September 18, 2018

About the Kavanaugh accusation, Trump says "I don't want to play into their hands."

I think the Democrats believed the Kavanaugh accusation would play out differently, that Republicans would resist and obstruct, but Trump saw how they were playing and chose not "to play into their hands."

Here's the quote in context:



"I feel so badly for him that he's going through this, to be honest with you. I feel so badly for him. This is not a man that deserves this... this should have been brought up long ago and that's what you have hearings for, you don't wait until the hearing is over and then all of a sudden bring it up. When Senator Feinstein sat with Judge Kavanaugh for a long period of time a long, long meeting. She had this letter, why didn't she bring it up? Why didn't she bring it up then? Why didn't the Democrats bring it up then? Because they obstruct and because they resist. That's the name of their campaign against me. Resist. And they just obstruct. And, frankly, I think they're lousy on policy and in many ways they're lousy politicians, but they're very good on obstruction. And it's a shame. Because this is a great gentleman. With all of that, I feel that the Republicans, and I can speak for myself, we should go through a process, because there shouldn't even be a little doubt. There shouldn't be a doubt. Again, they knew what they were doing. They should have done this a long time ago, three months ago, not now. But they did it now. So I don't want to play into their hands."

You can think about how the hand would have played out if the Republicans had been the ones to "obstruct and... resist." I think that's what the Democrats pictured, when they waited until after the hearings: "They did it now." Trump sees that as a deliberate play, and he's not going to let it work the way they planned. After what they did... "we should go through a process." That's surprising. Now, what are they to do?

I think they are scrambling. Today, we see that the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, might not appear at the scheduled hearing — "Kavanaugh’s Accuser Has Yet to Confirm Appearance at Monday Hearings" (NYT):
The mysterious silence from Dr. Blasey and her lawyers was another turn in a drama that has gripped the Capitol since Thursday....

Dr. Blasey, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought, has been inundated with vulgar email and social media messages, and even death threats.... Dr. Blasey, who has two teenagers, has moved out of her house, is arranging for private security for herself and her family, and is effectively in hiding, [an unnamed person close to her told the NYT]....

Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, are clashing over the scope and shape of the hearings. Mr. Grassley said Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey would be the only witnesses, prompting pushback from top Democrats, who are demanding an F.B.I. investigation to search for additional witnesses or evidence, and to avoid the specter of a “he said, she said” debate that will not get at the truth.

One possible witness is a friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s, Mark Judge, who Dr. Blasey said was in the room with Judge Kavanaugh when the assault occurred. Mr. Judge had told the Judiciary Committee that he does not remember the episode and has nothing more to say, seemingly foreclosing the possibility of an additional witness interview, at least for now.
He could be asked about his problems with alcohol-induced amnesia, his observation of Kavanaugh's drinking, and any alcohol-induced amnesia he saw in Kavanaugh, and he could be pressured to admit that he's unreliable as a witness to the nonoccurrence of any event from his heavy-drinking years.
“We have two diametrically opposed stories,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor. “My view: Professor Ford is telling the truth. But if you don’t want the hearing to be just a ‘he said, she said’ affair, an independent investigation, a background check by the F.B.I., is essential.... We must not repeat the mistakes of the Anita Hill hearings,” he said. “They were rushed, and they were a debacle.”
That is, once the hearing was scheduled, Democrats switched to saying they didn't want it. And Blasey (Ford) seems to have become unavailable. Going public with the accusation now looks a bit like a bluff. But — not wanting to play into their hands — the bluff was called. And now they want a new deal: an independent investigation. Trump rejected that (in the clip above).

Anita Hill has been brought in, with an op-ed in the NYT, saying the Clarence Thomas hearings were not done right and the Senate needs to handle the woman's allegations about sexual misconduct properly this time. She says "The job of the Senate Judiciary Committee is to serve as fact-finders, to better serve the American public, and the weight of the government should not be used to destroy the lives of witnesses who are called to testify." But her idea of fact-finding is not for the Senators to question Blasey directly, according to Hill, who says:
Select a neutral investigative body with experience in sexual misconduct cases that will investigate the incident in question and present its findings to the committee. Outcomes in such investigations are more reliable and less likely to be perceived as tainted by partisanship. Senators must then rely on the investigators’ conclusions, along with advice from experts, to frame the questions they ask Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey. Again, the senators’ fact-finding roles must guide their behavior. The investigators’ report should frame the hearing, not politics or myths about sexual assault.
So the new hand has been dealt. How do you not play into that? I'm using Trump's idiom. If it seems wrong, let's talk about that.

ADDED: This post caused me to do a fair amount of research into the phrase "play into their hands." I'm not sure what the original metaphor is, but you can see from the post that I assumed it was poker. Anyway, the phrase means to do something that unwittingly advantages your opponent.

In my search, I ran across the phrase in the famous and tragically hilarious NYT article "The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru/How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age" (May 2016):
With three hours to go until the president’s address to Congress, Rhodes grabs a big Gatorade and starts combing through the text of the State of the Union address. I peek over his shoulder, to get a sense of the meta-narrative that will shape dozens of thumb-suckers in the days and weeks to follow. One sentence reads: "But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands." He retypes a word, then changes it back, before continuing with his edit. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages — they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence."
AND: Something new from Dianne Feinstein, about Blasey: "I can’t say everything’s truthful. I don’t know."

Later, she said, “Look I believe she is credible... But based on what I know at this stage she is credible,” which doesn't explicitly walk back the idea that maybe not everything Blasey said is true.

But then Feinstein came back with a sledgehammer: "During every step of this process, I’ve found every single piece of information from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford eminently credible, sincere and believable. She knew this would have a huge effect on her life and she was incredibly brave to come forward."

