spokespeople for characters in this mess - including the Kav and his merry band of drunken carousers - the real story behind the words is obviously much different. As reported today, at least 14 members of the football team all collaborated to cite the name “Renate” in their yearbook quotes, in their own elitist, special remembrance. This kind of elite, complete with Judge Kav’s scholastic binge drinking, apparent financial problems, and demonstrated perjury in earlier hearings — we can do without.
My young adult daughter said tonight that when you put trash into the Supreme Court, it’s awfully hard to get it out later.
Let’s not damage the Court any further.
8
The whole world has moved on and American men still lives in 19th century.
Look at the world leaders so many of them are in their 30`s or 40`s and trump in his 70`s and Grassley 85.
Nothing wrong with that but they demand to live in the past, deny education, independence of Women.
Their quota is up time to take a back seat soon when the Country having had with them and send they back to where they came from.
A little more than a month left...Pigs who showed their true colors go home and hit the rocking chair.
7
I think that Ms. Goldberg's on to something, namely, that drunken, privileged males are sexual abuse waiting to happen.
I have long thought that empathy is the most important attribute in someone who decides questions of public policy, whether politician or judge, and her recitation of Kavanaugh's incredibly privileged, consequence-free background makes me think that that is what is missing and may explain the strong pro-business, pro-weathly slant to his rulings.
As for the abuse allegations, of course, he acted like a gentleman around his female peers: They are in his class and ambitious that he was, he had sense enough to know that a reputation for mistreating women would be bad for his career. On the other hand, when it came to vulnerable women . . . .
I think that, as it stands, these accusations should disqualify him for the Court, ideology aside.
6
"our ruling class" ?
Not mine.
3
Indeed. As Ms. Goldberg writes, it's "pigs all the way down." Orwell put it nicely when he wrote, "All animals are equal, but some animals [Kavanaugh and the other pigs] are more equal than others."
3
The elephant oinks.
Listen one, listen all.
The GOP elephant is hosting a Realty TV Hearing on Thursday. The drama is not in what will happen, but in how it will happen.
When its shiny infomercial product - Kavanaugh - was first marketed, the elephant trumpeted his shiny surface. The elephant told us, there is no need to look below the surface...no need to read his past (papers or life).
Ever since he was accused of a sexual crime, the elephant has been trumpeting the hearing's outcome: "Kavanaugh WILL BE seated on the Supreme Court, but we'll put on a show so everyone can see just how transparent and fair we are."
If the GOP elephant rolls in the mud, grunts, squeals and oinks like a pig, smells like a pig, it is a pig. That is fair and transparent to all.
To America, the GOP pig says, "Don't fight what we are about to do to you, lie back and enjoy it."
Will you America?
11
This opinion piece and the comments are all following the liberal agenda. You are condemning a man based on the court of public opinion. It's sickening that due to your personal bias you have no desire to hear both sides. Ford more than likely had something happen, I'm not denying that, but she can't seem to remember many details and those she named as being there say they don't remember the incident. Everyone needs to remember that we have a system in place that says everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but those of you on the left who don't seem to care about justice are acting as judge, jury and executioner. This change in opinion from the left about our laws has been a pattern that everyone had better wake up and have a good look at, they are trying to take us in a very bad direction. Right now you are allowed to have your own opinion regardless of what it is, but in the country that the left is trying create you can have your opinion as long as it aligns with their agenda. Keep that in mind.
Before anyone tries to attack me as not knowing anything about sexual assault, I was sexually assaulted when I was 5 years old, 50 years ago and I remember almost everything. Having my own experience as such makes me a little more qualified in judgement than most of you armchair judges.
4
@Kris. K is undergoing a job interview, not a criminal trial. If he were a candidate for a CEO spot, or a job requiring a top level security clearance and these accusations came up either he would be dropped from consideration or the claims would be more thoroughly investigated. That is what should happen here for this incredibly important position. Why should this be rushed through just to please McConnell?
2
The most awesome column title I have ever seen!
3
Interesting that Goldberg didn’t mention Weinstein, another elitist accused of much worse than Kavanaugh.
4
@Olivia
Why should she? Is Weinstein on the short list of probable SCOTUS nominees?
1
Times have not changed much, if at all. For example, Google Philips Exeter Academy with a few key words.
2
Disagree with your title. Lets face it - pigs are far CLEANER and worthy of our RESPECT at the end of the day in comparison to these tots.
6
And oh the irony, that Kav will be the deciding vote on Woman’s reproductive rights.
13
Guilt by accusation. Guilt by innuendo. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Who needs a fair hearing? Who needs supporting evidence? Who needs any type of corroboration? Who needs to face his or her accuser and be able to muster a robust defense? Who needs evidence? Why of course he doesn't need to be on the Court! We need someone on the Court who thinks like we do, Times readers. An accusation is enough. All accusers should be believed, unambiguously and without due process. Men are terrible pigs, and women are saints. Clear enough and obvious enough to the thinking class. This is the kind of Court we need, and if we're not careful, this is the kind of Court and Society we shall get.
5
The fraternity DKE had a similar reputation at my college in the late 70's. We young women knew to avoid all DKE parties like the plague. There were rumors plentiful of the gross behavior and heavy drinking at DKE parties and none of us wanted to be caught in any situation there.
Having said that, all the men I met at college did not act in aggressive ways with women. They didn't act that way themselves and did not condone that behavior in their fellow male students. Even then there was the DKE herd and then the rest of us.
The GOP Senators now in herd mode are all old white males who seem to still be living in their entitlement bubbles and vociferously pushing back at women asserting their place in society with respect and fairness. Unfortunately they have the money and power positions to keep their herd intact for awhile longer.
13
Regardless of the truth of the attempted rape accusation, Kavanaugh's history at Yale paints a picture of an overprivileged man-child utterly insensitive, demeaning, and disrespectful of women. Sounds like the perfect Supreme Court Justice for Donald Trump.
7
While it is impossible to ignore the charges of inappropriate sexual behavior against this guy, why is no one writing about the drinking? This guy obviously couldn't control his booze back in college. Can he now?
That seems like a very legitimate question.
7
Even 17-year-olds know that at that age you should know right from wrong.
But no matter, says Mitch McConnell. Judge Kavanaugh might have been obnoxious with girls when he was a legless frat boy. But the important thing is that he's our obnoxious frat boy.
Just like Trump. He may be a self-confessed groper. But he's our groper.
8
This whole thing reeks.
The other guy in the room according to Ford is not even of interest to a committee vetting this guy Kavanaugh?Why?
McConnell is telling some religious group giving him a standing ovation it’s a done deal? Why?
Trump saying Kavanaugh is “born to it” is a reason in America to give some guy some sort of pass - for a lifetime appointment? Why?
Some PAC lady named Penny thrumming her nails on the table saying her bunch of religious fanatics are tired of waiting around, that they spent a lot of $$$ to get this guy installed and Reality is holding up their railroading of American protocols for vetting SC justices- why exactly does it look this slimy??
6
For too long greek societies have obscured much of their bad behavior. It is aided by institutions whose self interest is "what happens on campus, stays on campus".
Hopefully modern greek members are having a new flush of Accountability. While institutions may still shove stuff under the rug, someonelse was watching all-along... Your Peers.
3
The FBI can review their background investigation. Kavanaugh should WANT to have a renewed background check to clear his name..let him take the FBI lie detector test. US citizens should demand FBI checks of these allegations. It won’t take long..it is what they do..investgate...it is not the Federal Bureau of we don’t do these sorts of things.
7
This old-boy society will eventually fail. Will it take our country down with it? Only the future will tell. Many counties have perished because there was no reward for doing right by others. If rewards are "earned" exclusively by associating, and joining in, with cretins acting boorishly, we are indeed headed down a rough and rocky road. Good men, with power, need to step up, NOW ! A good name for a men's auxiliary to the #MeToo movement would be #StepUp.
5
When Ms. Goldberg starts to write about "our rotten ruling class", it really is time to question her politics as well as her opinions. Both Roosevelts came from the "rotten ruling class" as did JFK, RFK and Ted. The latter were all far worse than Mr. Kavanaugh in the Sexual Arena, but I guess their "ruling class" days are too sacrosanct to mention. But it isn't always the class you should be despising, Ms. Goldberg. A man of the gravel, of the soil, of the very dirt of his time cannot be considered a member of the "ruling class", yet Mr. Clinton brought non-marital sexual activity right into the Oval Office, aided and abetted (at least figuratively) by Mrs. Clinton, whose pedigree was admittedly a bit higher than his own. Now on their way to billionairehood, I guess Bill and Hill are now part of the new "ruling class". Personally, I like the Roosevelts' "ruling class" status the most.
7
I don't disagree with the gist of Ms. Goldberg's argument, but name calling is juvenile and unnecessary. She is angry, I get that, but throwing insults at men in general is off putting.
2
Brett Kavanaugh’s unilateral denials: “never” did this, not at this party, even before he knows when & where, are in line with a pattern of perjury - Senators Leahy and Durbin have separate allegations of perjury during confirmation hearings - which is disturbing.
Shouldn’t such a pattern be disqualifying for the highest court n our country?
4
Interested in how it is that Ford's Alma Mater and teachers back her up, but I am not aware of any support for Kavanaugh from his school, AKA Georgetown Perp.
4
If a SCOTUS candidate can get a free pass, although not adjudicated, should Bill Cosby receive a free pass for convicted piggish, harmful behavior because of his age?
