Responding Monday morning to the sexual misconduct allegation against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh with predictable hypocrisy, the liberal ladies on ABC’s The View applauded Democrats for finally “play[ing] hardball,” deemed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s claims to be “very credible,” and defended Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) for not going public sooner with the letter.
“Kavanaugh crisis. Will a woman's attempted sexual assault allegation against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh derail his nomination and put Republicans in a no-win situation,” hyped the show’s announcer in an opening tease.
Co-host Sunny Hostin first declared Ford’s story to be “very credible” and thus made the case against Kavanaugh because “morality and a moral compass is very important when it comes to a lifetime appointee to the Supreme Court” since he’d “be opining a lot of issues that affect women.”
Fellow co-host Joy Behar argued that “maybe he should take a lie detector test” without pointing out how polygraph tests (such as the one Ford took) aren’t admissible in court.
“What's the big rush? There’s still 174,000 papers that we haven't seen on Kavanaugh. You know, plus we have this allegation from a rather credible witness. And so what is the rush? This is a lifetime appointment,” Behar added.
New co-host Abby Hunstman agreed that the case against Kavanaugh is “serious,” but she delineated by stating that she’s “frustrate[d]” by “the politics of all this.” She also linked this to how Republicans didn’t confirm Merrick Garland, which is totally irrelevant.
Huntsman did knock Feinstein for having seemingly “put this in a drawer” until they thought it would have maximum impact. Hostin and co-host Whoopi Goldberg disagreed while Whoopi, without evidence, claimed that “Feinstein didn't say anything about this and we don't know who leaked.”
Whoopi also suggested that perhaps Ford’s husband leaked the story to help his wife’s story get told but, at the end of the day, Feinstein was in a no-win situation when to bring it forward (even though, if the allegations were as serious as Democrats claim, waiting since July to take action is irresponsible).
“I don’t think this is DiFi saying, you know, ‘you know, we’re going to put this away.’ I think this was her saying the woman asked me to keep her confidence and that’s what I'm doing. I think that’s what happened,” she continued.
Hostin informed Huntsman that this isn’t political at all and “the timeline really doesn’t support that the Democrats somehow kept this a secret intentionally to sort of, you know, drop a surprise.” Unless Hostin has her months mixed up, July 30 and the last few days (September 13-17) aren’t exactly next to each other.
Goldberg and Hostin also defended Feinstein for having properly handed the matter off to the FBI, but that’s also irrelevant as the agency has chosen not to investigate it.
It was within this part of the debate that Behar made quite the Freudian slip to Whoopi’s dismay, blurting out how pleased she is with how Democrats have conducted this: “Isn't it about — isn’t it about time the Democrats played hardball, come on.”
After Huntsman seemed to express resignation that Kavanaugh is toast and Goldberg reiterated that Democrats didn’t leak, the segment closed with the four talking past each other and a bizarre Whoopi take about now-former Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) being booted for less (click “expand” for more):
BEHAR: Well, the other thing is that a lot of the students who went to school with this accuser at that high school say that there was this type of thing that went on a lot in those days and that some of them were victims also of this from these other schools. These other — this was a girls school and this — Kavanaugh was in an all boys school and so — and this idea that it was a long time ago, I mean, so when a child is molested or attacked, it was a long time ago too. I mean, a long time ago is not
HUNTSMAN: I can only imagine the conversation that Kavanaugh had to have with his two daughters in going to school today. It’s tough all around. But you know there are a lot of people’s lives on the line.
BEHAR: Clinton had to have the conversation also. It works on both parties.
(....)
GOLDBERG: John Conyers was yanked for a lot less than this. So the conversation needs to be had.
To see the relevant transcript from ABC’s The View on September 17, click “expand.”
ABC’s The View
September 17, 2018
11:00 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]ANNOUNCER: Kavanaugh crisis. Will a woman's attempted sexual assault allegation against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh derail his nomination and put Republicans in a no-win situation?
