An all-woman panel stood solidly behind Judge Brett Kavanaugh when questioned by CNN about the allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
The group of Republican women from Florida were asked by CNN’s Randi Kaye if they believed the US Supreme Court nominee’s denial of the accusations by Christine Blasey Ford that he had sexually assaulted her at a party when the two were in high school nearly four decades ago.
“A show of hands, how many of you believe Judge Kavanaugh when he says this didn’t happen?” Kaye asked in the segment that aired Thursday.
There was a unanimous response as all five women raised a hand.
“How can we believe the word of a woman from something that happened 36 years ago?” Lourdes Castillo De La Pena asked.
“This guy has an impeccable reputation. There was nobody, nobody that has spoken ill will about him. Everyone that speaks about him – this guy’s an altar boy, a scout,” she added. “Because one woman made an allegation? Sorry, I don’t buy it.”
“In the grand scheme of things, my goodness, there was no intercourse,” Inna Villarino said. “There was maybe a touch. Can we — really? 36 years later and she’s still stuck on that?”
“I mean, we’re talking about a 15-year-old girl, which I respect,” Gina Sosa interjected. “You know, I’m a woman. I respect. But we’re talking about a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high. Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school. Please, I would like to know.”
Kaye asked the women why Ford would have come forward if the allegations were not true, exposing her family and her privacy by speaking out.
Villarino noted that in accusing Kavanaugh, Ford was also “destroying his life, his wife’s life, his daughters’ lives, his career,” as the other women agreed.
“I mean, why didn’t she come out sooner if she’s telling the truth?” she asked.
“Why didn’t she come out when he was going into the Bush White House?” Angie Vazquez jumped in. “Why didn’t she come out — he’s been a federal judge for over a decade.”
Castillo De La Pena pushed back when Kaye likened the case to that of Anita Hill accusing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991 of sexual harassment while he was her supervisor at the Department of Education.
“This is not the same. This is a high school kid, ” she noted. “It is not an Anita Hill story.”
The women also agreed that the attacks on Kavanaugh’s character are unwarranted based on his age at the tine of the alleged incident.
“You can’t judge the character of a man based on what he did at 17,” Castillo De La Pena argued.
“I would hate to think that 30, 40 years later, somebody’s going to destroy your life” based on your actions at a party, Vazquez said.
The panel did not hesitate when Kaye asked if they sympathized at all with their fellow female and what she is going through.
Castillo De La Pena flatly said she had no sympathy for Ford and reiterated that the allegations centered around subjects who were kids at the time. She also indicated she would support Kavanaugh even if the claim turned out to be true.
“As long as it was an isolated incident,” Castillo De La Pena said.’
“He was 17. He was not even an adult,” Sosa said. “And we all make mistakes at 17. I believe in a second chance.”
The women’s views and the audacity of CNN to air the segment angered liberals who called out the network and its hosts. Democratic strategist and former adviser to Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, Peter Daou slammed CNN for smearing Ford in assembling “a carefully assembled pro-Kavanaugh panel.”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING @CNN? Assembling a panel of women to attack #ChristineBlaseyFord?
Is this your idea of journalism?
Seriously, @andersoncooper, how can you stand by that segment airing on your show?
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) September 21, 2018
CNN and @AC360 owe #ChristineBlaseyFord an apology for using a panel of women to smear her. They can pretend they’re just reporting what others are saying, but that was NOT a representative sample of public opinion. It was a carefully assembled pro-Kavanaugh panel.#ApologizeCNN https://t.co/u8omih5ASQ
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) September 21, 2018
The outrage over the segment was at times comical as the left continued to display a stunning lack of any self-awareness.
Why wasn’t that segment followed by women who believe #DrBlaseyFord? Whatever happened to balanced reporting?!
— shafi saxena (@shafithinks) September 21, 2018
You’re surprised ?
This is the CNN playbook.
Tease a GOP scandal and then bring on Republicans to debunk the story and tell us that Democrats are the real villains while the anchors nod their heads in agreement.
— jansen park (@jansenpark2) September 21, 2018
That was a disgusting display. Where the hell did they find those women??? Deplorable doesn’t start to cover what they are.
— Stacey (@stablegenius96) September 21, 2018
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