As we await next week’s sentencing of Bill Cosby, our media is fraught with stories about sexual manipulation and its aftermath. Right now, the whole Brett Kavanaugh thing is foremost in our minds, and is so for a variety of important reasons.

Much of the focus comes from the unimpeachable fact that, morally and ethically, Judge Kavanaugh is somewhere to the right of Caesar. He believes the President has near absolute powers that go far, far beyond those suggested in our Constitution. In fact, his statements negate the reasons for the first American Revolution, the one where Americans risked death and committed an act of treason by rebelling against the king of England.

George Washington refused to accept levels of power that do not go as far as those advocated by Judge Kavanaugh. The judge thinks the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court that forced Richard Nixon to comply with the lawful subpoena that made Nixon surrender the White House secret tapes, thereby bringing his presidency to an end, to have been a big mistake. Even some folks on the far right gulped at that one.

He has a lifetime of utterances that state the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision also was wrong and should be reversed. Once he, himself, was nominated for the Supreme Court he told some concerned people that he regarded that decision as “settled law.” Hardly anybody believes this: he still enjoys the enthusiastic support of those who are committed to ramming their religious views down the throats of all Americans. Besides, if he’ll lie to Congress – which is a felony – then he’ll lie to a bunch of liberal chicks who just happen to be members of Congress.

And now he’s the subject of a complaint from a woman who claims to have been subject to unwanted groping and attempted rape while a teenager from an equally young Brett Kavanaugh. His defenders believe this is bullshit for several reasons: why would he lie about stuff that won’t put him in prison due to the statues of limitations, this whole thing happened several decades ago so WTF, this whole thing happened several decades ago and the complainant waited all that time until Judge Kavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court, everybody was drunk at the time so WTF, and, hey, the complainant wasn’t actually raped so WTF.  

Let’s focus on the bit about why the complainant didn’t complain earlier, as it reveals much about the ethics and the worldview of Judge Kavanaugh’s defenders.

Professor Christine Blasey Ford is an exceptionally credible person. One could point to her many accomplishments, but we shouldn’t have to: people who are less accomplished than she is do not deserve to be raped either. But she held the historically accurate position that if she came forward, she would be subject to repeated threats, abuse and danger. Many rape victims (and, again, she is a victim but not of consummated rape) refer to this as being raped again… repeatedly.

As it turns out, the “fair and balanced” liars and haters at Fox News have proved her point.

Fox News talking head Greg Gutfeld said it’s possible that Prof. Blasey Ford is leaving the details about the party intentionally vague, so therefore they did not happen. “If you say, ‘You did this to me, I can’t tell you when or where because then if I do, you might be able to say, I wasn’t there and that wasn’t me’ — so you leave that intentionally vague. Right?”

No, I do not understand what that means in English, other than denoting Gutfeld’s belief that the alleged victim is a liar.

Joseph DiGenova, a Washington lawyer who is a frequent commentator on Fox News, said “She really doesn’t want to testify, because when she does, she’s going to look like the loon that she is. She may very well believe everything she’s saying. That is one of the signs of lunacy, believing something that isn’t real… This is nothing.”

And did DiGenova base this accusation on anything of substance that wasn’t pulled out of his ass? Not on Fox News.

The ever-popular commentator Ann Coulter told Tucker Carlson these accusations could be made against anyone, and that many white males can be accused of sexual assault. Well, yes, that’s true. In fact, any person of any gender and race can be accused of sexual assault, particularly when the accuser is credible.

Why this fantastic rush to judgment? Why not wait until the FBI can finish their background investigation? And if Kavanaugh is as guiltless as he claims, wouldn’t this FBI investigation exonerate him? Professionals say the FBI could do this in under a week.

Given what we know today, I support Prof. Blasey Ford and I am by no means alone. Does that mean Kavanaugh should be incarcerated because of this accusation? No, absolutely not. We take away a person’s freedom only when his or her guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Does this mean Kavanaugh should be on the nation’s highest court? No, he should not. Prof. Blasey Ford is a very credible complainant and she already has suffered threats of rape, torture and murder because of her coming forward. She’s been impersonated online. She’s even had to move out of her home. Her friends and loved ones have been threatened similarly. Ergo, she was right in her holding back until Kavanaugh was appointed to this all-powerful position. Our Supreme Court justices should be as above reproach as is reasonable, and Judge Kavanaugh does not currently meet this standard. Perhaps he will when the next position opens, and if so, maybe he will deserve to be confirmed then. Maybe.

Some say that Kavanaugh will have this accusation over his head throughout his lifetime appointment to Supreme Court. That may be true.

If so, Judge Kavanaugh is extremely lucky.

(Some of the material above was sourced from Talking Point Memo’s Caitlin MacNeal; we thank her for her efforts.)