October 1, 2018

"Has anyone else seen the political cartoon depicting Judge Kavanaugh's child praying for her father. It's really despicable."

Asks Andrew in the comments to yesterday's café. He adds: "The Democrats are crossing one line after another. I can only hope they rue the day." His link goes to a Rod Dreher post at The American Conservative, "When They Came For Kavanaugh’s Kid," which shows this cartoon by Chris Britt that was published in the Illinois Times:



Dreher asks: "How can a man do this to another man’s child? How can editors allow this to pass? What corrupt and wicked hearts they have." Dreher has to update and expresses puzzlement:
For some reason, this image is being passed around to some people as if I approved of its message. If you’re going to send it around, please point out that I *abhor* this image.
I think I can help Dreher with his puzzlement, because when I first saw the cartoon — fully knowing that Andrew thought it was despicable — I thought of asking the question: Which way does this cartoon cut? You can go 2 ways:

1. Kavanaugh is presumed to be an angry, lying, alcoholic man who really did sexually assault Ford, and the daughter knows it and asks God to forgive him.

2. Kavanaugh's daughter has heard what is being said about her father, believes it, and asks God to forgive him.

In the second reading, the cartoonist would be criticizing the politicians and the press for going after Kavanaugh in a way that hurt that child, destroying her understanding of him as a good man, and the child turning to God to help her in her devastation.

Look again at Dreher's question, "How can a man do this to another man's child?" What was done to the child and who did it? In interpretation #2, we see a child to whom the attack on Kavanaugh has done something terrible, and the cartoonist is showing us that. That message is the same one Kavanaugh himself delivered: You have destroyed my family. Look what you did, you fiends! Kavanaugh also said that his child was so wise that she knew, in her religion, that she should pray for "the woman." That same sincere religious belief would bring her to pray for her father, if she thought he was all those things people were saying. The cartoon shows the child possessed of that belief and still following her religion.

Understanding the cartoon in those terms, Dreher's readers could think he approved of it. Since the first interpretation is the easier one to make, I can see why he doesn't want to be associated in a positive way with the cartoon, but with a bit more reflection, he might see how the second interpretation, though harder to reach, is really more sound. And I'm saying that even though I would guess that the cartoonist had the first interpretation in mind.

On the subject of using children in politics, Dreher's question is also complex: "How can a man do this to another man's child?" I'd like to keep children out of politics, but does that mean images of children don't belong in cartoons? The child isn't the intended audience for this cartoon. We, the adults, are seeing an image of a child and it may move us, because children draw out emotion. They represent innocence and vulnerability. That's why the second interpretation jumped out at me. I feel protective of the child whose tender, impressionable mind has been invaded by ugly images of her father.

Dreher seems to be tapping into some old rule: Don't attack the children! But the cartoon isn't an attack on the child. It's a flip of the way Kavanaugh himself used the child: She's so beautiful and valuable that she prayed for the woman who is accusing her own father. If Kavanaugh can use his child that way, and a cartoonist may not counter that with another point of view, it's a lot like the way Christine Blasely Ford was able to make her accusations and escape cross-examination. Don't attack the woman!

302 comments:

1 – 200 of 302   Newer›   Newest»
Hagar said...

Total BS, madame.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Charitable is not a word that describes your second interpretation. Try tortured.

Tim said...

The Left is total, amoral garbage. I thought there would be at least one Democrat Senator that was a normal human, but no.

Mr. D said...

Nah, it's despicable.

rhhardin said...

Wait for Dennis the Menace to chime in.

rhhardin said...

God pulls the football away would be a nice cartoon if he doesn't get confirmed.

DeepRunner said...

Professor, your take is fascinating. I found the cartoon to be in bad taste. It's not because I am conservative, as I tend to be more moderate on most issues. It's because it was in bad taste.

Gahrie said...

So now you're justifying the use of Kavanagh's children to attack him? I suggest some serious introspection Althouse.

rhhardin said...

Don't attack the woman!

That's derivative from gentlemanliness and its constant grant of mental weirdness space to women. Like that, it works in domestic spaces but not very well in public spaces, where it eventually destabilizes the system.

alan markus said...

Google Chris Britt "Images" and then decide if it is 1. or 2. I am going with #1.

Chris Britt Cartoons

Not Sure said...

The child isn't the intended audience for this cartoon.

Also true of child porn. What's your point?

David Begley said...

The kid is ten. No way #1. Her dad is perfect in her eyes.

The kid is ten. She didn’t know her dad 36 years ago. The media might put doubt in her mind.

This entire Kavanaugh incident is 10x worse than the Thomas hearings. It is a watershed political and cultural event. It exposes the Left and MSM for the amoral terrible people that they are.

I know this. Once Kavanaugh is confirmed, he will be the Left’s worst nightmare. Scalia without the humor.

The more one critically exams CBF’s testimony the more fair-minded and intelligent people must conclude that it was all planned and setup. Some classmate of Brett’s felt her up at a party and she has concocted it into attempted rape by Kavanaugh. The Rosetta Stone here is the two front doors LIE.

chuck said...

It's a reach...

William said...

When Kavanaugh stated that he bore no ill will towards Prof Ford, the subtext of that statement was what kind of person nurses her resentment for thirty five years and then springs this accusation on me at my moment of greatest exposure and vulnerability. In like way, when he mentioned the prayers of his daughter, the subtext of that statement was that Ford's accusations caused pain and hurt to people other than Kavanaugh.

Curious George said...

Rube.

Shouting Thomas said...

The usual.

