Totally true. Put “impeach Kavanaugh” on the list of things to do next year.
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One thing to remember is the comment from one of the yale law school professors that kavanaugh chooses pretty female clerks whom he then grooms for clerkships with Roberts.
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He’s an alcoholic and a perpetually angry man.
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Oh, I think they do. I think they are absolutely determined to end it.
But yeah.
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But, but, but … presumption of innocence! It’s not just how we allocate the burden of proof in criminal trials! It is the overarching societal value you apply in deciding who to hire, who to fire, who to befriend, who to date and marry, who to let our children date, and how we adjudicate sexual harassment claims in court! It’s critical that everyone be given the presumption of innocence in public discourse. Unless they have a vagina, have dark skin, or are poor, of course. Fuck all of them.
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The sniffing was obvious when I listened to the hearing on the radio. Shades of Trump. My father was a raging alcoholic with a temper like Kavanaugh’s
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I found Feinstein to be a huge disappointment. Why did she not make this statement to kavanaugh’s face when everyone is watching.
Her first question should have been “After that rude, unprofessional and highly partisan diatribe against members of this committee, Democrats in general, and political advocacy organizations exercising their first amendment rights, how can you expect anyone in America to believe you would be an impartial judge.”
Her second, should have been, “We all watched Dr. Ford’s powerful and highly credible testimony, why would she tell her husband, and her therapist, and friends of hers years ago that these events happened? Is it your position that she made this up or that she is mistaken in identifying you and Judge and PJ? What would she have to gain?”
“What do you have to gain to an in denying these accusations?”
Then you ask about whether we should bring inthe FBI to get a complete rendering of facts.
Frankly, the only standout on the D side was Corey Booker. He was the only one would made it clear he would not let Kavanaugh control the conversation. and he had substantive points to make.
And Durbin was OK, I guess.
And why did Kamala Harris end her questioning with ”did you watch Dr Ford’s testimony” and not start with that? I mean what’s more important thing did he have to do? “When she said she was 100% sure it was you, how do you explain that?’ In the summer of 1982 were you ever drinking with Mark Judge when PJ as also there? At a fourth person’s house? Where does Tim live?”
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“This was someone who was aggressive and belligerent."
As the kids say, though, that’s a feature, not a bug.
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We heard a lot about how much he drank as a teenager, and how disgusting his behavior was when he drank, but we have no info from him or anyone who knows him that he put drinking aside when he left school and began practicing law. He acknowledged unwillingly that he drank (but that he was also doing good works and playing sports), and while I’m no psychiatrist there’s every reason to believe he drinks heavily today, is currently a dry drunk who put on his best dry drunk behavior yesterday but can’t wait til it’s 5 p.m. somewhere so happy hour can begin.
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A fair point, although I suspect his performance was partially due to fear on his part owing to an unexpected feeling of vulnerability. Recall that there were apparently some signs in his statements that he thought he wasn’t going to be confirmed. This is possibly the first time in his adult life when he was at someone else’s mercy, and he handled it poorly. If he has an A-game, I assume he’ll get it back once he’s safely swaddled in the robes.
I also assume that, to a significant extent, he’ll be operated via remote control by the people who own the scientists who grew him (to say nothing of anyone who can blackmail him over his gambling, drinking, sexual assault, or other vices). He’ll be getting regular eyes-only “amicus briefs” from the brightest minds at ALEC, the US Chamber of Commerce, Koch Industries, etc. They are far from done molding or controlling him.
In all fairness, it’s pretty rare for the bully to also be a judge.
I guess we’re going to find out. Looks like the GOP is gearing up to do some of that throat-ramming Obama kept teasing.
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I’m crying. Crying for our loss of rights, for the elevation of corporations over human beings, for the entrenchment of white male power, and for the debasement of all three of our branches of government.
This is as bad as Ive felt about our future since the 2016 election.
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So the lady senators failed you but a couple of the male senators managed to be just okay. It’s a microcosm of the sexist world we live in and in a hearing in which question time was unrealistically limited to five minutes or so to ask the most important questions that could be framed.
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I noticed the tongue pushing his cheek a lot - could be a tell that he is lying.
The yelling is a tell of lying as well.
The bunny nose scowl looks like pure contempt for anyone who dares question the image of himself as the smartest, nicest, bestest person in the room. Methinks he will be scowling a lot in the future as only diehard Republicans will be able to look at him without showing disgust and as the old BB King song goes:
"Nobody loves me, but my mother,
And she could me jivin` too. "
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This is part of the general erosion of standards and norms, led from the top. And, when you come right down to it, it’s standards and norms that allow societies to function, much more than constitutions and laws. Most dictatorships, whether it’s the Soviet Union, today’s Russia, Egypt, China or anywhere else have constitutions filled with fine-sounding words. And every corrupt kleptocracy has laws against bribery. It’s how those laws are followed and internalized that matters. And by that standard, the US is headed for failed state status.
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I think it’s more simple. He’s totally dishonest and totally owned. For sure they have conservative judges, who think along conservative lines always. But never such a socially maladjusted creep who’d do anything to play on the big boys’ team. Anything.
He is owned. Beelzebub has his soul.
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That is an excellent write-up.
The most chilling remark he made all day was when he told Democrats, “You sowed the wind for decades to come. I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwind.” This man belongs nowhere near the nation’s highest court.
Kavanaugh behaved, throughout the afternoon, very much like a man who could do horrible things while drunk.
They don’t care. They see the Court as the only remaining avenue to indefinite dominion over the majority of Americans who now despise them and would crawl over fire-spitting coals to vote against them.
…demolish them comprehensively in the next two national elections, and then to use fully legal and constitutional procedures to pack the courts and force Kavanaugh to scribble “MINORITY OPINION DUE FRIDAY” over and over again in his little calendars.
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When Kav was twitching and ranting my husband said, “Look at him. He needs a drink.”
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Think of it–Absent the Electoral College, the court would be Clarence Thomas and eight Democrats.
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Doesn’t go far enough he needs to go to jail for perjury, along with his other crimes.
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Feinstein did fine, and I was proud of her for not sinking to their level. I was proud of all the Democrats for that. If we’re going to down we can at least do it with dignity.
And I just hope some of the no party affiliation types out there noticed.
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