Maximilian Robespierre rationalized the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution as “nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy”[1]. “Robespierre encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution. The day after his arrest, Robespierre and 21 of his followers were guillotined before a cheering mob in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.”[2] I doubt that Robespierre ever expected his neck to be under the guillotine blade that he used with such abandon, but there is history of radicals constructing the tools of their own destruction.
The Kavanaugh hearing was a travesty that will haunt the Democrats for years. The screaming protesters allowed in the gallery, the cavalier dismissal of any sense of fairness, justice, or due process, and the rush to judgment by our highest elected officials was a modern Jacobin mobocracy. History is darkest when we rationalize violent means to serve presumptuously noble ends.
Ms. Ford should have been vetted in committee, but this was intentionally delayed in order to apply greater public pressure regardless of its total lack of merit. Christine Ford’s four witnesses, including her best friend Leland Keyser could not attest that any of her testimony was true, or that they had any knowledge that Kavanaugh had ever met Ford. Rachael Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona, retained to deliver the questions, filed a lengthy report on the weakness of her testimony; the contradictions, inconsistencies, and selective memories suggesting that she was coached. In Ms. Mitchell’s opinion there was not enough evidence to even get a warrant, much less charge a crime.
Press coverage subverted any sense of journalist objectivity and professionalism to press their political agenda. Judy Munro-Leighton came forth and under oath accused Kavanaugh of participating in a gang rape. She later admitted to fabricating the whole story. Julie Swetnick represented by lawyer Michael Avenatti made similar accusations that proved to be false. A third accuser Deborah Ramirez made accusations, but would not swear by them because she was too drunk at the time. No witnesses could verify her drunken delusions. Just the fact that three miscreant liars came forth seemed proof some part of the charges against Kavanaugh must be true. In spite of the questionable credibility of the accusers the press gave them unlimited hours and column inches of coverage and totally unmerited respect.
Compared to the dismissal of Tara Reade the hypocrisy is too much to rationalize or ignore. It is painful to watch the agonizing attempts of the Democrats and the press try to justify their double standard. There is far more evidence that Ms. Reade knew Biden, that some act occurred, and that some mention of it happened at the time.
Joe Biden is entitled to due process and the presumption of innocence. So was Bret Kavanaugh. If Biden is to be presumed innocent without a hearing, then a lot of people and most of the media owe Kavanaugh an apology. It takes a galling arrogance to believe that such moralizing would never come back to haunt you, possibly at the worst time.
But then, Robespierre never expected his neck to be in the guillotine that he built.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror
[2] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/robespierre-overthrown-in-france
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