Crazy feminist women in Woodstock have repeatedly threatened to publicly accuse me of sexually abusing my daughters and granddaughters. These are women who have zero knowledge of my personal life. It's the standard tactic now for your Marxist feminist movement, Althouse. It is assumed in Woodstock that opposition to your fucking Marxist feminism is proof that the opponent is a sex criminal.

When I sold my house and moved out of Woodstock, I did what I could to make sure these women didn't know where I was moving or how to get in contact with me.

David Begley said...

The reaction to a cartoon is always a gut reaction, not an answer to a law school exam. The cartoon is despicable.

MayBee said...

So now just saying someone is an alcoholic is a thing we do?

SayAahh said...

A cruel analysis and indicative of someone with too much time on her hands in retirement.
There is no neutrality expressed.

Ray - SoCal said...

Socratic method - Modern term is trolling

It’s despicable, in deplorable views.

DeepRunner said...

alan markus said...
Google Chris Britt "Images" and then decide if it is 1. or 2. I am going with #1.

If you Google just his name, he comes up on the Wayback Machine as a self-described liberal. Yeah, I'm gonna go with Interpretation #1.

Not Sure said...

Dreher seems to be tapping into some old rule: Don't attack the children!

Wrong rule.

The rule is, don't weaponize kids by putting your bullshit attacks in their mouths.

tcrosse said...

Imagine a cartoon of Emmett Till's Mother praying to God to forgive her son for attacking that white woman.

alan markus said...

Some creative type should take Chris Britt cartoons and copy his style and lift his byline/signature. Flood the internet with cartoons that appear to be his work - cartoons presenting Mohammed in unflattering depictions - in bed with a dead boy, etc. Then he would be praying in some dark room afraid to be seen in the light of day.

MayBee said...

I'm glad that with whichever interpretation we go with, Althouse acknowledges Kavanaugh is being painted as an alcoholic.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Ann,
You don't really believe that, do you?

Chris of Rights said...

There's nothing complex at all about this. It's in exceptionally poor taste. That's the absolute best thing you can say about it.

Mr. Majestyk said...

Not persuasive, Professor.

Roughcoat said...

Althouse: Are you nuts?

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

There's nothing wrong with either interpretation, just in working out the probabilities of the intention.

Either way, somebody thinks that K is a drunk.

Larry J said...


Blogger David Begley said...
The reaction to a cartoon is always a gut reaction, not an answer to a law school exam. The cartoon is despicable.”

As is the lowlife cartoonist that drew it.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I feel protective of the child whose tender, impressionable mind has been invaded by ugly images of her father."

I'm sure that when the girl is older she will realize that this seat on the Court is especially important because of the threat to women's rights. Justice Kennedy was the 5th vote in key right-of-privacy cases, and women's continuing domain over our own bodies is at stake.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

When the girl is older it can be explained to her that the bigger problem is that her father can only say he has no memory of something. And her father's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is telling us that he was very drunk, so maybe a failure to remember could be attributed to drinking. Her father could honestly testify to no memory of the incident, but still need to establish that he didn't have a memory blanked out by alcohol use. Now, since we're not going to hear of the specific time and place of the incident, her father will need to say that he never, in that entire period, experienced alcohol-induced amnesia. (And what if he can only say I have no memory of losing my memory?!).

I am Laslo.

Bay Area Guy said...

A few orderly thoughts:

1. The Dems believe that Roe v Wade is sacrosanct "super" precedent .
2. The Dems further believe that Kavanaugh is likely the 5th vote to overturn Roe.
3. As a result, the Dems have issued a political fatwah to stop Kavanaugh, at any cost, for any reason. That's why morons like Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse are delving into high school year books.
4. The Dems, of course, couldn't touch him face to face in Committee, because he was too honest and honorable and they are idiots, shackled by rules.
5. So, they want the media, SNL, NYT, various cartoonists, Michael Avenatti, and FBI to find dirt on him and spread it around.

Althouse is outstanding on most issues, and a national treasure. But she has a blind spot on abortion and gay marriage, so she quietly buys the above formulation.

Any questions?

Freeman Hunt said...

Original intent: best with comics as with constitutions.

Ironclad said...

The cartoon leaves one impression - Kavanoughs' child confirms it is true that her father is an evil drunk who tried to rape a woman. That remains true in both "interpretations" here - the cartoon is removing uncertainty that Kavanough is innocent - the child confirms what she knows from private life to be fact.

This is the end goal - to smear Kavanough in a way he will be forever tainted AND to send a message that anyone in the future will get the same treatment.

Meade said...

For it is written “if your enemy likes beer, mock the drinking of beer; if he has a well-loved child, mock the child. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head and then you can say "we must now shun and ostracize you, you mean injudiciously demeanored hothead."

Thus sayeth the Democrat party playbook.

Ann Althouse said...

"Also true of child porn. What's your point?"

A drawing of a child is not a child.

MayBee said...

We can't pin rapist on him, so we are going with alcoholic. Here are 5 friends who saw him throw up in the college dorm.

Jason said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MD Greene said...

Tired of the shit show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAAKjg4gRpQ

Ann Althouse said...

"The kid is ten. No way #1. Her dad is perfect in her eyes."

That supports interpretation #2. The only way for the child to have those thoughts about her father in her head is if she had been horrendously damaged by the people who are attacking him.

MayBee said...

Make this cartoon with Sasha Obama and lets see what happens.

Bay Area Guy said...

The Democrat party and their media allies and enablers are a national disgrace.

Jason said...

[cough] BULLSHIT [cough]

Gahrie said...

Also true of child porn. What's your point?"

A drawing of a child is not a child.


Tell that to the courts. A drawing of a child performing a sex act is treated exactly the same as a picture of a child performing a sex act.

Wince said...

