The Commentariat -- Sept. 28, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Flake Earns His Name. Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Friday brought Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination to the brink of victory, then into significant uncertainty, in a matter of hours.... [He] his support for ... Donald Trump's high court pick Friday morning. But after a dramatic series of closed-door meetings with senators from both parties, he said that he would 'only be comfortable' voting yes in the end after the FBI investigates a sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh. 'I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation, limited in time and scope,; Flake told fellow senators on the Judiciary Committee. The committee voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination. The latest head-spinning twist may not stop Kavanaugh's nomination from coming to the Senate floor by this weekend. But Flake's maneuver drops a political land mine in the lap of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the White House, which now must decide whether and how to initiate the FBI inquiry Flake sought.... Key undecided senators joined Flake's calls minutes after he made his move. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he supported Flake's call for an FBI investigation "so that our country can have confidence in the outcome of this vote," as did Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).... Soon after Flake announced his yes vote in the committee, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) said he opposes the nomination."
Judge Wood B. Rapist Lies about Everything. Alanna Richer of the AP: "... Brett Kavanaugh has repeatedly said that he was legally allowed to consume beer as a prep school senior in Maryland. In fact, he was never legal in high school because the state's drinking age increased to 21 at the end of his junior year, while he was still 17.... The legal age in that state was raised to 21 on July 1, 1982; Kavanaugh did not turn 18 until Feb. 12, 1983. In a Fox News interview on Monday, Kavanaugh said, 'Yes, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18. And yes, the seniors were legal.' In testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he said all of his comments during the Fox interview were accurate and could be made part of the record." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND please don't tell me Preppy Boy had no idea what the legal drinking age was. If there's one thing a teenager knows about the law, it's his own & nearby states' drinking age laws.
Seung Min Kim & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Shortly after the Judiciary Committee convened, the panel voted down a motion on party lines by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to subpoena Mark Judge, a high school classmate of Kavanaugh. Ford has alleged Judge witnessed the assault. The committee then voted, again along party lines, to decide on Kavanaugh's nomination at 1: 30 p.m. The votes prompted outrage from Democrats.... Underscoring the acrimony surrounding Friday's proceedings, a a dozen House Democratic women who gathered to watch the Judiciary Committee stood up in the room in protest." ...
... Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Jeff Flake, the lone swing Republican vote on the Judiciary Committee, said Friday morning that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, ensuring committee passage and bringing President Trump's nominee to the brink of confirmation...." ...
... Ronan Farrow & Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: "Throughout Thursday's Senate hearing..., Republicans on the Judiciary Committee claimed that they had tried in vain to secure more information about other accusations made about the judge.... On Wednesday, several conservative-media outlets published leaks of some of the e-mail correspondence between [accuser Deborah] Ramirez's team and Republican committee staffers, which appeared to back up Grassley's characterization. But a fuller copy of the e-mail correspondence ... shows that a Republican aide declined to proceed with telephone calls and instead repeatedly demanded that Ramirez produce additional evidence in written form. Only then could any conversation about her testimony proceed."
*****
Thursday's Winner: Testosterone, Spiked with Male Privilege. There could not be a more belligerent, rude, nasty, arrogant, entitled nominee. No American should have to appear before that man. He is unbalanced & by no stretch of the imagination has the temperament to impartially judge others. Disturbed & disturbing. Someone should have asked him if he had been drinking Thursday morning. I'm serious.
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republican moderates remain undecided on how to vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after nearly eight hours of testimony Thursday before the Judiciary Committee, according to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin, a swing Democrat vote, huddled with three of the undecided Republican votes, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.), in a Capitol hideaway office before the entire GOP conference met to discuss how to proceed on the controversial nominee." ...
... Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Senate Republicans are racing to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, betting that the Supreme Court nominee was persuasive enough in his denial that he sexually assaulted a high school acquaintance to counter the powerful testimony of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to vote on Friday morning to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then plans a Saturday procedural vote to formally move to the nomination, with a potential confirmation vote as early as Tuesday. Publicly, Republicans do not have the votes yet to confirm Kavanaugh, but GOP leaders seem confident they can push him through with brute force. Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) wouldn't say whether undecided Republicans would back Kavanaugh." ...
... Chuck Grassley has scheduled a Judiciary Committee meeting for 9:30 am ET. ...
