Smearing a U.S. Supreme Court nominee with a cloudy accusation of attempted rape is a tough way to raise money. But Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor who leveled that charge against Brett Kavanaugh, has done it.
But making a mint on the deal wasn’t her an idea.
Sympathizers set up GoFundMe accounts, which Ford mentioned in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Commitee, that have collected nearly $750,000 to pay her expenses and security costs.
Meanwhile, one of the architects of the smear job, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a left-wing immigrant who thinks men ought to “shut up,” was forced to apologize for raising money on the Kavanaugh hearing.
Go Fund Her
The biggest GoFundMe effort for Ford collected donations for Ford’s family, while a second will pay her “security costs.” A third will start an endowment to honor her as an educator.
The now-closed “Help Christine Blasey Ford” heralds the tremendous courage of a woman in danger from the “right-wing” for daring to tell the truth.
“Christine Blasey Ford demonstrated a huge amount of courage speaking out this week,” the appeal from Team Christine Blasey Ford says. “She did not initially come forward because she was scared of the response. She was right to be scared.”
“The right wing smear machine” is was up and running, the page said, and Ford is “receiving serious threats against her and has had to engage a security force to protect her family.”
Money is crucial for a “Palo Alto mom, a beloved professor and mentor and friend” to continue peddling charges against a man whom her own witnesses know nothing about.
That fund raised $528,105 against a $150,000 goal with 11,581 donations.
All the money, the site says, “is going directly to the Ford Family. They are the only authorized beneficiary.”
“Cover Dr. Blasey’s security costs,” also closed, was not as spectacular, but it was successful nonetheless. That one raised $209,987 against a $175,000 goal with 6,658 donations.
Any funds over and above Ford’s security costs will go to charities.
The still-open fund for an endowment in Ford’s name has $18,571 and seeks $25,000.
Hirono: Send Money To Fight the Evil Kavanaugh
Meanwhile, Hawaiian heroine Hirono goofed and tried raising money on the character assassination campaign.
“I’m about to ask you to make a donation to support my reelection campaign for the FEC fundraising deadline on Sunday,” the letter began.
“Here’s the main reason,” it continued:
I am spending every minute of my day fighting the Republicans who are desperate to rush Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination and deny a fair investigation into the credible sexual misconduct allegations against him.
This has to be my focus. I’m going to continue to prepare and demand a thorough investigation into these claims — and I am going to fight to make sure Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and any other woman who courageously steps forward to tell her story isn’t smeared by conservatives ready to walk over these credible claims against Kavanaugh.
What that means is I have limited time to campaign for re-election or fundraise. So, while I’m focused on stopping Kavanaugh’s nomination and finding the truth, I’m asking you to step up now and ensure my team in Hawaii has everything they need to win our campaign in November can I count on you?
CNN’s reporter covering First Lady Melania Trump, Kate Bennett, blew the whistle on the clumsy grab for campaign cash: “here come the fundraising-off-Kavanaugh-hearing emails — less than 30 minutes into opening remarks, this one from @maziehirono.”
After Bennett exposed the ham-handed lunge for loot, Hirono’s rainmakers sent an oopsie: “A fundraising message was sent this morning in error,” the email said. “We apologize sincerely for the error.”
Whatever the sincerity of the apology, Hirono has led the Democrats in abandoning any pretense that Kavanaugh should get a fair hearing and innocent until proven guilty.
When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked her about it, she refused to answer.
Meanwhile, Rachel Mitchell, the prosecutor Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley hired to question Ford and Kavanaugh, told Republicans that Ford’s claims would not merit a search warrant much less a prosecution.
Photo: jwblinn/iStock/Getty Images Plus
