BARI WEISS (THE NEW YORK TIMES OPINION EDITOR): I believe that she's completely sincere in what she believes happened. And maybe it did happen exactly as she said 36 years ago, although we all know memory's capricious.
But the idea that it's not a he-said-she-said, that's exactly what it is. And what's very, very different about this case, as opposed to a lot of the other #MeToo stories, it's like that famous New York Times ad that I think is so excellent -- this is not a paid ad from me from the Times by the way -- it's, “he said, she said, he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said.” The whole thing, in all of these instances, is that there's been a sustained pattern --
STEPHANIE RUHLE (HOST): And that was around Bill Cosby.
WEISS: By all accounts -- and by the way, Harvey Weinstein, Nate -- we could go through them. The ones that have stuck, there's been a pattern. By all accounts, other than this instance, Brett Kavanaugh has a reputation as being a prince of a man, frankly, other than this. Now, I believe her. I believe what she's saying. I'm just saying, in the end of the day, it is one word against another.
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WEISS: What about the deeper, moral, cultural, like, the ethical question here? Let's say he did this exactly as she said. Should the fact that a 17 year old, presumably very drunk kid, did this, should this be disqualifying? That's the question at the end of the day, isn't it?
RUHLE: Wait, hold on. We're not talking about should he be disqualified to be a dog catcher. We're talking about to be a Supreme Court justice.
WEISS: I'm aware.
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RUHLE: What if someone was chosen who doesn't think this is acceptable? What if women like you and I and every other woman we know can say we've had similar-ish things happen and we've accepted it? What if this is the moment to finally say, you know what, let's actually take a stand, and not say, this is life, people get drunk, yikes, and actually move in another direction and say this does disqualify you. Let's find another pick.
WEISS: Yes. I'm just saying -- what's striking to me is that -- I guess I'm thinking of it today from the perspective of, let's all think about our worst instance that's happened to us in this world and imagine it paraded out in front of the country. And that most men we know -- It's a horrible reality. I'm just saying -- I'm interested in the deeper cultural thing, it's a disgusting reality about our broken sexual culture.