... Austin Ramzy of the New York Times: "The American Bar Association called Thursday evening for postponing a vote on Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court until sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford and others are investigated by the F.B.I. The request was made in a letter from the A.B.A.'s president, Robert M. Carlson, to the Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman, Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the senior Democrat on the panel.... [']The bar association urged that senators vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination 'only after an appropriate background check into the allegations made by Professor Blasey and others is completed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,' the letter said." ...
... Jesus Rodriguez of Politico: "Four Republican governors have called for the Senate to take its time with or even forgo a vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court ahead of a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill to examine sexual assault allegations against him. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio, Larry Hogan of Maryland and Phil Scott of Vermont are part of a small faction of Republicans who urged caution over three public allegations that have come to light since Kavanaugh's July 9 nomination, even as the majority of their colleagues in the Senate have argued for pushing through the process." ...
... Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post have a story on how pleased Trump was with Kavanaugh's & Graham's performances. ...
... Rachel Maddow did a great job of summing up the Kavanaugh half of the hearing:
According to Manu Raju of CNN, GOP Sens. Jeff Flake, Susan Collins & Lisa Murkowski met with Joe Manchin (D) directly after the Kavanaugh hearing & before the Senate Republican caucus meets. No link.
Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "For almost seven hours Republicans sat silent, allowing an outside counsel to ask questions out of fear that they would look angry and insensitive toward a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault decades ago. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) changed all that late Thursday afternoon. Waving his arms and pointing fingers at Democrats, Graham accused them of a character assassination of Kavanaugh. 'I hope the American people will see through this charade,' Graham said, shouting over and over again. From that point on, Republicans let it rip, roaring about Democrats and expressing sympathy for Kavanaugh after his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, fielded inquiries from the outside counsel about her allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were in high school." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Twenty-seven years after Clarence Thomas followed Anita Hill and declared the hearing at which they testified to be a 'high-tech lynching,' Brett Kavanaugh delivered his own angry, defiant response under similar circumstances. While Thomas's statement was brief, Kavanaugh's was lengthy, detailed, and passionately delivered. It also took pains to decry not just the process, but Democrats' role in it, specifically. Below is the full text, with our annotations...." ...
... Hayley Miller of the Huffington Post has more of Kavanaugh's "eyebrow-raising" remarks. ...
... Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "With her voice cracking but her composure intact, an emotional Christine Blasey Ford made her first appearance in public on Thursday, telling a rapt Senate panel about the terror she felt on a summer day more than 30 years ago, when, she said, a drunken Brett M. Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, tried to rip her clothes off and clapped his hand over her mouth to muffle her cries for help." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The New York Times' live updates of the Kavanaugh hearing are here. According to NBC News, Trump cancelled his scheduled meeting with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein so he could watch the teevee. ...
... Annie Karni of Politico: "White House officials were glued to their television screens throughout the building on Wednesday, watching the emotional testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and cringing over the decision by Senate Republicans to hire a female prosecutor to question her. 'That's a disaster,' said one administration official. The official argued that Republican lawmakers had made a mistake by caving to the pressures of identity politics and hiring a woman to quiz Ford so as to avoid having an all-white male lineup of GOP Senators do the questioning. Trump allies also recognized the bad optics of a prosecutor seeming to interrogate a victim widely seen as sympathetic in a nationally-televised Senate hearing." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... New Lede: "... Donald Trump and his aides were ebullient Thursday as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh defiantly rejected charges of sexual misconduct -- a mood that reflected some relief after Trump officials conceded that his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, offered a compelling performance in the first half of the day. Trump and senior officials were impressed by Kavanaugh's combative defense before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which the Trump nominee, alternating between fury and tears, called several misconduct charges against him a 'calculated and orchestrated political hit' and 'national disgrace' that had devastated his life and family." ...
... New York Times Editors: "What a study in contrasts: Where Christine Blasey Ford was calm and dignified, Brett Kavanaugh was volatile and belligerent; where she was eager to respond fully to every questioner, and kept worrying whether she was being 'helpful' enough, he was openly contemptuous of several senators; most important, where she was credible and unshakable at every point in her testimony, he was at some points evasive, and some of his answers strained credulity.... He gave misleading answers to questions about seemingly small matters -- sharpening doubts about his honesty about far more significant ones.... Perhaps the most maddening part of Thursday's hearing was the cowardice of the committee's 11 Republicans, all of them men.... If the committee will not make a more serious effort [to investigate the allegations], the only choice for senators seeking to protect the credibility of the Supreme Court will be to vote no. ...
