When you look at what has happened in the week since Dr. Ford's name was leaked and her claims regarding Bret Kavanaugh were spread across the media, it seems hard to imagine that Dr. Ford is being advised by a big shot Democrat DC lawyer and all manner of Democrat political operatives. Ford's advisers have a great deal of experience in Washington politics. They should have positioned her to come across better. Instead, Ford's team has managed to take step after step that makes her story look weaker, not stronger.
Consider this:
1. When the story was leaked by the Democrats to the media (supposedly against Dr. Ford's wishes), Ford came forward an said she wanted to tell her story to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her advisers demanded that the committee reopen its hearings on Kavanaugh for further testimony by Ford.
2. The Chair of the Committee, senator Grassley, agreed that Ford could come and testify and set a hearing for next Monday. In other words, the senator gave Ford what she said she wanted. So far so good for Ford. America was awaiting the hearing in order to hear Ford's version of what happened and Kavanaugh's response.
3. At this point, the first bizarre twist came from Ford. She no longer wanted a hearing. Instead, she wanted an FBI investigation. Sure, there was nothing to investigate, and the FBI had no basis to perform an investigation and so stated, but Ford's people said that only an FBI investigation would be fair. There was no way Ford could testify without the FBI first having a thorough investigation.
4. The senate committee rightly said no to this. It would be ridiculous to have an investigation that was guaranteed to produce nothing. They told this to Ford, but she didn't respond for a few days.
5. When Ford finally responded she changed her position once again. Now there was no need for a prior FBI investigation. Ford could testify if there were protection for her and if certain rather bizarre conditions were met. Ford's lawyer outlined those conditions in a letter. Oh, and there couldn't be a hearing on Monday; that was just inconvenient.
6. Despite the onerous conditions, the committee negotiated at length with Dr. Ford's advisers. Some conditions were accepted and some were rejected by the committee. The committee made its position clear yesterday. It was now up to Ford whether or not she would testify. The committee set a deadline of 10 am Friday.
7. Ford claimed she needed more time to consider her response. The committee moved the deadline back from 10 this morning to 10 this evening. Senator Grassley said, however, that this was the final deadline. Absent an agreement for Ford to appear, the committee would vote on the nomination on Monday.
8. At that point, one would think that Ford would just say yes. That would give her the chance to tell her story to America and to the senators. That was supposedly her goal, after all.
9. Instead, tonight at a few minutes before the deadline expired, Ford's lawyers wrote to the committee to ask for more time and to chastise the committee for mistreating poor Dr. Ford. It is a travesty of a letter. But forgetting the content, the very idea of trying again to delay the hearings is so transparent that it leads a reasonable person to question Dr. Ford's motives. Does she want to tell her story to America or is she just playing a game to try to delay or prevent the Kavanaugh nomination?
10. The response from the committee was to set the vote on the nomination for Monday. Maybe something will change, but right now it seems as if there will be no hearing. Ford will never testify.
I've practiced law for more decades than I care to admit. I've seen hundreds of lawyers play all sorts of games in negotiations. Few of those lawyers, however, were as clumsy in their presentation and strategy as the Ford lawyers. They let Ford take positions that contradicted each other. The presented demands that the average person would understand went way beyond anything that would normally be considered reasonable. They made Ford look like a strange sort of person and not a very trustworthy one at that.
I don't know what, if anything, happened to Dr. Ford all those years ago in Maryland. In fact, no one who is included in the mob that is busily writing and giving opinions about the whole mess knows what, if anything, actually happened. All Dr. Ford had going for her was her credibility. And it is that credibility that her team of advisers has frittered away with these stupid games regarding her testimony. They've take a sympathetic woman and made her look shifty.
Consider this:
1. When the story was leaked by the Democrats to the media (supposedly against Dr. Ford's wishes), Ford came forward an said she wanted to tell her story to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her advisers demanded that the committee reopen its hearings on Kavanaugh for further testimony by Ford.
2. The Chair of the Committee, senator Grassley, agreed that Ford could come and testify and set a hearing for next Monday. In other words, the senator gave Ford what she said she wanted. So far so good for Ford. America was awaiting the hearing in order to hear Ford's version of what happened and Kavanaugh's response.
3. At this point, the first bizarre twist came from Ford. She no longer wanted a hearing. Instead, she wanted an FBI investigation. Sure, there was nothing to investigate, and the FBI had no basis to perform an investigation and so stated, but Ford's people said that only an FBI investigation would be fair. There was no way Ford could testify without the FBI first having a thorough investigation.
4. The senate committee rightly said no to this. It would be ridiculous to have an investigation that was guaranteed to produce nothing. They told this to Ford, but she didn't respond for a few days.
5. When Ford finally responded she changed her position once again. Now there was no need for a prior FBI investigation. Ford could testify if there were protection for her and if certain rather bizarre conditions were met. Ford's lawyer outlined those conditions in a letter. Oh, and there couldn't be a hearing on Monday; that was just inconvenient.
6. Despite the onerous conditions, the committee negotiated at length with Dr. Ford's advisers. Some conditions were accepted and some were rejected by the committee. The committee made its position clear yesterday. It was now up to Ford whether or not she would testify. The committee set a deadline of 10 am Friday.
7. Ford claimed she needed more time to consider her response. The committee moved the deadline back from 10 this morning to 10 this evening. Senator Grassley said, however, that this was the final deadline. Absent an agreement for Ford to appear, the committee would vote on the nomination on Monday.
8. At that point, one would think that Ford would just say yes. That would give her the chance to tell her story to America and to the senators. That was supposedly her goal, after all.
9. Instead, tonight at a few minutes before the deadline expired, Ford's lawyers wrote to the committee to ask for more time and to chastise the committee for mistreating poor Dr. Ford. It is a travesty of a letter. But forgetting the content, the very idea of trying again to delay the hearings is so transparent that it leads a reasonable person to question Dr. Ford's motives. Does she want to tell her story to America or is she just playing a game to try to delay or prevent the Kavanaugh nomination?
10. The response from the committee was to set the vote on the nomination for Monday. Maybe something will change, but right now it seems as if there will be no hearing. Ford will never testify.
I've practiced law for more decades than I care to admit. I've seen hundreds of lawyers play all sorts of games in negotiations. Few of those lawyers, however, were as clumsy in their presentation and strategy as the Ford lawyers. They let Ford take positions that contradicted each other. The presented demands that the average person would understand went way beyond anything that would normally be considered reasonable. They made Ford look like a strange sort of person and not a very trustworthy one at that.
I don't know what, if anything, happened to Dr. Ford all those years ago in Maryland. In fact, no one who is included in the mob that is busily writing and giving opinions about the whole mess knows what, if anything, actually happened. All Dr. Ford had going for her was her credibility. And it is that credibility that her team of advisers has frittered away with these stupid games regarding her testimony. They've take a sympathetic woman and made her look shifty.
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