1
@Jim Bill Cosby was convicted in court. Judge Kavanaugh has not even benn indicted or formally charged nor named in a lawsuit.
2
Michelle, It's like you just don't get it. This is not abnormal, though the degree to which these guys misbehaved might be. This is patriarchy in action! Male domination means male domination, period. Of course there are "decent, respectful men" out there but the general drift speaks otherwise. However -- and this is the crucial point -- patriarchy did not spring out of nowhere and it did not result from some innate quality of maleness. Patriarchy goes hand in hand with capitalism. Capitalism is all about domination. Compare how men behaved in hunter-gatherer cultures to the TOTAL change that took place with the foundation of the first empires with their class systems, military, cruelty and ceaseless domination of everyone around them. That's patriarchy. Until capitalism is gone -- for good -- the most you can hope for will be men "playing nice." And by the way, just to be clear, this includes women as well, although they by and large don't act like pigs. But those who rise to the top in this culture have to be just as aggressive and "capitalizing" as the men. Check out Margaret Thatcher or Hillary Clinton or those at the top of the big corporations. Of course they wouldn't act like these piggish men but that doesn't being to cut it. Everyone today is caught in the web of corporate capitalism. No one escapes its pull.
2
Primates do not need capitalism to form patriarchal societies, but every single modern religion does promote it.
1
@free range Patriarchy's roots are in religion. That is why a strong wall between church and state is so important. The RCC and evangelical churches dogmas consider women unfit for any role other than wife/mother/supporter of men. And the Christian Right wants to enforce this dogma on all of us whether we subscribe to their beliefs or not.
Goldberg’s use of the term “ruling class” made me cringe – it is so antithetical to the notion of democracy. But she is correct; we have one and that’s a problem.
Too many of our leaders come out of a narrow, closed system of elite schools like Georgetown Prep and Ivy League universities that are pale representations of the general populace. These are not necessarily “the best and the brightest” we would hope for, but merely the most privileged and the most white; nurtured in a toxic brew of arrogance, and racial, economic and gender privilege.
Is this any way to run a democracy? No – it’s the way to run an oligarchy.
10
Couple things stand out.
Why wasnt this brought up earlier in his nomination? Aside from Dr. Ford, the NYT stated earlier it cannot find anyone to corroborate Ms. Ramirez's story in the New Yorker. You can literally just say someone touched you and the world comes crashing down.This whole thing of guilty before innocent is tiring.
The Dems had the info and wanted to push the nomination back past the midterms. This is nakedly obvious unless you are guzzling the kool aid.
Republicians should just pick someone else and move forward. Kavanaugh has a lot of baggage.
2
Someone like Merrick Garland, say?
All these pigs certainly do exist in the pipeline of power, from private high schools through corporate executives and all the way up to the White House. Sadly, I've worked with a few of them.
That said, this is another shoddy argument by the Times to convict Mr. Kavanaugh by association.
I know many graduates of colleges like Yale who are wonderful people: upstanding, decent, honest, philanthropic, and contributing to the world in many positive ways. How would Ms. Goldberg respond to an analogous argument that Mr. Kavanaugh must be a good guy because of all the great classmates he had at Yale?
I'm no fan of Mr. Kavanaugh, but I'm even less a fan of sloppy and specious arguments.
1
"Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game. As they realize that, their incandescent fury is remaking our politics."
If you didn't "realize that" 40 years ago, you haven' beed paying attention. What took you so long?
2
Michelle Goldberg looks pretty young. I don't think she was around 40 years ago, or if so, was an infant.
So this is the kind of man who gets to decide finally what a woman can and cannot do with her own body. This kind of man can turn back Roe v. Wade. This kind of man has quoted a reference to birth control as abortifacients and did not say that he disagreed with that reference.
The most certain way to control women is not to let them control their own bodies. Who will hire you if you can become pregnant at any time and over and over again?
This kind of man grew up without any respect for women. And, now he could hide under the cloak of fraudulent morality to turn back Roe v. Wade.
He has been hiding throughout this process. He was the one who wrote all the salacious questions for Clinton. He was involved in stealing emails from the Democrats. He was involved in decisions regarding torture. And most of his writings have also been hidden from view.
The irony is too much. This man doesn't belong on any court.
16
If 25 million men (conservative estimate) were assaulted they'd call it a crime wave; heck if 25 million men had their watches stolen they'd call it a crime wave. Ruthann Miller, Coordinator of the 1970 Womens March
5
Judge Kavanaugh,
Publicly urge Mr. Trump to order the FBI to reopen your background investigation.
Indicate that you will request that a former FBI employee administer a polygraph test as it did at Dr. Ford’s request and the result was she was found credible.
Ask Senator Grassley to subpoena all relevant witnesses, including your friend, Mr. Judge.
Urge the Republican senators on the committee to ask questions of witnesses rather than hire a female former prosecutor of sex crimes to do their jobs for them.
Agree that should your nomination be defeated, and should,the allegations against you be found credible by the FBI and the Senate, you’d resign from the Circuit Court.
You’ve asked for a fair, open process. If you’re accorded such process, shouldn’t it include the above? Wouldn’t that process establish the truth? As a judge, isn’t that what you seek to discover in your courtroom? Shouldn’t that be the goal when it’s you who are being judged?
7
But the great news is millions of white women will vote Republican in Nov, so I can keep my tax cuts. Thanks Ladies.
2
Attempt aggravated criminal sexual assault is what Dr. Ford happened to her by Kavanaugh (this would be the crime in Illinois). He did not have to have sexual intercourse with her to have been charged and convicted of such a crime. In Illinois, his acts, as alleged by Dr. Ford, would have incurred charges of aggravated kidnaping and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. And this guy thinks he is qualified for SCOTUS? He ought to read a criminal procedure book.
5
This entire debacle disgusts me on several levels. First and foremost, that women are again and again mistreated and taken advantage of. Second, the constant double standard in politics. I belong to no political party as I became absolutely fed up two years ago. In the case of Kavanaugh, the Democrats clearly orchestrated this mess and continue to propagate it until they achieve their mission of removing Kavanaugh. These are the same Democrats who stayed quiet and idle when Bill Clinton was engaging in sexual misconduct in the While House. Just so tired of the double standards.
2
Steve-
They were just allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia- Obviously we were more ready for a black man than a woman to become president. That should tell you a lot about the way people really feel.
At Penn State in the 1960s, two friends who were considered "fast' were invited to a "pig" party, a party to which a fraternity member was to bring the ugliest, fattest, most awkward, or sluttiest girl. Prizes were involved. One of the girls' dates had some sense of decency and came home humiliated but unharmed. The other girl was gang-raped. Charges were not brought because the brothers would testify that she had slept with all of them previously, a charge that would get her expelled. These men are undoubtedly now loving grandfathers who had good careers. They may have been pillars in their communities. Are they ashamed or was it just college fun and hijinks?
8
Biologically speaking it is in the genes for men to rule the species. When we look at what we consider lower animals the males will fight to the death to have the most females so he can pass on his genes. We, as humans, consider ourselves above this sort of behavior. At least some of us do. We have just to consider who chose Kavanaugh to be on the court and who is backing him...our supreme leader himself who has been accused of violating the rights of at least one dozen women and a group of old men who want to keep their jobs. If Judge Kavanaugh is so innocent he should welcome an F.B.I. investigation of his past.
3
So. Draining the swamp must start with clearing out Georgetown Prep and Yale Fraternities!
Also want to add, re article about Fox interview with Kavanaugh and wife. Note: McConnell destroyed fairness and the "rule of law" when he refused to even consider Merrick Garland, President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court. If Kavanaugh had any integrity at all he would step down and insist that Merrick Garland be considered. But he won't step down because he is power hungry and he does not believe in the law or the Constitution. If u think about the "swamp", who were the "electors" who chose Donald Trump? They were the elite and the Russians who enabled them. The U.S. oligarchy is in full swing. Kavanaugh is poster boy for complicity in the problem. Supreme Court and Congress and Presidency now have zero credibility.
6
In my mind, only some of those sitting on the Supreme Court have zero credibility. Others, such RBG, are people I admire greatly.
1
Ruling class from the halls of privilege. My thoughts exactly.
4
What kind of person values his seat on the Supreme Court more than the reputation of the court?
First we had Clarence Thomas, unconcerned that many Americans saw him as a creepy sexual deviant.
Then we got Neil Gorsuch, perfectly comfortable in a seat stolen by an unconstitutional refusal to consider a nominee.
Now we get Kavanaugh, happy to sit on the court even though at least half the country thinks he raped someone as a teen and perjured himself before the Senate on that topic and a variety of others he finds personally embarrassing.
Any Justice worthy of the title would refuse to sully the Court. The rule of law and democratic legitimacy must mean nothing to these men.
10
@Sam I Am ... Indeed. When do we get to the MLK Jr. moment? You know when we are judged by the content of our character.
I found Kavanaugh's comments today extremely revealing. He claimed he was being "intimidated". Oh really. By whom? Why does he regard an allegation of sexual assault intimidating?
8
Chickens coming home to roost.
America's ruling class, white men, mainly, have been behaving this way for centuries. It strains credulity that their female relatives --- mothers, sisters, daughters and wives --- and counterparts, haven't known what was going on all along. Now these women are shocked! shocked! and bravely reporting instances of rape and sexual violence, even within their own elite enclaves. I'm not victim-shaming, just pointing out that white womens' historical complicity and silence has long enabled these men. None of these retroactive and current #MeToo allegations is surprising to anyone who has seen how white males and females party at Ivy League schools ...