... Washington Post Editors: "Mr. Kavanaugh contended that 'this whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election' and an act of 'revenge on behalf of the Clintons.' But he provided no evidence for his angry charge, and certainly Ms. Ford's testimony did not support conspiracy theories. On the contrary, she explained she tried to relay her allegations to political leaders before Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Kavanaugh, so that the president could consider another judge of equal qualifications, refuting suggestions that she is part of a Democratic plot.... His partisan conspiracy-theorizing was hardly becoming of a potential Supreme Court justice.... It would be irresponsible for Republicans to insist on an immediate vote. If they do, the responsible vote must be no." ...
... Doreen St. Félix of the New Yorker: "... what we witnessed was the patriarchy testing how far its politics of resentment can go. And there is no limit.... Alternating between weeping and yelling, [Kavanaugh] exemplified the conservative's embrace of bluster and petulance as rhetorical tools. Going on about his harmless love of beer, spinning unbelievably chaste interpretations of what was, by all other accounts, his youthful habit of blatant debauchery, he was as Trumpian as Trump himself, louder than the loudest on Fox News.... There was, in this performance, not even a hint of the sagacity one expects from a potential Supreme Court Justice.... What took place on Thursday confirms that male indignation will be coddled, and the gospel of male success elevated. It confirms that there is no fair arena for women's speech. Mechanisms of accountability will be made irrelevant." ...
... Alexandra Schwartz of the New Yorker: "'I love Kavanaugh's tone,' Donald Trump, Jr., tweeted fifteen minutes into Brett Kavanaugh's opening statement in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was referring to the judge's wildly emotional performance, in which he alternated between shouting, as he blamed the Clintons and the Democrats for conspiring to torpedo his nomination to the Supreme Court, and weeping, as he spoke about the pain that he and his family have experienced in the weeks since accusations of sexual assault against him became public.... Embedded in the histrionics were the unmistakable notes of fury and bullying.... What we are seeing is a model of American conservative masculinity that has become popular in the past few years, one that is directly tied to the loutish, aggressive frat-boy persona that Kavanaugh is purportedly seeking to dissociate himself from.... If Kavanaugh is trying to convince the public that he could never have been capable, as a teen-ager, of aggression or peer pressure, this is an odd way to go about it." ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Brett Kavanaugh's opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday was unlike anything in the Supreme Court's history.... [Kavanaugh] cast the [sexual] allegations, without evidence, as part of a grand conspiracy against him. Kavanaugh undermined his credibility as a fair-minded jurist by indulging in some imaginative leaps to attack Democratic senators.... His behavior on Thursday casts serious doubt on whether he has the temperament to sit on the Supreme Court." ...
... Rebecca Traister of New York: "The lesson of the United States in this moment is that misogyny and racism aren't disqualifiers. They are the qualities the right wing considers key to their larger project -- perhaps in fact, a main selling point. (Especially for their president, who today was reported to have loved Kavanaugh's blustering, aggressive attitude toward his questioners). After all, the reason that Republicans want to jam through Kavanaugh's nomination is that as a member of the Supreme Court he'll be able to help create the mechanisms that determine which kinds of Americans have rights, protections, autonomy, and power." Traister writes a devastating critique of Chuck Grassley's performance. ...
... Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "The strongest evidence that Senate Republicans want to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the nation's highest court, regardless of what he may have done, was the conspicuous absence of Mark Judge from the hearing they held on Thursday." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "I think Brett Kavanaugh is probably lying about having sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford, and many other things, and has decided from the beginning to say what he has to in order to fulfill his career ambition.... He has ... all but abandoned the posture of impartiality demanded of a judge. A ranting Kavanaugh launched angry, evidence-free charges against Senate Democrats.... He is consumed with paranoid, partisan rage. The method Republicans have used to defend Kavanaugh has consisted of suppressing most of the evidence that could be brought to bear in the hearing, and then complaining about the lack of evidence."
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "... Donald Trump and Rod Rosenstein have postponed until next week Thursday's highly anticipated meeting to hash out the fate of the embattled deputy attorney general. In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the two didn't want to distract from the Senate's monumental hearing Thursday morning examining sexual assault allegations made against Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh."
