Kavanaugh’s opening statement was very Trumpian. The force with which he spoke reminded one of the demagogic rants that Trump has been known to go on.
He even brought up the Clintons, one of Trump’s favorite ploys.
Dr. Ford actually contacted the President about Kavanaugh’s nomination a long time ago but was ignored.
Why hasn’t Kavanaugh asked the FBI to investigate? It would seem that an innocent person would be looking for anyone who could back up his position.
It’s quite possible that Kavanaugh did it but really doesn’t remember, either because he was too drunk or because it was an oft-repeated occurrence and no big deal to him and his friends. The same would be true for the so-called witnesses. This was 36 years ago and unless it was uniquely traumatic to one of them, the chances of them remembering this event that, except for Mark Judge, they did not witness, are slim to none.
Senator Grassley panicked when Senator Durban told Kavanaugh to ask Don McGhan to start an FBI investigation. Then Kavanaugh panicked over the whole situation. With every opportunity to okay an FBI investigation Kavanaugh absolutely refused to say yes to it.
At one point Lindsey Graham gave an impassioned speech that really deserved either an Academy Award or a standing ovation. Unfortunately he failed to remember that Kavanaugh’s entire nomination was the work of a slimy act by Mitch McConnell to avoid the nomination of Merritt Garland. No one can condemn the work of men who believe in the law and who are trying to make it work for the greatest number of people, even as they are being thwarted by a bunch of underhanded scum who are promoting Kavanaugh simply because of his commitment to the concept of a President being above indictment no matter what he does. Lindsey, who is still one of my favorite Republicans, obviously wants to be our next Attorney General and this speech was his audition piece for Trump.
John Cornyn, one of the major slime clogging up our government process, tried to invoke the famous line of Joseph Welsh, referring to Joe McCarthy when he said: “…you have done enough, have you no sense of decency?” to attack the Democrats on the panel but considering the reality of the situation, he looked pretty ridiculous doing it.
I think Kavanaugh lost every woman in the audience when Senator Amy Klobuchar asked if he ever got so drunk he couldn’t remember what he had done and he flipped it to ask her the same question instead of answering.
After the break Kavanaugh came out and apologized to Klobuchar for his bad move of asking her about drinking. She accepted, but it was obvious that his handlers had jumped on him about this.
Chuck Grassley made a very intelligent speech about all the problems with this hearing and all the allegations being made against him. It was well thought-out; something I never thought I’d say about Grassley, but the problem was, that it is the GOP senators who have made this, and all the previous hearings this year, a disgrace because of the scenario painted by the Republicans. None have been fair and all have been prejudiced by the Right.
A number of GOP Senators have spoken about how unfair the attacks on Kavanaugh have been. Maybe those attacks would not have been necessary if a better candidate had been put forth. No matter what his other qualifications the real reason he was chosen by Trump was because he had stated that he didn’t believe a sitting president could be indicted for his real crimes. There were other candidates whose names came before Kavanaugh’s on the list provided by that bastion of conservatism, the Heritage Society, who set this whole thing up, but they were not chosen because they didn’t say they would protect a criminal President at all costs. My point is; once that invalid position became the be all and end all of choice, it left nothing but to end that valueless candidacy at all costs.
Elizabeth Razor, Mark Judge’s ex-girlfriend has stated that Judge told her he was involved in parties where girls were drugged or gotten drunk and then gang raped. She says he never mentioned Kavanaugh but that’s because it never came up. But she is the one who corroborates the other women’s stories and testimony.
Lindsey Graham has come up with a whole basketful of things he wants investigated, none of which have anything to do with Brett Kavanaugh’s seeming addiction to beer and drunken young girls. Lindsey is a pretty smart guy and this just shows it. He is battling desperately to save a sinking ship and get appointed Jeff Sessions successor.