4
Pigs is a polite way of putting it .... what I think Ms. Goldberg and millions of Americans would like to call these Republicans who are supporting Judge Kavanaugh as well as Judge Kavanagh himself and his good ol’ boys from his college days is unprintable in the New York Times .
Why will the Senate majority not allow for an FBI investigation ?
Why can there be NO corroborating witnesses or a supeona of Mark Judge in this hearing ?
Why are the Republicans in the Senate and in particular Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Mitch McConnell particularly gutless and timid in their ability to answer these aforementioned questions?
I’ll tell you why: these Republican Senators have one objective and one objective only - to confirm their nominee at ALL costs . They probably have figured that they are going to lose the House and very possibly the Senate so they might as well win the one thing that they feel they still have a chance to win in this nightmare of an administration that has been created by none other than Donald Trump .
Good luck Republicans- your time of primacy is rapidly coming to an end ,and when it ends it’s not going to be pretty.
5
In addition to “a certain class of men”, you forgot to add evangelical Christians to those not only guarding and perpetuating their privileges but underwriting and preaching the entire phony mythological basis for white heterosexual Christian male power over all others. The likes of Franklin Graham and his sick, craven posse of Christian hypocrites dismissing these allegations as “irrelevant” are giving me flashbacks of the PTSD I experienced once I escaped my radically fundamentalist evangelical Baptist schooling. I deeply hate white Christian male power and I hate anyone who continues to give them power over me and my center-left country, ESPECIALLY third-party voting, purity progressives who think Hillary Clinton’s White House would have been worse than this misogynistic horror show.
6
@left coast finch I thought Georgetown Prep was run by Jesuits. Not quite the same thing.
1
@left coast finch Women are fools to support these churches, who openly deny they have a right to full participation in power and economic life.
“It may not be fair” to just him by the company he keeps! Poor Kavanaugh everyone is so unfair to him. Did the author see his speach, when he was already a federal judge, where he laughed and laughed about the drunken debauchery he engaged in during high school and college? His attitude was one of arrogant pride not distress. Something like I was a wild man good thing we guys have a code. He even wrote about his disgusting behavior in a year book that’s how proud of it he was.
This is an example of what the GOP calles integrity! And this is the party that want us all to be more religious and wants to control women! Um, he fits right in.
8
As my old Mother used to say: “ You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses “.
2
I wish someone at the NYT would take their pieces one step further and describe the "how" of things that are happening right now to our country based on the true force behind the events - the Tea Party - or as I like to call them The Anti-Choice Cabal. These are so-called "Christians" who have sold their souls and are so blinded by their own hypocrisy that they don't realize they've sold their souls, their fellow citizens and their country in order to overturn a law which protects women's rights to make decisions about their own bodies and their very futures. When you have the surety that the future is going be whatever a punishing, ruthless God says it's going to be, your own body and your very future are unimportant and secondary. Funny how what they believe God is telling them sounds just like whatever they want which seems to be, impossibly, to go back in time. Please, NYT, go ahead and mix politics and religion. It's the story that's continuously missed.
1
When the Rolling Stone story of the multiple rapes at a UVa fraternity was proven to be spurious, all I could think was: OK, this young woman did not tell the truth, but the truth is that the frat culture I observed decades ago was absolutely one that could well have been one where that grotesque, though disproven in that case, story could have happened. Decades ago, my college roommate was drunk-raped upstairs in a frat house bedroom after/during one of the many, many such parties I either attended (always aware of the danger) or subsequently heard about. There were some fraternities in Charlottesville that were well known for being downright dangerous for unwary women. And there were, as now, certain young males who were known predators. (Not all! of course! There truly were some Virginia gentlemen.) As Goldberg points out, this is a terrible minefield for young, inexperienced women to navigate. Whether or not teen Brett did what he is accused of doing, there are far too many (not all! thank g-d!) young men who treat women abominably and inhumanely, especially when they're in a drunken group of "revellers." Pigs, indeed. It is time for decent, honorable men to stand up, speak up ... because, I sincerely pray, time's up.
6
The current headlines are dominated by the Kavanaugh hearings and Dr Ford's accusations of sexual assault. While the running power structure tries to assassinate her character, and set up the hearings unfairly, there is one important thing to remember . . . these men are also imprisoning immigrant children. CHILDREN! The have the power and they exercise it over women, children, people of color, the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised.
These hearings are about a lot more than Dr Ford. As outraged as I am about what happened to her in high school (i've heard similar stories many times by my women friends - none of which was ever reported) these hearings are about more than one woman's story of attempted rape. They are about justice for all. Who will have ultimate power to set the laws that govern all people? All people! Right now, the prep school crowd is protecting their own and it is not only sickening, but, dangerous for everyone else.
3
Democrats in the House have been trying to pass bills to end the imprisonment of these children but Republicans won't allow them to come to the floor. I am beginning to think that most Republicans in Congress are very evil, indeed. I would hope that the good ones among them would have an attack of conscience in order to turn the tide. What will it take? How can they look in the mirror?
Everybody seems to have an opinion on this one. And most everyone seems pretty sure of theirs. Makes you wonder. I know he's a liar, but why do I know that?
2
Please don't insult the pigs -- smart, sensitive and extraordinarily engaging animals -- with that title. The ruling class described here should aspire to the level of pigs. But they aren't classy or intelligent enough to do so.
3
This whole Kavanaugh thingy is just another witch-hunt. After all, he said in his interview with Faux Noise that all through high-school and many years in college he remained a virgin.
Maybe the women whom he first bedded can speak as a character witness for him in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee by describing his lack of practice.
1
For those who think that boys will be boys:
The Jesuits have a saying..."show me the boy, and I will show you the man".
They've built a reputation on it. Scary when you think about Catholic prep schools.
6
I have a hard time believing anyone who comes forth at the 11th hour wanting to throw a judicial nomination off the rails. Let's say for a minute that the allegations are true... 36 yrs ago in high school. I have skeletons in my closet & so do you whether you want to admit it or not! Teenagers do stupid things; both male & female.
Does this mean that a judicial nominee should be considered unworthy of making fair, impartial decisions based on his youth?
Should Mrs Ford's story be told? Absolutely; but allegations with no recollection or corroboration of a story 36 years ago??
I believe (being from one of the most hated states in the south) that women deserve respect.
She may be telling the truth; I can't judge her on that but her timing seems coincidental given the stakes.
Now the other side; what if she is lying! Are liberals so obsessed with their hatred of Trump and what he stands for that they would be willing to take down a man who has tried to lead an exemplary life because he actually believed in it?
If that is who you are then America is doomed.
I am a white 63 year oilfield worker who was raised milking cows living on my great grandparents farm. I'm old, I'm white, I'm proud, I'm southern, I'm Christian, I have a high school ed. I've been all over the world, I've experienced world cultures some of you will never know.
I say give this woman a chance to speak her peace but don't judge Kavanaugh in the court of public opinion.
5
Do you have any daughters? How would you counsel them if they came to you with a story like Dr. Ford's (which is her proper title, by the way)? I can only surmise that she would be punished for having allowed the rape to occur ... which is why so few women come forward in a "timely" fashion.
2
@J W. There are plenty of reasons this nomination doesn't pass the smell test. Why are thousands of documents withheld? Why don't Republicans request an FBI investigation? Also, K's role in the Clinton impeachment wherein he developed a list of really disgusting personal questions to be raised, is downright undignified if not outright creepy. That the Christian Right is pushing his appointment does not speak well of him either, as these groups want to force their beliefs on the rest of us.
I don't normally think a lot about male exploitation of women. My own experiences of it are there certainly but not something I dwell on. So it's a surprise to me how visceral my response is to all this Kavanaugh information, and how vividly it brings up a sense of that rapist-as-good-guy attitude. This is the strongest disgust I have ever felt. Radicalising for sure.
6
A significant cultural failure missed by most of the commentators below is the impact of evangelical christianity, which itself morally hypocritical and not adherent to Christ's values. The self-defined "leaders" of this corruption use human stupidity to enrich themselves, interfere with our lives, attempt to define how our lives should be led, and generally corrupt society. In this regard I am in favor of legislation that would strengthen the freedom of religion, to freedom from religion.
12
I oppose the Kava nom because he was a Republican operative working with Starr to destroy Clinton, and with Bush II to destroy Iraq. The revelations about woman hating elite RC culture are just more weights on the scale of justice.
7
As a hog farmer, I resent the use of pig as a metaphor for bad human behavior. Human can and do behave badly. Own it.
3
The men deciding on Judge Kavanaugh’s elevation to SCOTUS are probably trembling in their boots fearing the disclosure of their “youthful indiscretions.” I suffered at the hands of former youths who now hold positions of power and esteem. As the pigs in Orwell’s "Animal Farm” declare, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Indeed. As a woman, I am profoundly aware of how MORE equal these men are than I. Good luck on the Supreme Court, Judge Kavanaugh, as you will surely be confirmed. Our country and the world will be worse off for your investiture there.
3
Gosh. Where does one begin to address the cognitive dissonance? Women voting for sexual predators. Those living hand to mouth voting for the uber rich who have NEVER done anything to ease the plight of his fellow man. MAGA hatted zealots spitting out the accusation of "elite" on the side of prep school and Yale frat boys. It boggles the mind. I don't know the answer but I recognized the dogged resolve to avoid looking at reality. Yesterday I had yet another genteel older lady tell me that not all facts are true. We're doomed.
