slate "Democrats Could've Exposed Kavanaugh's Dodges and Deceptions. They Blew It."

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-hearing-democrats-blew-it.html

By BEN MATHIS-LILLEY and MARK JOSEPH STERN

SEPT 27, 201810:21 PM

Because Republicans control the Senate Judiciary Committee, and overwhelmingly want to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Thursday’s hearing over Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of sexual assault against the judge was structured to disadvantage Democrats at every turn. Against her wishes, Ford was compelled to testify first, allowing Kavanaugh to rebut her and denying Democrats the opportunity to question her about his testimony. Democrats were also not permitted to question Mark Judge, Kavanaugh’s high school friend who allegedly participated in the assault. And, worst of all, each senator had just five minutes to ask questions of both witnesses. That’s hardly enough time for a substantive interrogation of Kavanaugh, a master filibusterer who supplemented every statement with confrontational bluster.


In light of these restraints, Democrats could have played their hand strategically. They could have allowed a handful of senators to ask all their questions, much like Republican senators brought in an outside prosecutor to question Ford. They could have coordinated their queries so that each senator focused on one area where Kavanaugh’s credibility is dubious. Or they could have carefully examined the accusations and asked piercing questions that might force Kavanaugh to provide something other than a flat denial.

But they did none of that. Instead, the Democrats fixated on objections to the process—most notably, the lack of an FBI investigation into Ford’s claims—and repeated the same bad questions over and over again. It was a wasted opportunity that let Kavanaugh walk away without clarifying the major problems with his side of the story.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s ranking member, got off to a weak start by failing to lay out the precise circumstances under which she, and the public, learned of Ford’s allegations. This oversight allowed Republicans to malign her as a leaker by insinuating that she or one of her staffers strategically hid the letter, then leaked it to the press at the last moment. Only at the end of the hearing did Feinstein neutralize this talking point, explaining that she had delayed acting on the letter because Ford requested confidentiality, and that neither she nor her staff leaked it. (The Intercept’s Ryan Grim, who first reported on the letter, confirmed this.) Had the senator laid these facts out at the beginning of the hearing, her colleagues could’ve rebutted Republicans by noting that Feinstein had simply honored her constituent’s wishes, and that it was the GOP that rushed the confirmation process rather than permit time for a real investigation.


snip

last para

Obviously, it is not Democrats who are attempting to push Kavanaugh toward a lifetime Supreme Court appointment in the face of credible sexual assault allegations. The blame for this disaster cannot be laid at their feet. But their questions on Thursday did remarkably little to help Ford stop Kavanaugh, which was, of course, Democrats’ goal. Their bumbling, repetitive inquiries largely left her to fend for herself.


(well worth reading the whole thing - yes, Monday morning quarterbacking is easy - but we as a party just don't do ourselves favors and often play right into the hands of the repubs. I am sick and tired of feeling helpless and outplayed.)

[exboyfil]

1. Herding Senators is probably worse

than herding cats.

[rzemanfl]

2. Bookmarking. n/t

[manor321]

3. It is not the Democrats' fault

I know it is popular to blame Democrats for everything that happens.

But just think for a second about all the information that is now public about Kavanaugh. If the Republican party was operating normally, he would have been withdrawn. The fault lies with Republican voters.

The press never ever blames Republican voters.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. it isn't a blame thing - it is looking at the processes used.

To me - life long, very left wing liberal - we are wired differently and tend to bring butter knives to nuclear wars. We play nice. We expect everyone to play as nice as we do. Hence we repeatedly get punked. I am as guilty of it as the next Dem - I like to hope that data, reason, empathy, rule the day - but we are now up against is a battle against lock step brutality. I have no answers, but clearly, what we are doing is not working.

I think that to Democrats, the truth is the most important thing. To republicans, whatever it takes - including blatant lies - are fine - the end justifies the means. We are now playing two entirely different games

[SkipG]

29. Yep, and that's gotta change. n/t

[spooky3]

5. I disagree. Nt

[qazplm135]

6. His deception is clear

They don't care. For fucks sake stop blaming Democrats.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. +1

So tired of the "Blame Democrats First (And For Everything)" crowd! People write an article critical of Republicans for what they're doing and then within minutes, comments start appearing attacking Democrats for not doing enough to stop Republicans from doing bad things.