PLUS: Just last August, Dana Milbank (at WaPo) had a column titled "Journalists are playing into Trump’s hand":
Trump is making us the story by making us the in-house villain of his rallies.... My colleagues’ instinct has been to fight back. During a live stand-up from Trump’s Tampa rally this week, CNN’s Jim Acosta was taunted by the crowd, which had been chanting “fake news,” “go home” and “CNN sucks.” Said Acosta: “We’re staying right here. We’re going to do our job and report on this rally to all of our viewers here tonight.”

A noble sentiment, but better to “go home” — so Trump can’t use the scenes to his benefit. Eric Trump retweeted video of Trump supporters chanting “CNN sucks” at Acosta during his stand-up, adding the hashtag #Truth. The president retweeted his son....

Stop letting him make us the story.
UPDATE: I just heard on the Tucker Carlson show that Blasey has announced that she will not testify until after an independent investigation is done.

336 comments:

1 – 200 of 336   Newer›   Newest»
buster said...

Slightly OT, in Megan McArdle's latest in WAPO (sorry, I don't know how to link) she seems to be saying the fact that Ford accused Kavanaugh is enough to disqualify him unless the accusation can be disproven. If it can't, the mere fact that Ford made it is enough. "the democratic legitimacy of the appointment matters. Installing Kavanaugh with the allegations unresolved would further corrode an already tattered civic fabric."

It seems to me that part of what is corroding the social fabric is the attitude expressed by McCardle.

EsoxLucius said...

I can't wait for Ted Cruz to grill Dr. Ford and lose his one remaining woman supporter in Texas.

rhhardin said...

The only threat around is of playing to soap opera women via their news channels.

The country is in the political hands of idiot voters.

rhhardin said...

I say put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court but make him work from home.

rhhardin said...

K is always Kafka's hero as well.

rcocean said...

I think the Dems game plan is to wait till the last moment, say Friday, and then have Ford agree to show up in hearing, BUT only in a couple weeks and AFTER a FBI/Independent investigation.

The purpose is to string it out. And if Ms. Ford agrees to testify BUT only in two weeks or a month, what are the Republicans going to do?

I guess we'll have to ask Jeff Flake and Susan Collins. They're running the show.

Gretchen said...

Guilty until proven innocent? This is a sad saga, and leaves any man open to a random unprovable allegation.

Yes, Judge said he was an alcoholic, but so did Ford, and included that she was very promiscuous in her youth. Perhaps Kavanaugh escaped the room from her, he had a girlfriend at the time. Perhaps she is a woman scorned. See how that works?

EsoxLucius said...

rhhardin - The only threat around is of playing to soap opera women via their news channels.

The best explanation for pumpkin spice.

Matt Sablan said...

The FBI passed. It is the Congressional show or nothing. Be careful what you wish for.

Narayanan said...

At wedding
Do they still call out for objector to speak now or forever remain silent?

Derek Kite said...

My rule with news is to wait three days and see what actually happened.

After three days there isn't more information, in fact there is less.

The mistake was to bring the person into the public. Leave it an anonymous allegation, go on about how the necessary trust is broken, and wait for Kavanaugh to say something and attack.

Now light is shining on the situation and it is either a silly juvenile caper that someone had the sense to stop, or a hidden memory that conveniently came back at the behest and pecuniary incentive from Democrats needing something, desperately.

Trump is playing this very effectively. You want to talk process, which Democrats and the Left love to do, then talk about the process. You want to talk about the accusations, which seems to be less interesting as time passes, and now no one is going to show up for the hearing.

Call for a vote on Friday.

rcocean said...

BTW, despite his tremendous regard for one the most wonderful people to ever be nominated for the SCOTUS - ever - I don't think Trump really cares.

He picked Kavenaugh off a list. I don't think he really cares about social issues or Judges. So, if Kavenaugh, who's a Bushie, goes down, well C'est la vive.

He'll just pick someone else off the list.

Shouting Thomas said...

Yeah for Prez Trump!

This is proving to be a lot of fun.

The woman is obviously lying. The Democrats are obviously lying.

Who doesn't know they are lying?

YoungHegelian said...

Select a neutral investigative body with experience in sexual misconduct cases that will investigate the incident in question and present its findings to the committee.

And have that "[cruelly-]neutral investigative body" investigate what? A 30 year old event where the plaintiff can't remember the date nor the location? Where there were only three witnesses, two of which claim the event never happened? All this to a man who has passed repeated FBI background checks throughout his career?

Maybe Dr. Ford was assaulted. Maybe she wasn't. The sad truth is that it's the human condition that sometimes the doors to justice close over time, & there's nothing anyone can do about it that doesn't involve creating a greater injustice. This is one of those times.

Sexual abusers are rarely one-offs. If Kavanaugh has kept his hands within bounds since then, I really doubt that the assault happened.

Shouting Thomas said...

So, now, anybody who had a drink or two at a party in high school and did something stupid is not fit for public office.

Your feminism is a laughing stock, professor.

Did you ever think your ideology would be so totally exposed as ridiculous and totalitarian?

I've been trying to tell you.

Yancey Ward said...

Wow, if Megan McArdle wrote that- that Kavanaugh has to prove he didn't do it or have the nomination withdrawn, then I have lost the respect I had for her. I hope she didn't write that.

Yes, I think rcocean has it right- the goal is delay, delay, delay. The way to offer another bluff is to wait until late Friday afternoon, and announce that Monday is too early for an appearance. If I were in Grassley's shoes, I hold the hearing anyway, and let Mr. Kavanaugh defend himself, and then move towards a committee vote.

Vance said...

The effective rebuttal to "Neutral investigative body!" is to point out that the FBI won't do the investigation, and furthermore, Kavanaugh passed 6 separate FBI investigations before.

