In the midst of the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans have called Democrats hypocrites for attacking the nominee's character, while defending the likes of Bill Clinton and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, the first of whom has been accused of rape, the second of whom became notorious for leaving a female passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, to drown after crashing his car at Chappaquiddick. Kennedy claimed he tried to rescue Kopechne, but he did not report the accident until the next morning. In 1985, Kennedy was also accused of sexually assaulting a waitress at a Georgetown restaurant.
Perhaps Democrats have no right to take the "moral high ground," CNN's Jake Tapper noted in his interview with former Secretary of State John Kerry. Yet, when asked about the comparison, Kerry suggested the two men still had plenty of integrity.
John Kerry defends Ted Kennedy: "He stepped up and owned moments where he knew he stepped over the line." pic.twitter.com/5rNFMrKGY9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 2, 2018
"He stood up and owned moments where he knew he'd stepped over the line, so I think that—and he wasn't about to be nominated to a lifetime position," Kerry said of Kennedy's behavior. "In fact, he said to the people of Massachusetts, if you think I shouldn't stay here, then, you know—he took those returns and then he was elected another six times."
Kerry also defended his fellow Democrats in insisting plenty of them did speak out against former President Clinton's behavior with a White House intern, but that he did not believe it was an impeachable offense.
Well, many people won't soon forget Clinton's immoral White House behavior, and it gives them pause as to how Hillary Clinton has any right to speak out during the Kavanaugh hearings. At an event with The Atlantic Tuesday, Clinton said the nominee did not have the right temperament to be a Supreme Court justice, and that his accuser Christine Blasey Ford, and other women with sexual assault allegations, deserved to be heard.
"She participated in denying women’s claims against her own husband,” U.S. News & World Report reporter David Catanese noted.
"I don't know how she gets around that."