This whole thing is Garland in reverse. Instead of ignoring an SC nominee, the GOP is pushing one through no matter what.
This is also the donald trump of nominees as it appears kavanaugh could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and all that would happen is that lindsay graham would pound the table and insist the victim had shot themselves with a gun bought by the left and loaded by Senate Democrats. And then, they’d push him through.
That’s about what it amounts to, and I don’t know whether to cry or laugh.
Right on.
Also that constant poking of his tongue into his cheek–isn’t that one of the habits of alcoholics?
“During Thursday afternoon’s hearing, Kavanaugh cried, yelled, and repeatedly interrupted and talked back to senators.”
Just another powerful non-hysterical man, using the pure light of reason alone to make his argument.
What about all the sniffing and that bunny thing he’s always doing with his nose? Kind of reminiscent of Trump. Is it a drug/alcohol habit or just a rapey thing?
Based on his demeanor and entitled personality, Kavanaugh would make a much better member of the House Freedom Caucus than a Supreme Court justice. In fact, he should be impeached from his current position on the D.C. Circuit.
His demeanor and obvious bias are completely and totally disgualifying.
Spot on, it’s the bizarro version of the Garland process. In addition, Kavanaugh’s opening rant can mean any combination of three things:
- He has an unhinged temperament under pressure (possible, but we’d have more contemporary colleagues saying this if it were a regular occurrence)
- He was playing to a highly partisan audience (possibly even an audience of one) based on a strategy that had been hammered out in advance
- He actually thinks in those hyper-partisan, conspiratorial terms, and the content of the rant didn’t seem crazed to him when it was written. (revenge from the Clintons? Dude… the judiciary Dems are not their disciples and don’t much care)
My personal take is a combination of the second and third points, but who knows. However you slice it, pretty scary stuff. It’s one thing to stack a court with judges who espouse a particular judicial philosophy. It’s another to stack it with pure factional partisans – that’s banana republic territory.
as the parent of 5 kids, the tongue thing and the sniffing would tell me the kid was lying, or, at best, trying to avoid being caught and being questionsed about his/.her activities… and when it becomes clear that they have been ‘caught’ they resort to tears.
This whole episode has gone well beyond farce and veered into the realm of absolute cruel misogyny and blatant illegitimacy. Trump, the illegitimate Putin puppet, has no business nominating ANYBODY to any court anywhere, let alone someone as blatantly immoral and corrupt as Kavanaugh. Now not only are the rights of women to even be heard being ignored, this piece of crap disguised as a Supreme Court Justice will undoubtedly deny women further rights just to please the assholes who claim to be so much holier than thou. Not to mention Trump will get a get-out-of-jail-free card with Kavanaugh illegally on the court. We’re in grave danger in this country, and it just keeps getting worse.
if it wasn’t so sad, this would be funny…
‘My name is Brett Kavanaugh and this is my testimony …’
The furious performance of Donald Trump’s nominee for the US supreme court yesterday is reimagined by our columnist
‘My name is Brett Kavanaugh and this is my testimony …’ | Marina Hyde | The Guardian
“This was someone who was aggressive and belligerent. I have never seen someone who wants to be elevated to the highest court in our country behave in that manner.”
It just clicked for me.
Many people have asked: why is the GOP and the Federalist Society so committed to getting Kavanaugh on the court? Surely there are other hard-right judges who don’t have the same baggage: why not pick one of them and have it sail through?
The answer is that Kavanaugh has a forceful personality. He will bully and badger the other conservative justices and make sure every one of them toes the line. The Right will finally have an enforcer on the inside whose natural tendency is to whip votes and prevent defections. If he sees so much as a glimmer in someone’s eye that they’re even experimenting with a new perspective, he’ll nip in the bud, before it germinates into mature thoughts that might be shared with other justices and take root. And he’ll be aggressive and deliberately hurtful while doing it, making it less likely in the future.
Plus, he’ll constantly be at the throats of the liberal justices. They will never know a moment’s peace. He’ll make them fight for every inch on every case. How long do you think RBG will hold out when every day at work is a nasty knife-fight with a self-assured, energetic bully who has memorized every retort that ALEC ever ran past a focus group?
He’ll violate all kinds of norms, too. He’s got something to prove, and he wants revenge. We are going to find out how ironclad is the Chief Justice’s prerogative to decide who writes opinions, who can write dissents, etc. Some here have speculated that Kavanaugh will fly under the radar because his confirmation occurred under such a cloud. Think again: Roberts won’t be able to shut him up. And his written opinions will be absolutely loaded with pre-weaponized legal sophistry.
Kavanaugh is poison. He will absolutely ruin the Supreme Court. That is why the Right is so committed to him specifically.
Yes I think they are out to ruin the court. The GOP doesn’t give a damn about the rule of law.
I really liked how David Faris summarized the hearing and the snarling, vindictive performance by Kavanaugh.
I work in a law office (IANAL). Any candidate who acted like Rapey K did in an interview would not last thirty seconds.
He was behaving like a belligerent drunk. One minute he was crying, and the next he was angry, yelling and screaming with an ugly scowl on his face. This man could not even compose himself as a professional. He is
not temperamentally fit to be a judge much less a supreme court judge. He is way too hostile and aggressive. Something is wrong with this man. He shamed himself and his family yesterday. Only drunk person switch their personalities like that. They need to check this man closer, he may have a drinking problem.
Starting the day off pissed and disgusted. Maybe I should get blackout drunk and pretend none of this is happening.
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Kavanaugh’s a big loudmouth but I’m not sure there are a lot of people in the legal system, from a beat cop to a district justice and all the way up, who have much tolerance for being bullied and told what to do. So I don’t think Kavanaugh’s going to rule over them like a warlord. I think he’ll be considered illegitimate. And if yesterday was any indication, he’s not that bright or able to think on his feet. Even in his previous testimony he was often hesitant and confused. Yesterday he kept coming back to the same few talking points, whether they were apropos or not. I think like most bullies he has trouble finding his way in the world in a meritocratic and cooperative way, so he blusters and pushes himself forward. I can’t see the other eight justices being impressed with that. People who bully judges live to regret it usually.
Seems like Kavanaugh’s time at the real Trump U – AKA the White House – was well spent: he’s passed the exam in Bluster, Bully, and Bullshit 101 with flying colors.