A sharp insight from National Review's David French, who agrees with me that there are some relevant parallels between the Kavanaugh fight and the Covington affair. Why were conservatives so energized over both controversies? Because they witnessed the Left trying to destroy lives and reputations, regardless of evidence, for nakedly political and tribalistic reasons. Many right-leaning women, in particular, have bristled at the remorseless, ends-driven attacks, which have drawn them into the fight:
Between the Kavanaugh debacle and now what happened with these MAGA boys, there’s a lot of nervous boy moms and dads out there. If they can and will seek to destroy these guys, they’ll come after yours.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) January 21, 2019
Endorsing Mandel's point, French writes:
So long as the Covington Catholic story remains in the news – so long as activists continue to comb through internet archives and social media to try to damn the school, its students, and parents to social-justice hell – this story is Brett Kavanaugh, the sequel...In the Kavanaugh case, conservative men and women looked at decades-old, uncorroborated allegations, the unquestioning acceptance of those claims, and the furious effort to destroy a man’s reputation and career – even by passing along the wildest and most implausible claims – and thought, “That could be me” or “that could be my husband.” Now, these same people look at the reaction to the Covington Catholic kids and think, “That could be my son.”...You can hold that fear in your heart without excusing or condoning sexual assault in any way. You can hold that fear in your heart without excusing or condoning racism or even thoughtless taunts. Because you’ll know that for all too many people, the truth doesn’t really matter. You’re a symbol, not a person. When angry people cook that social-justice omelet, they break eggs not with regret but with angry glee.
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He concludes, "this isn’t just a media scandal. When we see the hate, some of us see our sons, and we know that in America today, their futures, their reputations, and – given the prevalence of death threats – perhaps even their very lives are in the hands of an angry mob." He's correct, just as he's correct in warning -- as I have -- against the Right turning this same, terrible impulse against our opponents. Some of the dimmest and most reactionary responses to French's column have come along these lines:
Do conservative women all marry abusive, lying men and raise children in that image? Or do they simply lack the empathy to see past their families to the people affected by their actions... https://t.co/mTW59hLSeK
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) January 22, 2019
This unwittingly affirms French's admonition about the cynical embrace of exploiting an entirely unsubstantiated or provably false claim as a partisan weapon:
I'd like to thank those who responded to the tweet below with some variation of, "Conservative women shouldn't marry rapists or raise racists." You made my point. You've taken uncorroborated, contradicted, and selectively-edited accusations as gospel. That's not to your credit. https://t.co/6vyJTSycT9
— David French (@DavidAFrench) January 23, 2019
On that point, it's been disgusting to watch some leftists attack Sen. Joni Ernst for her vote in favor of Justice Kavanaugh, in light of the her new (and brave) revelation that she has been victimized by past sexual and physical abuse. How can a woman who has suffered abuse possibly support a man who's been accused of abuse? It's as if standards of evidence, and actual evidence, have been reduced to irrelevant afterthoughts:
Shaming women who’ve been abused for having the ability to separate personal experience from the facts at hand to...own the cons? pic.twitter.com/gxIeTUIZlv
— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) January 24, 2019
Well said. I'll leave you with the newest craze on the evidence-hostile Left -- divining 'larger guilt,' via face-crimes and hat-crimes:
Opinion | Noah Berlatsky: Covington Catholic kid Nick Sandmann said he was an silent bystander. But his MAGA hat spoke for him. https://t.co/Nly1Xl0niR - @NBCNewsTHINK
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 23, 2019
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