What's another one going to do; find something different? And if not the FBI, who? There's nothing criminal that happened that has even been alleged--this 15 year old girl managed to get off the bed and get out of a room when two big, burly football players wanted to "rape her?" World's worst rapists!

Narayanan said...

Quorum for committee vote?

buwaya said...

"It seems to me that part of what is corroding the social fabric is the attitude expressed by McCardle."

True, McCardle can't seem to see it from the other side - which is typical of her caste, they are blind people.

But the worse problem is that it is moot. The social fabric is not corroding, it is gone. There isn't a "social fabric". This idea is a leftover of an old world-view, that's completely obsolete. The current state is complete distrust - or rather, open, acid-dripping hate, in both directions, with not a bit of human feeling.

Gahrie said...

This accusation is the same thing as trying to submit new evidence during closing arguments.

rcocean said...

Since I'm bored at work, i listened to a "Morning Joe" Podcast on this subject. Man, what contempt for women!

Evidently, just having Ford in a hearing with "White Male" Republican Senators questioning her will lose the Republicans "Huge numbers" of women voters.

If women are really that stupid, this country is in big trouble!

And Scarborough thinks the Anita Hill Hearings resulted in Dem women senators being elected in 1992. Myself, I've met a single women who cared about the Hearings and believed Hill who wasn't a Democrat to begin with.

MB said...

There is only one possible solution: appoint an independent prosecutor (Michael Mueller should be free any time now) to investigate these allegations and do not bring Kavanaugh or anyone else up for a vote until a thorough inquiry has been conducted.

Bay Area Guy said...

"They should have done this a long time ago, three months ago, not now. But they did it now. So I don't want to play into their hands. As for my hands, well, I need them free and open. Because when you're the President, they let you do anything you want. You can grab 'em by the pussy. Of course, I'm not saying that Judge Kavanaugh grabbed this one by the pussy. Frankly, I don't think anyone would want to do that. But that's a separate issue."

MeMySelf said...

The only thing this circus and despicable last minute hit job of a smear has done , is to make sure I would crawl through miles of broken glass to vote against any POS with D after their name all the way down to dogcatcher. At this point in time I have come to the conclusion you can't be a good person and be a Democrat. Just look at the last two years. And I can not wait to vote for whoever is running against that POS Sherod Brown here in Ohio.

Yancey Ward said...

And, again, there is nothing to investigate here- you have, according to Ms. Ford, 3 people in a room years ago- a room that Ms. Ford can't identify today, in a town Ms. Ford can't identify today, and on a date or year that Ms. Ford can't identify today. There is nothing you can do here other than to take testimony from those three people- and that is all you are going to be left with at the end of the day. The only way Ms. Ford's accusation gets any additional support is if Judge suddenly changes his tune and supports her version of events- if he doesn't, then that is it- case closed.

buwaya said...

"I can't wait for Ted Cruz to grill Dr. Ford and lose his one remaining woman supporter in Texas."

It is this attitude that reinforces my conclusion.
In what way is normal politics supposed to proceed under these conditions?
None at all. You are, through this, daily approaching the hour of the gun.

rcocean said...

I just want to remind the Democrats:

John McCain died for a civil society.

Mark Jones said...

Okay, then. The Republicans have agreed to an additional hearing--even though the hearings on Kavanaugh's appointment were supposed to have ended. The ball is in the Democrats' court. If they refuse to put up, if the accuser refuses to appear IMMEDIATELY, then they should cancel the prospective hearing and call the vote. When the Dems inevitably whine, tell them that they had their chance and they blew it off.

Big Mike said...

Select a neutral investigative body with experience in sexual misconduct cases that will investigate the incident in question and present its findings to the committee. Outcomes in such investigations are more reliable and less likely to be perceived as tainted by partisanship. Senators must then rely on the investigators’ conclusions, along with advice from experts, to frame the questions they ask Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey. Again, the senators’ fact-finding roles must guide their behavior. The investigators’ report should frame the hearing, not politics or myths about sexual assault.

No. We need a 9th justice on the Supreme Court by the First Monday in October, and today is the 19th. The accusation is specious on the face of it.

Hill was honored for her made-up stories about Clarence Thomas. We need to make certain this does not happen to Ford. Burning at the stake seems appropriate.

buwaya said...

Americans can no longer argue among themselves, they can only stab each other.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Bay Area Guy

That's pretty funny.

Our women will never be safe until we assign a body guard to each of the 175 million or so females in America. From birth to death.

Again, prof, has is occurred to you yet that you long ago bought into a totalitarian ideology?

When will you renounce your sin? You really fucked up. And you're a genius, and I'm not kidding about that.

You really fucked up.

Etienne said...

What should be investigated is the 3-week gap of Feinstein.

Like the 18-second gap of Nixons, this gap has not been explained, and it appears to be criminal.

Big Mike said...

And what Gretchen said.

Brian said...

The purpose is to string it out. And if Ms. Ford agrees to testify BUT only in two weeks or a month, what are the Republicans going to do

Subpoena her? If she doesn't testify this goes away. And soon. You can't call for an independent investigation at the last hour, not after you sat on it for 2 months. That's the out for holding the vote immediately.

"We regret that Ms. Ford couldn't make herself available at the earliest opportunity, but the first Monday in October is rapidly approaching. The nominee deserves his vote". Or is it only Merrick Garland who deserves an up or down vote?

I agree that's its purpose, but it won't happen. That and giving the red state Dem senators a reason for their no vote. McCaskill, et. al. needs to vote yes, but Schumer needs her to vote no for the dollars and enthusiasm.

Kathryn51 said...

“We have two diametrically opposed stories,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor. “My view: Professor Ford is telling the truth.

And then DiFi comes out and says "I can't say everything is truthful".

Ooops.

