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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPierce: I Believe Brett Kavanaugh Doesn't Belong on the Supreme Court as Strongly as I Believe He'll
I Believe Brett Kavanaugh Doesn't Belong on the Supreme Court as Strongly as I Believe He'll Be There
Everything new we learn about him further undermines his fitness.
BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
SEP 14, 2018
...When word of the letter from the woman accusing him of sexual assault first got out, I thought it might be an act of overreach by the Democratic minority on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not that the charge wasn't a serious one, and not that it didn't deserve extensive and rigorous investigation, I just thought the intellectual chop-shops of the Right would be able to fashion a spin cycle sufficiently vigorous as to mitigate the damage in time for Kavanaugh's confirmation. (No proof. It happened in high school. You were in high school once, too, and you were pretty much a jerk, right? You know the drill by now.) Then, three things happened.
1) Kavanaugh, who tore up the English language tap-dancing around everything he actually believes and actually would do if elevated to the Supreme Court, and who actually was the Bush Administration's dance instructor on the techniques back when he worked there, flatly denied the allegations. He told Senator Maizie Hirono under oath that he never had been involved in any sexual assault and, on Friday, he denied the specific allegation both through a White House spokesman and in a statement released to the media. This is a guy who left himself more wiggle room than a bucket of nightcrawlers in his hearings, but now he offers an absolutely, no-walk-backs denial. This is called going all-in. It is also called, "I dare you."
2) Senator Chuck Grassleywho has stayed too long at the fairand the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee released a letter from 65 women who allege that they knew Kavanaugh in high school and that he was at all times a perfect gentleman. This was enormously stupid on Grassley's part.
I, for example, went to an all-boys Catholic high school, just as Kavanaugh did. I can say with perfect honesty that I didn't know 65 girls while I was in high school, let alone 65 who would know me enough to vouch for my gentlemanliness four decades later. And I am supposed to believe that Grassley and his staff mustered these women in the past two days? That dog slumbers on the porch and will not hunt. The Republicans on the committee knew, and they knew there might be some substance behind it, and they had a rapid-response document ready to go. And...
3) The New Yorker published a detailed piece about the alleged assault with the single most terrifying double byline I can imagine: by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. Farrow owns this particular kind of story, and Jane Mayer is one of the two or three best reporters in the world. These are names that you don't want to see on your call-sheets. And what they wrote, if accurate, is damning.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23134666/brett-kavanaugh-high-school-sexual-assault-allegation/
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)be dealt with.
I dont care if you increase the size or if you impeach the perjurers which is at least two of them. But this court is not credible.
mcar
(42,307 posts)I believe we need to increase the size and a case can be made for same.
I also believe we need to make DC and Puerto Rico states soonest.
Grasswire2
(13,569 posts)thank you
Four new senators and more justices TBD
spooky3
(34,444 posts)Said he has no recollection of the incident.
I dont know about you, but if I was accused of something I did not do, I would say I did not do it, not that I didnt remember. And, of course, some guilty liars say they didnt do it, when they did. But my point is that that is a very weaselly denial, and I am very suspicious because of it and the other points Pierce raised.
Obviously if the Republicans cared about integrity, they would delay the vote until all the facts were in and due process occurred.
I don't recall is shady as hell.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)DallasNE
(7,403 posts)My reaction was did it happen more than once and the assaults are a blur.
FBaggins
(26,731 posts)The problem with this theory is that, unlike his accuser, these 65 women all put their names on the line. If most of them didn't go to school nearby (or whatever), that will be public knowledge very quickly
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)I doubt many will stay true to their "rent a friend" lie if it has legal consequences.
FBaggins
(26,731 posts)Senators can certainly take the allegations into account when they choose how to vote, but there arent many possible legal consequences here.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Cha
(297,188 posts)analysis on Kavanaugh, mcar.
I hope by some miracle he goes down in well deserved flames.
mcar
(42,307 posts)They are amoral. But I hope for the same.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)He's part of the real deep state.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Sad but true. He was confirmed by a slim majority...11 Democrats voted for him.
For Kavanaugh, they have a larger majority. It's possible to prevent it, if every Democrat votes against confirmation. Every single one. Which means the leadership will have to make it clear: if you want a future in the Democratic Party, you need to vote no. Because I can guarantee the Republican leadership is stating the opposite to their Senators: If you want a future in the Republican Party, you need to confirm. Otherwise, your career here is over. (Senators can't function without the support of their party group, and money from the organization.)
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Cha
(297,188 posts)mcar
(42,307 posts)Idiots.
spooky3
(34,444 posts)All these 65 can say (whether it's true or not) that they personally were not assaulted. They cannot possibly know whether Kavanaugh ever assaulted someone else. They were not witnesses 24/7.
There needs to be full investigation.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Hekate
(90,672 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)That doesn't pass the smell test.