Kavanaugh’s account of his daughter’s prayer presumed her innocence of the details and inability to judge, yet an enduring love of all people.

The cartoon presumes judgment of her father as guilty based not on testimony about long ago events when he was in high school, but on the truth of her personal experience in the present tense of him as her father, all in order for the cartoon to give weight to Ford’s accusation.

The cartoon is basically using his daughter as a character witness against her father before God to “prove” Ford’s allegation.

Looked at this way, it’s beyond despicable.

Jason said...

My favorite part of this shit show is Senator Blumenthal taking time off from his Vietnam Veterans of America and VFW meetings to lecture the rest of us on falsus in omnibus .

Gahrie said...

That supports interpretation #2. The only way for the child to have those thoughts about her father in her head is if she had been horrendously damaged by the people who are attacking him

So now the cartoonist is using a victim of the Democratic lynch mob to attack her father, which is somehow better.

Fernandinande said...

"[Kavanaugh] said that his 10-year-old daughter had suggested the family pray for Ford."

Ann Althouse said...

I have another criticism of the cartoon: The bedroom is the bedroom of a middle class rural or suburban home of a very old-fashioned, modest sort. It's not what someone in Kavanaugh's social class would have for his daughter. If this were a New Yorker level cartoon, some effort would have been made to guess at the interior decoration that child might have. It would be another way to jab at Kavanaugh, to show the class privilege he enjoys. But the old-fashioned, conventional "Good-Night Moon" type bedroom seems more consistent with a child kneeling in prayer by the side of the bed.

Laslo Spatula said...

Maybe the second interpretation IS correct.

Perhaps the cartoonist can explain this by writing something along the lines of the following:

"So I'll forgive all the (readers) who misread what I (drew) and fought me over the idea they got in their head when they read what I (drew)?"

I am ready to be forgiven.

I am Laslo.

Not Sure said...

A drawing of a child is not a child.

And it wasn't even that realistic a drawing, either!

Has nothing to do with the point at issue, however.

LilyBart said...



Roughcoat said...
Althouse: Are you nuts?


Just partisan and filtering this through her partisan lens.

Gahrie said...

Surely Althouse is the only person in the world who can look at this cartoon and say: "Wow that cartoonist is attacking all those people who lied about Kavanagh in an effective manner!"

Kirk Parker said...

It's Chris Britt--if anyone actually does think he meant #2, he will consider this cartoon to be an abject failure.

Gahrie said...

Somebody throw another shovel down that hole, Althouse has bent the other one out of recognition......

Pillage Idiot said...

The cartoon is used to put the most vile accusation against the father into the mouth of his own daughter.

Let's flip it. If a cartoon was created ten years ago, using B. Obama's youngest daughter to refer to her father making a visit to his birthplace in Africa, the cartoonist would have been instantly branded the most racist person in America. The cartoonist would also have been savaged for using the President's own child in the smear.

Hagar said...

The Supreme Court "overturned" Plessy v. Ferguson because "separate but equal" was still practiced, but Dred Scott has not been "overturned," since it has been rendered quite moot by later events.
Roe v. Wade has likewise become moot, and will never be "overturned."
This whole brouhaha is a sham.

Jeff Weimer said...

The second interpretation is a stretch even for you, Ann.

Not Sure said...

The bedroom is the bedroom of a middle class rural or suburban home of a very old-fashioned, modest sort. It's not what someone in Kavanaugh's social class would have for his daughter.

A drawing of a house isn't a house.

A federal circuit court judge makes about $220K per year. What was your salary, Althouse? What's your pension?

The extent of the resentment toward BK that you've revealed lately is astonishing.

LilyBart said...

Pillage Idiot said...
The cartoon is used to put the most vile accusation against the father into the mouth of his own daughter.



This is beyond the pale.

rcocean said...

I'm amazed a cuck like Rod Dreher was upset at this. Usually the guy just does his usual "a plague on both your houses" shtick.

I didn't like Kavanaugh bringing up his 10 y/o daughter, but since this is all aimed at women, why not?

Sydney said...

If the next nominee is a woman, I expect them to go mercilessly after her children. If she has sons, it will be they who raped a drunk girl at a party. If she has daughters, it will be daughters who are promiscuous or rumored to use drugs or had an abortion. For some reason, abortion is only wrong for Democrats if a conservative has had one.

MayBee said...

But the old-fashioned, conventional "Good-Night Moon" type bedroom seems more consistent with a child kneeling in prayer by the side of the bed.

Yes, because only country bumpkins pray, don't you know.

Dave Begley said...

I think Bay Area Guy used to be a lawyer. I'd hate to be opposite of him in a case. Tough, tough opponent. Sharp and incisive mind.

Stepper said...

The media & Dems are going full Scottsboro on Kavanaugh.

Bad Lieutenant said...

What's your game, Ann?

Fritz said...

Imagine that cartoon with Chelsea as the little girl. Appropriate?

rcocean said...

BTW, Ms. Ford's father was President of Burning Tree Country Club which at one time had Nixon and Ike as members.

No one seems to to talk about what Ford's husband does. But she's definitely upper-class - how many people can afford to take a year off in Hawaii to work on their PHD?

The Cartoon shows the standard bedroom, because making it more realistic would be beside the point. And most Cartoonists are lazy.

MayBee said...

A federal circuit court judge makes about $220K per year. What was your salary, Althouse? What's your pension?

I'm guessing she made about $50,000 less per year in, while living in Madison rather than DC. So yeah, the constant remarks about his privilege is kind of weird.

Kirk Parker said...

Roughcoat,

"Are you nuts?"

Don't forget the hot/crazy matrix: "Here on the left is the Crazy axis. You'll nite it starts at 4, since all women are at least a little bit crazy."