Anita Hill is a pathetic person - I watched the entire saga from a hospital bed and it was clear that she was lying. Clarence Thomas didn't bring her along on his next step up the ladder and she was pissed, told someone over coffee (or was it a glass of wine) that a former boss stalked her (her! ha!) and all of a sudden this dim bulb was in a heap of trouble. She may have been dim, but she had great handlers who made sure she was royally paid for her trouble

Michael K said...

I walked past the TV and saw Ana Marie Cox saying it doesn't matter if it's true. It's all about women's pain.

Di Fi is quoted as saying she doesn't think all of it is true.

Here we go to peak crazy !

Bay Area Guy said...

Kavanaugh's wife should be called to testify to thoroughly rip Dr. Ford as a crazy leftwing malcontent, and rip all of Ford's enablers, who had a hand in trying to smear her husband's good name.

That's what my ornery and loyal wife would do.

rhhardin said...

McArdle is proof that education doesn't help if you're a woman.

Etienne said...

I believe we have the makings now of the repeal of the 19th Amendment.

Big Mike said...

If women are really that stupid, this country is in big trouble!

Well, Althouse fell for the meme that Kavansugh means the end if Roe v. Wade, so I would say that they are, and so are we.

rcocean said...

"The only way Ms. Ford's accusation gets any additional support is if Judge suddenly changes his tune and supports her version of events- if he doesn't, then that is it- case closed."

This is what is so frustrating. If you know the details, her accusation is complete Bullshit. I mean, she can't even tell us where or what month/year it happened!

But no one in the MSM says that. From half-listening to Cable TV, they don't even make it clear it was 35 years ago. Instead, all you see/hear is she's accused him of rape/assault and he denies it.

And that's how the Dem's will play it. Kavenaugh is a rapist. And the Republican's refused to give the Rape victim a fair shake.

Big Mike said...

If women are really that stupid, this country is in big trouble!

Well, Althouse fell for the meme that Kavansugh means the end if Roe v. Wade, so I would say that they are, and so are we.

Michael K said...

Blogger buwaya said...
Americans can no longer argue among themselves, they can only stab each other.


I don't think it is that bad.

I have leftist children and we don't talk about politics.

However it is not healthy to have to avoid politics.

It makes me think of "The Lives of Others", or "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."

Bay Area Guy said...

I think we have to move from the "Women are stupid" meme to something more narrow, such as "Leftwing crazy women are stupid."

There's too many great women out there! Just gotta avoid the crazy leftist ones.

Brian said...

He picked Kavenaugh off a list. I don't think he really cares about social issues or Judges. So, if Kavenaugh, who's a Bushie, goes down, well C'est la vive

You're right, he doesn't care, which is why he'll farm this out to McConnell/Grassley (who do care). If it fails its their fault, not Trumps.

What I don't understand is the desperation in all of this from the left. Elections come and go, SCOTUS seats come and go. The country has been in existence for hundreds of years. It's not worth it to ramp tensions up to this level. It leads to "nuclear options" and the prisoner's dilemma and in some cases, Civil War.

Wasn't it just 2 short years ago that the Republican party was demographically going to die?

Trump's election really short circuited some fuze somewhere.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Democrats are dirty tricksters and dirty hypocrites.

Michael said...

The Democrats, and Anita Hill, will say or recommend anything that will stall and delay until a new Senate is seated, whether it makes any sense or not. If Ford doesn't show, you call the vote the next day. And since when does the FBI investigate 30 year old assault allegations when no Federal crime is involved?

Andrew said...

I agree with Michael Murray above. I have never, in my entire life, felt so motivated to vote. I realize the Dems are motivating their base too, hence the constant hysteria. But I don't think they know the backlash they're unleashing. The raw and bitter anger at how they have behaved since the election is palpable. There will be hell to pay.

There's a rumor going around that the accuser of K wrote a similar letter about Gorsuch years ago. If this is true, the meltdown will be apocalyptic.

fivewheels said...

Oooh, she's getting death threats ... so scary. Because most people who get death threats end up getting killed! Oh, wait, that hasn't really happened since Martin Luther King Jr. out of 14 million examples. You think Kavanaugh isn't getting death threats? He's just not trying to hide behind them like a *****.

I get death threats every time I post on reddit about how Derek Jeter sucked on defense. Grow up with that weepy bullshit.

Brian said...

But no one in the MSM says that. From half-listening to Cable TV, they don't even make it clear it was 35 years ago. Instead, all you see/hear is she's accused him of rape/assault and he denies it.

I was surprised (almost) that they were using "current" pictures of both of them on the CNN feeds. I half suspected they would have shown a Ford picture at 15 years old, with a current picture of Kavenaugh.

Or alternatively, pictures of them both when they were kids. Instead they don't even HAVE a real picture of her. It's her in sunglasses on vacation. Almost like she's missing. She can't be reached. Her body hasn't been found. Without her eyes, she has no face, so you can put anybody's face in it, your sister, your mother, your daughter. "Kavenaugh raped your daughter." These are media people. They don't just put up any old picture to fill the graphics. They are sending messages. Building narratives.

The used to show younger Bush pictures when they wanted to portray him as a drunk getting out of military service.

Shouting Thomas said...

What's your favorite model for the all encompassing feminist security state, prof?

I think the Stasi is a promising choice.

Did you have any idea 50 years ago that you were buying into this?

Brian said...

If this is true, the meltdown will be apocalyptic.

If it's true Trump will tweet it. Even if it isn't he probably will. Too early still. Wait until she shows up or doesn't show up.

EsoxLucius said...

Democrats are dirty tricksters and dirty hypocrites.

Just ask Merrick Garland. He's still available.

buwaya said...

"What I don't understand is the desperation in all of this from the left. "

Control of the US government is a key to making, or holding on to, a very great deal of money.
Certain quarters have been getting ever more accustomed, even addicted, to the money spigot.

