JamishT wrote:This whole thing has been quite the mess.
I've seen some stink raised about the letter that Senator Grassley (I think) got signed by about 65 women who knew Kavanaugh back then, making it sound like it's impossible/suspicious for it to have been put together as quickly as it was.
The electronic signature thing seems to be the key misconception with that letter. I get the sense that people are hearing "letter signed by 65 women" and assuming that Kavanaugh's team produced a
physical letter like that on the same day Ford went public, which would indeed be weird as hell unless they saw this coming.
On the other hand, just because a person has a good reputation doesn't make them innocent either.
Yeah, to clarify what I said earlier, Kavanaugh's reputation is certainly affecting the public reaction, but while I think that's justified to some degree, when it comes to the question of his objective guilt the problem is that supposedly fine, upstanding people commit private acts of sexual violence all the time. Human garbage fires who treat everyone like crap probably commit sex crimes more often, but they don't have a monopoly on them.
What I don't know is why some are wanting the FBI to investigate. I don't know why the FBI would have jurisdiction, and I don't know what exactly they'd investigate. What we seem to have is a 35 year old account of a drunken party. I don't know what concrete evidence can be uncovered, because there's no video, no physical evidence from that night, and it's literally a she-said-he-said thing.
I don't know why the FBI would have jurisdiction over a sexual assault in Maryland either. Even if the party occurred over in DC I would think the Capitol Police would have jurisdiction.
As for what would be investigated, the suggestion I've heard is to try to locate other attendees of the party and interview them. Somehow I doubt that relying on a 50-year-old's recollection of a drunken high school party will persuade many who aren't convinced by Ford's testimony, though.
Also, when people point out that the accuser passed a polygraph, I'd remind them that Roy Moore also passed one.
Surely Cracked readers already know not to trust "lie detectors"?
"If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them; but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn