No, the title doesn’t refer to the tardiness of this week’s open thread. I had no time to prepare it on Saturday, since we were hosting a very special birthday party for one of my sisters. And then, of course, I had to sleep off all the booze.
Instead, it’s about Kavanaugh and his long-delayed confirmation. Because that’s all we’ve been talking about for weeks. Here’s to the last Kavanaugh post! I hope so, anyway.
In a way, it’s been the perfect story for everything surrounding American politics and culture since 2016. You’ve had the fierce political division, the #MeToo Effect, the cloud of an FBI investigation against a public figure, the urgency of saving SCOTUS seats, and Trump himself. If only Russian trolls had gotten more involved and we’d have it all. They were too busy ruining the Star Wars franchise, or some shit.
Because of how perfectly the Kavanaugh nomination expressed what is at stake in the midterms, and how much it dominated news coverage, the American public is as engaged as it possibly could be with high voter enthusiasm. In theory, I think a high degree of engagement is a good thing. It’s good to see Americans being civic-minded.
Problem is that these aren’t largely well-informed or well-meaning people. They’re each getting half the story from their preferred news outlets. They’re enraged at each other, not simply the politicians they’re planning to vote against. I’m not sure if we’ve ever seen such a thing as “rage voting” by both sides at once in a national election but this seems to be it.
For some time last year, I had believed that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Democrats took over at least one house of Congress. They would have had a stake in government again, which might lead them to start behaving rationally for the first time in two years. They could also force Trump to compromise and this could bring about some positive bipartisan legislation, if both have the wisdom to try.
Post-Kavanaugh, I don’t feel that way anymore. The behavior of the Senate Democrats and their activists over Kavanaugh and other events has driven that notion out of my head in terror. I don’t think they want to work within our institutions anymore. They’re willing to break them if it means “stopping Trump”, and they’ll personally ruin the life of anyone if it is useful to do so, no matter how unlikely it is to succeed.
From the perspective of national Democrats, I suppose what was done to Kavanaugh looked rational to them. They demonstrated that they’ll fight and kept themselves from being primaried while also boosting fundraising. However, they also needlessly agitated and animated GOP voters for the effort and guaranteed the demise several red-state Senate Democrats. They’ve made it even worse by vowing to investigate and impeach Kavanaugh after they win the House back, further motivating Republicans to stop them.
It was needless because Kavanaugh’s confirmation shouldn’t have been a life-or-death issue for Democrats. They were bound to lose since there is a Republican president and Senate majority, and the Democrats had already stupidly triggered the Senate Majority Leader to eliminate the filibuster during their last totally needless struggle against a Trump nominee. They didn’t have any real options and could have simply voted “no” without making out the replacement of a Republican Justice with another Republican Justice to be the End of All Things.
Not only did they fail to keep the seat open, but they’ve assured that Senate Republicans will show no mercy to fill future seats with any conservative jurist they want and won’t be dissuaded. There are no parliamentary tricks they can use nor are there any baseless smears that will work.
Democrats made a disagreement into a battle, disgracefully took it into the gutter, lost, and now have the shame of lying beaten in that gutter. It was totally self-inflicted and pointless. They keep repeating the same mistakes. They get angry, wage unnecessary fights, lose, and then become angrier. Thus repeating the cycle.
Winning the Senate majority isn’t happening for the Democrats, nor should it. They don’t deserve it after what they’ve done to the Senate and Justice Kavanaugh.
PS: CMNZ reported that he was having some trouble posting comments in recent weeks. If you’ve been experiencing any site problems, please contact me at ridiculousvikingstuff@protonmail.com and I’ll see if zoom or I can get it fixed.
So let’s see. Democrats have used violent rhetoric against Republicans, doxxed representatives, called for mobbing them when they go to restaurants, launched baseless allegations against officials to ruin their careers and lives, and otherwise done their best to tear the country apart.
But they’re worried that they’re not vicious enough. Yeah, go with that.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/07/kavanaugh-confirmation-democrats-anger-221089
So women aren’t all in it together:
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/07/liberals-attack-white-women-brett-kavanaugh/
Suddenly, it seems, gender does matter to the Left, when they’ve been trying to erase it in names, clothing, and bathroom distinctions. And just where are we headed if this is the new political normal? Fuming at each other in silence when we’re not online? Snubbing each other in the street? The next civil war won’t be televised-it’ll be tweeted.
Did anyone read Senator Collins’s statement? I’m not only surprised that she voted for Kavanaugh, but that she so perfectly articulated why he deserved to be confirmed. https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-announces-she-will-vote-confirm-judge-kavanaugh This part was especially rich: But the fact remains, Mr. President, that someone leaked this letter against Professor Ford’s express wishes. I suspect, regrettably, that we will never know for certain who did it. To that leaker, who I hope is listening now, let me say that what you did was unconscionable. You have taken a survivor who was not only entitled to your respect, but who also trusted you to protect… Read more »
So Collins decided to go with the woeful doppelganger option (Ford was assaulted but it was a case of mistaken identity). I guess she figured it was the least worst thing to pretend to believe. Pretty sure she actually believes it was Kavanaugh. So this Supreme Court Justice, who switches the balance of power for a decade or more (because he replaces the swing voting Justice) was nominated by a POTUS who came second in the vote (46%, more than 2% behind) and then confirmed by Senators who represent 44% of the population…..amazing really, and that’s without all the controversy… Read more »
https://twitter.com/bendreyfuss/status/1048983625927155712?s=19
“I was hit by a car”
“I believe you. Something happened”
“I was hit by a car”
“You have bruises. Internal injuries. You are compelling”
“Car hit me”
“But I can not say if a car hit you”
“It did”
“Maybe you fell out a tree”
“Car”
“Off a bike”
“A car hit—”
“Point is: I believe you”
Pretty sure she actually believes it was Kavanaugh. I don’t think she does. Murkowski probably does, but Collins wouldn’t have voted for him if she thought so. She went to great lengths to explain why Ford isn’t credible (without bluntly saying so). The conversation is more like this: “I was hit by a car.” “When?” “Thirty something years ago.” “What year?” “I can’t remember.” “Did you report it to police or go to a hospital so that your injuries could be documented?” “No.” “Where exactly did it happen?” “I can’t remember. Was twenty miles from my home.” “How did you… Read more »
Why bother with all the pretence, that’s what puzzles me. Perhaps it would be less puzzling if you didn’t insist that it was pretense. Just because you personally believe Ford’s admittedly well-played act, it doesn’t mean everyone else does or should. There was simply no evidence to back up her story. Her own witnesses failed to back up her claims, which includes her lifelong friend Leland Keyser. And due process dictates that the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused. That’s just the way the system works, whether you can understand it or not.
He came in first — 304 to 227. If he came in second, he wouldn’t be President right now.
https://youtu.be/cFL6k5yOAFM
This may be part of an image makeover, but it’s a good move on his part:
http://dailycaller.com/2018/10/08/brett-kavanaugh-black-women-law-clerks-ginsburg/
Meanwhile that didn’t take long:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-wage-war-on-kavanaugh-court-new-battles-over-legitimacy-impeachment-recusal
This may be part of an image makeover, but it’s a good move on his part: I’m sure I’ll catch hell for saying it, but if I went through what he just did, the LAST thing I would do is surround myself with female employees. If I did hire any, I’d be following the Mike Pence rule with all the suspicion a Saudi guy has for cooties. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said the option of impeaching Kavanaugh should not be ruled out and said he would support further investigation into the newest justice. This is exactly the sort of thing… Read more »
And due process dictates that the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused. Nope. I know you’re tired of hearing this, but it’s not a trial, it’s an assessment of appropriateness for a role. Not whether or not he ‘did it’. That’s why the word ‘credible’ keeps being used. So you have a nominee for a lifetime appointment to a job that basically has the job description ‘be the most impartial, even handed, dispassionate person in the country’. And this person has been credibly accused of assault by multiple women, has multiple stories of drunken behaviour, including… Read more »
Sorry –Are you saying that you disagree? That he should not be held accountable for any criminal acts? I’m absolutely saying that. There’s zero reason why he should be subject to a kangaroo court operated by the same Democrats who publicly outed an alleged sex crime victim and smeared him in the name of a political agenda. GOP voters see this for what it is, they don’t want it either, and that’s why it is yet another act of self-destructive #Resistance rage. He’s on the bench for life. If he gets drunk and molests Kagan during deliberations, sure, let’s impeach… Read more »