13
I appreciate the title, and the use of the word, "Pigs." Oh how I long to call a spade a spade, but feel compelled to be polite in public discourse. The evidence mounts that Kavanaugh was/is a sexist "pig." Hiring women, or coaching a girls softball team doth not a feminist make. It might be grist for his sexist mill. I've never heard a story of a man admitting to rape, but I, like all of us, have heard far too many stories of girls and women who fail to report their experiences. They know THEY will be on trial. This is even more true when the rapist is not a stranger but rather, someone they will see, over and over, and who has access to their social circle.
7
I graduated in 1978 from that bastion of all party schools, the University of Georgia. I spent a year in a very good sorority and loathed the privileged stupidity of the frat boys, who only had to get drunk for four years then go back home and work in Daddy's business. It was all handed right to them on a silver platter. I later joined the women's Rugby team, and the Army, and in both cases was treated far, far better by the men. What does that tell you?
3
Make no mistake this describes all of the ‘ruling class’, both the left and the right, men and women. There is nothing that the privileged don’t feel entitled to. If one is to wield power these days better to hide the corruption from the lesser classes.
This article says a lot about the lack of commitment to women's education.
I attended private Catholic girls schools and did not spend a lot of time in casual contact with male students.
When I did encounter them in more formal settings, such as in competitive high school debates, it was establishing a standard of equal treatment that I continue to expect at university and in my career.
Yes, I did go to high school football, basketball games, mixers and parties, but I never thought I needed to be provocative or appear promiscuous to attract males;
there are other ways socialize.
So many of these comments refer to standards of behavior in the education of women that should be considered historical curiosity now.
What if Dr Ford had completed for male attention on the basis of her brains in high school, instead of being available for parties?
The moral to this story is that the education process needs to be upgraded to ensure that our women are not being taught to encourage or tolerate attitudes that push them into behaviors that won't serve them well the rest of their lives.
1
I think it is refreshing to see someone get past the specific and identify the universal problem that we face. Judge Kavanaugh may or may not be guilty but society had created an environment that dismissed such male behavior. I believe we are in a transition zone but things won't change overnight. I suspect we will see change as both a funtion of time and geography.
3
Anita Hill was 1991. That’s hardly overnight
3
Douglas Adams nailed it in Hitch Hikers Guide when he said the very people with the desire to hold power are by definition the least qualified to do so.
9
I gotta problem here. I'm a liberal, and I'm strongly opposed to Kavanaugh and the entire clique of Trump enablers in the republican party. But this article is all rumor and hearsay. It feeds into the right-wing narrative that all these people are just piling on to a made-up narrative. The obvious answer is to suspend judgement - in the public and in the senate - until a full FBI investigation is finished.
6
@Paul Kolodner
Our writer knew going in that all she had to work with were rumor, progressive ideology, and hearsay.
She made what she could of it, but if this piece was a banana split, it would look like a horse stepped in it. Not that there's anything wrong with horses....
Remember, we aren't handling facts here, any more than the Mueller Donor Team. We are only here to Destroy Trump and all who are associated with him.
Tuth is for the local papers.
1
Reading about these cruel, disgusting, arrogant, and presumptuous and abuses of power inclines me to be more than a little bit satisfied with my entire family's lifelong association with public education.
People from this world are far from perfect: sexual assault and other transgressions do indeed occur often on these campuses. But we sure as hell don't behave despicably as we lord our elitist upbringing over the rest of the world and impatiently demand a gig on the supreme court.
3
I can not disagree with the editorial summarizing what we have currently found out about the elitist past of Kavanaugh. But, haven't we sort of tolerated this behavior for a long time? It's not like the goings on at these universities haven't previously come out in the news after some student was hurt or killed consequential to the debauchery taking place. Yet, despite the alarm shown by the public, what have these institutions of higher education done to stop it? Why is the outdated and very elitist system of fraternities and sororities being allowed at all? They should be as extinct as the dinosaurs and the excessive partying and drinking should be treated more as a disease than an entitlement. We have to face that one of the reasons our government is in such poor condition is because of the distorted values taught to many of our highest officials. How many of our elected representatives in Congress had the same upbringing as Kavanaugh? Look the mess they've made because of their behavior. Once we are past this current controversy, we need to start demanding more accountability from any institution that is suppose to be educating our youth. If we don't, we face a future of more of the same childish, elitist behavior from our leaders.
548
In fairness, my university (granted it's in England not America) takes sexual assault more seriously now than it did 10 years ago from what I've gathered from conversations with people.
@Robert M. Why? Because many of those boys grow up to be powerful men, who pay it backwards to protect the behavior they themselves enjoyed growing up. School officials who might want to do something will quickly run up against immense pressure that most, frankly, will think not worth it to buck. These men LIKE the status quo, and have the power to maintain it.
I don't believe for a second that men like Hatch, McConnell, and Grassley don't think that the claims against Kavanaugh are probably true. And Gorsuch, as a G Prep alumnus. As we've seen for some time now, there is a coterie of Republican leaders who believe that the ends justify the means, and if the Constitution is an obstacle, stack the Court with justices who will twist it at need. If lies need to be told to the American people, even up to and through causing immense division in the electorate, then lie. "When we throw them a few bucks in a tax cut, or save a few jobs despite losing even more in the long run, they'll thank us and ignore the lies - or even propagate them to protect those few bucks." Cynical, but evidently true.
1
@Robert M.
The real issue is whether or not Kavanagh is nothing more than a partisan hack. Would he be able to follow the US Courts Code of Conduct for judges and be impartial? Nothing in his background shows that he can be impartial. Going on Fox News, of all places, should be the nail in the coffin. The entire nomination and confirmation process has highlighted that this has been a partisan battle over a very "partisan warrior."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/kavanaugh-s-tv-interview-was...
3
I don't know Kavanaugh and know nothing about Georgetown Prep. However, When I attended the University of Maryland in the 1960's I met plenty of guys/boys/men whose behavior seemed quite similar to the general toxic atmosphere being described by many. The kids I knew didn't go to prep schools. Most of them had been at high schools like Forest Park in Baltimore. Their behavior in college was learned in high school. Heavy drinking and things like gang-bangs were not unknown. Trying to get girls drunk in order to have sex was common. It was a toxic culture then and nothing about the current negative stories about the culture stretches credulity; they seem all too familiar. Many, probably most, went on to have "respectable" careers but I never thought that changed who they were.
3
It seems as though this type of behavior goes on, not only in fraternities, but sororities as well. I myself never attended a fraternity (or sorority). Both boys (men) and girls (women) are guilty of this behavior, just add liquor.
"this scandal has given us an X-ray view of the rotten foundations of elite male power."
There are women power elites. Nancy Brinker, head of Susan G. Komen,who cut out contributions to Planned Parenthood. Aung San Suu Kyi who supports Rohingya genocide. Melania Trump, who decided to marry Donald. Ivanka Trump, who has more conflicts of interest than anyone on planet earth. Then there is Sarah Palin, who is Sarah Palin, Stormy Daniels, who is Stormy Daniels, and Kirstjen Nelson a leading champion of zero tolerance.
I am confident that Ms. Goldberg is little concerned with the rotten foundations of elite female power. Misogyny is wrong and should be confronted and brought down. But anyone who is outspoken about misogyny and silent on females who are complicit in pervasive corruption, is a man hater, pure and simple.
3
@michjas
what simplistic dichotemy. And sad ,very sad deflection. Staying with the topic is encouraged in these comments This comment isn't even in the same state, much less the same ballpark.
3
Private Catholic boys high schools are notorious for producing some of the randiest creatures on earth. No surprise that Georgetown Prep was firmly in that tradition. Methinks the Kavanaugh lad doth protest too much! Another excellent and well-needed column, Ms. Goldberg, thank you.
3
@MickNamVet Those of us with fathers, brothers and children who attended private Catholic boys schools are dismayed at your pronouncement. Some of us would contest that.
Ironic that the resentment of Trump supporters doesn’t extend to products of elite DC prep schools and the Ivy league. Why should we have two justices from the same prep school? Why not one, perhaps female and from a minority group, from a small town township high school and a land-grant university? Someone who actually grew up in a community that better represents the cross section of America not defined by the privileged few? I know the answer of course and think of Bob Dylan’s great refrain: “Only a pawn in the game”
3
Regardless of what happens to Kavanaugh, however, this scandal has given us an X-ray view of the rotten foundations of elite male power.
This is the very heart of the matter in the Kavanaugh confirmation. Elite male power takes female objectification and subservience as a central tenet of its entitlement and privilege. Regardless of what actually happened, Kavanaugh was breast fed and weaned on this view of his place in the world, and this is the worldview he will bring to the Court if confirmed. Forced pregnancy and loss of access to birth control are simply means of accomplishing said objectification and subservience.
2
I'm surprised there are so few references to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and how she took care of a cancer-stricken husband, a 2 year old child, and still graduated at the top of her class when in Law School. It's enough to make you weep when you think about it--the tremendous devotion to her family, to her profession, and her integrity in all things. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, he's going to have a hard time looking anyone in the eye, especially RBG.
2
Their blocking of a proper investigation and their lack of interest in finding out the truth says it all.
Who would've thought that in this day and age they'd treat a woman worse than they treated Anita Hill?
The only bright spot is that they can't seem to help showing exactly who and what they are, right up to election day.
9
If he is as innocent as he declares, and appearing on Fox news of all things makes me lean more toward he is losing his credibility, then he should ask Trump and the Committee to have the FBI investigate Dr. Ford's allegation as she requested.