This is a subject worthy of many journalistic careers.

Real American said...

let the experts decide? FUCK THAT SHIT! This is a political, not a criminal situation. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what questions to ask the Nutty Professor or Judge Kavanaugh. Even Sparacus could figure it out.

Kavanaugh denies. He doesn't need to provide details above that. She has to provide details - details that support her claim. She now won't do that for obvious reasons. It's a FRAUD!

Browndog said...

I see we are back to "all women must be believed"...


Until next week--when the wrong woman of a certain political persuasion..is just a slut.

fivewheels said...

"What I don't understand is the desperation in all of this from the left."

The modern American left, having chosen a generation ago to disdain thought and reason in favor of pure emotion, has by now actually lost the ability to think and reason. And what you see is not good-faith arguments about different policy goals we might have, but wild accusations.

They say the most horrible thing they can think of about their opponents. Then they believe them. At no point does it occur to them that what they are afraid of when Trump wins an election or a conservative gets on the Supreme Court is not what those people have said they will do, they're afraid of the bizarre fantasies they themselves concocted about what Republicans would do. Hence the ridiculous Nazi stuff. They believed there would be concentration camps ... read The Nation from December 2016. Those dipshits were getting high on their own supply of smears and propaganda, and ignoring reality.

That's what's happening here as well. They think if Kavanaugh gets confirmed, it's the end of all things. Because that's what they said.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

It doesn't matter if he did it. It happened over thirty years ago, if at al, and what was it? He tried to grab a boob, something males and lesbians have been doing forever, and he quit when she said no. I hope that lunatic woman lives for a long time with AIDS.

Lucien said...

Good to see Anita Hill around as a reminder that the claim that Dr. Ford "has nothing to gain from this" is bullshit. This will be worth tens of thousands of dollars to Anita Hill in free publicity and future speaking honoraria.

Like Hill, Dr. Ford will be famous for the rest of her life after this, will be invited to give commencement speeches, will get feminist "courage" awards, and will be consulted with every time there is a new high-profile and unsubstantiated claims of sexual wrongdoing. Dr. Ford, who apparently has rather poor teaching evaluations, will be immunized against future discipline, firing, or failures to promote in her academic career, and will find it easier to have her politically correct writings published. She'll have major Democratic journalists and senators who owe her one.

AllenS said...

I would imagine that Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer realizes how her client would look if she testified and couldn't remember anything about the incident other than she thinks Kavanaugh did something icky, and that's why she's in hiding. She has no idea of the when, where, who. Do they expect anyone to believe her, if she can't remember anything. As far as Kavanaugh's friend who was there, we know he's already stated that nothing happened, so, that leave who else to testify?

LilyBart said...

Dr. Blasey, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought..

She expected that she could level a serious, life-ruining charge at a man anonymously?

n.n said...

Control of the US government is a key to making, or holding on to, a very great deal of money.

Money and exemption. Monopolies and practices. And, of course, abortion rites (i.e. selective-child), the single greatest policy prescription that doubled the GDP. Well, that, and asset inflation schemes, redistributive change, and labor (insourced and outsourced) and environmental (domestic and foreign) arbitrage.

Dude1394 said...

The democrat party is an enemy of the country.

Dave64 said...

Kavanaugh has already been found guilty without due process, so have the dirty little inquest! If Dr Ford's veracity is found lacking, she should be sued into penury and Senator Feinstein should be severely censured!

buwaya said...

"The modern American left, having chosen a generation ago to disdain thought and reason in favor of pure emotion, has by now actually lost the ability to think and reason."

They think and reason very well, about the true conflict. The first thing to understand is that the goal is power, and the second thing to understand is that nothing else matters. The subject of the argument is irrelevant, who is "right" or "wrong" on whatever is beside the point. That's not the game.

Leland said...

Anita Hill is trying to make the Senate Judiciary Committee a jury, by her claim that they are fact finders. Their job is to advise and consent. They have no reason to dissent based on capability to perform the job. So Democrats are inventing a criminal allegation that ought to be tried in court, but can't be because the accuser isn't making the case there.

But let's go with Hill for a moment. If the Committee is a jury, then Kavanaugh should be afforded Due Process. What is the crime; meaning what happened, where did it happen, and when did it happen? Is Kavanaugh being given the opportunity to confront his accuser? Will the accuser be forced to fully present her case prior to Kavanaugh being required to refute any evidence?

The accuser has already stated in writing that they don't know when and where, and has changed the description of the altercation several times. She's refusing to return offers to testify. And Kavanaugh is being asked to defend allegations made by a person he doesn't know about an event for which he denies being present. And none of the other named witnesses collaborate the accusers story.

Hill's suggestion is just a delaying tactic. It should be ignored, if for no other reason than it defies the basic rights afforded all Americans. If Kavanaugh is made to answer to this accusation without being afforded his rights; it will set a precedence for the Senate to try others in such a manner. And the Senate is not the Judicial Branch of the US Government.

StephenFearby said...

Christine Blasey Ford's record of coyness in this matter does not inspire trust.

First, she writes a letter to her congresswomen at the end of July detailing her allegations but requesting anonymity, who turns it over to Diane Feinstein, who sits on it until last week. Obviously, anonymity doesn't cut it.

Then she hires a Me-Too lawyer in Washington, DC who advises her to take a polygraph.

Then she indicates she doesn't want to go forward because Kavanaugh is doing so well in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

After Feinstein reveals Ford's letter and turns it over to the FBI (without disclosing her name), she comes forward to identify herself and volunteers to testify.

Then, after the Senate Democrats say they don't what her to testify before an open-ended FBI investigation is completed, she declines to respond to Grassley's invitation to testify before his committee next Monday.

All this suggests that Christine Blasey Ford does not respect the process of the Kavanaugh Senate hearings...but is now acting as a tool for Senator Schumer's delaying tactics.