William said...

There was some columnist who wrote that it was a good thing that Kavanaugh was no longer coaching a girls basketball team. Given his heavy drinking and past history of sexual offenses, it was just not safe to leave him around children. How long before some Democrat gets the idea that Kavanaugh is not a fit parent and petitions to have his children placed in foster care......,....This is not so outlandish. The Jacobins thought that Marie Antoinette was a wicked woman. How wicked? In open court they charged her with seducing and sleeping with her five year old son. How wicked were the Jacobins? After the execution of Marie Antoinette, they ordered her child to be placed in solitary confinement in a stone cell. The child perished within a year, but, fortunately for his immortal soul, he was spared the corrupting influences of his mother.

LilyBart said...

I think the left realizes that Mayella Blasey Ford's story is problematic and are moving on and piling on. (Ford's story is incomplete, inconsistent, and her witnesses don't know what she's talking about. Also, her 6 year old girl act felt manipulative to a lot of people).

rcocean said...

Althouse is a lawyer. So she can make total BS sound plausible.

But its still Bullshit now matter how you package it.

Kirk Parker said...

(Captcha thinks I'm a dog... keeps asking me to identify fire hydrants.)

Hagar said...

The cartoon is so vile that the only other tenable interpretation is that it is intended to be a backwards intent to create sympathy for Kavanaugh, but as is pointed out by several posters above, the artist's other output denies this idea.

MadisonMan said...

You can only view this cartoon in one way, IMO. The cartoonist is using the daughter is a vomitworthy attack on the Dad.

rcocean said...

"I'm guessing she made about $50,000 less per year in, while living in Madison rather than DC."

You're a moron. She makes a lot more than that. Go look up UW Prof Salaries and their generous pensions.

MayBee said...

Are we going to talk about why everyone has suddenly decided Kavanaugh is an alcoholic? Is everyone cool with this?

Anonymous said...

In the second reading, the cartoonist would be criticizing the politicians and the press for going after Kavanaugh in a way that hurt that child, destroying her understanding of him as a good man, and the child turning to God to help her in her devastation.

A quick look at this guy's cartoon oeuvre doesn't support that reading. Cartooning for the flipper-flapping trained-seals brigade.

Maryland Geezer said...

The cartoon is using a representation of Kavanaugh’s daughter to state allegations as facts. Which means at some point in the life of the actual child, she may be called upon to justify her loyalty to her father by those who have seen the cartoon. Although the cartoon is not the actual child, it represents her in a way that makes the actual child vulnerable. An extension of the “by any means necessary” Dem playbook. Meade has it right:

“For it is written “if your enemy likes beer, mock the drinking of beer; if he has a well-loved child, mock the child. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head and then you can say "we must now shun and ostracize you, you mean injudiciously demeanored hothead."

Thus sayeth the Democrat party playbook.”


Don’t be naïve about the intent here.

Big Mike said...

But the cartoon isn't an attack on the child.

No, it’s an attack on the child’s family, which is worse in it’s own way.

Shouting Thomas said...

For God's sake, Ann Althouse, stop feeding this frenzy of sexual hatred.

MayBee said...

You're a moron.

WHy thank you, rcocean. Why don't you look it up and post it here.

mezzrow said...

Your sophistry is Socratic. It is also illustrative of evil.

The point being that some think when these issues are settled, women and children will be fair game. You (I think) realize that they already are fair game and that the game is up.

But for the loss of vindication for Kavanaugh (as if he, as a person, matters), at this point I almost hope the Democrats succeed. If they do, they're doing to regret this even more than they regret Harry Reid gutting the old majority rules. We can see what they're wishing for, and the media can only defend them so much.

Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons!

Bay Area Guy said...

Crazy
I'm crazy for feeling so lonely

I'm crazy
Crazy for feeling so blue

I knew
You'd love me as long as you wanted
And then some day
You'd leave me for somebody new

Worry
Why do I let myself worry?
Wondering
What in the world did I do...

Oh, crazy
For thinking that my love could hold you...
I'm crazy for trying
And crazy for crying
And I'm crazy for loving you


Patsy Cline, "Crazy" (1962) by way of Willie Nelson

rcocean said...

Is there no LIMIT to Left wing hypocrisy?

Its gotten INSANE. We have the defenders of Bill Clinton pretending to care about Sexual Assault. We have people who want legalized Pot, waived off Obama's Cocaine use, and constantly talk about wine, and Craft Beers, acting shocked at some one beer while 17. And now, the people who demanded Chelsea and Obama's Kids were "off-limits" are going after Kavanaugh's daughter.

Unbelievable. The correct way to react is NOT to expect the Left to change, but to stop playing by rules the Left never follows - unless its to their advantage.

Meade said...

"It's very difficult to have these conversations with your children, which we've had to have." —Ashley Kavanaugh

Tell me about it. 20 years ago, when my daughter was 10, I had to have the father/daughter conversation and answer her questions about just how in the world the President's semen could have possibly wound up on his intern's dress. Talk about traumatized. I could still use a good prayer or 2 if anyone has any left. Thank you. Amen.

Big Mike said...

To the extent that Prof. Ford represents all women, Althouse, your sex is trash. Don’t attack the woman? Why the Hell not? Ford is a stupid, lying, drunken, pervert.

mccullough said...

The cartoon actually is set in the same room that Ford believes Kavanaugh and Judge attacked her. It’s the room in Ford’s mind. It’s a figment.

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeepRunner said...

MayBee said...
Are we going to talk about why everyone has suddenly decided Kavanaugh is an alcoholic? Is everyone cool with this?

------

Because, it's what's left. The John Tower Treatment. And it becomes the springboard for "this, therefore that." If he is a drunk, then it's possible/likely he can get blackout drunk. If he can blackout drunk, then it's possible/likely he can forget episodes such as CBF. If he forgets such episodes, it's possible/likely he did it. Ergo, because he is/was a drunk, he's guilty.

rcocean said...

Sorry MayBee I get annoyed when people quote figures and they don't know what they're talking about.

"Are we going to talk about why everyone has suddenly decided Kavanaugh is an alcoholic? Is everyone cool with this?"

Remember when Leftists tried to paint Althouse as a boozer because she had a glass of wine on a BHTV? BTW, when did the Liberal/Left ever talk about Ted Kennedy's alcoholism? In his last 10 years, Teddy had the classic boozer face.

mccullough said...

“In my late teens” to her therapist in 2012 and “in the mid 1980s” to the Washington Post this summer.

Ford’s parents are descpicable if they don’t come forward.

stevew said...

Meh, I've got better things to be outraged about. People of good faith see this for what it is.

-sw

Meade said...

(I see Fritz @ 8:41 got there before I did. And with more punch.)

rcocean said...

The Democrats know the sexual assault stuff has failed. So, the new attacks are about booze and not having a judicial temperament. I kid you not.

When Kavanaugh gets confirmed, and goes on TV, he should invite Trump and everyone to the nearest bar for a Beer. "Drinks on me"

The Crack Emcee said...

Every time a Democrat demands Melania divorces Trump I wince.

They really are despicable.

Birkel said...

I like Althouse best when she strains to protect the Leftist Patriarchy.
SMDH

The cartoon is meant to be vile.
The paymasters tasked a third tier Leftist to take the heat.

Shouting Thomas said...

Meade, tell your wife to learn to distinguish her rape fantasies from reality. She and her friends are in an hallucinatory fit over double penetration and gang banging. They are simultaneously repelled and convulsed with desire.

Don't be a fool.

The evil eye will get around to you, too.

chickelit said...

Kavanaugh has been conceived as a Justice but is not born as one. That’s when act.

rcocean said...

Yeah, having to talk about Bimbo eruptions and Lewinsky's to little kids was no fun.

At least that's what Hillary said.

Andrew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrew said...

First, Ann (may I call you Ann?), thanks for turning my comment into a post. Even more, thanks for creating a "tag" in my name. I don't know how often you'll use it, but it's still an honor, and a pleasant surprise. Does it come with any remuneration?

Having said that, I join with those commenters who think you're reaching (to be polite). The cartoonist is condemning Judge Kavanaugh, and mocking the faith of his daughter. You can look at the past work of this cartoonist and see where his political predilections lie.

I thought that the Judge's reference to his daughter's prayer for Dr. Ford was a beautiful and heart-felt moment. Then he followed it up, nearly weeping, with "we wish no one ill will." I remember thinking, "How can anyone not be moved by that?"

Yet many on the left are even using this against him. I've heard him criticized because he said "the woman" (quoting his daughter) rather than Dr. Ford's name. These are sick, irrational and pernicious people. There is no pleasing them. There is no working together with them. There is no way to find common ground with them. They simply must be defeated.

Signed, Andrew (the commenter)

Wince said...

Trump should invite Kavanaugh and Ford to a "Beer Summit".

Anonymous said...

LilyBart: I think the left realizes that Mayella Blasey Ford's story is problematic and are moving on and piling on. (Ford's story is incomplete, inconsistent, and her witnesses don't know what she's talking about. Also, her 6 year old girl act felt manipulative to a lot of people).

Uh, no. At least from what I've perused, that Kavanaugh is a lying, raping psychopath has been accepted by lots of lefties as established fact, and everything they have to say on the subject proceeds from that unquestioned premise.

If someone as intelligent and thoughtful as our esteemed hostess has been willing to take some astoundingly dubious material with utmost seriousness, how do you think the, ah, less cognitively-endowed on the left are processing this stuff? If you think the stuff the professional pundits are churning out is loony enough (look at the cartoon "analyses" to which Althouse is giving the time of day), just take a look at their commenters.

I very much hope that my perusal suffers from strong chance/selection bias, and everybody out there on the left hasn't flipped the cerebral cortex switch to "off".

Curious George said...

"rcocean said...
Althouse is a lawyer. So she can make total BS sound plausible."

SHe's not a lawyer, she is a retired law prof. A lawyer is someone who practices law.

rcocean said...

"Dred Scott has not been "overturned," since it has been rendered quite moot by later events."

Dred Scott was judicial activism.

Curious George said...

"rcocean said...
Althouse is a lawyer. So she can make total BS sound plausible."

SHe's not a lawyer, she is a retired law prof. A lawyer is someone who practices law.

Birkel said...

Leftists like Althouse will do anything to protect her religious sacraments.
She would probably just move wife beaters to different diocese (Ellison from Congress to AG of Minnesota) to avoid scrutiny.

Abortion is a Leftist sacrament.
Althouse is devout.

sparrow said...

"How can anyone not be moved by that?"

Lot's of political types become hardened over time: it's necessary precondition for radicals.

LilyBart said...

"Are we going to talk about why everyone has suddenly decided Kavanaugh is an alcoholic? Is everyone cool with this?"

I noticed that over the weekend, they'be started moving away from Ford's problematic story and on to Kav's drinking and that he 'lied' about how much he drank in his late teens.

Seeing Red said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meade said...

"Yeah, having to talk about Bimbo eruptions and Lewinsky's to little kids was no fun."

That was actually the easy part. Explaining to her how the People could have elected such a splooge stooge to the White House was when my burden approached the unbearable. "But Daddy, why do these soccer moms accept sexual harassment and sexual assault for him when it isn't right for the rest of us? How is that fair?"

