When it comes to demonizing Democrats for the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans are taking a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” approach. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) isn’t on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but his dedication to being one of the worst people in the Senate is such that he is getting in on the act. Cotton said Sunday that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) would face an investigation into whether she leaked Christine Blasey Ford’s letter about Kavanaugh’s assault—this while Republicans continue to stand in the way of a full investigation into the assault itself.
This is even though the letter itself did not leak until news of the existence of an accuser had leaked—in other words, anyone who knew about the existence of Ford’s allegations could have let reporters know that the accusations were out there, and access to the letter wasn’t needed—and the reporter who first reported the story says Feinstein’s office didn’t leak the letter. Predictably, though, the investigate-Feinstein-but-not-Kavanaugh stance was not the worst thing to come out of Cotton’s mouth:
“Any impact that this entire episode has had,“ Cotton told John Dickerson, “on women's willingness to come forward and report sexual assault, which I encourage them all to do immediately after it happens, is caused by the Democrats, is caused by Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer not respecting her requests for confidentiality.“
Yes, that’s right. Nearly 70 percent of rapes aren’t reported and only a small fraction of rapes that are reported lead to any action, with the fraction decreasing from arrest to referral to prosecutors to felony convictions to incarceration. Of the 310 out of 1,000 rapes that are reported, just six lead to incarceration for the rapist. Treatment like Republicans have dealt out to Ford and to Kavanaugh’s other accusers is a powerful reminder of why that is, but according to Cotton, any reporting problems going forward are the fault of Democrats because they tried to make Kavanaugh face some kind of consequences, even if only to deny him a giant promotion to the highest court in the land.
This is a disgusting little man who’s part of a seething cesspit of a political party.
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