Go Fuck Yourself, Lindsey Graham

What else can we say?

Once upon a time, Lindsey Graham used to prosecute rapists. In fact, he wrote some moving words in his very own autobiography all about how hard he knew it was for victims to testify, and even how hard it was for them to remember every single exact fact about such an experience.

Via McClatchy :

"I learned how much unexpected courage from a deep and hidden place it takes for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailants," the South Carolina Republican wrote in his 2015 autobiography.

"Trying to get a scared, confused, little kid or young woman who feels the best part of her life is over to recall a memory that their every psychological impulse is trying to suppress is not something you forget," he continued. "It has stayed with me ever since."

Alas, judging by the way Graham has acted during and after Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, it isn't "staying with him" so much these days!

It certainly wasn't staying with him when Graham attempted to defend Kavanaugh by stating that he is not Bill Cosby. Which, sure, makes total sense. Surely, as a prosecutor for JAG, were he to have had to try a murderer, he would have accepted "Uh, I just murdered one person -- it's not like I'm Ted Bundy or anything!" as a valid defense.

It certainly wasn't "staying with him" when he spoke to reporters outside the hearing this morning!

#WATCH: Lindsey Graham comes out of Ford hearing swinging, defending Kavanaugh, and warning Democrats... “If this… https://t.co/N5ze1hN5yN

— Cyrus Toulabi (@Cyrus Toulabi) 1538069140.0 

Is Graham suggesting that, because Kavanaugh (unlike most accused sex predators) denies the allegation, and because lots of ladies have nice things to say about him, and because Christine Blasey Ford could not remember the exact date of her assault 36 years ago, that the whole thing is some kind of farcical political game that the Democrats are playing in order to keep the vote for Kavanaugh from happening until the midterm elections? Because, given the GOP's treatment of Merrick Garland, seems a wee bit like projection.

He also said, referring to Democrats "If this is the new norm, you better watch out for your nominees."

This may sound crazy to Lindsey Graham, but we actually do not want to elect or appoint attempted rapists, regardless of their ideology. We think rape is bad, across the board, no matter which political party the rapist belongs to. I would like to think that if Alternate Universe President Hillary Clinton had appointed someone to the Supreme Court, who was then credibly accused of attempted rape, we wouldn't even be having these hearings in the first place. Because the nomination would have been swiftly withdrawn. If there were an Alternate Universe situation in which Democratic politicians were going around making every possible excuse for said attempted rapist, we would not be too happy about that, either! If you don't want to have your nominees Borked for sexual misconduct, a simple solution is to not nominate sexual predators! 

Following that interview, Graham was approached by activist and rape survivor Robyn Swirling, founder of the anti-sexual harassment organization Works In Progress , who told him that she was raped and did not remember the date. His warm, heartfelt response? "I'm sorry, but then you should go to the cops."

Graham's great empathy for victims of sexual assault continued to not stay with him during his next interview, in which he yelled that he felt ambushed, saying, "I don't know who paid for her polygraph, but somebody paid for it."

Following Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, Sen. Lindsey Graham says he feels "ambushed." "Here's what I'm mo… https: //t.co/oNOmHGcG2d

— ABC News (@ABC News) 1538072687.0 

If the Senator should had paid better attention during Dr. Ford's testimony, he'd have heard her lawyers state on the record that they themselves paid for her polygraph test. Perhaps he was distracted trying to figure out how to paint this whole thing as a sinister plot by fallen Democrat women to keep a man they don't trust to make decisions that affect them and their bodies off the Supreme Court.

Here he is, at it again with that "God help anyone else who gets nominated" line.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: "That's the facts I'm left with: A nice lady who has come forward to tell a hard story that's… https://t.co/h5gQp8t7p6

— ABC News Politics (@ABC News Politics) 1538075185.0 

So what is it, exactly, that he's getting at here? Because if he doesn't believe that Dr. Blasey is telling the truth -- if he truly believes this is all some false accusation -- he must be insinuating that if Republicans do not get their way, they will find their own false accusers to torment Democratic judicial nominees. Is that what he's saying? Because it sure sounds like it!

Has the Senator really thought this one through? What if someone was actually sexually assaulted by a Democratic president's nominee to the Supreme Court? Are we now supposed to discount all allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against Democratic politicians because the Republican Senator from South Carolina pre-admitted in front of god and everyone else that the GOP plans to take revenge on the Democrats for Brett Kavanaugh's spectacular flameout? Really?

And, not for nothing, but which party is it that continues to nominate and elect sexual predators? Maybe the reason sexual misconduct allegations keep getting leveled against GOP candidates and nominees has less to do with Democrats and more to do with deep rot inside the Republican party.

In conclusion, Lindsey Graham can go fuck himself. Hard.

[ McClatchy ]

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