I want to get this 100% straight. You’re saying that if there is conclusory evidence, beyond any doubt that a Supreme Court Justice committed a crime – that Justice should get away with it, because you don’t like the Dems. That your partisanship is now stronger than your respect for the law, your sense of right and wrong, and your respect of personal responsibility. That the Trump administration has persuaded you that no one on the right can possibly have done anything wrong – even if there is unequivocal evidence – because the other side are engaged in a conspiracy.… Read more »
You’re saying that if there is conclusory evidence, beyond any doubt that a Supreme Court Justice committed a crime I find it refreshing that we’re finally in agreement that there should be conclusory evidence, beyond any doubt, that any negative action should be taken against a Supreme Court Justice or nominee instead of a mere accusation. Good to have that back in fashion. Is there any such evidence about Kavanaugh after 7 background checks? No… I care less how Senate Democrats want to construe anything he said into a lie. They’ve established that someone is perfectly credible even when she… Read more »
Don’t forget the double door escape hatch which somehow also works as a rental unit for interns. Personally I think some foreign leftists raped her and I can back it with the same amount of evidence that’s been provided so far. Why let these pervs post here? Do the right thing William and don’t be a woman hater. There are new rules to follow so why not start now?
Personally I think some foreign leftists raped her and I can back it with the same amount of evidence that’s been provided so far. Why let these pervs post here? I get what you’re saying and I may have snickered about how people miss the point about how damaging unfounded allegations can be, not just for high-profile figures like Kavanaugh but even for normal schlubs. But what I want to point out here is that I don’t want to “own the libs”. I want the libs to be good. I like it when liberals are intelligent, compassionate, peace-loving, and rational… Read more »
Just saw this. Tucker makes a similar point to mine. Liberals these days aren’t liberals. They’re behaving more like hateful drones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLmIJgi6ew
I want people who disagree with me to post here. The reason is that I am going to give them a real discussion. Not a flamewar, not attacks, not hatred. This. And that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying o explain that opposing Kavanaugh isn’t about proving he assaulted Dr Ford – it’s about showing a pattern of behaviour and the temperament of a person who is seeking a lifetime appointment. In my opinion, the sheer number of factors – even if half of them are bullshit – point to someone who is entitled, partisan, temperamental, dishonest and disrespectful… Read more »
I’m trying o explain that opposing Kavanaugh isn’t about proving he assaulted Dr Ford – it’s about showing a pattern of behaviour and the temperament of a person who is seeking a lifetime appointment. But you can’t just point to baseless accusations of multiple women who have been coached to say such-and-such and say, “Ah ha! It’s a pattern of behavior!” The plural of anecdote isn’t “fact”, as the saying goes. Come on. One of the accusers basically said that she knew full well she was going to high school gang rape parties when she was college age and her… Read more »
WTF? Kennedy from MTV has a Fox News show? When did this happen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrL04SlLVic
Junk science.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/health/2018/10/07/republicans-who-believed-ford-doubted-her-memory-relied-junk-science-researchers-say/
Not sure why it has to be some weird psychology thing to say that she identified the wrong guy. However, it’s way easier just to say she is a liar who made it up. So I’m going with that.
I know you’re tired of hearing this, but it’s not a trial, it’s an assessment of appropriateness for a role. Congressional hearings and the presumption of innocence It’s true that such a hearing is not a criminal trial with a trial’s many built-in protections for the accused, including the presumption of innocence. But that’s actually irrelevant, because this was no ordinary congressional hearing for a nominee to the federal judiciary. Unlike Kavanaugh, a nominee does not ordinarily stand accused in such a proceeding, forced to listen to the charges against him uttered by a self-described victim, and left to be… Read more »
He certainly has been accused, but not “credibly” so. Not by a long shot.
If one are sincerely seeking a “pattern of behavior”, then one doesn’t place emphasis on uncorroborated hearsay claims about the accused’s high-school and college years while ignoring the public record of the accused’s exemplary adult record and behavior.
