Mike Huckabee continued his streak of conflating bigotry with (conservative) “humor” last night when he tried to fend off a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with a “joke” suggesting women and liberals are just too anti-men and too pro-trans.
As laid out by Jodi Jacobson in Rewire.News, Kavanaugh’s confirmation “has become an Anita Hill moment.” In addition to other serious concerns about Kavanaugh’s radical view of executive power and his disturbing comments about women’s sexual health rights, Jacobson notes his long, close relationship with accused sexual harasser Judge Alex Kozinski (about whose behavior Kavanaugh was evasive during his confirmation hearings). Now a woman has come forward and accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were in high school. He has vehemently denied that claim.
The allegations are serious.
Kavanaugh physically pushed her into a bedroom, the accuser said. Along with another male, Kavanaugh locked the door from the inside and played loud music that the accuser said precluded successful attempts to yell for help.
Both men were drunk, she said, and Kavanaugh attempted to remove her clothes.
At one point, Kavanaugh was on top of her laughing as the other male in the room periodically jumped onto Kavanaugh.
Huckabee appeared as a pro-Kavanaugh guest on Fox News last night. Instead of calling for a hearing to get to the bottom of what Kavanaugh did or did not do, Huckabee wants us all to move along. That, in itself, is enough to make me suspicious that he's afraid of what might be found out. Also suspicious is his notion that the way to defend Kavanaugh is to attack his accuser and, by extension, those who think her allegations deserve investigation.
Speaking to Fox host Jeanine Pirro, Huckabee cited a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee and signed by 65 women who attested to Kavanaugh's good character in high school. Let’s not forget that a slew of Fox News personalities came forward and defended Roger Ailes from accusations of sexual harassment, too. And while I certainly believe that Kavanaugh, like anyone, is innocent until proven guilty, a list of banks a bank robber has not held up is no proof he did not hold up a different bank.
First, Huckabee suggested that Kavanaugh’s accuser’s wish for anonymity was an indication of dishonesty:
HUCKABEE: The big difference, Judge, is that 65 women signed their names to it, they’re willing to be accountable for it. The one person who is unknown and completely anonymous with really, some pretty sketchy accusations – we don’t know who it is, we have no idea.
He concluded with his hideous humor:
HUCKABEE: I’ll tell you the one thing that the left would love him for. If he would wear a dress and hang out in women’s restrooms, that would be the one thing that they would suddenly applaud and say, “He’s fit for the court.”
Host Jeanine Pirro was once known for championing abused women and children. But she laughed heartily as Huckabee deliberately denigrated a possible victim of sexual assault with a bigoted joke about transgender bathrooms.
Clearly, if Huckabee has his way, it will be 1991 all over again.
Watch Huckabee try to hustle us away from looking further into the character of a lifetime appointee for the highest court in the country above, from the September 15, 2018 Justice with Judge Jeanine.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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