BUNKERED

(My entry today is cross-posted, verbatim, from my other blog, The Buddha Diaries).

From what I read and hear, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been bunkered in the White House for the past three days. (I like the pun, evoking the memory of that arch bigot, Archie!) I suspect he has not been engaged in the kind of self-reflection and self-examination that is called for at a moment of personal crisis, but rather plotting ways in which he can exculpate and extricate himself from the threat to his candidacy brought about by the accusation of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Here's what I'd want to see from a man I could vote for, were I in a position to do so, to serve for a lifetime on the Supreme Court of the United States: rather than deny, blame, and attack, I'd like to see a man chastened and humbled by the story of a woman that so obviously has not only the ring of truth but the evidentiary support of at least three witnesses. I'd like to see him ask her to confront him with the story in as much detail as she can muster, listen attentively and without defensive reaction to the events as she remembers them, and repeat back to her what he has heard, to be sure that he has fully understood and registered the facts.

I'd like him then to acknowledge that, if he himself has no memory of the event, it is likely because he was too drunk at the time of its occurrence--but that this is no excuse, and is not offered as such; or that his conscious mind repressed it as being too onerous to bear--again, no excuse! I'd like him to accept the truth of her experience and to ask, in all humility, if there is anything he can do to make up for a past he is unable to change and for the pain and suffering his action caused. Should she reject his offer, I would like him to publicly propose his own act of compensatory service, proportionate to circumstance, and commit to its completion.

That, in my view, would be a man who might yet be worthy of confirmation, no matter how despicable the action of his youth. Instead, he is bunkered in the White House--the very place that has become the epitome of intrigue, calumny and lies--presumably plotting out a course for enough exculpation and justification to gain the minimum of votes needed for "success." There is no place on the Supreme Court for one who follows this course. Nominated by a man whose legitimacy as president is in serious question and supported by a band of shameless co-conspirators in the subversion of the laws upon which we have stood for centuries, Judge Kavanaugh could possibly redeem himself with an unsparing and impartial search for the truth. Otherwise, we shall all be witness to a monumental travesty of the justice he is privileged to serve.