The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wants voters to know that they are dead-set and serious about their strongly-worded opposition to controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. To that end, the constitutionally–though not always politically–liberal organization is running a series of ads in four states aimed at center-right senators seen to be wavering in their support for the would-be associate Supreme Court justice.
The all-but-sure-to-be-inflammatory advertisement compares Kavanaugh to Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton. Cosby was recently sentenced to a three-10 year prison term for sexual assaulting Andrea Constand after being found guilty earlier this year. In sum, more than 50 women accused Cosby of drugging, assaulting, sexually harassing or raping them over the course of multiple decades.
Clinton, still a fairly-reliable object of liberal affection, has been accused by no fewer than 12 women of rape and sexual assault over the years. The former president was also infamously impeached by the House of Representatives in late 1998 for committing perjury during the Kenneth Starr investigation into the Monica Lewinsky affair–an investigation in which Brett Kavanaugh himself played an outsized role.
The ACLU’s ad, therefore, risks upsetting some of their membership base. The ad begins:
We’ve seen this before–denials from powerful men.
At this point in the 30-second spot, side-by-side-by-side images of Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose appear. The video then cuts to brief excerpts of Clinton, Cosby and Kavanaugh issuing their respective denials. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” Clinton lectures. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Cosby says, shaking his head as if in disbelief.
Then it’s Kavanaugh’s turn.
Culled from footage of his re-hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, the D.C. Circuit Court judge exclaims, “I categorically and unequivocally d-deny the allegation against me by Dr. Ford.” (Surely not to be lost on viewers is Kavanaugh stumbling over the word “deny” in the segment selected.)
The narrator’s voice returns as an image of a couple watching television on their couch appears, “America is watching. And as we choose a lifetime seat on our highest court, integrity matters and we cannot have any doubt.”
The ad ends with an ask for each targeted senator to “oppose the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh.”
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher