Democratic strategist clashes with conservative guest on CNN over ‘fairness’ for Brett Kavanaugh

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona smacked down her counterpart in a Wednesday CNN appearance, as Republican Alice Stewart tried to make the case that the real victim in the sexual assault allegations surrounding President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, is Kavanaugh himself. Kavanaugh, who Stewart said has not received "fair" treatment, is named by Christine Ford as the person who forced her onto a bed, tried to tear off her clothing, and put his hand over her mouth to silence her cries for help when she was 15 years old.

"I guess I just keep going back to there just seems to be this rush," host Brooke Baldwin said, wondering if any of the senators calling for a quick vote would do the same if they had daughters making similar claims.

"The rush is that the committee has had a timeline to move forward in order to get Judge Kavanaugh seated by October," responded Stewart, who also blamed Senator Dianne Feinstein for not releasing the letter at a more convenient time. Feinstein has said she had been respecting Ford's wish for anonymity.

"So what?" asked Cardona, as Stewart listed all the ways Judiciary committee Republicans had suggested for Ford to make her case in time to meet a self-imposed deadline to put Kavanaugh on the bench before facing tough midterm elections that may sweep the party from power.

"If she doesn't come forward, that is not fair to Judge Kavanaugh," Stewart said. "Senator Grassley is bending over backwards to do it at her timeline, at her venue and time of her decision because that is the only way to be fair to Judge Kavanaugh and her story."

"Except this is a victim -- an alleged victim of sexual assault," interjected a visibly upset Cardona. "She just came out publicly 48 hours ago. She has been living with this trauma for more than 30 years. It is not an easy thing. And as you know, her life has been threatened."

Cardona reminded Stewart that Ford "has had to move her family. She has had to hire private security. Her life has been turned upside down. This is not something that somebody does on a whim. And then for somebody else to tell them this is a timeline that 'you have to now publicly tell your traumatic story to us', I think that it is unfair."

But Cardona wasn't finished. "The Republicans waited almost a year and didn't even give Merrick Garland a hearing," she said, referring to President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, who the Republicans infamously refused to even meet with. That seat is now held by Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.

"And now they are into 'hurry up, hurry up, we need to do this now'," she added. "That is hypocritical and not credible and if they don't do this on a less rushed time line, they will be denigrating and they will be insulting the collective consciousness of millions of American women who have suffered through sexual assault."

Watch the video below.