In the current battle for public opinion I think she will cave and testify, but probably not in open session. After all, she's a precious snowflake.

But if Christine Blasey Ford doesn't testify on Monday, it's essentially game over.

Oso Negro said...

If I believed in Jesus, I might pray to him that Kavanaugh DOES mean the overturn of Roe V. Wade.

n.n said...

She expected that she could level a serious, life-ruining charge at a man anonymously?

Not just a man, but his wife and children, who will suffer under a progressive stigma with each recurring political, social, and journolistic cycle, and persistent discrimination. All so that the wicked solution (i.e. selective-child, recycled-child) will persist for profit, and the faithful can, once again, carry out their warlock trials. Roe vs Wade and subsequent, addendums to the Planned Parenthood doctrine, doubled the GDP through reducing after birth burdens and increasing taxable commodities. They will resist a human and civil rights resolution.

JackWayne said...

In 1861, because the Senate was at a complete impasse over the issue of slavery, we had a Civil War. There was no constitutional path to resolution. Today, the Senate is rapidly approaching a state where no business can be conducted except by party-line vote. And with the rules of the Senate being what they are, votes will be few and far between. There is no constitutional path to resolve this deadly embrace. Except war.

Henry said...

Dr. Blasey, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought

She needs to turn that doctorate back in.

mccullough said...

Clarence Thomas has had a sterling personal reputation for 27 years and is married to the same woman he was then.

Anita Hill is a spinster still spinning her bullshit. Her lies haven’t held up.

If Judge is going to testify then Ford’s husband needs to testify. He needs to talk about their marriage, whether his wife had been unfaithful and why they went to marriage counseling where she first came up with a version of her story. Also, if he believed her, why didn’t he confront Judge and Kavanaugh. Why he a pussy who lets his wife’s attacker’s get away with it.

Paco Wové said...

Here's McArdle's piece, in case anyone's interested. I don't read her much anymore since she moved to the WaPo, but she seems quite receptive to the Democratic party line on this one, for no reason apparent to me.

buwaya said...

" Today, the Senate is rapidly approaching a state where no business can be conducted except by party-line vote. And with the rules of the Senate being what they are, votes will be few and far between. There is no constitutional path to resolve this deadly embrace. Except war."

This is indeed the situation. And its not just the Senate. You see the same (or the same conflicts manifest) in every aspect of government, and in every large institution, public or private. You have a general caste-war breaking out everywhere.

mccullough said...

Ford’s husband knows she’s a liar. He’s not going to put himself through this bullshit.

Two-eyed Jack said...

The fundamental problem with appeals to Anita Hill, is that it presumes that the correct result of that hearing should have been rejecting Thomas. Since the Republican view is predominantly that Thomas has served with distinction, it provides a ready model of the cost of giving in to doubt now. When Democrats want to portray rejecting Kavanaugh as the prudent response to doubt, the Republican reaction is that, whether or not Hill told the truth, seating Thomas was all upside for them.

Big Mike said...

@Michael K., I followed your link to the pictures of your daughters. Kate must be the FBI agent — if she’s not the cop she surely has the look. The girl in the middle is the one who takes trips to Idaho. And all three are, absolutely, lovely.

mccullough said...

McArdle is pretty good but she’s gone native. Been in DC too long. It skews her perspective too much. Also her husband writes for the Brothers K so she can’t fuck with the rice bowl.

Althouse has independence. McArdle does not. She has paymasters she must answer to.

Rob said...

Anita Hill's proposal is priceless. We need a neutral investigative body, like the university star chambers that decide sexual harassment claims. Right!

One hopes that Kavanaugh is confirmed and turns out to be exactly the horny teenager he's been portrayed as. Imagine him trying to grope his way into Ruth Bader Ginsburg's one-piece.

JaimeRoberto said...

What's the link for McArdle saying that the accusation is enough to disqualify Kavanaugh? Her latest WaPo editorial doesn't seem to support that.

For that matter, what's the link to the accusation that Ford shtupped her way through her teenage years?

As for why might Ford come forward if she's lying? How does the CIA recruit agents? MICE: Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego.

Money: Maybe. She'll probably get a book deal and speaking fees out of this.
Ideology: Yeah.
Compromise: Probably not.
Ego: Maybe.

MayBee said...

I'm pro-choice, but I think the danger of getting rid of due process is more dangerous than overturning Roe v Wade.

Sadly, I think a lot of my fellow pro-choice women are happy to latch on to any port in a storm, and will deal with the consequences of "credibly accused" later.

Paco Wové said...

Just to add to Buwaya's gloom cloud, here's a comment from a Kiwi over at Steve Sailer's: "I am surprised you are not fighting each other yet. I think the two sides in the US hate each other more than Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda."

mccullough said...

Hill never got married. The last 27 years have proven who was telling the truth.

We’ve heard about what Kavanaugh has been doing the last 36 years. Now let’s hear about what Ford was doing before she made up some manipulative bullshit in marriage therapy.

MayBee said...

If we got it wrong with Justice Thomas (I'm not saying we did, but just for sake of argument)....what terrible thing happened? A man with a strong legal mind and current exemplary behavior was allowed on the court, even though he once sexually harassed a co-worker?

Are we at the point where people who behave in certain ways should never, ever be employable again? To whom does this apply?

n.n said...

Interesting strategy. A warlock trial to label a candidate justice, and double jeopardy to judge a sitting justice. This time it's for all the babies, potatoes, and marbles.

Known Unknown said...

Are we completely overlooking the fact that the other guy's name is Judge? It makes reading every Kavanaugh article hella confusing.

Ken B said...

You can be interested in what you want, but to me the etymology of that phrase is less pertinent than whether Trump is right.

