Evangelical leaders are frustrated at G.O.P. Warning on Kavanaugh's allegation



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"The worst thing that can happen to a woman or a male victim is to shut them up and not listen to them," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, a group opposed to the law. to abortion. "A tragic element is the people who will use this pain for an agenda. This is so clearly what is happening now. "

In the days since Dr. Blasey had come in public in an interview with the Washington Post and claimed that when they were teenagers, Judge Kavanaugh had laid her on a bed, had poked her hand, Republican leaders and the White House. Officials advocated a discreet and restrained approach. Show respect for Dr. Blasey; propose to hear it; and avoid questioning his credibility, at least directly, they accepted in private conversations.

But many conservatives consider that it is hardly useful to be deferent when, according to them, the Democrats do not respect these rules. They looked at the failure of the nomination of Republican candidate Robert Bork in 1987, whose Democrats had taken over the writings on civil rights and hearings in 1991 of Clarence Thomas, who had been sexually harassed by Anita Hill. to see a sophisticated and ruthless democratic machine determined to discredit their candidates.

"Republicans are right, both morally and politically, to take allegations of misconduct seriously," said Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project and former social conservative strategist. "At the same time, we have seen everything and anything about nominees of Republicans to the Supreme Court for decades," he added, noting that Republicans have been slow to understand that Democrats "respect different rules ".

"From the point of view of the average Republican Conservative," said Cannon, "these people are not the apparent monsters they are becoming," referring to the judicial nominees decried as Judge Thomas, Judge Bork and the judge. Kavanaugh.

Privately, some Conservatives were pleased that Dr. Blasey and his lawyer resisted the opportunity to testify in the Senate on Monday and instead asked that the F.B.I. inquire first about his claims. That would be just enough, they said, to give Republicans the justification to go ahead without it. Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa said Wednesday he would not postpone a hearing on Monday.

And once the Senate puts Kavanaugh's candidacy at the top of the list for a final vote, unless there are unintended revelations, it triggers a fight that Republicans could win in the Senate but could eventually lose in the November ballot. The level of outrage could be so high among Democrats, who would probably use all the procedural and policy tools at their disposal to delay confirmation, that it could provide even more fuel to a liberal base already under tension.

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