That is exactly what I would do to clear my name, exonerate myself, and move on. Otherwise, this allegation hangs over him and his family as a dark cloud.
2
Where is any reporting whatsoever on the responsibility of women in all of these accounts?
In an age of feminism and strong women, why is it that women are all portrayed as victims of powerful men? The deference that women are given by men is being "used" to avoid any responsibility whatsoever. A women who wore her diamonds in a crowded subway could never plead innocent if they were stolen. So why are sexy or non sexy women not held responsible for repeatedly putting themselves in compromising situations by getting drunk at frat parties where they know they are there with males with strong sex drives who are also drunk? The problems arising from these college "affairs" are well known, but since the women continue to participate, they cannot disclaim responsibility for nasty outcomes. They are trying to have it both ways which is impossible for a functioning society and is as bad as the conduct of the President.
Hollywood actresses who have sex for roles for which they are paid - which has aways been known as prostitution - are not victims. And they do not show courage by violating the agreements which they were paid and avoiding responsibility for their own voluntary actions. The truth is that they are as bad as the men who sell acting roles for sex - just on the other side of the transaction.
Reporting that masks these realities is fake news and a society that accepts them is out of control.
4
@Concerned Citizen. Sexual assault and rape are not due to 'strong sex drive' but rather are manifestations of the desire for domination, power, control. These impulses should be addressed.
In the words of MLK, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it ..."
And shame on all these men.
3
Michelle Goldberg describes men's behavior (or the behavior of many men) accurately. However, the piggishness of men isn't a solitary sickness. It's a subset of ills that plague society, and all of those ills stem from advantage -- the tall over the short, the beautiful over the plain, the slender over the obese, the monied over the poor, the strong over the weak... The tragedy is how advantage affects our lives. Clothes are designed for models, not people we pass on the street every day. Given two people (men or women) of equal intelligence, talent and experience, the one who's taller and more physically attractive gets the job. A person who can afford a high-priced lawyer prevails over the individual who's poorly represented in court. People with connections to those with position and power will progress farther than those without connections -- and that advantage will perpetuate itself from generation to generation as those interconnections multiply.
There seems to be no getting around the fact that people are born with or are given (by nature or by human intervention) advantages that have created those subsets. Piggishness is a sickness can't be cured, but it can be treated -- by isolating it and keeping it from infecting others. Brett Kavanaugh is a pig. He should be isolated from position where his sick nature might affect the lives of others. More specifically, the pig should not serve on the Supreme Court.
3
Where there is smoke...
Certain issues will continue to follow powerful men in their careers and sexual bad behavior is top of the list. Most assuredly Kavanaugh committed such acts as he has been accused of, there will be only he said/she said arguments, and the Good Old Boy Network will back him to the hilt because they have most likely done likewise or been present when their friends behaved as such. I realize how cynical this sounds but consider human behavior over eons of history and it cannot be denied.
Will this generation of younger, more savvy. voters be able to bring a better class of leader to the table? We can only hope they will be able to put out the fires of misogyny and class inequality.
3
mr. trump has one talent, indeed: he is the catalyst to bring up the dirt (you could also say the reality) in most of his men and women. that‘s what we all really need - less illusion, more reality.
and after...sweep away the dirt.
1
A lot of commenters here seem to think that the accusations against Kavanaugh must be proved in a court of law to kill his nomination. I would respectfully suggest that simple doubt about the character of a Supreme Court nominee is enough to disqualify him for a lifetime appointment.
7
My concern is that Kavanaugh is basically a "team player" that gets caught up with the enthusiasms of his friends, loses his independent judgement and does stupid things. This happened when he was in high school. It happened when he was working for Kenneth Starr and penned the set of explicit questions to be asked of President Clinton during the Lewinsky investigation. It also happened when he was in the White House and in charge of reviewing all of the legal documents involving "enhanced interrogation techniques". If Kavanaugh is confirmed, he will NOT be independent, but instead will continue to be a "team player" penning Supreme Court decisions advocated by the leaders of the Republican party regardless of their merits or lack of merit.
9
Blame it on the Bible: Patriachs made sure men won the war of the sexes by blaming the evil inflicted on men by Eve putting men in control.
Blame it on hypocrisy of flexible religions: The Sixth Commandment is fine if it protects your wife and daughter, but breakable when it is a man's advantage to help himself to the objects of his own sexual pursuit, heedless of the damage to others because it is his right to have at it/them/her. And then tell his tales of conquest.
Blame it on manners and role modeling by the rich and powerful: the plentiful accusations by women about their experience of molestation and sexual abuse by rich and powerful men reveal that objectifying women as sexual, abusive conquest is the norm among men and admired--as long as it is not your wife or daughter.
Blame it on all of us. If Kavanaugh really assaulted Dr Ford and his offenses are dismissed then that is a strong message to teens today validating the abuse of women as the norm and the right of men.
Our real values are on the line here. Not the values of flexible easy theologies of evangelical Christian power brokers; not the values of manipulative male Senators seeking gain at the cost of truth; not the values of our present time relying on lies for truth. Teaching our children sacred values are at stake. Immorality merited means our kids are free to join the pursuit of their game: women. This must not happen. But many people will act to disagree beginning with our dubious President.
As long as women elect and choose guys like Trump not much is going to change. Betsey DeVos,Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palen,and Nikki Haley along with millions of other women are strong supporters of these type of men. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have the power to stop this little piggy,but do they have the will to stand against their cohort.
As long as we let money dominate our democracy we can only vote and pray
11
Men use their male member as a weapon against women, and history has shown us the same tactics, over and over again. The classic description "Rape and Plunder", has always put the first act of violence first. Because it's the first weapon in the toolbox of male domination of anyone "weaker".
2
Republican senators objective in this saga is to appease and turn out the evangelical voters for the midterms. That's why they won't give in on Kavanaugh. Trump's objective, as always, is to safeguard himself. These two plain selfish objectives are conflating to expose the yucky underbelly of elite, privileged and entitled men. Universe has strange ways to course correct.
2
Exactly right. Thank you Michelle.
4
of course the game is rigged : men have made the rules for centuries to "keep women in their place", naked on the bed or cooking and cleaning for them.
then we finally gained equal access to schools based on merit, and are taking over. more female college grads than men, ditto for most professional schools. and with education comes financial independence : we can walk out on these creeps.
the last 30 years or so has been a giant male backlash against what began as access to equality in jobs and education. these coddled rich white guys think they hit a triple when they were actually born on 3rd base. we have to change this toxic culture, starting at the TOP. females are half the population, half the voters ; "let's do this"
6
Class has become a euphemism for money and in this country it will and does buy anything. There is no 'ruling class' but it sure sounds better than 'the rich', doesn't it?
3
Does anyone think these kids learn this behavior at a school? They learn it at home from mom and dad and their neighbors moms and dads. Which is probably why it is not recognized as repugnant. Just business as usual in the burbs.
He joined an all male 'society' as well as a fraternity? He definitely has issues!
5
LISTEN UP!!!
November 6, 2018. That's the date on which 33 senate seats, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 14 governorship's will be up for re-election. Put it on your calendar now and be prepared to be an informed voter. If you are worried, concerned, angry, disappointed about the direction the government is going this is the most effective way to make a change, stop complaining and start planning. Remember the president is only one cog in the government machine, and you can make effective change through voting for your local and state representatives, this is the check that can balance this situation. Pass it on…. I was told to pass this on so this people is very important. Be prepared.
3
Another thing: the future of fairness and decency in America will be determined by whether Kavanaugh is confirmed. Since 2000, Anthony Scali, worker's and women's rights, how can anyone be hopeful?
2
Based on recently released documents, Kavanaugh clearly lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee in both his confirmation hearings. A deceptive liar is not qualified to be a judge, let alone a Supreme Court justice. Impeach him and remove him from the Ninth Circuit.
7
I'm certain, in a country of 325 million people, that it is possible to find one person who is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land AND who won't be accused of sexual assault and of being a blackout drunk. Our country deserves better than Brett Kavanaugh.
13
"Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game. "
....and thus, we have Donald in the White House instead of Hillary.
8
"A man is known by the company he keeps."
What is truly horrible about so many of these comments is the fact that there has been no trial, no evidence, no Q&A under oath, yet, everyone has taken a side. This reminds me of Donald Trump's methods: State your opinion as a fact and hope that it's supported.
Our justice system is really at risk. If there should be a trial sometime, somewhere, could it ever be fair?
This is hysteria, a rush to judgment and it's not a good thing.
There are many fine people, on scholarship, not all white, not privileged at all, who attend these mentioned schools. They've all been painted with the same cheap brush. Shameful.
4
@josie8. It's not a trial, it's a job interview.
Kavanaugh's case opened the can of worms. Is this how the American ruling class is brought up? Seems his sense of entitlement is common to popular athletes at the expensive private all-boys high schools (Trump also went in one like that). Their culture is of grabbing what they please. What is, however, sadder is that it took so many years this comes out. His high school yearbook page with all its sexual innuendo was publicly available all this time, and nobody made anything of it: a rich white boy just being a rich white boy, I guess.
10
No matter how this Kavanaugh story ends, I feel sincere pity for his wife and daughters.
2
The man has spent his entire life strutting his privilege and currying favour with power, regardless of the damage he causes, destruction which may simply add a thrill to the tedium of his lickspittling. He likes a thrill apparently and exercising his contempt for women by attacking them through a reversal of Roe vs Wade is in the offing, the big one. He's moved on from mauling them drunkenly it seems.