Eric Levitz introduces us to DOJ chief-of-staff Matthew Whitaker, who is likely to be appointed deputy AG if & when Rod Rosenstein "retires": "Here are a few things that he has publicly claimed to believe: Robert Mueller has no legitimate authority to investigate the Trump Organization's finances, and if he does (which, he has), 'then this would raise serious concerns that the special counsel's investigation was a mere witch hunt.' Donald Trump was right to fire James Comey -- because James Comey should have prosecuted Hillary Clinton[.]... (Whitaker has never called for any investigations into -- let alone, prosecutions of -- the Trump administration's many, many, many violations of information security protocol.) All federal judges should be 'people of faith' who take 'a biblical view of justice.' The Supreme Court is 'supposed to be the inferior branch of our three branches of government,' and has claimed far too much power for itself. Specifically, Whittaker says that Marbury v. Madison... was wrongly decided.... But if there's one thing Whitaker hates more than the Supreme Court striking down laws it regards as unconstitutional, it's when 'unelected judges' refuse to strike down laws that conservatives don't like[.]... There shouldn't have been an independent counsel's investigation into Russian interference because there wasn't such an investigation into the Obama administration's many scandals[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: "The doctors tapped by the federal government to medically screen immigrants seeking green cards include dozens with a history of 'egregious infractions,' according to a report from a federal watchdog agency. The report looked at more than 5,500 doctors across the country used by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as of June 2017 to examine those seeking green cards. More than 130 had some background of wrongdoing, including one who sexually exploited female patients and another who tried to have a dissatisfied patient killed, the report said. The report, made public Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, said the failure to effectively screen the doctors put immigrants 'at risk of abuse.' 'USCIS is not properly vetting the physicians it designates to conduct required medical examinations of these foreign nationals, and it has designated physicians with a history of patient abuse or a criminal record,' the report states. 'This is occurring because USCIS does not have policies to ensure only suitable physicians are designated.'"
Jon Herskovitz of Reuters: "A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a Louisiana provision that requires doctors who perform abortions in the state to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. In a 2-1 ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the judges said the Louisiana provision was different than one in Texas that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 because it would not put an undue burden on women. 'There is no evidence that any of the clinics will close as a result of the Act,' the appeals court said in its ruling. The Texas law, whose language is similar to the Louisiana law, led to the closure of the majority of the state's abortion clinics and the number of women forced to drive over 150 miles to seek abortions increased by 350 percent, the appeals court said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yep, we're looking forward to two more generations of women as second-class citizens. If that.
Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, accusing him of making false public statements with the potential to hurt investors. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks to bar Mr. Musk from serving as an executive or director of publicly traded companies. Tesla, the electric-car maker of which Mr. Musk was a co-founder, is publicly traded. The suit relates to an Aug. 7 Twitter post by Mr. Musk, in which he said he had 'funding secured' to convert Tesla into a private company. The S.E.C. said Mr. Musk 'knew or was reckless in not knowing' that his statements were false or misleading. 'In truth and in fact, Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source,' the S.E.C. said in its lawsuit."
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Reader Comments (24)
The majority party, with a minority of support across the country, will gleefully vote to put a vicious, intemperate, whiny, vindictive, drunken sexual abuser and serial liar on the Supreme Court, seriously diminishing its legitimacy and dramatically lowering the status of the nation as one to which other countries have looked, for a century, as a leader in world affairs.
No longer. Trump, the Republicans, and the lying, abusive frat boy they’re ramming onto the high court are guaranteeing that the United States will take its place on the list of influential and important countries somewhere between Burma and Tajikistan.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It even works alphabetically.
Hearing that asshole weasel his way around Senator Durbin's questions about an FBI investigation just about made me vomit.
NiskyGuy,
According to the right-wing atlas, you mean Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, don’t you?
Almost worse than the imminent ascension of a vindictive, lying, conspiracy-theorizing would-be rapist to the court is the image of Trump and his little flying monkeys in the White House whooping it up. “Oh, sire, did you hear that? Our boy Brett just blamed the Clintons too! Isn’t he great?” “He’s our boy, alright.”
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Kav Boy is in a room with Justice Sotomayor. I doubt that she will give him the deference which he thinks is his due.
@Rocky Girl: Yeah, I was thinking something similar. I'm not sure if it's Sotomayor or Kagan who would have to sit beside Kavanaugh on the bench, but if it were I, I'd march right in to John Roberts & tell him I refuse to do so. Even being in the same room with that monster constitutes a form of sexual harassment.
@ Bea - I disagree. She should sit right next to him - even crowding his space a bit (“womanspreading” as it were) and proceed to rhetorically squash him like the bug he is.
