Yesterday’s online edition of The New Yorker had a series of short articles on the testimony offered at the Brett Kavanaugh/Christian Ford hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The best of the lot was a piece written by 
Alexandra Schwartz, “Brett Kavanaugh and the Adolescent Aggression of Conservative Masculinity.”
You can read the entire piece here. Below is an excerpt (emphasis is mine).
“…Kavanaugh was setting a tone. Embedded in the histrionics were the unmistakable notes of fury and bullying. Kavanaugh shouted over Dianne Feinstein to complain about the “outrage” of not being allowed to testify earlier; when asked about his drinking, by Sheldon Whitehouse, he replied, “I like beer. You like beer? What do you like to drink, Senator?” with a note of aggressive petulance that is hard to square with his preferred self-image of judicious impartiality and pious Sunday churchgoing. Lindsey Graham eagerly took up the angry-man mantle, using his allotted five minutes of questioning to furiously shout at his Democratic colleagues.
“What we are seeing is a model of American conservative masculinity that has become popular in the past few years, one that is directly tied to the loutish, aggressive frat-boy persona that Kavanaugh is purportedly seeking to dissociate himself from. Gone are the days of a terse John Wayne-style stoicism. Now we
have Trump, ranting and raving at his rallies; we have Alex Jones, whose habit of screaming and floridly weeping as he spouts his conspiracy theories is a key part of his appeal to his audience. When Kavanaugh is not crying or shouting, he uses a distinctly adolescent tone that might best be described as “talking back.” He does not respond to senators. He negs them. His response, when he is asked about his drinking, is to flip the question and ask the senators how they like their alcohol; his refusal to say whether he would coöperate with an F.B.I. investigation brings to mind a teenager stonewalling his parents. If Kavanaugh is trying to convince the public that he could never have been capable, as a teenager, of aggression or peer pressure, this is an odd way to go about it.”
Odd indeed.
The D.C. train-wreck otherwise known as the Senate Judiciary Committee exemplifies almost everything wrong with American politics today. (More on that another day, perhaps.)
Sadly, but not surprisingly, yesterday’s exercise in public brow-beating and male chest-thumping gave US evangelicalism another chance to shame itself by revealing again how alienated it has become from our crucified Savior and his gospel. (I am sorry, but if your natural reaction yesterday was to imagine Kavanaugh as a Christ-figure, you have more in common with Judas Iscariot than Simon Peter.)
A Maris Poll conducted for NPR and PBS reports that among America’s white evangelical Christians:
72% approve of Trump’s performance in the Oval Office
56% have a favorable impression of Brett Kavanaugh
32% have an unfavorable impression of Christine Blasey Ford
48% believe Kavanaugh should be approved by the committee even if he is guilty of attempted rape
45% believe Kavanaugh is telling the truth, while only 14% believe Christine Ford’s story of sexual assault is true
64% support Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court despite Ford’s allegations
The Holy Spirit has abandoned much of American evangelicalism just as he vacated the life of king Saul in that poor man’s spiritual collapse.
This DC horror show has NOT been about “innocent until proven guilty” or belief in the possibility of redemption and forgiveness. (Kavanaugh needed to confess his guilt and ask for Dr. Ford’s forgiveness had that been the story-line).
No, what we have witnessed is an exercise in raw political power and shameless hypocrisy by politicians in both parties, more eager to do the bidding of their corporate contributors than in serving the people. The main selling point in Kavanaugh’s judicial portfolio has been his consistent record of pro-corporate, pro-big business rulings that shaft the little guys.
By faithfully serving their money masters, the Senate committee has run roughshod over innocent lives without the slightest attempt to discover that near-extinct DC rarity called The Truth. Democrats are as guilty as Republicans.
I believe that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has been telling the truth. She will be remembered as this generation’s Anita Hill. (Yes, I believed her too.)
The story of Dr. Ford’s unwanted exposure to public scrutiny is not a tale of Democratic conspiracies, as Kavanaugh alleges. The trauma she describes is all too common, more common than most men could ever conceive. Unbeknownst to us, we all know women and little girls who are victimizes of sexual assault and have never told anyone about it.
Most never will.
The only conspiracy surrounding Dr. Ford was plotted and executed by the Senate’s old boys club that refused to allow a pesky FBI investigation interfere with their well-laid plans for a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. The Senate has ever so politely and cunningly traumatized her again.
The fury unleashed by Brett Kavanaugh and Senator Graham was the graphic territorial display common to powerful men of privilege when their well-considered goals are frustrated by something, or someone, as inconvenient as a woman meddling in things that don’t concern her.
The Republican dismissal of Dr. Ford’s harrowing account had been telegraphed by the committee long before yesterday’s testimony. It was also entirely predictable, as predictable as the shocking “boys will be boys” defense ridiculously repeated by Kavanaugh’s most slimy supporters…many of whom are conservative, evangelical women.
Thanks Dave! Did you see the comical drawing of L Graham by Jim Carey? I hope this is going to help crack the whole mess wide open.
No, I didn’t see it. I will have to look for it. Did you see the SNL bit about the Senate Committee with Matt Damon as Kavanaugh? Very funny.