Etienne said...

The reason you don't see Knights Templar anymore, is that they were all hunted down to the edges of civilization and hacked to death.

I propose the we do the same with the Democrats.

Professional lady said...

I was talking to another (male) attorney about this whole mess on Friday. I reminded him how we had discussed the Clarence Thomas hearings years ago and I had expressed concern about qualified people being discouraged from public office. He was of the opinion that Trump should have nominated a conservative woman, such as Amy Coney Barrett. I said maybe she didn't want to be nominated - maybe the Democrats couldn't destroy her with attacks such as those made on Kavanaugh - but what pretense could they use to accuse and destroy her husband, son, father, or other family member?

Drago said...

The Left always comes after the children


But only always and in every corner of the globe where they hold sway for the last one hundred years.

And there are always libs around to paint a happy picture of it. Some even try to make the despicable act seem noble and enlightened.

Who can forget the guffaws when Letterman joked, on the air, about a rape/sexual assault of Palins underage daughter?

The left/libs are always primed to go full Stasi/Khmer Rouge/Cultural Revolution at the drop of a hat.

Fen's Law x Infinity

Seeing Red said...

Until Anne starts posting about Keith Ellison, what difference, at this point, does it make?


It’s BS on Kavanaugh.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Fuck this disgusting lefty cunt "cartoonist" and fuck you for defending them. There is no compromise to be had, no quarter to be given, and no use in pretending to be civil to horrible human beings like you and your fellow travelers.

This is now total war.

If Kavanaugh's kids are not off limits, neither are yours.

Shouting Thomas said...

Porn is why this shit is happening.

Everybody, including women, is watching a ton of porn. (I'm not claiming purity.)

Many of the women are going mad with their porn fantasies.

What do women do when they feel guilty about what they are doing sexually? (Answer: They blame men.)

Levi Starks said...

For me the cartoon fails on theological error. Repentance, and contrition must come from the heart of the offender. A prayer for mercy might be appropriate. And while it’s difficult, I will pray that mercy may be shown toward those who’ve declared all out war on even the family of a just man.

Darrell said...

In the old days, the cartoonist would have been hot-tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

is "Cruel Neutrality" (w/o the neutrality) morphing into "Benevolent* Bias" ?

(*used for alliterative purposes only)

Meade said...

Too much info, Spouting Thomas. Too much.

Fabi said...

"I'll take obvious class insecurity for $1,000, Alex."

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Leftists can read minds, they keep telling us.

Meade said...

EDH @9:04 -- quite brilliant.

Robert Cook said...

"Once Kavanaugh is confirmed, he will be the Left’s worst nightmare. Scalia without the humor."

So...you presume Kavanaugh will use his seat on the Court to render partisan opinions directed against the left, and favoring the right? If you think he is predisposed to do this, and if this is true, it would prove he's not fit for the position. Too late, though.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

I wonder if there are any cartoonists who would like to draw Althouse's son getting thrown off a roof by Muslim's. I wonder what sort of analysis and excusal femnist "cruel neutrality" would draw out of Althouse.

At least her degenerate offspring is fully grown and not ten fucking years old.

Henry said...

Blogger EDH said...
Trump should invite Kavanaugh and Ford to a "Beer Summit".

LOL. Ditto what Meade said.

My question for Kavanaugh is this: Does he drink anything other than beer?

Chuck said...

I am seeing more and more of the, "How can we put someone with a drinking problem on the Supreme Court?" kinds of questions.

It beggars reality. There is not even an allegation -- not even a phony, made-up, concocted allegation -- that Judge Kavanaugh has ever been drunk in 12 years as a sitting US Circuit Court of Appeals judge, or as a high-level White House/DoJ staff attorney. No one has even been able to fantasize such an allegation. The best of the hysterical allegations, such as they are and without regard to their veracity, date back to high school and college days. And now Kavanaugh is an "alcoholic."

Thank you, thank you, thank you Ann Althouse for blogging this one. Beautifully done. Blogging at its best. I do think I might not have seen this outrage but for your blog.

Too bad Kavanaugh isn't a bisexual transgendered left-wing activist with years of working for the ACLU, and with a history of heroin abuse and multiple addictions. He'd get confirmed in a minute, if the Dems had a 52-seat majority. He'd be a hero, for diversity and self-discovery and his own personal journey to recovery.

Not Sure said...

@Cook, That's one interpretation. Another is that he'll render nonpartisan opinions exactly as before, but he will be less inclined to water down the strength of his opinions for the sake of comity.

Shouting Thomas said...

Too much info, Spouting Thomas. Too much.

Don't say I didn't warn you when the purge comes around to you.

That's a very treacherous woman you're attached to. The subject of her blog is backstabbing office politics.

Roughcoat said...

A drawing of a child is not a child.

A [porn] video of a child is not a child.

Otto said...

" It's a flip of the way Kavanaugh himself used the child:" False parallelism Ann. It would be proper parallelism if she prayed " please forgive CBF even though she was a drunken promiscuous young girl who put out for all the boys". But we don't know what she said, only that she prayed for CBF.
Sharpen up , your bias is showing.

Laslo Spatula said...

So Althouse can strenuously tease out a second interpretation of this cartoon, but cannot seem to imagine an interpretation of Ford lying about at least some 'facts'?

I saw the best minds of Althouse's generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

I am Laslo.

Nicholas said...

