Apparently, they thought they could return to business as usual and be done with it. They were wrong.
Flake didn’t completely punk out so that is good.
And if we believe the women, as I believe we should, and if Kavanaugh remembers more than his putative alcohol-blackouts suggest then I would expect him to withdraw soon (requesting Benedict Donald cancel the FBI probe) rather than risk what a probe must inevitably reveal.
PS: personally I not only want Kavanaugh’s nomination to fail but him disbarred and removed from his current court position but I’ll gladly settle for the first at this point.
Where were those same Republican Senators who met with McConnell right after he decided that Merrick Garland didn’t deserve hearings for his nomination to the SCOTUS by President Obama? Was Obama not the President of the USA? Was he not legitimately elected? Did they think Merrick Garland (sitting on the same DC Court of Appeals where Kavanaugh is now) was outrageously unqualified? Or they just thought they could get away with it? Surely they didn’t know Trump and the Russians were going to somehow pull off a win in November 2016 - or did they?
Congratulations Sen. Flake. Now that you’ve declared you’re leaving professional politics, you’re slowly reintegrating with both your conscience and your spine. I know the transition may be uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but we believe that it’s ultimately for the best.
I guess he got blasted by women for going along with this…good on him for listening to them and saying that the process should stop until there is more investigation. It’s likely political posturing, the hope being that some more investigating will get people to quiet down after nothing else comes up (which may happen with only a week to do the work and possible interference), but it’s better than what they were trying to do. Now, we’ll have to see if anything does come out of the investigation, and if they talk to people generally and try to get some of the other anonymous reports on the record. Most important will be witness statements, if the FBI can get the people who are trying to cover for Kavanaugh to tell the truth about what happened, instead of cover for their buddy, it will be very good.
As for Garland…it just comes down to the people not caring enough to rally and force the issue with Republicans. It was absolutely wrong what they did, but there was no groundswell to hold them accountable, no threat to their position, and it wasn’t even enough to drive people to the polls to make sure Clinton was elected and could put a judge on the Court. The difference is that now women are incensed, and they are even losing conservative women…they are in danger so they are trying to appease people to save their skins. It’s an object lesson in why participation and voting matters.
“I heard from friends, close friends,
and I had no idea,” Flake said. “I think that’s important, and people
out there need to know that we’ve taken every measure that we can within
reason to make sure this process is worthy of this institution.”
…
No Jeff. You need to ask Grassley why it was that he would not allow any corroborating evidence or witnesses. And you need to then ask yourself why you said that there was no corroborating evidence considering what Grassley insisted on. So, you and your friends did not take every measure … until today. Now since you have heard these stories think on thise you haven’t heard because thise involved are too scared to talk about it. You were witness to extreme courage yesterday from Dr Ford. Courage well beyond words to describe. And still you missed the meaning.
I also want to be Governor of a state that is turning blue. Too cynical?
Flake–and all the GOP senators–is still going to Hell due to his (non)actions regarding Merrick Garland. This in no way makes up for that. Period.
Garland did not benefit from an entire professional class (Federalist Society, Judicial Watch, Koch Brothers, etc) of people driving both the news cycle and the process.
That’s one thing that we need to do a better job of to achieve anything close to judicial parity going forward.
Ten bucks says he runs for president in 2020.
“I heard from friends, close friends, and I had no idea,” Flake said.
WTF has he been doing for the past month, or even the past 4 days?!!
Sorta OT, but should the FBI uncover misdeeds by Kav back then (heck, even now) would the Republicans have enough love of country to seek his removal from the D.C. Circuit? Or I guess we could just wait for the Dems to take back over, eh?
I’m all in favor of Flake’s action, but what’s with this nonsense about how it’s to make “the process worthy of the institution”? What a feather-plucking hotspur he thinks he is. No one cares about whether the Senate was sufficiently senatorial or went through all the appropriate committee deliberations. They just care whether you’re willing to support this craven, crying mess of white male victimhood for SCOTUS.
I hope the spine transplant holds, all the same!
Exactly – and why is it more important to him if they’re friends and not just any of us who’ve been telling these fucking dingbats our horror stories? Empathy. Goddamned Republicans don’t have any for anyone else but their own kind. They never learn this lesson.
edited for clarity
The “close friend” he heard from Murkowski who wanted cover. And that toad Manchin.
It has been really quite a dramatic and startling 24 hours.
“I am a conservative, I would love to see Judge Kavanaugh confirmed and I hope to be able to do that,” Flake said, “But I want a better process and I think involving the FBI, reopening the background investigation that so many of my colleagues have been asking for and people across the country have been asking for, this can be done.”
You know this how?
Never mind. It’s been an interesting day here.