He has shaped himself in the sanctimonious mould of the 'conservative' in order to best hide this fundamental depravity. Sound familiar? The idea that he will become a part of the Supreme Court is truly horrifying but so is the everything else about the Republican Party.
These women are truly courageous in the face of the withering barrage of hate that will be sent their way. They deserve our full support. I can only hope the truth will out and finally drag this man and his party down.
1
The author maybe correct about some of these things, but your a little late to the party. As usual, select outrage can belie hypocrisy.
The most horrifying thing is that there are women out there who have been gang raped by laughing fraternity members, whose memories have been deliberately clouded by alcohol, and have not yet (or cannot ever) come forward and have their revenge.
1
I grew up on the periphery of this kind of male culture, although my beer guzzling friends and I never gang raped girls at parties. My family wasn't rich enough for private schools and clubs. I knew it was horrid then as I do now.
But it is not just "association" between this entitled, abusive, misogynist behavior and subsequent success. It is "cause and effect." There was then, and is now, a language code, a set of alcohol choices, a set of "approved" fashion choices, that signal membership in this nationwide fraternity. Meeting these qualifications is a prerequisite for continued membership as the years go by. Brett Kavanaugh shows every single marker of this crude, entitled, male culture.
I have no doubt whatsoever that he was deeply mired in and committed to this social climbing elitism. It is why we have so many men in power who are now being taken down by #MeToo. They got where they are because, in part, of who they are.
It's also why I became and educator and shed every remnant of my once distant relationship with the frat boy world.
1
If Bret thinks we can`t judge him on actions from the 80`s because that was a different time and he has grown then how can he claim to be an originalist
His character witness is Donald Trump.
5
The boys will be boys mentality was in full force in the multiple fraternity houses that lined the lined streets of the college I went to These gracious stately mansions were the breeding ground for male entitlement. Raucus, boozy keg parties were the norm. So were sexual assault and harassment. These bastions of boys clubs filled with privileged white lads, smirking and high fiving one another, followed in the Brett Kavanaugh credo - what happened at Kappa Phi Delta stayed there. But it also stayed in my mind.Even decades later, college memories remain etched deeply in my psyche. Especially if like me you were sexually assaulted. More than once.
This was 45 years ago and yet once again because of Bret Kavanaugh we are reminded that boys will be boys. .It is still a get out of jail free card, a free pass meant to trivialize male behavior their entire life. https://wp.me/p2qifI-4l0
1
Really Ms. Goldberg?
None of this should be surprising! Absolutely none of it. Power corrupts morally, spiritually, and ethically. Please do not pretend shock. Case in point: George W Bush as president on merit? Yes, when merit is defined by the fraternity of wealth and power.
And, how are things in halls of power at the NYT.
As Owen would say, “It’s all made for television. Made for television.”
Gosh, I thought “Animal House” was a funny but fictional send-up of the northeastern-cultural corridor (I stole that phrase). But now it turns out the plot of the movie was stolen from true Ivy-League campus life? Well, the screenplay was written by a guy who attended Harvard, and before that a private Catholic prep school.
Does this mean I must take my photo of Doug Kenney off my fireplace mantle? I feel betrayed.
When I read about the whole prep school/frat culture, I am reminded of Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman", defending his caretaker young man. Privileged and entitled white boys grow up to become older privileged and entitled white boys. Does that sense of entitlement diminish after they leave college and become adults? I think not. They were groomed for it.
5
I don't know what's wrong with U.S. elite universities. I graduated from Cambridge University and never saw any of that nonsense, frats, forced sex and general depravity. It was all very civilized.
1
Incandescent rage that will fuel a profound change in the political setup that crushes women and minorities. Times Up!
4
In the Kavanaugh matter, the Republican Senators appear to be rank amateurs at conducting confirmation hearings. It is difficult to believe they are as inept as they appear to be. One can probably accurately conclude that they simply are not looking for the truth of the matter and are instead actively trying to hide the truth. The Republicans play dirty pool.
Everything about this latest Republican scandal is odious. From the attempted vilification of Prof. Ford, to the disgusting comments about Ms. Ramirez, our Republican Congress has shown its true colors--they are misognynists, all.
It is sickening to think of the attempts by our elected representatives to humiliate these women who are true heroes. And to think this nastiness is for a Supree Court candidate who is far from distinguished. Our elected members of congress are no more mature and ethical than a group of high school kids bullying a fellow student who is new, or handicapped, or comes from a different race.
12
@Elizabeth Bennett Many of the members of congress and their Democratic constituents still in fact believe that Al Franken got a raw deal when he groped women. Of course, we had visual proof of that. Bill Clinton survived many accounts ranging from sexual assault to sexual harassment to having an inappropriate relationship and still won the White House and avoided being thrown out via impeachment. There were also those that backed Anthony Weiner on his slow descent into oblivion. We actually do not know much about the a Kavanagh case but what we apparently do know is that only Republicans would dare to defend someone accused of sexual improprieties, right?
1
I'm a guy, and I went to a privileged boy's school with privileged boys and I never, ever, knew anyone as crass and horrid-seeming as Kavanaugh. Not even close. People got drunk, people got expelled, and of course we were as silly and inane as all teenagers are. What is described is far more than silly and inane. This is disgraceful behaviour, and yes, my blood boils at the grotesque hypocrisy of it all. And it isn't only women who should be furious, in my view. Any decent man who has any moral fibre at all ought to be lining up to throw rotten tomatoes (metaphorically). This rank ~ yes, I mean stinky ~ loading of the Supreme Court must be halted before American Justice becomes a joke, or, honestly, worse: an American tragedy.
5
That any of your editorial is news to anyone is baffling. The Good Ol' Boy network is particularly strong in prep schools.
3
Well said. She speaks truth to all. Now, what will you all do??
Vote!!
Get out and support your candidate.
6
Let us take this down a minute.
Parents sent their son to a prep-school straight from the pages of C.S. Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters”.
The same son is one day nominated to the bench of the highest court. He is so nominated by another man who has bragged about his own sexual misuse of women; misuse which the son is now accused.
The son is protected by another man who unjustly carefully kept the position on the court open for someone who represents the decision of the 2016 election, a decision which went, by voters count, against both the nominator and the protector.
By all means, we should place this son on the Supreme Court where he can . . . well the ‘Christian’ evangelicals will be happy.
Lord have mercy.
1
@whe Evangelicals cannot stand to see that Millennials, men and women, have the option to live happily without marriage and/or children and religion and that many are doing so.
1
if the Republicans stick together as they apparently will, Kavanaugh will get his seat no matter what he did, no matter how many times he lied, no matter what the accusers, the protesters, or the Democrats do. No surprise that our serial groper-in-chief still supports his nomination. Kavanaugh of course will be a partisan hack dedicated to helping corporations and the rich exploit workers, despoil the environment and mislead consumers as well as helping the theocrats impose their cruel views on all. The only downside for him is that he can't help knowing a substantial chunk of the American people regard him contemptuously as a loathsome liar.
1
Good for You!
Michelle Goldberg is calling this class of human males exactly what it is Pigs because they have been petted their entire life into believing that they are special and above the law of normalcy and decency. May the Supreme Court of the United States begin to recognize this distinction and deal with it appropriately.
5
Kavanaugh clearly does not have the character to sit on the highest court in the land, Georgetown Prep or not. And not to get too picky here, but shouldn't Supreme Court Justices be held to some minimum standards of dental hygiene?!!
4
Time to stop using all disparaging animal metaphors. Pigs are intelligent animals w highly elaborate systems of communication. They can in no way resemble our "rotten ruling class."
3
Lost in all this angst, all this whine, is the simple fact that we're imposing a cultural time-shift and considering events out of their proper time context. By analogy: when I was a kid, Christopher Columbus was the hero who discovered the New World. From our current time now, however, he's viewed more as a genocidal pariah. But I would challenge you to find another explorer from the 15th Century who would have done things any differently. Columbus, like it or not, was a product of his time and culture.
Similarly Kavanaugh's behavior as a young man, whilst reprehensible from the adult and 21st century #MeToo view, must be considered in the time in which it took place. It was on the heels various "liberation" movements, Feminist, Gay, what have you as well as the "sexual revolution" that championed more "open sex" than relationship fidelity. Throw in testosterone laden "alpha" males, each wanting to outdo the other, whether in actual deed or mere braggadocio, add alcohol and yeah, in retrospect it wasn't pretty.
However, the more important question to be asking than "did this occur?" is "is it still happening?" Back then the drinking age was 18, so getting access to booze at 17 was far easier than it is now with the age at 21. Things got a lot less rowdy in this college town when the age and better ID checking went up. I'm sure this has been for the benefit of any would-be future Kavanaughs who might still be of the testosterone alpha male type.
3
I have read of 3 cases this week in which a sexual predator has received no jail time for a brutal sexual assault/rape on a woman/teen. Texas, Alaska, Virginia. This is today’s GOP. This is Kavanaugh. Do women really have no value as productive members of society to the GOP? The Senate had better not confirm Kavanaugh, but whether it does or not, he has to go, even if it has to be impeachment. The GOP is done and they are pulling as many scams, awarding favors and picking pockets even as they are about to be shown the door.
5
I went to parties my first year of college but I never forced myself on anyone. These men are sociopathic. Thank you Ms. Goldberg, and for all the women were speaking out against these kind of people.
11
Here we go again, the umpteenth story from Michelle bashing the ruling class males directly and all men indirectly.