I think he is. And I think he put it well, by repeating his point. This is a dodge.

Note the bias in the article where she didn’t seek the spotlight. No, she tried to operate sub Rosa and without giving him a chance to even respond.

Michael K said...

I followed your link to the pictures of your daughters. Kate must be the FBI agent — if she’s not the cop she surely has the look. The girl in the middle is the one who takes trips to Idaho. And all three are, absolutely, lovely.

Thanks. Kate is the FBI agent and is now thinking about retirement.

Claire, the one by the Rosetta stone, is the Idaho type. She is also the one who speaks four languages and has been an adventuress. Cuba when she was in college, four summers spent at 14,000 feet in Equador doing archeology. She flew over the Andes to visit the headwaters of the Amazon. A year in Spain, friends in China.

My grandchildren are all from my sons, though.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

buwaya said...
Americans can no longer argue among themselves, they can only stab each other.

9/18/18, 6:08 PM

-------------------

blame the left... we're sick to fucking death of being the punching bags... they want CV2.0, their gonna get it good and hard... we don't want it, but we're done playing by their rules and putting up with their bullshit... any blood to come falls on their heads... the alternative is not acceptable...

Michael K said...

I think the two sides in the US hate each other more than Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda."

The Tutsis needed guns. The right has them.

The Ibo were also victims of the ignorant in Nigeria. They have done well when they come here. I would accept all the Ibo that want to come.

MayBee said...

McArdle:
Which leaves us, at this point, with only one clear truth. Absent a lightning bolt from the evidence gods, America is going to be stuck with partial and unsatisfying answers to unresolvable questions.

Welcome to the party, McMegan. Democrats called Bush illegitimate through at least his first four years, and a war criminal through his last four.
Why do we have to worry if we have partial and unsatisfying answers to the current brouhaha? Maybe we can stop the fantasy that everyone's going to be satisfied, and start asking people to stop thinking they *have* to be satisfied all the time.

fivewheels said...

"a spotlight that she never sought." smh. Is that to her credit, that she tried to run an anonymous smear? Do we choose not to investigate a drive-by shooter because he tried to commit his murder without announcing himself? "Your honor, the defendant never sought this spotlight. Just let him go."

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Dr. Blasey, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought,

I'm so sick of the lies.

This story started out as 4 guys attacking her in her late teens.

She hired a lawyer, scrubbed her social networks and arranged a polygraph.

"Doctor."

Stan Smith said...

The real bad actor in this ridiculous farce is Feinstein. Ms. Ford "wanted to remain anonymous," but Feinstein's actions guaranteed that Ms. Ford would be exposed to all that's happening to her now. If DiFi was truly a "champion of women," she would have quietly seen to it that the allegations were debated in the Senate's closed session hearings. But of course, that's not really the case. DiFi doesn't care a whit about Ms. Ford, the whole episode was a tactic to delay the vote. Republicans should ignore any calls to delay and hold the vote on Monday. Anything else is caving to despicable Democrat tactics.

Let's ask every Dem senator the question "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

MayBee said...

I don't think the two sides actually hate each other. People are wonderful and generally get along. Politics in it's current incarnation is about making money for candidates and various entities, and they make more money if there is division. People who step away from politics and cable news don't hate each other.

JackWayne said...

I don’t think hate is so much of a factor in war as fear.

Lucien said...

In California, Earl Warren was instrumental in sending Americans to concentration camps if their ancestors were Japanese. Does the left thin that disqualified him from service on SCOTUS?

stevew said...

Man, he's good. At the game, that is.

-sw

MayBee said...

NYT just sent an alert that the woman says the FBI should investigate before she has to go on tv and "relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.”

a)why should she have any say?
b)why did she call Feinstein- a politician- and not the police from the start
c) what is wrong with me that this seems like something that should not be harrowing 35 years later?

Ken B said...

@Maybee
15% , the leftmost seventh, do indeed hate most Americans. If you doubt me scroll through the comments on left wing sites, even the non crazy left wing sites.

MayBee said...

Ken B- I think they think they do, but they would get along just fine chatting in the line at the grocery store.

MayBee said...

Here's what I want to know:

What can you have in your past and still be worthy of employment in a job you are really good at?

It seems like we are bordering on saying you can't have gotten drunk in high school. Do people agree with this?

JML said...

Blogger MayBee said...
Ken B- I think they think they do, but they would get along just fine chatting in the line at the grocery store.

Unless one of them is wearing a MAGA hat....

buwaya said...

In every civil war that has ever been, ordinary persons have gotten along as well as ever.
This is that illusion of normality that exists at all times.
And in every case it has persisted through whatever viciousness went on in the ranks of the leaders.
Right up to when the fighting started.

jimbino said...

Trump continues to slaughter the English language with "I feel badly for him" and "They (FBI) did it now."

rcocean said...

Americans can no longer argue among themselves, they can only stab each other.

I constantly hear this from center and Center-right people.

Who is this "We" Kemosabe?

"We" can't hold a civil, dignified SCOTUS nomination or do anything else in a "Civilized" fashion because of the LEFT. Every R Nomination is a circus. Every D nomination is a love fest.

The only thing different since 2016, is Trump fights back.

Michael K said...

I would put the odds that she doesn't show up at 75-25 now. The more I hear that it doesn't matter if her story is true, the more those odds shift.

Also, did she wrote a letter about Gorsuch ? He and Kavanaugh went to the same prep school. Both had mothers that were judges.

Maybe she doesn't remember which one it was.

Michael K said...


Blogger jimbino said...
Trump continues to slaughter the English language with "I feel badly for him" and "They (FBI) did it now."


There there, jimbino. Where did the wicked man touch you ?

Ken B said...

@JML, @Maybee
Yup. Or trying to eat at a restaurant with your family.