I wonder what Kavanaugh’s wife thinks about all of this. During that Fox interview she looked as if she’d been hit with a 2x4. She’s known this asshole for a long time and I’m sure she’s seen what a nasty drunk he is, especially since, when asked about his drinking, he said “beer” about eight times in a single sentence. “Yes I drink beer, we drank beer back then, I still drink beer, I like beer, yeah, beer..,”he sounded more than a little crazy. I wonder if, deep down, she knows these women might be right, or whether he’s bullied her enough over the years to where she simply never questions him.
The idea of this creepy, weepy, unhinged, vindictive asshole on the Supreme Court is just gobsmacking.
Rockgirl,
That won’t be hard (squashing him) since his juridical chops extend to looking at the wingnut playbook for guidance on how to rule in every case. He was clearly unable, yesterday, to make a reasoned, convincing case for himself in the most important “trial” of his life. He was reduced to yelling and screaming and weeping and pleading and calling names and pointing fingers. I’ve known drunken umpires who were more compelling, rational, and fair judges.
If you believe Dr. Ford you cannot believe Kavanaugh and given his performance yesterday it was clear to me that here was a man that is fighting his own demons. It was a pitiful scene to watch.
A couple things stood out for me:
1. "I love coaching more than anything I've ever done in my life" he said. I let that sink in for a few minutes, looked over at his wife whose composure throughout was almost scary and nary a sign of displeasure on her face. I would have loved to ask him to elaborate on that––-what about coaching fulfills you and perhaps suggest that he go into that field rather than sit on his fanny at the S.C.
2: "Mark Judge was a friend of ours"––he said–-not "mine"––already trying to distance himself from that someone who could change his world if only Mark would be questioned. Judge is the key here and the Republicans know it, therefore he remains mute.
3: Brett didn't watch Ford's testimony , said he was busy preparing his own. If and when he finally does will he remember that vile laughter on that summer afternoon while trying to rape a young girl who has said that it was that laughter that haunts her?
Lindsay is looney––went off half cocked and me thinks his performance was for the guy who could give him the A.G. spot––look at it as a job application.
The American Bar Association is urging F.B.I. inquiry into Kavanaugh.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/us/politics/judge-kavanaugh-american-bar-association-fbi.html
And as I was trying to get to sleep last night I suddenly remembered a scene one summer when I was around 10 when three boys jumped on me while I was swimming in the lake, tried to take my suit off, and were pushing me underwater. I managed to get away and run to my blanket on the sand where my seven year old brother was sitting. I haven't thought about that for years. The other thing I thought about was this loss of memory re: Ford's recollection of how she got to this party and how she got home since she herself was too young to drive. Lindsey made a big deal about this. I have hundreds of memories–-very clear ones–-yet I fail to remember how I got from one place to another–-plane? car?––train?––not unusual at all for this lapse.
Rockygirl,
Sorry for the eluded y in your name. Early morning tapping on an iPhone has its hazards, although now that I think about it, it was the fault of Democrats and THE CLINTONS!
@Akhilleus - Fret not about the "y". Rocky was my cat who won a Purina Cat Chow kitty picture contest many years ago and got his picture on a bunch of kitty chow boxes. Gave him and me our 15 minutes of fame (a huge thrill to walk into the supermarket and see him - and me! - on the box) and I've been Rockygirl ever since.
And re Kavanaugh and the wounded animal screeches of the dying Old White Male Order, I have to keep remembering that The Future always wins, despite the best efforts of those to stop it.
Jeff Flake has just stated that he will vote yes - the dirty blackguard. May this action come to haunt his life forever.
Kavanaugh. The perfect Trumpite. Nasty, loud, totally unprofessional.
And of course, the victim. And his rights are more important than yours.
Victoria,
Yeah, for all his big talk Jeff Flake proved that he is now and always has been a Confederate hack. Put you money where your mouth is, Jeff. Flake's a good name for this guy. He had a chance to do right by the country, instead, he's voting to send a lying, unhinged, would-be rapist to the Supreme Court. Good job.
And I have no doubts now that Kavanaugh's rage monster display yesterday will force any other pretend human beings on the right side of the aisle to nod their heads and goosestep right along with Trump, Grassley and McConnell.
A truly sad day for the nation.
And if registered Democrats, after this horror show, don't show up in a few weeks to take control of congress away from these crooks and misogynistic big-shots and liars, I'm registering as an independent. After yesterday, there shouldn't be a blue wave, there should be a blue tsunami and it should roll over these punks and keep going right through 2020 to wash away the stain of Trump and his whole greedy, piggish family.
