Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRAHAM. This is as close to McCarthyism as I hope we get in my lifetime. You are guilty until you are proven innocent. Whatever it takes to take you down, we will do. If one allegation is not enough, how about five? To the people who have come forward, we will do whatever we have to do to you to get the outcome we want.
There are two ways of doing this: Senator Collins's way or what we have seen in the committee. If you want to go down the road of the committee, God help those who will follow.
The biggest winners today are those who still want to be judges. You may have saved those who want to come after Judge Kavanaugh from humiliation to the nth degree because you rejected it today.
For every woman who comes forward about a sexual assault, only God knows how many never say a word. But to right one wrong, seldom does it help to create another.
Senator Collins explained the dilemma we face as a society and rejected the idea that sacrificing Judge Kavanaugh's good name would make anything better.
To the extent that individuals matter in America, you rose to the occasion. To the extent that you rejected the mob rule and accepted the rule of law, we will all be better.
You have to have some way of judging. Yes, we want people to come forward. They deserve to be heard. But there needs to be a process, for the good of us all, to make sure it is disposed of right. If this is enough, to be accused of something that happened 36 years ago and nobody can corroborate it, God help us all in any line of public service.
All I can say is that it is not about you. I have never admired you more, and we often agree, and sometimes we don't. It is about the system that you stood by today that has stood the test of time. I don't know what kind of pressure there has been for you. I can only imagine because you are in a purple State.
I remember what Sotomayor and Kagan were for me--not very comfortable, but I tried to embrace a system that has stood the test of time. But whatever happened to me, it has been 100 times worse for you.
Senator Flake, thank you. Without Susan Collins and Jeff Flake, we would not have heard from Dr. Ford, maybe, but you stood up and said that she needs to be heard. Without their insistence that the FBI check the committee's homework, we wouldn't be where we are today. So you did a good thing.
The one thing you wouldn't do is be intimidated. The one thing you wouldn't do is destroy Judge Kavanaugh's life for no good reason. The one thing you wouldn't do is play politics with the law. God bless you. I doubt if I will ever hear anybody more courageous in my political life.
So when they write the history of our times, you will be in it. If John McCain were here, he would be your greatest cheerleader.
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