September 28, 2018

"I reported the Bloomberg article to Facebook as 'False News.'"

Writes John at Facebook, linking to a Bloomberg article with the headline, "Kavanaugh Wrongly Claims He Could Legally Drink in Maryland."

From the hearing transcript:
My friends and I sometimes got together and had parties on weekends. The drinking age was 18 in Maryland for most of my time in high school, and was 18 in D.C. for all of my time in high school. I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer..
That does suggest he drank beer when he was underage, but I don't see him claiming that it was legal.

58 comments:

Expat(ish) said...

The amazing thing is the beer we drank back then was ... terrible.

Think about it - Coors was considered an unimaginable luxury brand. Heck, they made a movie about getting it.

My kids in college still drink terrible beer, but it is relatively so much less terrible.

-XC

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

He never claimed it. So claiming he claimed it is a lie. But hey - why should journalistic accuracy count when you're out to destroy?

But all sorts of people underage drink.

Shall we round them all up now?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

In the 80's underage drinking was so common. So so so common. At least where I grew up it was.

But hey - the left have a new thread-line for attack - so watch out. Underage drinking in the 80's should land him in prison at this point. or perhaps an FBI investigation is in order?

good catch - btw.

LYNNDH said...

Um, I never did but I believe I know some that did drink while in HS. Here in CO it was 3.2 until your were 21. Coors was the brand, naturally. I never thought Coors was that good so when I turned 18 in my Freshman yr at college it was Bud mostly. I just wonder what could be dug up on the Senators about their HS or college experiences. Bet they would not like that.

Another note: I know not on this thread but we (meaning those on the Right) know that now there will be one or two a day coming you saying things about Kavanaugh for the next week. What a mess.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I remember the success I and others had at getting older guys to buy alcohol for the posse.

Now the laws are so strict my guess is that people are much more cautious in not buying alcohol for the under-aged. Too risky.

Once again the left will try and use today's standards for their 1980's time machine.

Dave Begley said...

Underaged drinker. Criminal. Impeach.

Matt Sablan said...

I think he mentioned some of the people were of age; I don't think he claimed he was.

Two-eyed Jack said...

I think it is pretty well-established that the press will freely mischaracterize their opponents, while saying they have no opponents and any criticism of their practice undermines our precious traditions.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Prude police prude police.

Call the prude police.

William said...

I got drunk two times when I was in high school. I remember both times although I can't remember all the circumstances surrounding them. I'm sure I didn't rape anybody though. I've got a good memory for things like that........Any possibility that this whole Kavanaugh/Ford thing was a failed boob grab that Kavanaugh considered such an inconsequential event that he completely forgot it and that she, over the years, magnified into an attempted rape. Probably not, but I've read more far fetched theories in these environs.

Kevin said...

I'm actually surprised this didn't come up earlier. Before the drinking ages were raised (I think it was 83 or 84 in our state), high school drinking was very, very common. It was a milestone to aspire to. I started when I was 14. Nobody ever told me there was a "too much" and what the effects of too much were. Lucky I didn't die of alcohol poisoning! I didn't drink too much again until college.

Anyway it was assumed that if you were alive you were underage drinking.

Susan said...

I think the anti-beer position is a winner for the Democrats. They should run like the wind with it.

Bay Area Guy said...

What a stupid fucking article.

Phil 314 said...

Hey if they served it to me it was legal.

Roughcoat said...

I don't give a flying fuck.

Unknown said...

"That does suggest he drank beer when he was underage"--didn't he turn 18 during his senior year, or do I have the dates wrong?

rcocean said...

Legal to drink in DC when 18. DC is right next door. Don't know about VA back in the 80s.

Is it legal to buy your booze in DC and drink it in MD?

What does Legal Drinking age mean?

rcocean said...

Legal drinking age was 18 when I was Senior.

No one gave a fuck if you were 17 and a half & friends were 18.

Couldn't buy booze though, till 18.

Leland said...

I bet he drove faster than 55 mph when he was under 18 too. I know I did.

DanTheMan said...

We need to stop all this beer nonsense and focus on the critical question: Did he ever wear an offensive Halloween costume?

Spiros said...

Looks like Q is about to torpedo Kavanaugh.

Nonapod said...

I wonder if they'll lower the drinking age back down to 18 when self driving cars become the norm? My guess is no. There seems to be a powerful strain of old fashion teetotalism in the modern left. At the same time I suspect they'd have little issue with 18 years smoke/ingesting marijuana. I believe that alcohol is more sinful than marijuana in the eyes of the modern Social Justice Puritan.