"If Kavanaugh can use his child that way, and a cartoonist may not counter that with another point of view". Except it's not just another point of view - Kavanaugh asserted a fact which, as the father of the child and member of a household with strong religious convictions, is far more credible than anything from Dr Fraud. Yet, (leaving aside the impossibly strained second interpretation of the cartoon) the cartoonist is suggesting that Kavanaugh's own daughter disbelieves her own father, and disbelieves much about the hitherto accepted record of his life. If that's a "point of view", it's a pretty warped one.

Chuck said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Shouting Thomas said...

@Unknown

For once, a bot post is right on the money.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Gahrie, if a drawing of a child was treated the same a photograph or film of child porn, there would be no anime.

LilyBart said...


Are there still decent and moral people on the left, and, if so, at what point will they have had enough with this blatant smear job?

Narayanan said...

Flipping around...

Cartoon of Ford praying for Kavanaugh and Judge ... Discuss who to laud or criticize.

Cartoonist or cartoon subjects

Francisco D said...

I'm guessing she made about $50,000 less per year in, while living in Madison rather than DC. So yeah, the constant remarks about his privilege is kind of weird.

A LaCrosse paper has records of state employee salaries. It listed Althouse as making about $179K per year.

MayBee was right on target.

If she had been allowed to take certain classes and go to a private college then her life would have been immensely better, of course.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Matt Damon's Kavanaugh said "I don't know the meaning of the word 'Stop'!", but according to Blasey Ford, he did stop, far short of rape.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

So Althouse can strenuously tease out a second interpretation of this cartoon, but cannot seem to imagine an interpretation of Ford lying about at least some 'facts'?

Cruel neutrality was reported missing last week. Witnesses don't recall exactly when or where she was last seen, only that she had a single beer before disappearing.

gahrie said...

Gahrie, if a drawing of a child was treated the same a photograph or film of child porn, there would be no anime.

Neither anime nor manga depict sex. That is hentai, and I have never seen hentai child porn.

TrespassersW said...

Sometimes a despicable cartoon is just a despicable cartoon.

Matt Sablan said...

Possibility #2 is *possible.* Occam's Razor suggests it isn't the truth though.

The Crack Emcee said...

The Coal Train: Click the "politics" tab and you've arrived at all the latest Kavanaugh headlines in one place.

Don't do it and you're stuck in a one-horse town.

Darrell said...

and I have never seen hentai child porn

You haven't looked, then. Even if you were not looking for it on Google or Bing images.

Roughcoat said...

I saw the best minds of Althouse's generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

Heh. Good use of a crappy poem by a bad poet.

gahrie said...

There are men serving jail sentences for possessing drawings of children having sex.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Teh left have no bottom. It's desperation/ all the time. I hope they pay.

The Crack Emcee said...

Char Char Binks said...

"Leftists can read minds, they keep telling us."

From Ellen and Oprah on down, they keep telling us they've got the "psychics" on their side, but does the Right listen? Nah:

They got PASTORS on theirs....

gahrie said...

You haven't looked, then

I must admit that I have never searched for child porn. I defer to the experts.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I'm starting to agree with Crack on a few things

Fabi said...

Bushman for early thread winner!

etbass said...

All this ragging on Althouse! The only thing that is going to influence her is when the clicks on her blog start trending down.

n.n said...

One, the cartoon is a solicitation of his daughter to join the warlock hunt for her father. Two, the cartoon assigns a belief to his daughter, which will meld and become one in the public perception with repetition.

Priscilla said...

"Yet, (leaving aside the impossibly strained second interpretation of the cartoon) the cartoonist is suggesting that Kavanaugh's own daughter disbelieves her own father, and disbelieves much about the hitherto accepted record of his life."

That is precisely what the cartoonist is suggesting.

n.n said...

The warlock trials and public lynching will stop when Baby Lives Matter.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

This cartoon is worse than its obvious vileness. It assumes that a female's loyalty to other females overrides her loyalty to her family, to her father, and to the truth. It's the Feminist religion.

Narayanan said...

*single beer* looking likely lawyer coaching... She could've belted a few high octane ones also.

Ken B said...

When Andrew posted this I said it belonged in the what Ann found funny thread. I bet some of you thought I was being too harsh.

The rule, which Ann has propounded often, is don’t *use* children politically. She has a tag for it.

Does Ann think that classmates won’t taunt the child with this? That she won’t see it?

Plus the second interpretation is arrant nonsense, the thing that gives lawyers a bad reputation. Even Avenatti is more honest that this. Think about that AVENATTI IS MORE HONEST THAN ALTHOUSE ABOUT THIS STUFF.

Rick.T. said...

Regarding the motive of the cartoonist based upon his oeuvre, it appears they don’t teach “If you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras.” anymore.

Darrell said...

I must admit that I have never searched for child porn. I defer to the experts.

You can't read, either.
You don't have to look for underage hentai sex images to find them in a Google image search. they come up in other searches. Until a few years ago, Japan had pictures of real underage girls on display in porn shops. The BBC still found them last year in a Stacey Dooley report in Tokyo. The police say that they are working on it, but they almost took Stacey's cameras away on the street, even though she has Press credentials and had pre-arranged her documentary with Japanese ministers.

Michael K said...

I can only hope that Mrs Kavanaugh is stronger than Miguel Estrada's wife who committed suicide during the 28 month Democrat attacks on him.

These are your allies, Ann. Accept the association.

Have you read Rachel Mitchell's report ?

CStanley said...

Even if you thought Kavanaugh inappropriately brought his daughter into this, why on earth would it be OK to double down on use of a child in politics?

You compare this to Ford using her gender as a shield. No, Ford is an adult who put herself into this situation, unlike the child.

Big Mike said...

