Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher. Two women, advocates and protestors, confronted Sen. Jeff Flake in a Senate elevator and yelled at him for five minutes with cameras rolling after they learned he would vote for Kavanaugh. Click here if you missed it.
“I need to go, I need to go to the hearing,” Mr. Flake told Ms. Archila, 39, in the widely shared video of the moment.
Ms.
Archila persisted. “I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story
that she is telling the truth,” she said, her voice breaking. “What you
are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on
the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable. You have children in your
family. Think about them.” NYT.
It was amazing. I really think another man might have pushed his way out but he did not. The camera was rolling and captured the whole exchange. It was cringe-worthy television knowing it was live. It was painful, messy and moving. Shortly after that, he finally made his way to the hearing room and took his seat. Then his good friend, Democratic Senator Chris Coons made an impassioned speech about the need for an FBI investigation. Within moments as the hearing continued, Flake got up, went over to Coons and both left the room for a brief conference. Meanwhile Grassley is motioning it's time to vote. No Coons, no Flake, no vote. We all knew something was up. When they returned, Flake spoke - I am moving to advance the nomination to the Senate floor with the caveat "....I will not vote unless there is an FBI investigation lasting up to one week." WOW.
He was asked by reporters if the women influenced his decision. "No, it was about having integrity for the process. This is tearing the country apart." I am paraphrasing. I saw the whole thing. He looked visibly pained. No matter what he said, I thought well you can say that but I think on some level those women moved him to change his position.
Maria Gallagher is 23 years old. She had never spoken to an elected official in her life ! On her first try she batted it out of the park ! Those two women made a difference because they spoke up about their experience. A traumatizing experience. I really admire them. Very brave.....
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