Phil 314 said...

We are in the golden age of beer drinking. In HS and college I searched high and low for exotic, unique tasting beers. I only came up with Molson's Golden and Genny Cream Ale.

And I'll admit that even after I moved out West it took me awhile to realize that Coors was more of a suggestion of beer than beer itself.

That Paul Newman loved Coors, in retrospect, brings him down a notch in my estimation.

Unknown said...

Who cares?

Hagar said...

Kavanaugh is an Irish-American Catholic.
I had a friend of that persuasion in Kentucky who brought me along to a church picnic where they served free beer. Born and raised a Scandinavian Lutheran, I was somewhat shocked - even the Danes don't do that - but I thought, what the heck, this is America!

Big Mike said...

IIRC, Maryland had a phase-in of its drinking law. Depending on when your 18th birthday fell in 1982 —you could continue to legally purchase beer in Maryland while younger than 21. I lived in Montgomery County back then and that’s my recollection.

Fernandinande said...

In Era of Trump's Russian Collusion, beer is underage.

Fernandinande said...

Before the drinking ages were raised (I think it was 83 or 84 in our state),

If the drinking age was 83, I'd guess that that state was not a state of inebriation for most people.

gg6 said...

Now we want to talk about "underage drinking"?
Oh, my goodness, where has the host gone who said we should want " flesh and blood people, not nine abstemious, over-careful, controlled strivers who've excluded all daring and fun from their lives going back to the age of 10"?!?
Gone with the whim, it looks like.

Hagar said...

In Norway when I grew up, the law was "small beer' - I guess that is your 3.2% - at 16, "export" beer (7.5%) and wine at 18, and hard liquor at 21.
The drunkest I have ever been in my life was on my 17th birthday at a mountain lodge with my HS graduating class and everybody wanted to treat me on my birthday.

readering said...

Funny because when it comes to presidents you can't say the last 7 fit that description. (If you go back 8 you get to Carter)

Fernandinande said...

A teenager drank....beer?!?!?!

The purity police would have heart attacks if he'd done "maybe a little blow".

Oh wait, the purity police didn't really care.

readering said...

I drank occasionally in HS and got throwing up drunk 3 times at festivities. But Kavanaugh was an outlier even among us Irish-American Jesuit schoolboys if he was besties with Mark Judge, who happens to have written weirdly and extensively about those days. (It's funny that he can be booked for speaking and media engagements through one of his publishers).

traditionalguy said...

When you’ve said Budweiser, you’ve said it all.

Jim at said...

The amazing thing is the beer we drank back then was ... terrible.

Disagree. Michelob. Especially on draft.
Sixty cents a pint at the Corner Pocket in Moscow, ID.

jg said...

Yes, you'd have to be an idiot to think he was claiming he only drank when it was legal for him to do so.
Most journalists are idiots or liars.

Stephen A. Meigs said...

People (including me) assumed that when he said "The drinking age as I noted was 18 so the seniors were legal, senior year in high school people were legal to drink, and, yeah, we drank beer and I said sometimes — sometimes — probably had too many beers and sometimes other people had too many beers. We drink beer. We liked beer" that he was talking about his senior year and Maryland rather than some previous senior class or DC.

rehajm said...

Sixty cents a pint at the Corner Pocket in Moscow, ID.

Vandal!

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary Beth said...

Spiros Pappas said...

Looks like Q is about to torpedo Kavanaugh.

9/28/18, 2:45 PM


Link? Because that's not what I'm seeing.

readering said...

Why would he bring up the drinking age in Maryland if it wasn't to minimize the amount of underage drinking going on?

Jim at said...

Vandal!

Actually, I was a Coug and the drinking age in 'Scow was 19 at the time.
Good times.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Only break one law at a time"

good thing for K no age req's for ralphing and boofing


mccullough said...

Fucking Millenials are willfully ignorant.

The culture of youth drinking when the drinking age was 18 means that it was very easy for 13-17 year olds to get beer. Their older brothers and sisters could get it. High school seniors could drink.

That culture of drinking permeates kids 5 years younger. The reason to raise the drinking age to 21 was to keep kids from drinking longer. Maybe 16 or 17 instead of 13-14.

And 18-20 year olds were grandfathered in. So if your friend was 18 and you were 17 when drinking age was raised, he could still buy you beer.