Let's go over it again Michele:
Sexual harassment/assault has been outlawed since app. 1980. Before that it was de facto legal. Since then countless women have complained, sued and won their cases. I know I saw many in my company.
The way to stop a predator in their tracks is not to wait 20 yrs. to complain, only complain when the roles or advancement stop, cover for predators who contribute to feminist causes and worst start the sexual activity.
If you do the above, you get what you have now, every period of time you get a witch hunt ranging from innocent men getting convicted to predators like Trump going scott free.
If you have moderates running the show instead of predators and feminists you will have the best chance of getting justice in a timely, fair manner and the best chance of nipping the predator in the bud ASAP.
9
In an ideal world, women would be given the benefit of the doubt when reporting a rape. All too often, when a case goes to trial, the woman is raked over the coals, her behavior and dress criticized, or her memory or sanity impugned. Given that rape is already a traumatic experience, it is hardly astounding that a woman will choose not to set herself up for additional attacks and vilification. It is victimization times two - first, when she is attacked, and second, when she is tried, for make no mistake - she will end up being the one on trial, though the culprit may be sitting on the defense's side of the courtroom. Worse, the molestation usually occurs with only her attacker present, and if there is no DNA evidence (or the rape kit sits in some storeroom, never to be processed), the rapist is secure in the knowledge that it will be his word against hers and the presumption of innocence in our justice system (a good idea, by the way) works in his favor.
Let's not forget the current case of the woman who was assaulted time and again by her congressional representative father. Although she complained to many authority figures and HER OWN MOTHER was witness to some of the incidents, she was never believed and gaslighted by being told by her family that there was nothing wrong with her father's behavior.
There are too many cases to cite, but this, in a nutshell, is why most women don't come forward. Pigs all the way down, indeed.
1
@Leonardo Recall the Brock Turner (Stanford athlete) who was convicted of assaulting an unconscious woman. In this case there were two witnesses and physical evidence. This man was sentenced to only a few months in jail - the sentencing judge was a Stanford grad himself, who was 'concerned about the young man's future'.
@Cal- You can also point to cases admittedly uncommon maybe 5-10% of the time where the man get falsely accused, just like this is uncommon.
In the great majority of cases if the woman reports it right away at the very least, the abuse stops or at least should leave if all else fails but if not she stands a good chance at justice if she complains.
The point being there is no reason except for a minor or immigrant woman not to report it anymore. If you do not you are co depending and/or enabling the predator.
They live for that.
1
Michelle — your writing demonstrates how important it is to have a female point of view. And more of them. All journalists should be talking more about the ruling class and less about the elites. The term elites suggest “better than.” Ruling class is more accurate.
The most serious part of Michelle’s analysis pertains to “the rotten ruling class.” So many in our society admire the ‘lovable clown’ at parties, the guy who easily schmoozes with everyone. Doesn’t matter if they know anything; they know the right people. And those people will overlook the peccadillos of members of their circle because, well, they are cut from the same cloth. It’s a frat-boy mentality, that extends generation to generation, in which actual seriousness of thought and love of learning take a back seat to success. Michelle is correct: if our society is resting on these rotten foundations, we are in deep trouble.
519
@Ockham9
Uh, Our society is resting on such a rotten foundation. We are just beginning to face up to the deepest of deep problems.
TRUMP and his nominees represent America.
They're not an aberration.
Our families and social institutions cannot survive the onslaught of reality if they continue to cling to old ways and norms.
1
We are in deep trouble, no doubt about it!
@Ockham9 GWB was the loveable clown, the drunk cocaine using legacy C-level student in the same DKE notorious frat as Kavanaugh. We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan. The public pays big for these clowns to do as they wish.
What known and is beyond dispute, based on Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook page and membership in a notorious fraternity and secret society, is that he was affiliated with and supportive of debauchery and misogyny.
This makes the current allegations more credible and worthy of proper investigation.
And, instead of winking to Senators about boys being boys, for the sake of his daughters, he needs to acknowledge how ugly and wrong that cultural milieu is.
8
When I was in my twenties I attended a wedding at the Harvard Club in Boston. We were seated at one of those huge round tables with others who were more or less the same age. As we went around the table, people introduced themselves. Oddly they all said what college they attended - "I'm so-and-so. Yale, '72" or "Princeton, '69". When it was my turn I said my name along with,"Northern Michigan University, '72". Well, that was it for me. The class lines were drawn. Nobody spoke to me for the rest of the night. Clearly, one of the common rabble managed to sneak int the building. In the midwest and the west the class system of America is a little less visible, but along the east coast it's hard lines are as well drawn as a gerrymandered congressional district. I point all of this out because with the events of the past few years - Tea Party, the Electoral College throwing elections, FOX News, and Trump the illusion of democracy in America is becoming both a memory, and an obvious sham. This country wants to grow for the sake of its citizens. America wants to change for everyone. Most Americans disagree with our current government, but the are silenced by the elite who hold the cards. Democracy, real democracy, accepts change and growth. Having leaders who fix the books, who lie, who feel they deserve things because they are somehow better, ain't how it works. Please vote in November to toss these jerks out on their silver spoons. Let's really make America great.
50
@Michael Kennedy
East coast elites are almost all liberal. Your effort stunk.
@Walter Bally Have you ever been to the Harvard Club? Do you personally know any 'east coast elites'? I have and I do, and I can assure you that they are a long way from being liberal.
I want to see Kavanaugh and his accusers testify under oath before the senate committee. If their testimony is contradictorary, then one of them is lying. Let the FBI investigate and make a determination, if it is possible to do so. It may not be possible to figure out who is lying now, but perhaps additional information will emerge in the future. If it does, there’ll be sworn testimony to apply it to.
13
I would like to see those male members of the committee demoralized and frightened as Dr Blasey and other victims have been. Only then will they understand the deep marks that experience will make on one’s psyche.
1
All the people named in Ms. Ford's allegations, with one exception, have submitted statements to the Senate Committee. These statements subject these individuals to perjury charges if proven false. The exception? That would be Ms. Ford. She has yet to submit a 'sworn' version of her allegations. Hmmmmm.
...and let’s not forget that Sen. McConnell promised confirmation regardless of any testimonies received...
I believe that the company one chooses to keep in high school, college, graduate/law school and during a career is a reliable marker into that person's moral center, and a guidepost into one's ethical values.
I grew up in New York City and went to high school in the 1960s. There were alcohol-fueled parties, sure. Drug activity, check. Questionable student sexual behavior, you bet.
There are always choices. I chose not to hang with students who were comfortable in those circles, because I clearly was not. I was not a purist, I just found the students who got drunk, or high, or had innumerable sexual liaisons not to be my kind of people. I still don't.
Brett Kavanaugh made his choices in high school and later, at an Ivy League college, and now has to answer for them, because he is asking to be appointed to the Supreme Court for a lifetime appointment.
Where there's smoke, there's fire. All of the women can't be lying.
28
The temptations of power and entitlement are at the core of all abuses. While in college, in the 50s, I had to accompany a friend to a meeting with her professor because he was a well known “fanny patter” if you were alone. He later became a famous novelist whose work became movies. My grand daughter, in her professional life, had disgusting and lewd messages put on her computer by older, male colleagues in a time when there was little recourse.
At least we are talking.
9
This is not to say that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh are not true, but what a lot of women may not appreciate is that there is a particular culture of masculinity in high schools, more or less intact even today, where peer pressure makes it almost essential that the boys act as if they not only look down on girls, but get laid far more often than their most detailed fantasies could ever imagine. In this culture, it is imperative for boys to behave like 'studs,' to look at girls as 'layable' or not, and to treat less attractive girls with contempt--even if they actually like the girls in question. This corrosive culture is well-documented in adolescent comedies, and continues to linger for boys well into their manhood. Kavanaugh may very well be the virgin he insists he is, and he actually might have done the things these women say he has done, but this doesn't mean he either enjoyed it or even wanted to do it. A lot of boys get caught up in this misogynist culture either as unwitting 'followers' to maintain their 'in' status in one particular clique, or get pressured into going well and beyond what they would do on their own or with the right guidance. A deeply ingrained and developmentally stunted display of male hormones at play, and the unintended consequences of wanting to be seen as attractive by your peers and, by extrapolation, in some twisted way, by the opposite sex.
1
Most powerful appointments go to those from the Ivy league schools. These schools accept federal dollars but use an opaque selection where by they restrict Asians and other non white people using a facade of diversity. WSJ research indicated that Affirmative action is supposedly to favor Blacks and Hispanics but in reality it helps white men. Even the Supreme court said this is OK. No one should be surprised if Kavanaugh once elected perpetuates the culture by not banning race as a criteria that benefits white men from privileged backgrounds. Imagine what would happen if Asians are not restricted, how many less White men would have to make do with tier 1 and tier 2 Universities.
Brett Kavanaugh could take one simple step to resolve doubts about his moral standards: Call for a full FBI investigation of all allegations against him.