[mythology]

7. My question is who were Democratic Senators trying to convince?

If they were specifically targeting a handful of Senators, maybe this was a smarter path. I don't know, but one of Jeff Flake's biggest complaints has been the process and lack of civility. Someone like Flake might be more convinced by that argument.

[LiberalFighter]

10. I would agree that is the better path. Changing the minds of Senators.

If they can stir up the voters that helps too. But priority is getting the votes of the Senators.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. BY THE WAY - I know that this article will not be popular for many here - maybe most. I think

we need to get a bit uncomfortable and realize that how we as a party are doing things is NOT WORKING against the tactics now being used. If we wrap ourselves into a bubble and deflect any attempts to self reflect, we are then being as bad as they are.

Don't stop thinking, don't close your mind.

And please don't make this a place where any article that doesn't align exactly with your views gets reported and locked....but, whatever - I am just one liberal Democrat sitting here as pissed off as can be, boiling mad, trying to figure out how to navigate these totally fucked up waters.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. +1,000,000

[qazplm135]

26. We don't have power

So of course it's not working.

Voting. It's not rocket science. You wanna know what they do, they vote. Even when they don't love their candidates.

We can't seem to bring ourselves to do that.

[LiberalFighter]

9. So there is wisdom in the writings of Ben Mathis-Lilley and Mark Joseph Stern?

Mathis-Lilley's past writings was about sports and Stern does courts and NY. Neither with experience with Congress or more specifically nomination hearings or for that matter any type of hearings in Congress. They should keep their yap shut until they walk the halls of Congress and sit in the rooms where the hearings are conducted.

Blaming someone for something without understanding the process and rules that are used indicates the same mindset as Kavanaugh.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. And so what rules are the republicans using? If one side plays by all the rules and the other does

not - and the public is observing this - who really wins?

I have no answers - all I know is that what we've been doing for two years is not working. I am pissed off, and frustrated.

[LiberalFighter]

15. They are making the rules as it stands now.

And they control the ball.

The only way to change this is for Democrats to get control of the Senate. The Democratic Senators yesterday exposed the Republicans and should move more Democrats getting elected in November.

We are all pissed off. And it doesn't do any good for writers without the expertise to decide that the Democratic Senators are doing it wrong. We don't need to be wasting time on the opinions of those without experience like Mathis-Lilley and Stern. There are better journalists and reporters that are experienced.

Feinstein and her fellow Senators are fighting like hell. Some of it is out in the hallways or behind the scenes. Where it does the most good.

[uponit7771]

12. So he can evade those questions too?!? The writer doesn't understand how non LE questions go

[Thrill]

13. As usual. They bring a knife to a gun fight

You can’t play nice and civil with Trump and these Republicans

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. In retrospect, I am wondering if they should have spent more time asking Dr Ford

more pointed questions about the event itself. maybe trying to pull more information from her about what the house looked like. At one point, she said she could sketch out the living room. That would have been immensely helpful. Because people out there #july1 are on the verge of finding the exact place where "Timmy" had a party. Kavenaugh's high school friend said this am that it was a townhouse.

I don't feel like she was fully questioned at all. We pretty much ceded our time praising her.

Anything we drew out of her might have been the key to nailing him

[BeyondGeography]

14. After a brilliant start to the day, I thought Feinstein was overwhelmed in the afternoon

She couldn’t have handled Blasey Ford any better, but, quite frankly, she sounded worn out after Kavanaugh’s tirade (as ranking member she went first). She needed to hit back, defend the integrity of the Democrats, call him out on his blatant partisanship, etc. But she was unprepared for his salvos, stuck to what was a very limited script and was clearly fatigued.

Then after erroneously but effectively being blasted three or four times by Republicans for dropping the Blasey Ford bombshell at the last minute, she finally read a prepared statement that mostly did the job, apart from a delivery that was unenergetic at best.

We won’t lose this battle because of Feinstein. She is a good and skillful public servant. But let’s stop prentending that 85 is the new 60. She’s human, and the task at hand was too much for her yesterday. The Kavanaugh hearing could and should have much better handled.