(....)
11:02 a.m. Eastern
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of trying to sexually assault her in high school says she’s willing to talk to Congress. Now, Kavanaugh says it's a false allegation. He'll go before the Senate Judiciary Committee to clear his name. Clearly, we've seen over the last couple of years with Senators and congressmen, can this hurt him?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, I don't know if it's going to him because he certainly has a lot of the votes right now, but at the very least, she must be heard. At the very least, she has to testify, I think, and tell her side of the story. When you look at sort of the series of events and her allegations, I find them to be very credible. I find them to be extremely important, and let's face it. This is a lifetime appointment and I think that morality and a moral compass is very important when it comes to a lifetime appointee to the Supreme Court. He is going to be opining a lot of issues that affect women and we need to hear from her.
JOY BEHAR: She also too a lie detector test. Maybe he should take a lie detector test. At least, we'll see, you know, something that. [APPLAUSE]
HOSTIN: Clarence Thomas did not take a lie detector test.
BEHAR: No, Clarence Thomas — Anita Hill took a lie detector test.
HOSTIN: And she has taken one also and —
BEHAR: That's what I just said.
HOSTIN: Yeah. And it’s —
ABBY HUNTSMAN: And he still got the votes to get through.
BEHAR: Well, except that there's rumbling now from Flake, Corker, Murkowski, and Collins that this should not be rushed through. What's the big rush? There’s still 174,000 papers that we haven't seen on Kavanaugh.
HUNTSMAN: Yeah.
BEHAR: You know, plus we have this allegation from a rather credible witness. And so what is the rush? This is a lifetime appointment. They're afraid that if we wait until after the mid-terms and you have a Democratic congress in the majority, that they will never put him through. They're like, this is our last chance to really stack the court with a conservative judge -- judges, most of them.
HUNTSMAN: Well, this is a serious allegation from this woman. We live in a different time where if you're a Republican Senator, you can’t say well, no, we have to vote we can't hear her side of the story. Democrats knew that. One thing I love about this country is we're transparent. We don't hide from things when they come to the surface. Usually, the truth will win in the end.
BEHAR: Thanks to the press.
HUNTSMAN: Well, we should let the process out and we should hear from both sides and right now we're hearing two completely different stories. What frustrates me though is the politics of all this. It doesn't take away from what this woman is clearly, you know, I think, I feel for her in this moment because she's obviously kept this with her if this is all true, for almost 37 years now, but I hate the politics. Going back to Merrick Garland and what Republicans did in that moment.
BEHAR: Right.
HUNTSMAN: Dianne Feinstein had this letter where this woman anonymously details what she went through. It seems as if the Democrats put this in a drawer and said this is big and this is going to benefit us if we use the time perfectly. If we put this out —
GOLDBERG: You do know that she asked — she asked Dianne Feinstein to keep it private.
HOSTIN: Confidential.
GOLDBERG: Confidential.
HUNTSMAN: She could have still done that though.
GOLDBERG: And she did and Dianne Feinstein didn't say anything about this and we don't know who leaked. There's some conversation that perhaps the young woman’s husband, in a way to get his wife's story out there, because people weren't talking about it. Maybe he put it out there. But the bottom line really is, you know, the Democrats could — could win with this one. If they brought it out in July, people would have said, oh, you're bringing it out to hurt him because he's a fan of the president. If they had waited and not done it now, people were saying, oh you're doing it because it's political. I don't think they could have won here. I don't think that — I don’t think this is DiFi saying, you know, “you know, we’re going to put this away.” I think this was her saying the woman asked me to keep her confidence and that’s what I'm doing.
HOSTIN: I — I agree with that.
GOLDBERG: I think that’s what happened.
HUNTSMAN: I'm telling you the way that I've taken it, the way that I feel and everyone can respond their own way to this. It does feel political to me and I think it’s what a lot of people hate about politics.
HOSTIN: The evidence doesn’t support that.
