You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.

There seems to be no Republican consensus on how to respond to Ford’s testimony.

Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty

After a morning where Christine Blasey Ford by a general consensus, shared even by Fox News anchors, gave credible testimony supporting her allegation of sexual assault, Republican politicians were left with the quandary of how this should affect their support of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Three Republican governors of states that are either heavily Democratic (Massachusetts, Maryland) or heavily contested by the two parties (Ohio) came out in favor of delaying the nomination:

Conversely, South Carolina Lyndsey Graham held fast to his strong support for Kavanaugh. “Hiring a lawyer and taking a polygraph makes me more suspicious,” Graham told reporters. He added that Ford “can’t say how she got (to the party) and how she left.”

Trying to rally wavering Republicans, Graham argued that defending Kavanaugh was crucial to saving the nomination process. “Let me put it this way to my Republican colleagues: If this becomes the new standard where you have an accusation for weeks, you drop it right before the hearing you withhold from the committee a chance to do this in a professional timely fashion when they say they’re going to do this is, to delay the vote, get the Senate back in 2018 so they can fill the seat, I don’t want to publicly reward that kind of behavior,” Graham argued. “I think we’ve been very fair. And to my Republican colleagues: If you can ignore everything in this record, an allegation that’s 35 years old, that’s uncertain in time place date and no corroboration—if that’s enough for you, God help us all as Republicans, because this happens to us, but this never happens to them. Let me tell my Democratic friends: If this is the new norm, you better watch out for your nominees.”

Graham also added bizarrely that “Dr. Ford is just as much a victim as Brett Kavanaugh.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn said, “I found no reason to find her not credible.”

The most inappropriate reaction came from Utah Senator Orrin Hatch:

Logo

Independent journalism matters

×

Ads help fund our journalism. Please disable your ad blocker so that we can continue striving to be the most influential magazine in Washington, D.C., with our breaking news coverage, in-depth political features, and much more.

Continue without disabling

Choose your Ad Blocker

  • Adblock Plus
  • Adblock
  • Adguard
  • Ad Remover
  • Brave
  • Ghostery
  • uBlock Origin
  • uBlock
  • UltraBlock
  • Other
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click the large blue toggle for this website
  3. Click refresh
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock icon
  2. Under "Pause on this site" click "Always"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Adguard icon
  2. Click on the large green toggle for this website
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ad Remover icon
  2. Click "Disable on This Website"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the orange lion icon
  2. Click the toggle on the top right, shifting from "Up" to "Down"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ghostery icon
  2. Click the "Anti-Tracking" shield so it says "Off"
  3. Click the "Ad-Blocking" stop sign so it says "Off"
  4. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock Origin icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the UltraBlock icon
  2. Check the "Disable UltraBlock" checkbox
  1. Please disable your Ad Blocker
  2. Disable any DNS blocking tools such as AdGuardDNS or NextDNS

If the prompt is still appearing, please disable any tools or services you are using that block internet ads (e.g. DNS Servers).