The drinking age in Wisconsin was raised from 18 to 21 in 1986.

The drinking culture didn’t change overnight. Marquette and Madison were total party schools even after 1986 because that was the culture.

I’m tired of the Vox-type idiocy that permeates journalism.

Beer was easily available when Kavanaugh was growing up and continued to be easily available for several more years after the drinking age was raised.

Leland said...

Beer was easily available when Kavanaugh was growing up

You would think the millennials would chill out considering the availability and drinking in the Harry Potter series. The children were young in that series and often talked of going to "Hogsmeade" and drinking "Butterbeer", which would get House Elves drunk and worried about being under the influence if they had to interact with a professor.

Wait until they learn the original ingredients of Coca-Cola.

phantommut said...

I'm a touch older than Kavanaugh. Went to college in Baltimore. Was a tee-totaler at the time but I bought beer for my underage friends because I was grandfathered in by my birth date and I thought the law was stupid. Good thing I'll never be nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice. Today's prudes can suck my principles.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I've been drinking since before my teens. Four cups of wine at every Seder. Come and get me, coppers!

There was always a bottle of Stoli in the freezer, too. I'm sure I could have accessed it with impunity if I wanted to. Occasionally my dad saw fit to give me a shot. I believe he felt a gentleman should be able to hold his liquor and never too early to learn.

I also remember debate institute at American University in the summer of ahem, I was 15, I think, and my cohort elected me, or else I volunteered, to buy the bottle. Marched into the store, fifth of Stoli, 15 bucks IIRC, in and out, no trouble at all, wasn't even nervous. Don't really remember what happened to that bottle, for 4 over the period of a couple weeks it wasn't much.

At the fraternity there was whatever. Beer always, I never liked beer much. I could get one down if the occasion required but preferred liquor. Never enjoyed wine except I do like port and sometimes Sherry. I buy bottles at a North Fork winery sometimes but they usually end up as gifts. Champagne is nice.

Once at the fraternity house I drank a pint of Beam in four shots. Had gotten some bad news. Didn't become a habit.

Once my best friend and I got home from college, came to my great-aunt's house, we split a bottle of slivovitz, went to bed and in the morning my BM was bone white. Maybe a doctor can explain that?

Anyway, didn't make me an alky either. Never did that again, though if Mike were still alive, I'd go on a bender with him anytime (he had no such problems either, though his pharmaceutical dabbling exceeded mine).

What's the big deal? I could never get this alcoholism kick. Still only a social drinker. Totally unable to relate. I've absorbed our culture to the point where I regard any teetotaler with dubiety. But are y'all just drinking and getting drunk because it is "the thing?" I just don't get it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More fake news

Gk1 said...

I wouldn't expect the metrosexuals in the press to understand real men drink beer not Zima. These same folks are aghast a man would drink beer and buy baseball tickets. There is a culture gap a mile wide and miles deep between these old biddies in the press and the rest of America.

Gahrie said...

I used to bribe the head cheerleader to bribe the young airmen to buy me bottles of Maddog. (you could fit two in a paper towel dispenser with room for a few towels in case a teacher used the bathroom and washed their hands..I joined student government so I could help set up for the dances) They cost me $1.50 a bottle in 1981-1983.

Kirk Parker said...

What does being besties have to do with it?

I graduated high school in '72; it was a different time... a drugged-out time; marijuana was everywhere, lot of people doing LSD and eating mushrooms, etc, and my crowd *was* the hippie set. Yet I never once smoked anything, not even tobacco, nor any hallucinogens--not even once. I simply wasn't interested.

My best friend at the time was in the same boat...

Natalia Scott said...

Hey! Thanks for writing such a nice blog. You really do cool stuff. As usual there are many things in online world which are even don`t exist but most people look at them with 100% assurance which is really bad! Keep up sharing the nice stuff Also check out my guide on shoulder workout lateral raises dumbbell

gadfly said...

Who didn't drink beer in high school - back in the day? There was always somebody who knew somebody 18 or older who agreed to be the "buyer" of the cheapest, ugliest foul-tasting beer available. But, hey ... that was entertainment. Gosh, sometimes we even had, gasp, blanket parties!

stlcdr said...

A conversational tone doesn’t come across correctly when transcribed.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

And now the FBI is investigating a high school beer bash that happened 35 years ago.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

And now the FBI is investigating a high school beer bash from 35 years ago.