Of course, in the meantime, heaven help any women or Democrats who come before Rape Boy Kavanaugh when he's on that court. He is out for revenge against any and all who tried to get in his way, to prevent him from getting what he wanted. A rich frat boy who has never been told no (if they tried to, he covered their mouths or gave them another quaalude) and was outraged now that anyone tried to do so.
A few weeks ago, I was afraid we were going to get another hack, a Confederate rubber stamp. But now it's much, much worse. We're getting someone who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a whiner, a hater, a mean drunk, who trafficks in conspiracy theories and wild accusations without basis or merit. And now he's going to be part of the last recourse for legal issues in this country.
Putin must be beside himself with how much damage a little ratfucking did to his hated enemy, the United States.
Somewhere Mark Judge is laughing (probably the same maniacal laugh Dr. Ford heard the night she was attacked). His old pal Bart O'Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court and he got away scot-free without having to answer a single question about what happened that night.
No one ever promised that this was a just world, but the level of injustice has gone way beyond anything anyone could have expected. A smirking ignoramus is in the White House and he's now got two vicious wingers on the Supreme Court. That legacy stays with us for a long time, even if his fat ass is drummed out in a couple of years. And just think of the damage he'll cause by then.
Just one more thing...
Having glanced through a transcript of Kavanaugh's demonstration of rage and paranoia, I ran across what is probably the most frightening thing he said. He promised retribution to Democrats for daring to question him. "You sowed the wind for decades to come. I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwind."
He doesn't fear the whirlwind. He promises it. And that, right soon.
Who, in their right mind, could listen to this paroxysm of rage and acrimony, and promises of vengeance and payback, and think "Gee, this guy should be on the Supreme Court"?
Watch out, America.
Forking Flake was never going to save America. He is a full trumpie and deserves all the scorn that entails. At least we know it—. Official crapweasel. At least we know this country might as well be Saudi Arabia where women are also crap. Amurkka: where men are men and women are vessels.
Ah, but the drinking age for beer in DC was 18 beyond that time. I did an internship in DC in the summer of 1984. One Saturday morning I got a call from Mom: "Hey! Are you hung over?! I just learned that you can buy beer!" Fortunately, I drank responsibly the night before.
So little weasel probably considered it legal to buy beer in the District and tak it to wherever.
To back up Marie's assertion about drinking age awareness in high school age boys, I can attest to the absolute certainty of that.
I was also an athlete at a Catholic high school (although a city school with mostly lower class kids, not a toney prep school, like Kavanaugh's). We knew chapter and verse about the drinking age. There was even a kid in my class who was selling ABC cards (Alcohol and Beverage Control) that supposedly would allow pimply faced 15 year-olds to purchase beer (at the time, in my state, the drinking age was 21).
My freshman year in college, the drinking age went from 21 to 18, just in time for the start of school. The night of the change was a Bacchanalia to remember. It seemed like half the freshman class was out that night, hammered. So yes, there was no doubt as to the drinking age.
This guy is a liar like you read about.
And, here's the Flake Man asking for the FBI, trying to save his reputation after survivors cornered him in an elevator as he tried to ditch them. So now he has to make some noise. Okay, great. But here's what's gonna happen. Bart O'Kavanaugh is already on the phone to Mark Judge making sure he knows nothing and will say that to the FBI. And whatever the FBI reports to Grassley, Graham, et al., they'll simply declare that there's not enough evidence not to put Rape Boy on the Supreme Court for life. And I'm hearing that the dictator Trump is making noises about how an FBI investi-something is okay with him. Not. I'm betting he's got iron-clad assurances from the Turtle and Fuck Face Chuck that they've got the votes. Otherwise Trump would be stamping his feet and waving tiny little hands about in fury.
Of course R's completely overlook Kavanaugh's multiple lies to Congress, under oath, any one of which should be cause for an immediate curtain on the nomination. But here, once again, lying is OKIYAR.
Just look at Trump.
I have an idea that this investigation may ring up huge question marks, but I have no doubt that Grassley will ignore the findings and "plow ahead" with the process.
Women should be absolutely outraged. So should men who are not dickhead woman haters.
And so should decent men and women of all stripes.
Just decided I can't watch any more of this BS. The next 24
hours will be devoted to watching my Donna Summer DVDs
over and over and over and over.