It’s quite possible that Christine Blasey Ford’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month may end up being the most scrutinized piece of testimony ever given before Congress.
Whichever way the vote on Brett Kavanaugh goes, either side is going to look to it for years to come. If he’s confirmed, the Democrats will look to her “credible allegations” as proof that the Republicans were willing to do anything to confirm Kavanaugh. If he isn’t, Republicans will continue to bring up the inconsistencies in her story and malign the left for destroying the judge’s career.
You can probably suss out my stance on this. I could go on about the shifting timeline, the total lack of corroboration, the failure to release her therapist’s notes to investigators or the fact that she has no idea how she got home.
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However, Rush Limbaugh noticed something else about the testimony that made him suspicious: Ford’s vocal technique during her testimony.
In a back-and-forth during his Tuesday show, Limbaugh addressed a caller who said that Ford’s “whole demeanor and her body language, it was just so rehearsed and coached.”
“You know, we had … I didn’t get to this yet. I had an audio sound bite,” Limbaugh said.
“A Hollywood actress or an actress somewhere that I’ve never heard of did a video impersonation of Dr. Ford, and it was so spot on, and it was exactly… I noticed her speech pattern,” he continued. “Those of us whose profession involve the voice know very well the various vocal techniques that professional vocalizers use, and she used to a great effect what is called uptalking or up-speaking, and that means to end every sentence on an up note.”
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Uptalking, Limbaugh said, “promotes the idea that you’re young and innocent and vulnerable, and it’s what you say was the little girl type voice.”
As for the Hollywood actress, who was unnamed, she ended up “being destroyed. She had to apologize for it and tell everybody she supports Dr. Ford, she just was amazed and she wanted to do her impersonation to show her talent, but it got taken down, and I didn’t get a chance to get to the video.”
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For those of you curious, it’s actually the voice of Princess Leia in the new “Star Wars Resistance” cartoon series. Here’s the video itself, if you’re more curious.
“But you notice, you hear the uptick there. It is said that this is how valley girls, California valley girls speak,” Limbaugh said.
“It’s not just them. It’s young girls, teenage girls sound this. And very vulnerable. That’s key to this. The key to Blasey Ford’s speech pattern was sounding vulnerable and scared and just totally innocent and, (impression of Christine Blasey Ford), ‘Why am I here? I, I, I think sooooo. I, I, I’m not suuuuure,’ and it just works. It makes you think that whoever you’re hearing is scared to death, is very vulnerable; couldn’t possibly be lying.
“But how many 53- or 55-year-olds do you hear speaking that way?” he concluded.
This proves little on its own, of course. In concert with the other evidence — particularly the report from Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor brought on by the committee — Limbaugh feels it makes a compelling case for doubt. Democrats, of course, don’t agree.
“The female prosecutor the Republicans hired, Rachel Mitchell, has put together a devastating forensic analysis of Dr. Ford’s testimony, and it is… I’ve got that here, but it prints out to eight pages,” Limbaugh said.
“I mean, it is just devastating on the substance. Forget the way she spoke and how she appeared and so forth. And the Democrats are acknowledging it as (impression) ‘Well, she’s partisan. We can’t we can’t take seriously a thing that that woman says.’ And they’re so rejecting it.”
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
