Joe Henderson: Gina Sosa’s pathetic partisanship can’t be excused

Gina Sosa defends Brett Kavanaugh during a CNN interview

First, I want to compliment Republican voters in Miami-Dade’s CD 27 for their excellent judgment in the August primary. Out of nine candidates seeking the GOP nomination, Gina Sosa finished, um, ninth.

I’m still slightly puzzled why 760 voters (out of 39,104 votes cast) thought she would make an excellent representative in Washington, but I guess receiving .019 percent of the vote was statement enough what the district thought of her.

Then again, hopefully, she wouldn’t even score that high after her flat-out loony appearance on CNN. Referring to allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted Christine Blasey Ford while both were in high school, Sosa said, “Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school. Please, I would like to know.”

Oh, I can think of many, many young men who never did what Kavanaugh is accused of doing — holding a girl down on a bed, trying to take her clothes off, and putting his hand over her mouth.

Kavanaugh has strongly denied it ever happened, but that’s a separate issue from what Sosa’s defense.

It’s one thing to believe Kavanaugh when he said this never happened. It’s quite another to say, as Sosa basically did, “Well, even if it did happen, so what?”

You can’t excuse a remark like that.

I thought Republicans were supposed to be the party of family values, not the “boys will be boys” club. Using that rationale to excuse such behavior, even if it happened many years ago, really is pathetic partisanship and anyone who subscribes to it should be ashamed.

The irony, of course, is that the GOP desperately wants Kavanaugh approved because it believes/hopes he will be the deciding vote to repeal Roe v. Wade. It’s a moral issue, you know. It’s just more proof that the party of Lincoln has sold its soul for tax cuts and a SCOTUS justice it likes.

Those who support Kavanaugh are using pretzel logic. They say something that happened so long ago — if it happened at all, which many of his backers question — shouldn’t keep him off the high court.

Well yeah, it should.

This isn’t an unpaid parking ticket or taking a hit of weed one night at a party.

He is being accused of sexual assault. The fact that Sosa and others tried to dehumanize Ford with a “no big deal” line of attack doesn’t change that. It shouldn’t have to be said how serious this is.

Plus, if it should be determined that his accuser’s story is true, then Kavanaugh’s flat denials will be classified as a lie.

If Republicans are worried now about losing the women’s vote in the midterms, wait ‘til you see what happens if a majority of Americans believe the accuser but GOP Senators confirm Kavanaugh anyway.

That’s what we get when ideology apparently turns to bug-eyed desperation. You get crazy talk as we heard from Gina Sosa.

I want to say we’re better than that, but at the moment the evidence isn’t conclusive.