BEHAR: Isn't it about — isn’t it about time the Democrats played hard ball, come on.
GOLDBERG: But this isn’t — but this is not hard ball.
HUNTSMAN: But that’s no —
BEHAR: Let's say they did.
HOSTIN: But the timeline really doesn’t support that the Democrats somehow kept this a secret intentionally to sort of, you know, drop a surprise. If you look at the timeline, it looks like in she told her story to her husband in couples therapy. There are therapist’s notes that confirm it. She contacted The Post in July through a tipline once she found out that Kavanaugh had reached a short list of nominees. Then, she contacted her congresswoman in California, Senator Feinstein is the senator in California.
GOLDBERG: Also, Anna Eshoo.
HOSTIN: Exactly in late July. Then she hired an attorney who said, you know, going to be really challenged on this. That's when she took the lie detector test. And then —
HUNTSMAN: She clearly wanted somebody to know, even anonymously what she had —
HOSTIN: But she didn't want her name.
HUNTSMAN: She didn’t want her name there, but she wanted people to know anonymously, so that’s why I say, if you’re a Democrat and you get this letter, if you're meeting — like, Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, who will be on the show and we can ask them these questions, today. But you’re one-on-one with Kavanaugh and you have this letter and you know what this woman wrote you, why not use that as an opportunity to say, I can’t say her name.
HOSTIN: She took it to the FBI, though.
GOLDBERG: She said — yes.
HOSTIN: She did take it to the FBI and that's what you do.
HUNTSMAN: I just — I find the timing very political. It doesn't excuse this woman coming out. We need to hear it and obviously people can make that judgment but I think — I think I speak for a lot of people where it's frustrating that it came out when it did.
GOLDBERG: But what should they have done? Should they — if they had come out in July and said we have this information, we've gotten this letter and we don't think he should be there, people would have said, you just brought that out because he's — he’s — he’s our Republican nominee and you don't like his politics.
HOSTIN: And as long as he wasn't the nominee.
HUNTSMAN: But Democrats now know if you bring it out the week before they're going to have a vote, Republicans have no choice
GOLDBERG: But they didn’t do that.
HUNTSMAN: — and now they're not going to have another nominee until after the midterms.
GOLDBERG: But they didn't do that. But I'm sorry, but this all went down because whatever this magazine is —
HOSTIN: The Intercept.
GOLDBERG: The Intercept made a decision to release that. Dianne Feinstein didn't release that.
HOSTIN: She sent it to the FBI.
GOLDBERG: She sent it to — which is what you’re supposed to do.
HOSTIN: — which does the background — which does the background work on —
GOLDBERG: But they didn’t release it. The Democrats didn't release it and I believe they didn’t release it because they knew they were in a now win situation because if you had done it in July, you done it now.
HUNTSMAN: But doesn’t that seem alarming though?
GOLDBERG: Just — yes. Wait, wait, she has to read the thing.
HOSTIN: We want to make it clear that Kavanaugh has said: “This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or to anyone. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation from 36 years ago and defend my integrity.” Maybe that’s what we’ll see.
BEHAR: Well, the other thing is that a lot of the students who went to school with this accuser at that high school say that there was this type of thing that went on a lot in those days and that some of them were victims also of this from these other schools. These other — this was a girls school and this — Kavanaugh was in an all boys school and so — and this idea that it was a long time ago, I mean, so when a child is molested or attacked, it was a long time ago too. I mean, a long time ago is not
HUNTSMAN: I can only imagine the conversation that Kavanaugh had to have with his two daughters in going to school today. It’s tough all around. But you know there are a lot of people’s lives on the line.
BEHAR: Clinton had to have the conversation also. It works on both parties.
HUNTSMAN: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: And, you know, if it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.
BEHAR: That's right. They call these politicians — right.
GOLDBERG: John Conyers was yanked for a lot less than this.
HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: Well, now —
GOLDBERG: So the conversation needs to be had.
