A few days ago I posted my views regarding confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. Two of the opposed Democratic senators have misconduct in their own backgrounds.
Before the hearing Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) had announced he would vote against confirmation. (This certainly doesn’t suggest an open, unbiased mind.) In the Committee hearing and other public statements, Senator Booker clearly supported Dr. Ford’s unproven allegations of teenage sexual misconduct by Judge Kavanaugh. He strongly opposed the Judge and called for his disqualification. We now learn that, when in high school, Senator Booker groped his classmate, and when she swatted his hand away, he made another attempt before finally reaching his goal. This isn’t a mere allegation – in 1992, Senator Booker, then a student at Stanford University, wrote a column for his college newspaper in which he recounted his objectionable groping. Senator Booker apparently doesn’t believe that his admitted teenage sexual misconduct disqualifies him from the US Senate. He even considers himself a possible presidential contender.
Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) also strongly opposes the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing, Senator Blumenthal questioned the Judge’s credibility and lectured him on the implications of telling even a single lie. However, Senator Blumenthal seems to have a problem with telling the truth, previously claiming he was a Vietnam veteran when instead he actively avoided service. In the 2008, then Attorney General Richard Blumenthal stated: “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam.” In fact, according to Fox News, he obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps to avoid going to war. Senator Blumenthal blatantly lied about his military service, yet he apparently doesn’t believe his lack of credibility and moral shortcoming disqualifies him from serving in the US Senate.
My common sense is screaming: Senators Booker and Blumenthal are hypocrites! According to Wikipedia: “Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another. In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles.” These two senators criticize Judge Kavanaugh and would disqualify him from high public officer. Applying the same standards to them, they should be disqualified from high public office. Yet Senators Booker and Blumenthal did not resign and continue in the Senate.
What are we to conclude? Personally, I do not believe Senator Booker’s teenage sexual exploits disqualify him any more than Judge Kavanaugh’s should. I have more of a problem with Senator Blumenthal falsely claiming he was a Vietnam veteran. Both of these senators are following the Democratic Party line in opposing an eminently qualified Supreme Court nominee. In fairness, I can think of Republican Party actions and platforms which defy reason. Do all our elected officials disregard truth, rational logic and integrity in representing their constituents? Are all politicians hypocrites? I hope not, for the sake of the republic.
Fact checking: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/09/21/in-1992-cory-booker-admitted-to-groping-a-high-school-classmate-and-issued-a-call-for-sexual-respect/?utm_term=.59a03ad16edc; https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kavanaugh-clash-reopens-stolen-valor-allegations-against-sen-blumenthal