[LiberalFighter]

17. The Republicans repeated false statements numerous times.

Despite testimony saying otherwise.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. I too thought the morning was brilliant - now not too sure.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. Yup - they got out-savvyed. Hate to say, but true. They should have fully expected

him to have a strong plan on how to act - since he spent 8 hours with Trump preparing.

[OilemFirchen]

18. Ridiculous.

They knew that Kavanaugh would not answer any of their questions, so attacking the process was their strategy. And that was far more effective than blowing their minimal time on fruitless cross-examination.

What are the unexpected criticisms today? That the process was severely lacking and that the vote should be paused until an FBI investigation is completed. Seems like a pretty effective approach, given the severe restraints of the hearing (as noted, curiously, in the article's first paragraph).

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. Could have asked him "You appear very angry. President Trump said you weren't

angry enough. Then, you spent 8 hours with him. What did you do for those 8 hours."

Or, "there are 6 items on your calendar that ALL have a crude connotation - yet you sit here and explain each away. Did you and President Trump go through these items and discuss less offensive alternative explanations?"

[OilemFirchen]

25. And his answers would have been equally predictable.

In addition to obfuscating, he has a massive ego. He will take every opportunity given to boost his creds and lash out at a process that he finds demeaning.

If there's fault to be found with the Democrats in this hearing, it's that they asked him any questions at all, rather than using their five minutes to ignore the witness and hammer home the ridiculous nature of the hearing itself.

[wishstar]

21. I disagree after watching his dodges with Leahy, Durbin, Klobuchar, Harris and other Senators

He would not answer most questions calmly and directly but filibustered and was rude and obnoxious and clearly lacks "judicial temperament" but bullying Trumplike behavior is obviously what he and fellow Repubs think is popular now with their American rightwing base.

[RandySF]

27. With five minutes?

[Zoonart]

28. Seems to me that the problem is this...

the Dems are preaching religion in a whore house. The GOP has elected, for decades, angry white men who HATE Government and are there to destroy the process.
The Dems, for the most part, revere the process and are trying to get the GOP to come along and find religion. It worked for about forty years, but with decreasing levels of success, as the GOP gerrymandered themselves into a position of power while only actually representing 1/3 of the electorate.

Finally.... with the Russian money having infiltrated the GOP on such a mammoth level... the Dems are no longer able to talk reason to any Republican.
The old bargaining dynamic of the Senate has been destroyed. I don't blame the Democrats for that. Our Government and it's institutions are in inexorable decline. Yesterday's shit show was a stark example of that.

The solution will have to come from the people. I have ZERO trust that this election will be fair. I do not think that this 50 year project to "Drown the Government in the bathtub" will be thwarted in November.

As citizens we will accept this wholesale destruction of the Republic.... or we won't, but the outcome will not depend on the Democratic Senators... they are the few, we are the many.

[OneBro]

31. Internal, critical analysis is NOT a bad thing.

We can all agree that republicans are evil, manipulative, racist hypocrites who see women as lesser beings, but if WE refuse to learn from our mistakes and simply seek shelter in “don’t blame Democrats” each time we get outplayed, they will keep winning by default and we will keep losing by design.

If a person can watch or listen to the entire hearing and NEVER hear a Democrat point out that Kavanaugh’s calendar corroborates Ford’s account, THAT’S a problem when such a salient point could have been made in ONE minute, let alone five. We can either learn from such internal blunders or we can dust off the “don’t blame Democrats” signs for the next protest march after republicans successfully appoint Sean Hannity to the Supreme Court.

[NRaleighLiberal]

32. absolutely...thank you.

[unblock]

33. wtf! i think the hearings made it obvious to anyone who isn't a hyper-partisan republican sh*t!

there is simply *no way* that every republican senator thinks he's innocent.

there is simply *no way* that every republican senator thinks he will be an impartial justice.

there is simply *no way* that every republican senator would tolerate a fraction of these accusations or his behavior from a nominee of a democratic president.


they know damn well what they're voting for, and they're doing it anyway.

don't tell me that if only democrats blah blah blag.

*wrong*.

republican senators are going to vote for him, and they would vote for him no matter what the democrats did.

period.

[eleny]

34. +1