2
AS A PSYCHOLOGIST It is my personal opinion that the yearbook in which Kavanaugh had been involved contains detailed descriptions of the shared sexual fantasies of sports team members about their conquests, real or imagined, with girls, willing or unwilling. This is powerful evidence not only of Kavanaugh's state of mind, but of the sports team culture where there was a common sense of viewing sexual activities with females as aggressive and competitive. The contents of the yearbook where Kavanaughs' fantasies are described, naming individual girls, give clear proof that he viewed sexual relations with women as involving aggression, if not violence. That was how others on the football team described it. Judge, Kavanaugh's drunken accomplice with Ford, had spoken about his pattern of forcing himself on females seeking to have sex without their consent. In my personal opinion, the case is open and shut. Kavanaugh seems to have had a state of mind regarding his sexual fantasies, in which he viewed women as objects to be conquered against their will. So did other members of the team. Given these facts, the accounts of being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh are entirely credible, if not positively confirmed. If he wishes to salvage any reputation whatever, Kavanaugh would do well to withdraw from candidacy for the supreme court. He'll be lucky to hold on to his job as an appeals circuit judge when all this is over. May he retire in peace and enjoy his remaining days.
8
@John Jones Very good point. If Kavanaugh did not engage in sexual assault, why would he associate with someone that did? And bragged about it.
"A man is known by the company he keeps." --Aesop.
Judge Kavanaugh just wants things to go his way and he wants people like the writer to go away. I have said it before, there's nothing like a respected, well educated and articulate woman to put the fear into the good ole' boys club. They going to go all, "Circle up the wagons on you." They are still depending on tactics that worked when there were wagons to circle up. The privileged few aren't going to release there given place in the world without a lot of huffing and puffing. Their's is a lost cause. There is no way they will be able to blow down the house that women have built. It might take a few decades to remove the last vestiges (death and jail sentences will do the trick) of them from this land. Then there's a whole world out there waiting to be brought up to speed.
8
Thank heaven I attended a women's college! Too bad they're all going co-ed now.
2
I just watched the Kavanaugh interview on Fox "News." Kavanaugh had the audacity to claim that there would have been alcohol at parties that he attended only because some seniors were 18 years old and legally allowed to possess it. This level of misdirection must call into question his willingness to be truthful in all of his other claims. He won't even face up to his underage illegal drinking, for which there is overwhelming evidence. Further, the drinking is key to all the other problems associated with his so-called "socializing." This man is a practiced liar. Period.
38
@Paul Central CA, age 59 Who bought the beer when you were in high school?
Let's be honest. If he gains a seat on the Supreme Court, the nation will have Justice Blutarsky.
4
Clearly this last year or so has shown that men, in most cultures, perhaps, simply do not consistently get censored, corrected and/or punished for abusive acts towards women. High achieving, "high minded" educated men with advanced educational backgrounds and a record of real humanitarian contributions to society, are no exception. When men are not brought to justice for these acts, then we get this "What? What did I do?" response. "Oh, that was kids' stuff, we were just fooling around" --in the cases of youthful indiscretions. But we have seen so many cases of "mature adult" men committing outrages even during their distinguished careers (see Charlie Rose, Garrison Keillor, Matt Lauer, Bill Cosby, et al.) As a long-time professional observer of human behavior (Licensed Professional Counselor in MO) it is clear to me how often men live with personal behaviors that contradict the values they claim to have. What will it take to change the sense of entitlement most men have towards women? What will it take to make amends? MUCH. Very Much. Progressives, of many stripes, to be sure, are in the majority of voters as a whole. But not by much, as the 2016 election shows. It is unfortunate that both political parties depend on so many uninformed, sectarian voters. Classical liberal thinkers are not in the majority in the USA, but neither are classical conservatives thinkers. So each side must appeal to the supporters who are so strictly partisan--the real Majority.
5
Everyone is entitled to an opinion but opinions like this are based on subjectively biased speculations and putative conclusions rather than facts. It disgusts me when people that claim to value truth value their biased impressions more than facts. Things like "a claim Chua denies" but you believe. Defaming Kavanaugh not because of any facts regarding his conduct, if any even exists with respect to the sexual assault allegations, because of his association with others and because you don't like his political philosophy.
You should know better than to spew such unsubstantiated opinions without, you know, uhm, hard facts rather than inklings.
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Kavanaugh sounds like an extremely immature young adult by these exploits. Among other things....
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My gut tells me that something happened to Prof. Ford, but it probably wasn't BK. I would never insist I am certain, and anyone (yes, you Sen. Hirono) who insists they know is partisan, delusional or plain biased. Their certainty means nothing. No, most women do not make this stuff up. As a young man I was surprised how many female friends told me they were assaulted on dates. But, some do and in no way does it mean that Prof. Ford's memory from 30+ years ago is accurate. I shake my head all the time at the memories of acquaintances that are sincere, but I know altered to make them feel better. You could, of course, argue that they remember rightly and I am wrong, and that's fine. It's the point. Don't be sure that Ford is right or wrong just b/c she is a woman or BK a man or you are a D or R.
Like many of my male friends my age, I realize the flirting and consensual romancing I engaged in at work when I was young (including with the woman who would become a permanent relationship) would today be considered by some as wrongful. I am truly sorry for many young people today living through this bonfire of the vanities as I am for any woman who is harassed or assaulted. If a young BK did these things, it was wrong. But, I would not hold them against the grown man. Few would if it were their friend? Even some very liberal friends have told me they do not really care - it's about Garland, Trump and Roe, just as it is for the pols.
Like most things political, it's all phony.
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Yes, it was wrong 35 years ago. Lying about it today - in not one but three (and counting) cases - makes the accusations very contemporary and significant. A lie does not cease to be a lie because the facts are 35 years old.
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As a sophomore at Amherst College , I was sort of driven into joining a fraternity, because the college provided woefully few other housing options and social life on campus spun around them. Of all the fraternities at Amherst then, DKE was the most notorious 'animal house' of them all, and there and at other fraternity parties, I saw, heard and witnessed things that were truly revolting. Some of the frat boys I new eventually evolved into decent men later in life, but Kavanaugh's pugnacity in the face of the exhumation of his past and his legal record indicate this this is clearly not the case with him. And unfortunately, his attitudes are completely pervasive among white-male GOP members of his generation. He has no business on the Supreme Court whatsoever, and the GOP as a party needs a huge intervention to exorcise it of its misogyny, racism, homophobia, antisemitism, elitism, all of which pivot around a white supremacist compass.
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@Former New Yorker
I too went to Amherst College and I also witnessed the caddish behavior you reference - Animal House if you will. But to weaponized this in such a way to condemn an entire group of people because of their political affiliation is not only indefensible, it is downright bigoted. Go tell the Kopechne family or the Lewinsky family that all of your isms and pervasive within and limited to the GOP and I think that you will get a strong argument to the contrary. And, by the way, our alma mater, where you witnessed such behavior and encountered such attitudes is widely recognized as a bastion of liberalism - hardly a GOP stronghold. You sir, or madam, and your polemics are part of the problem.
This is precisely what we call a "rape culture," and it persists long after the men have left campus. The radical feminists of the 1970s have long been mocked for calling it out. I hope everyone who is discovering rape culture for the first time will take a moment to acknowledge the women who have tried to name and denounce it.
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How many of Georgetown Prep's grads are on Catholic hospital boards ready to punish women by denying access to science based medical care? Abuse institutionalized. There is a story of the NYTimes research department. I want to know where this social circle around Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas are and how they use that influence on the rest of us, particularly women. Who goes to those cocktail parties, golf courses, and attends those private schools?
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@poslug As long as there are public hospitals this should not be a problem, right?
Amy Chua’s daughter was selected to clerk for Kavanaugh. I guess being a tiger mom pays off. I’m sure it has nothing to do with having the right connections.
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Michelle Goldberg says: "His story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges. Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game."
I say: watch the you tube videos that show a loser walk up to a pretty women and he gets brushed off when he asks for a date ...then he starts to get into his Porsche or Lambo and she suddenly gets all interested and wants to date him!
Is it ok for a women to marry a guy she doesn't love just for his money ??
@Peter One of the best kept secrets is that money isn’t the aphrodisiac it’s cracked up to be. There are plenty of rich men who can’t get a date. Also, plenty of rich men marry women they don’t love for their looks. Then they dump them as soon as their looks fade. Harvey Weinstein, et al engaged in predatory behavior because they felt entitled to have women fall all over them because of their wealth and power, only to find out that they didn’t. The great majority of women don’t marry men we don’t love for the money.
I don't remember a lot of Democrats calling for Bill Clinton's resignation after Paula Jones came forward with her story of indecent exposure. Rather, "Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find," seems to have been the common response for most Democrats.
And this was well before Lewinsky, which ultimately led to perjury and impeachment. Just the Paula Jones accusation alone seems sufficient to most people now calling for Brett Kavanaugh's withdrawal. What's changed?
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For me, this also defines how race affects how we view the actions of young men. Black adolescents are not given boys-will-be-boys treatment when they transgress. They are prosecuted as adult felons. And I'm sure Judge Kavanaugh will be the first to affirm the convictions of young black men.
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Listen to Judge Kavanaugh in his interview with Fox News's Martha MacCallum and his act – the man doth protest too much – strikes you with a gale force wind. He repeatedly used a stock answer, “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or otherwise,” in response to different questions where that answer seemed like a deflection. He also repeatedly said, “I’m just asking for a fair process,” without realizing the irony that his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, is being denied one – because Republican leaders refuse to let her allegations be investigated by the FBI. Then there was his repeated insistence, “I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect.” It just felt like he was protesting his innocence too much – the virginity claim, ouch – just as a third accuser was being teed up. The forecast for Jude Kavanaugh is cloudy with a chance of free fall.
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The Bottom Line: Kavanaugh is not the type of person Americans want on their Supreme Court!
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Well said. Thanks for the pig update. Your writing is spectacular and both fun and interesting to read. Keep it coming.
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