I’m with William on this one. I won’t claim she “misremembered” anything. I’ll just say she lied through her teeth, even if it was a convincing act. But an act is all it was.
Wow, ok. Further down the rabbit hole we go. So what was her motivation? Her life was going so badly and she’s such a hardout and unhinged extreme partisan that she decided to throw it all away so a replacement conservative judge would be confirmed instead? No? Walk me through it….
So what was her motivation? I obviously can’t prove anything, but stopping the Trump agenda at any cost might qualify. She did contribute to Bernie’s campaign, her lawyer contributed to the DNC and Hillary’s campaign, so their opposition to Trump is a matter of public record. But somehow I doubt you’d be receptive to anything I might suggest, regardless of any facts I point out. Her life was going so badly and she’s such a hardout and unhinged extreme partisan that she decided to throw it all away so a replacement conservative judge would be confirmed instead? “Throw it all… Read more »
She wanted to sink the nomination. Worth noting here that she tried to do it anonymously. She wanted to leave the allegation without being identified. It would have been no-risk for her, except somebody leaked her name because Feinstein didn’t want to push it without her being identified.
Ford wasn’t trying to “throw it all away”. She was trying to get the best of both worlds: damage the nominee and take no damage for it.
Prevent the nomination. id have to guess she didnt expect to be outed by Feinstine, so she just went with the flow. oh and that Go-Fund_me page of hers im sure helps her a bit, then it will be the awards, interviews, book deals.. ect ect.
I was listening to it on the radio show i was tuned into. i was impressed. i did not know she had that in her, i figured she would fold.
What, so this was all carefully planned when she told her therapist years ago, in anticipation that this would happen? She knew (helped organise?) a GoFundMe page to get rich, because it’s worth all the abuse and threats from the right? She wrote the letter asking for confidentiality knowing it would be leaked so she could then get all the attention but claim she never wanted it? Did she leak it? Do you think she even went to that school? Even lived in the same state? I know some people think it was Amy Schumer in disguise, do you guys… Read more »
Oh I see, she was a Bernie supporter, so she did this as revenge for….Hillary.
Of course.
No, you don’t.
Look, you’re welcome to be as ridiculous as you want to be. Nothing we said is unreasonable, but everything in your response is. I said you wouldn’t be receptive and I was right.
What, so this was all carefully planned when she told her therapist years ago You don’t know what she told her therapist. We don’t even know what’s in the therapist notes or what was shown to the media or anybody else. Only thing that has been reported for sure is that the notes don’t specifically mention Kavanaugh. Ford has refused to provide the real notes. Do we even know who her therapist was? She knew (helped organise?) a GoFundMe page to get rich, because it’s worth all the abuse and threats from the right? Again: She did not want to… Read more »
Worth pointing out once more, CM. Ford says there were four people at the party, including Kavanaugh, when Kavanaugh assaulted her. All of them agree that not only did they see Kavanaugh assault her, but that there was no party at all.
If you want to engage in conspiracy thinking, then come up with an explanation for why all of the witnesses identified by the accuser refuse to support her version of events. The simple answer is that the party didn’t happen. The weight of evidence does not support Ford’s accusation and it never did.
The Dragon Energy Summit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O-Q1xGC_iA
My mind is blown.
Lovely thread. Definitely demonstrates the bias we all view political things through.
I just can’t seem to give any F’s. Just got back from my surgery. Ow.
I hope you get to feeling better soon, Zurvan. You’re more fun when you give a fuck. Hey, this might cheer you up.
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1050794829482008576
Quality…. “I attended Holton-Arms, a girls school in the Washington area,” Louis-Dreyfus told the audience at Sunday’s award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “It has been in the news lately,” Louis-Dreyfus said of the school. “Back in fourth grade, as a matter of fact, I was in a very serious Holton-Arms production of ‘Serendipity,'” Louis-Dreyfus continued. “You know it’s funny with us Holton girls – I remember every detail of that play. I could swear to it under penalty of perjury,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “And yet, I don’t remember who drove me to the show… Read more »
Oh that’s right, I forgot that the quality of advice on politics and ethics is determined by what jobs people have. Good reminder.