An old joke and an ancient legend might give a Senator or two guidance in doing the right thing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and the Republic itself.
Maybe it has something to do with age. I like applying lessons from long ago to what I see around me.
My President reminds me of a story that’s been floating around at least since I was a toddler. Leo Rosten was famous in those days as a scholar and humorist. He told the story to a group of teachers in New York in 1956. I found it recently at a website, The Friday Funnies.
The first mate was found to be drunk one day, and that day happened to be the captain’s turn to write in the ship’s log, so the captain wrote “The first mate was drunk today.” The first mate begged and pleaded to the captain to remove that entry, but the captain argued that once an entry was made in the company’s log, it couldn’t be deleted.
The first mate decided to get even. The next time it was his responsibility to write in the log, he wrote “The captain was sober today.”
Okay, so it’s not a barnburner. But it does remind me of President Trump.
This is a head of state who does not, as a rule, go for understatement.
“Get that son of a bitch off the field right now! Out! He’s fired. He’s FIRED!”
A hundred pounds of drugs, they throw it over the wall. They have catapults. But they throw it over the wall, and it lands and it hits somebody on the head.
They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.
He is not a war hero.
…total and complete shutdown of Muslims…
If you look at his wife…
Blood coming out of her… wherever
So we have a President who shoots from the lip. And, as you would expect, he wants to get aggressive about the latest accusations against his nominee.
As Ashley Parker of the Washington Post explains to Brian Williams on MSNBC, this aggressive instinct also applies to the President’s staff:
They understand that he’s made very clear he wants to fight this. And their natural inclination as always, as led by this President, is to fight, is to double down.
Except for this:
The President has been sort of muted in his defense of Judge Kavanaugh.
Really? Donald J. Trump?
CNN runs the headline:
Aides quietly stunned by Trump’s respectful
handling of Kavanaugh accuser
No kidding. That’s the headline. It’s big news that the President of the United States has maintained control of himself. And his aides, the people whom he hired, who work with him every day, are quietly stunned. That’s the headline: quietly stunned.
CNN news personalities back the headline. Here’s John King…
Completely out of character, again, and for the second day in a row, a very measured President of the United States when asked about Judge Kavanaugh.
… introducing reporter Jeff Zeleny
We know the President’s history on accusers and things like this but, John, he was certainly not saying any of that today.
He describes the new Presidential persona:
Very measured, very disciplined today, John.
Yup. The captain is sober today.
It is a flashing red indicator on America’s dashboard that this week’s big story, for a time, was that the occupant of the Oval Office could act like an adult. The astonishing news of a President in control of himself almost drowned out a competing set of reports.
The person accusing Judge Kavanaugh of a teenage attempted rape, and adult lies about it, has come out in public. She is Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University. She remembers the assault in some detail.
Her saga carries another reminder to the mind of an aging blogger. It concerns an ancient magistrate trying to solve an unsolvable theft.
In that legend, the magistrate orders all suspects to enter a darkened private chamber alone. In dimly lit isolation, each one is to place his hands on a large religious bell. They are all told the bell will ring loudly when touched by the one who is guilty.
Unknown to anyone else, the investigating magistrate has covered the bell with soot. As each suspect emerges, he is examined. Only one has clean hands. That one is arrested, convicted by the consciousness of his own guilt and his fear of exposure. The actual thief is the only one who did not touch the bell.
Dr. Ford submitted to a polygraph test, administered by a professional operator retired from doing the same thing for the FBI.
The test proves nothing. In a small but significant number of cases, even an experienced professional conducting the test might make mistakes. There are no universally accepted standards and measures. Courts do not accept such evidence.
But the willingness of Christine Blasey Ford to take such a test parallels those ancient suspects willing to enter a darkened room and touch a bell.
And she has touched other bells.
Dr. Ford urgently asks for an FBI investigation. Judge Kavanaugh, who presumably would want to clear his name, does not. Committee Republicans and the President decline to direct the FBI to investigate.
Dr. Ford asks that an uncooperative witness to the attempted rape be compelled to testify under oath. The witness resists, the Judge declines to join in Dr. Ford’s request. Those who support Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination refuse to follow through.
Dr. Ford has experienced substantial disincentives in making her accusation. She has experienced public attack and violent threats.
Judge Kavanaugh has a major incentive in maintaining his innocence. He wants to go from Judge Kavanaugh to Justice Kavanaugh, and commute to a lifetime job at the largest hall of justice the country can offer.
We do not convict folks of serious crime based on soot covered bells and huge incentives.
We occasionally do deny confirmations. Perhaps we should look at whose hands are too clean and follow the soot.
And our newly grown up President, who has finally learned to master his impulses?
CNN took it all back a day later. Jim Sciutto reports on the Presidential tweets:
The restraint is over. President Trump on a tear this morning, defending Brett Kavanaugh, and now going after his accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
So our national captain was sober, but only for a few minutes.
News at eleven.
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Good post. The bell metaphor is perfect and this is a convincing argument. Ford is behaving like somebody who is telling the truth.
As for Trump managing to stop acting like an asshole for a couple of days…..meh. Maybe one of his staff explained that if he indulged in his usual bullshit it would hurt Kavanaugh. We all knew it wouldn’t last.