Claire McCaskill says she's voting 'no' on Brett Kavanaugh

[RandySF]

Sen. Claire McCaskill said Wednesday she will vote against federal appellate judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Citing "dark money" in politics as the main reason for her opposition, McCaskill released a lengthy statement through her office Wednesday evening. The Missouri Democrat, who is in a heated re-election campaign, stumped in southwest Missouri earlier in the day with stops in Lebanon and Mt. Vernon.

At the Lebanon event, she minimized the importance of the sexual assault allegations leveled against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who has claimed Kavanaugh held her down and tried to take off her clothes more than 30 years ago, when he was 17 and she was 15.

McCaskill called the allegations "disturbing" but said she would "set them aside" when deciding how to vote on Kavanaugh.

"I have been thorough in examining Judge Kavanaugh’s record," McCaskill said in the statement. "And while the recent allegations against him are troubling and deserve a thorough and fair examination by the Senate Judiciary Committee, my decision is not based on those allegations but rather on his positions on several key issues, most importantly the avalanche of dark, anonymous money that is crushing our democracy."


McCaskill has repeatedly said she was focusing on Kavanaugh's positions on anonymously sourced political spending, known as "dark money," when she was reviewing documents provided to senators. Her statement cited a 2002 email from Kavanaugh to another attorney as support for her criticism of the judge's views on money in politics.



https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/09/19/claire-mccaskill-says-shes-voting-no-brett-kavanaugh-president-trumps-supreme-court-nominee/1363181002/

[still_one]

1. Thank you Senator McCaskill

[blogslut]

2. Good but I would be surprised if she voted for him

[bettyellen]

3. I hope she is signaling for a pile on.

[JDC]

4. Indeed

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Many thanks Sen. McCaskill!! I knew we could count on you!!

[oasis]

6. Put that in yer pipe and smoke it.

Claire will remain in her senate chair.

[xmas74]

9. It will be close

But I think she has Hawley on the ropes. He has pulled that stupid truck trailer with the podiums around that state, telling everyone that she is afraid to debate him. She, otoh, has stated that she would love nothing more than a few well scheduled policy debates at assigned areas, including audience questioning. His response is that she refuses to debate him. This comment about dark money will also play back into her senate race since Hawley is tied to Greitens and Greitens is tied to dark money.

[oasis]

10. Thanks for the local perspective.

[xmas74]

11. No problem.

It is expected to be the closest Senate race in the GE and the GOP is here bleeding money on it.

[cannabis_flower]

26. They aren't having a good time here either.

I heard on the radio. I think it was a radio show called the Texas Standard on our local NPR station that a recent poll put Beto O'Rourke 2 points ahead of Ted Cruz. The thing about Ted Cruz is that even his supporters don't like him a lot. Beto's raised way more money than Ted. And all of Beto's campaign ads are very positive and don't even mention Ted Cruz.

[SWBTATTReg]

28. Hawley has Koch money too backing him. This is dark as you can get it. Hawley is ...

wrong in claiming or stating that she is afraid to debate him (when it's really the other way around). This is nonsense. Its Hawley afraid to debate her. And plus he's raised money along w/ rump, so although he's avoided mentioning his association w/ rump during this election (or he's not mentioning it very much), he's tied in w/ rump, who we all know is worthless.

I don't trust him, for I feel that he's going to slam the door shut on a lot of issues that are important to Missourians, and he'll ignore the wishes of a majority of Missourians, and do what he wants anyway, along with his buddy rump.

He also took his time going after Greitens too. It took a democratic leader (Kim Gardner) out of the St. Louis area to go after Greitens (not the attorney general of MO which Hawley got in Jan. 2017). Greitens eventually resigned (governor of MO, repug).

I'm glad that Claire is my senator. I fully trust her, and don't expect her to pull any tricks on the voters of MO. Hawley, I got a funny feeling about, and again as I said, I don't trust him. He seems fake.

[xmas74]

7. She signaled it a few days ago, stating there would be a statement about the direction of her vote.

Absolutely no one in Missouri expected her to vote for him.

[marble falls]

8. Now if Collins can only discover her spine.

[standingtall]

12. All red state Democrats should come out as a block and announce

their voting against this guy. Putting all the pressure on the 2 professing pro-choice republicans. Red state Democrats have all the cover they need to vote against this guy.

[Honeycombe8]

14. +1. Time to take a strong stand. nt

[Honeycombe8]

13. Well, I should hope so. She's a Democrat.

I didn't know she was an undecided.

[samplegirl]

15. Good shes

Voting like a democrat!

[RhodeIslandOne]

16. Good!

I do not believe anyone who wants Kavacreep installed is voting for any Democrat anywhere anyway.

[lindysalsagal]

17. Thank you, Senator. Now. look out: Incoming.

They're not going to allow you to do this to them. It's going to cost you dearly to hold your ground.

[hatrack]

18. And another $25 for Claire!

Delighted to hear this, and thanks for the post -

[shadowmayor]

19. Duh

If you have a big D by your name it's what you're supposed to do!

[BigmanPigman]

22. Senator King is an Independent (Maine) and he said

he was voting NO last week.

[shadowmayor]

29. Yep

But this was about Claire - it would be BIG news if she voted yes.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. Good for her

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. I find it disturbing that she's totally discounting what Ford is saying.

Not to mention, he's clearly eager to overturn Roe v Wade and deny women autonomy of any kind.

That she could even remotely consider voting for him is appalling.

[GulfCoast66]

24. I did not read her statement that way, but maybe I am missing something

Have not been paying attention to the race.

And the issue she brings up is critically important and I suspect she know it plays well in her conservative state.

I hope we keep that seat.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Calling the allegations "disturbing" but that she'd set them aside

reads to me like dismissing them, that they don't matter. It is highly possible I am misinterpreting those words, that she's not discounting them but simply saying other things are more important to her.

[FakeNoose]

25. I think she's saying her mind was made up already before the Ford statement

She's not discounting it, she's saying there are so many other reasons to vote "no".

[BannonsLiver]

31. Oh FFS, do the goalposts get heavy from moving them around so much?

[Gore1FL]

23. She ran and won against Todd "legitimate rape" Akin

There's no way she could vote yes on Kavanaugh.

[Hoyt]

27. I'm surprised there was ever a question, although I get she's in a conservative state.