Good thing. There's reports that he tried to kiss his 3rd grade teacher. Dems are complaining that she wasn't contacted.
i believe he went farther than expressing the obvious blatant political opposition that both parties are guilty of...outside of the sexual allegations that created a firestorm, leading up to it, opposition was more about filling Kennedy's seat with someone who would turn the court into a reliable conservative SC the whole "anger over Trump and 2016, revenge for the Clintons, what goes around comes around" sounded like what an overt partisan would say on here...
I am sure the Dems are playing claims of sexual assault for all they're worth. They saw an opportunity and they seized it. And I don't think their interest is any more in justice than the Pubs. But Kavanaugh's wild paranoid partisan rant about this being just a political hit is wrong in many appreciable ways, related to the accusations against him and to his behavior in HS and college. Claiming it is nothing more than a partisan political hit is making a bold faced claim that the sexual assault victims manufactured stories in support of a political hit. And TBH I find that to be complete b.s. as well as extremely insulting to the victims. Ford's story started six years ago. She has plenty of holes in it, but she appeared credible in testimony (as most people stated in this thread at the time), and for whatever its worth, she has a lie detector test indicating that her published statement is truthful. Ramirez' story is supported by witnesses including a priest, who tried to bring it forward to the FBI. Kavanaugh lied about his drinking history and a number of other things brought up in his HS history. Not sure if the FBI was allowed to interview any of the people who confirmed he was lying, but there were reportedly many who volunteered to do so. Among the things he lied about was Renate, who if she is representative of how he treated women, doesn't speak at all well for him. Not just the yearbook claim he "bagged" her, but the sick little rhyme one witness claimed he sang in the halls at school. Seems likely he was a sexually frustrated young man to do that to some girl he never slept with. Kavanaugh drank to excess and blacked out repeatedly per some people. Kavanaugh was a frequent, incoherent, belligerent drunk according to his college roommate. His drinking problems don't make him guilty of sexual assault but they do fit with the accusations against him, and are consistent with many people who engage in sexual assault, particularly against people they are not dating. His habit of getting incoherent and belligerent likely added to his sexual frustrations as those aren't qualities that women typically go for in a guy. He also has his minor bar fight activities on record that show he goes further than just talking when he's drunk. And Kavanaugh appears to have lied about a lot here, so his credibility should be treated accordingly. Would be interesting to see him under a polygraph wrt his testimony. All of this indicates these hearings were far from just a political hit. There are serious issues in his background relevant to these accusations and he felt compelled to deceive and deflect during the hearing rather than be truthful. He also felt compelled to lash out, which is pretty typical of somebody who's been cornered in something they don't want to admit to. Finally, if the Dems were just out to execute political hits on conservative nominees, why none of this with Gorsuch? ... who attended the exact same HS as Kavanaugh?
Sorry for the repeat post: If the constituents want the senator to vote against, they will. If they want to vote for, or just don't care, then they vote for him. There isn't anything going on in the name of "fact finding."
doesn't matter to them, just like it didn't matter during previous times where they were proven to have taken the wrong side of history... a reliable conservative USSC to them, will hold off or reverse culture change they disagree with..
I don't have any real info, it is probably because he was replacing a devout conservative. Kavanaugh for Kennedy is much different and a potential game changer. Make no mistake, the powers that be like it when everything is a 5-4 decision. It keeps everyone in their respective corrals.
He's not going to recuse himself. John Roberts has to be furious, though. They better hope the Democrats never gain a filibuster-proof majority. They just gave the Democrats an excuse to add seats to SCOTUS.
i wish there was a way to stop these appointments from being so political...it's a bit disheartening for the average voter from both sides I imagine to have judges nominated from the oppositional party that reliably vote a specific way...
That's the hope anyway. That's why we like constitutional strict constructionists. If anyone wants to change the law...change the law. Prog. judges like to play fast and loose with the law, and re-write it according to their politics. Strict constructionists simply apply the law as written. Not sure what your problem with that is. The courts to not exist to enforce policy, let alone re-write it. That's what the Legislative and Executive branches are for, and why they're accountable to voters in regular elections.
I trust that if either of my senators, McConnell or Paul, found anything troubling in the FBI report, they would vote no. Thank you Mr. McConnell and Mr. Paul for doing the right thing for America.
Good post here--but I can't help but wonder where your indignation has been over one party having institutionalized a SOP of engaging in character assassination to manipulate the nomination process--I mean--Bork, Thomas, and now Kav--all nominated by the same party, and all targeted and torpedoed according to the same MO, by the other party--while the other (GOP) has never stooped to such disgusting tactics. TBL, both parties may play politics...but one party goes *above and beyond* that particular call of duty, and it ain't the one against whom your ire is directed (objective as you'd like to present yourself).
If you assume BK gets approved it will still be a 5-4 court. You would have Sotomayor, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Breyer on the left. Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito, and Kavanaugh on the right with Roberts as the swing vote. I would say the only difference if you look at the chart is that Roberts replaces Kennedy as the swing vote. Seeing that Roberts sided with the left in the ACA case, you would have to say he is the swing vote now.
Just saw this on my lunchbreak...latest update from Wapo…hard to see him not getting confirmed now... GOP Sens. Flake and Collins express satisfaction with FBI report, increasing odds of Senate confirmation of Kavanaugh
I almost feel bad for John Roberts. The one thing he seems to care about more than anything is the legitimacy of his Court. He has to be furious about Kavanaugh. Every 5-4 conservative majority opinion from his Court is going to be decried as illegitimate from this point forward.
Kavanaugh and his cohorts are gaslighting the entire country. After the accusation comes out, Kavanaugh goes on national tv and paints himself as a choir boy. Then Kavanaugh goes on and testifies that the devil's triangle isn't what everyone knows it to be, but a drinking game, boofing is actually about flatulence, being a Renate Alumnae just means being her friend, and being a member of the Ralph Club means you have a weak stomach. Kavanaugh also doubles down on the choir boy act and claims never to have drunk to excess to the point of passing our or having memory lapses. At first, none of this mattered to the R's, who wanted to vote Kavanaugh in anyway. It was only until Flake objected and requested an FBI investigation that the vote was delayed. So the FBI investigates, and who do they speak to? Nobody who can and will willingly corroborate Deborah Ramirez' story. Nobody who can corroborate that Kavanaugh was a very heavy drinker and repeatedly drank to to the point where he would stumble and pass out. And the person in the White House directing who the FBI can talk to? One of Kavanaugh's buddies! We are all being gaslighted. And the worst part is those on the right don't care, because they would rather win and get Kavanaugh confirmed than do the right thing. Party over country. And before you blame the left for doing the same thing, the left does the same crap, and the blame game isn't going to fix anything. It's only going to make the tit-for-tat partisanship BS worse. Kavanaugh is not the only conservative judge with a record that is worthy of a SCOTUS nomination. And it's likely these other judges have no sexual assault allegations and never allegedly pushed their private parts in the face of someone while in college. A claim that at least three people are willing to confirm, and three people the FBI never talked to!
I hope that Trump gets two more picks after Kav is confirmed, and he goes way right of Kav on both. Spike the football, Mr. Trump.
I am simply talking about judges being less politically reliable in their voting...on both sides you believe Dems have gone too far, others believe Reps have gone too far (see Garland)....it's just a shit show at this point because of what shouldn't in my opinion, be at stake..