Keller @ Large: Kavanaugh-Ford Hearing Shows Why So Many Are Fed Up With D.C.
BOSTON (CBS) - Did you catch any of the Ford-Kavanagh showdown? I watched every minute of it because, for better or worse, that's my job. And what I saw was a classic illustration of why just about everyone, across the political spectrum, has little or no respect for the D.C. political culture.
Right off the top, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley made the moment all about partisanship, lashing out at his Democratic colleagues for playing politics with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's charges against Brett Kavanaugh. Of course they are, but that left Grassley and his fellow Republicans looking foolish when the Democrats and Ford herself hammered them for refusing to compel testimony from an eyewitness to the alleged assault, Mark Judge. It was a stark reminder that in Washington, everyone cares about their political standing but few care about the truth.
The Republicans not only emboldened their political adversaries, but also likely infuriated their allies with their foolish format, in which they stayed mute behind the fragmented questioning of an inept female prosecutor, who repeatedly asked questions without knowing the answer in advance that were meatballs for Ford to knock out of the park.
And then came the judge himself, convincingly outraged and devastated but conspicuously failing to demand the committee do what it should have already done, subpoena Mark Judge and have the FBI investigate.
What did we learn from this hearing? That few in Washington have a real clue about why they are held in such universal contempt, and show little sign of getting one.
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