Lindsey’s dramatic battle for a job as the new Attorney General is insincere but a lot of the things he says about the Democrat’s actions in this matter are, to a great extent, true. Next to what the Republicans have done the Dems actions, sleazy as they are, seem amateur. Just getting Kavanaugh to this point is a peon to uncivil behavior and underhanded tactics so brilliantly negotiated by Mitch McConnell and his underhanded underground. Sure the Dems did some pretty sleazy things to get to this place, but next to what the GOP did to reach the same point, they look like choirboys.
I’m old enough to still remember a time when Supreme Court Justices were chosen because of their evenhanded non-partisanship and their ability to know the law and service it. That ended with the approval of the Late Antonin Scalia, a man who, brilliant as he was, was jammed down our throats mainly because of his political convictions. It was made more blatant with the appointment of Clarence Thomas, who had very little to show as a potential justice but a great deal to brag about as a political stooge. He has proved that in his ensuing years on the court. Since then, to the detriment of the citizenry, all appointments have been political. We have to get away from that if we are to gain any benefit to the nation from the reality of the Court.
Of course, this is the fault of the Senate. That failed body has degenerated from a group whose job description was to legislate laws for the benefit of the nation, to a bunch of petty self-advancers bent on increasing their power and paychecks in the face of the other Party. All you have to do is watch any Senate or House hearing where there are no bi-partisan questions or questioners. Every question is prompted by membership in the Party to which the questioning Senator belongs. No one is trying to get at the truth of Kavanaugh’s position. The Democrats were trying to show him to be a liar and sexual predator and the Republicans were trying to protect him.
After watching all of Kavanaugh’s testimony I really believe that he believes what he is saying. Yes, he was a drunk and most probably a sexual abuser as a young man, but from my experience at that age I do believe that he is telling the truth as he remembers it. I ran with a heavy drinking crowd in high school and there were any number of them that would get so drunk they would pass out and not remember anything that had happened. This was very prevalent in my Catholic School
What seems to be the pattern of the drunken boys in that group trying to jump on the drunken girls was probably so prevalent that the night with Dr. Ford was no big deal; just another drunken party so why should he or any of the others remember it. It was a different story with Dr. Ford. She was the one attacked and it left a deep mark on her psyche. Both are altogether believable and it doesn’t change the fact that it makes Kavanaugh wholly unsuitable for the Court.
Another aspect to consider is that if Kavanaugh were approved and seated on the Court and another such incident, maybe made more believable by more evidence were to surface; there we’d be with a Supreme Court Justice under indictment for a crime for which he’d been investigated before his confirmation. If Kavanaugh is indeed innocent then this is a terrible injustice, but we have to remember this isn’t a criminal trial where a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. This is a job interview where the job seeker must prove to those hiring him that he is completely worthy of their approval.
Even if Kavanaugh was innocent of the accusations against him, his demeanor at the hearings should knock him out of contention for a job as a Supreme Court Justice.
Don’t forget, Dr. Ford remembers the attack. That’s why she brought it up and that’s why she has pursued it Kavanaugh claims to remember nothing about it but still claims it didn’t happen, a very iffy position. If they are both telling the truth, Ford has to be the most believable, especially when Kavanaugh doesn’t want the FBI investigating.
A couple of things to remember! One is that despite all the GOP allegations that this whole FBI investigation is just the Democrats stalling; no one bothered to mention that Neil Gorsuch passed through the process with little opposition. Maybe that’s because Gorsuch was qualified and Kavanaugh really isn’t. The other is that neither Trump nor McConnell nor any of the other GOP fanatics are secure in Kavanaugh. That was nailed down by Trump’s limits on the FBI investigation, which now must end by Friday and can only involve certain persons. It’s the perfect picture of a bunch of crooks trying to protect a rapist.
If you don’t have the facts you quote the law. If you don’t have the law you quote the facts. If you don’t have either you pound the table and scream foul. That pretty much looks like Kavanaugh’s position and battle plan.
Very good analysis of the whole rotten situation. I thought you were very kind to the Senate Republican scum. For a minute there I thought you might be slipping.
Grassley didn’t make a speech, he made a shout!
You know the Mark Judge is a fellow alumnus from our beloved Alma Mater!