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11 cartoons that show America’s complicated feelings about Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford | Opinion

Thousands of words have been written over the weekend since the testimonies and vote. Editorial cartoonists from around the country, and from both sides of the aisle, took to the drawing board to capture this complicated moment.

Signe Wilkinson cartoon du jour SIGN26e Kavanaugh
Signe Wilkinson cartoon du jour SIGN26e KavanaughRead moreSigne Wilkinson / Staff artist

On Thursday, millions of Americans were glued to their television to watch Dr. Christine Blasey Ford — the first woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault — testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Kavanaugh's rebuttal. The drama continued into Friday in the Committee's vote on whether or not to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to a full Senate vote.

Those riveting 30 hours seem to encapsulate the state of a nation — anger, frustration, partisanship, and no doubt in the truth as told by your side.

Thousands of words have been written over the weekend since the testimonies and vote. Editorial cartoonists from around the country, and from both sides of the aisle, took to the drawing board to capture this complicated moment.

Credibility

A key question that arose following Ford's and Kavanaugh's testimonies was: Are they credible?

What happens in …

Some cartoonists highlighted Kavanaugh's time in prep school and Yale.

Read more on the hearings from The Philadelphia Inquirer's columnists and op-ed contributors:
Maria Gallagher, Ana Maria Archila and the amazing power of everyday people raising their voice | An FBI investigation won't matter for Brett Kavanaugh |  Former FBI agent says Kavanaugh investigation will likely be assigned to a team of agents |  The new cloud over the Supreme Court | Kavanaugh creates #MeToo moment for accused men |  Here's how Brett Kavanaugh could have redeemed himself | Kavanaugh-Blasey Ford showdown really about whether a woman can control her story, her body, her destiny | An FBI investigation won't matter for Brett Kavanaugh

A larger movement or smear campaign?

Many column inches have been written about whether Dr. Ford's testimony is the crescendo of the #MeToo movement — and how far (if at all) the U.S. has come since Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual misconduct in 1991. While many on the left look to the Kavanaugh confirmation process as a test-case to whether women are believed, critics on the right argue that the accusations against Kavanaugh are part of a smear campaign to keep a conservative judge off the Supreme Court.

Cartoon controversy

A cartoon, drawn by Bruce MacKinnon of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, went viral — and drew criticism for the explicit depiction of sexual assault.

Heroes and villains

Though we don't know yet what will ultimately happen with Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, cartoonists showed their feelings about who succeeded and failed throughout the hearings.