I appreciate that the cartoon is emblematic of the entire left-wing frenzy. Like many teenagers in the early 1980s — and today! — Kavanaugh drank beer, and even to the point of throwing up at least once. So he’s an alcoholic. No one has caught him in any lies except nits, so he’s a liar. No one intelligent believes Christine Blasey Ford. It’s all bullshit, and Althouse can’t smell it because of her anosmia.

The two women who accosted the eponymous Jeff Flake in the Capitol elevator, were they really rape survivors? Women lie.

Seeing Red said...

Only vaginas exist.

Louie Miller said...

Curly thinking, Althouse!
Message is that even his own daughter buys the smear & needs to pray for his salvation.

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K said...

"These are your allies, Ann. Accept the association."

You guys - with you especially - got me to leave the Republicans after 14 years. These are your results, Michael K. Accept the association.

Anonymous said...

With credit to Ferdinanstein: HERES THE LINK TO PROSECUTOR MITCHELL'S LETTER Damning!!!

RE the cartoon: We really don't need affirmation that there are assholes out there.

USMCA WIN! WIN! WIN!

Darrell said...

Worse.

The message is that even his own daughter KNOWS the smear is true and needs to pray for his salvation.

Fuck the Left with a post-hole auger.

Anonymous said...

@Ann Althouse Please be sure that you read Mitchell's letter. It pretty much blows up your knee jerk "one must believe the woman" bias. Affirms that you were wrong when you accused Kavanaugh of lying.

walter said...

Blogger alan markus said...Google Chris Britt "Images" and then decide if it is 1. or 2. I am going with #1.
--
Yes..I was thinking in context of the publication. But that gallery is better indication that, though theoretically possible, #2 is...a #2.
Reminds me I need to catch up on Jim Carrey's latest nuanced artistic musings...

Michael K said...

The extent of the resentment toward BK that you've revealed lately is astonishing.

I think that is a factor. How else can she ignored that Ford refuses to allow the committee to read her therapy records ?

It's just amazing to see this antipathy and bias in someone who has seemed so level headed.

Birkel said...

etbass has it right.
From Jane Fonda to present, there may be good reasons not to patronize those who hate us.
Pissing up this particular rope should be harder for a woman.

Michael K said...

You guys - with you especially - got me to leave the Republicans after 14 years. These are your results, Michael K. Accept the association.

What in the world is this about ?

I avoid you when I can. I think your begging for "reparations" after trillions have been spent on blacks the past 50 years is ridiculous.

What do you have to do with Republicans?

Jupiter said...

Skip the phoney-baloney analysis. Where does Chris Britt live?

Laslo Spatula said...

"Fuck the Left with a post-hole auger."

When I first read "post-hole" I took in 'post' as in "post-Modern".

Was trying to think what that meant.

Seeing Red said...

ITA Jupiter.

Seeing Red said...

ITA Jupiter.

Seeing Red said...

Anne’s not posting about Ellison so.....

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K said...

"How else can she ignored that Ford refuses to allow the committee to read her therapy records ?"

Both sides are holding things the other deems important, that's how. You're all seeing what you want (America's NewAge weakness) and playing dirty (America's other NewAge weakness) and refusing to stop doing so (America's got a lot of weaknesses).

THAT'S the issue.

It's hard to find the truth when everybody's lying. But I think we might. It's just a feeling now, but we got a week to see what falls out of the trees if shaken.

Shake, shake, shake! Shake, shake, shake! Shake your booty,...

Howard said...

Blogger Drago said...

The Left always comes after the children


Yes, after Bar O'K used his kids (and his wife and parents) as human shields once by bringing them to first hearing, second telling us they pray for Ford.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Plus the second interpretation is arrant nonsense... gives lawyers a bad reputation"

AA didn't say she believed the second interpretation; she merely offered it for discussion.

Larvell said...

Well, if we know one thing, it's that the media would have been totally evenhanded if this had been a cartoon about Malia Obama. Probably a page B-12 article saying, "Some Democrats complained ..." and then minimizing those complaints.

wendybar said...

WOW...no matter what, you Democrats stick together like glue when you want to take somebody down. It's sickening.

walter said...

Hole disbanded in 2012.

SayAahh said...

Begley @ 8:40 speculates that Bay Area Guy is a lawyer because he has a "sharp and incisive mind".
He certainly couldn't be anything else, could he?
Too funny.

MacMacConnell said...

If Chissy Ford's allegation against Kavanaugh need no evidence, then the allegations of President Obama snorting coke off young gay boys asses in Chicago's gay bath houses is to be believed. Remember Obama's high school female "beach friends" in Hawaii all said they thought Obama was gay.



The Crack Emcee said...

I like how conservative Republicans and Libertarians say nothing when Trump hired Dr. Oz - a man dragged before the US Senate for lying and quackery - but assume everyone else is dishonest and crazy otherwise.

The Right just doesn't get who they are.

The Crack Emcee said...

wendybar said...

"WOW...no matter what, you Democrats stick together like glue when you want to take somebody down. It's sickening."

So you hate them for acting like Republicans. That's nice.

Anonymous said...

I think Ann should have a column commenting on Mitchell's letter. There have been other commenters who have made these points , but no one in a position like Mitchell. The essence of Mitchell's letter is that Ford is full of shit at the least and a very disturbed woman at the most.

I now that this will sound catty, but I noticed in photographs of Ford that she clearly needed orthodonture work as a kid and never got it. She lived in a community where no kids made it to sixteen with crooked teeth and yet she has gone through life with crooked uppers and lowers. I am wiling to bet that played hell with her psyche as a teen; not a real confidence booster.

Seeing Red said...

Bwaaaaaa the Stupid Party? The Stupid Party sticks together? Bwaaaaaaaaa

Seeing Red said...

There are too many parties to be invited to.

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