Is It Possible to Believe Both Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford?

Such a polarizing event today. I am about to anger friends and family on both sides of the aisle.

I've spent most of today watching the historic Kavanaugh-Ford hearing. If you had time to watch any of today's proceedings, you witnessed a very emotionally charged day. It feels like a significant, vocal chunk of my Facebook friends are blindly loyal to one position or another, many of them seeing the same testimony, but having drastically different impressions about what they saw depending upon their political views.

I consciously tried hard to watch today's hearings as objectively as possible, and block out the opinions of others. After attempting to do this as best I can, I've found it very difficult to figure out what the heck really happened during that night in question.

After watching Dr. Ford's testimony this morning, I tried to block out anything I had heard about the story before today. I intently tried to just listen to what the woman had to say. As I was listening to her testimony, my gut just felt like she was telling the truth. Her story was horrifyingly vivid. Too vivid. It was disturbing.

While I was watching her emotionally answering the hours and hours of questions, I asked myself, who in their right mind would bring this kind of scrutiny upon herself? It wouldn't make logical sense to simply fabricate a story like this and permanently change her life and identity. For all of her remaining days, she will forever be linked to this scandal. I can't imagine that would be an easy decision to make.

After she shared her story, I shared my initial feelings on Facebook. Predictably, it caused a heated argument between my Facebook friends and acquaintances. I knew I was kicking a bees' nest when I shared my initial take, but c'est la vie. It was how I was feeling at the time. I wrote that I could "certainly understand if someone doesn't find her credible," but that "I'm just finding her believable so far." "It's just how I feel so far after the first leg of the testimony. It's the still the 1st quarter...plenty of testimony to go."

I was definitely believing Dr. Ford's account as Brett Kavanaugh took the stand, but again, I tried to clear my head and simply listen to what the man had to say. I watched as Kavanaugh emphatically and repeatedly denied under oath that he had assaulted Dr. Ford--or anyone else.

He provided calendars from his teenage years that show that he was out of town for most of those summer weekends, and was with other people during the other weekends. He expressed that he believed that Dr. Ford was violated, but that she was mistaken that he was the person who did it. Once again, I blocked out the external noise from vocal family and friends on Facebook and in person. I examined my gut, and my gut was telling me that he was telling the truth.

The only thing I am sure of after today is that obviously, I am a horrible judge of character. How could they both be telling the truth? I don't envy anyone who has to make a definitive decision in this case.

I was blown away by the emotion that both Kavanaugh and Ford demonstrated today on national television. They both seemed extremely authentic to me. These people are not trained actors. Even if they were, they'd each deserve to earn Academy Award nominations. I don't think you can fake emotion like that. And this is what has me stumped. I feel like I believe BOTH of these people, and it's confusing to me.

No matter what the turnout, this will be a day that will be referenced in American history for decades to come.

There's just one more thing I'm sure of from today's proceedings. This is a very, very sad event for all involved.