About can’t get drunk. That is the standard if you are a Republican or conservative. Bill Ayers can try to explode people and be welcomed back.
But I don’t quite agree that is the standard. It’s much worse than that, you must be able to disprove even vague accusations that you got drunk in high school. Denial is not enough; perhaps the alcohol affected your memory.
What a spiteful, Puritan place the left wants us to live in.

rcocean said...

We all know that when Feinstein got the letter from Blasey Ford in July, she sent out her aides to talk to her. And she probably got some Left-wing non-profit lawyers to look into her background, etc.

They pressed her for details. Gave her a lie detector test and gave her a lawyer.

If they had more details, more evidence to support Ms. Ford, they'd have leaked it. SO that probably accounts for Fienstein's less than stirring endorsement.

Unless.. they do have more details and are setting a trap.


NKP said...

If Ford is required to answer questions under oath at the proposed hearing, no way will she show up.

rehajm said...

So, if he weighs the same as a duck...then he's made of wood...and therefore?

MayBee said...

Can we just start demanding the FBI investigate people for crimes we accuse them of, even after they decline?

mccullough said...

Politics is about the politicians and their families getting rich. You don’t get a $375 billion trade deficit with China without companies buying up politicians.

Harry Reid got rich off politics. So did Obama. His friends in Hollywood and Silicon Valley and Wall Street are funding his lifestyle.

The Bushes got rich from Saudi oil money.

These people will sell out their fellow Americans for a few dollars more and power. There are 11 million illegal aliens in this country because the politicians get paid by the people who want cheap labor.

None of this stuff is personal. It’s all business. Feinstein is calculating. That’s how she got so rich. She married well and used her husbands’ connections to get into local politics. Harvey Milk gets whacked and she’s next man up.

Maxine Waters is a nut job and even she’s faking it. She got rich selling out her people as well.

LilyBart said...


Althouse has no 'cruel neutrality' in this one.

rcocean said...

As it is, the FBI couldn't investigate anything without more details from Ford.

Date, Place of assault. Why was she at the party, how did she get home, and why was she there?

She states she never was with Judge K after the assault. They didn't go to school together. They weren't neighbors. So, how did she know it was Kavenaugh and Mark Judge?

Until she provides more answers, there's nothing to investigate.

Browndog said...

Who called it?

This guy!

Paid political operative Ford will not testify until the conclusion of an FBI (Investigative arm of the DNC) investigation.

rehajm said...

If you've ever been to drunk to fish....you might be disqualified from the SC.

Francisco D said...

"I walked past the TV and saw Ana Marie Cox saying it doesn't matter if it's true. It's all about women's pain."

That is no excuse to make the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting a group therapy session.

I looked for Dr. Blasey Ford's professional credentials at two universities where she taught and another where she supposedly taught.

It was an interesting experience. The Diversity Committee was clearly at work - almost no White males to be found. Lots of Hispanic and Middle Eastern women - far above their percentage of the population.

Things have changed a lot since I was a grad student.

becauseIdbefired said...

So the new hand has been dealt. How do you not play into that? I'm using Trump's idiom. If it seems wrong, let's talk about that.

DiFi/accomplices brought something up at the last minute. Even assuming all is above board, which I think is quite a stretch (why didn't DiFi grill Kavanaugh? Progressives were angry with her for not going after him, and the polygraph was taken in early August, done by a former FBI agent, i.e., it took planning).

Republicans have agreed to delay the hearing to consider the complaint/allegations. But, to bring forward minute to midnight allegations and to insist on a big change in the rules is not reasonable. It simply looks like an attempt to delay the confirmation until circumstances are more favorable.

So, Trump gave Democrats what they were asking, they backed down, and pushed for more. I think most will see this as partisan politics/gamesmanship it is.

MayBee said...

mccullough said...

Yeah, that's why I think its so stupid when regular people announce they are a member of a political party. Why in the world should someone not running for office join a political party???

mccullough said...

The FBI can investigate Ford after she testifies. She’s going to get the Roger Clemens indictment.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Michael K said...”I would put the odds that she doesn't show up at 75-25 now.”

It just pegged to 100. It’s being reported she says she won’t show up until the FBI has investigated. What a surprise.

fivewheels said...

Honestly, there's no reason to testify. She accomplished her goal already: A smear on Kavanaugh that can't be erased. The media will repeat the lie for the rest of time with no evidence, no justification, and no remorse. The toothpaste can never be put back in. That was the goal all along.

becauseIdbefired said...

She married well and used her husbands’ connections to get into local politics.

Maybe. I was living in SF when she became mayor. Harvey Milk was shot, and she reacted when others could not. She's tough. She shut down the gay bath-houses when the AIDs epidemic got started, but before anyone knew what it was.

Try that today.

mccullough said...

I give Feinstein credit. She fucked and fought her way to the top and even at 85 still has the metallic taste of greed and power. But she sold out Americans for money from China. She should rot in Leavenworth.

Michael K said...

I looked for Dr. Blasey Ford's professional credentials at two universities where she taught and another where she supposedly taught.

My older son's wife is a psych prof at another small college in the Bay Area. I'll bet she knows her but she is also a lefty.

Not asking.

LilyBart said...

It’s being reported she says she won’t show up until the FBI has investigated. What a surprise.

How do you investigate something with so little specificity?

Where did it happen? - don't know
When did it happen? - not sure

We know what she said happened. Kavanaugh said nothing like that ever happened. His friend said he has no memory of anything like that happening, and that is was out of character for his friend.

So, what is there to 'investigate'?

narciso said...

So they have gone past fake news:



https://news.grabien.com/story-cnn-airs-edited-kavanaugh-clip-says-it-shows-there-are-porti

Ken B said...

Why would the FBI investigate? It's a state crime, not federal. The statute of limitations has passed. And there is no concrete accusation: the year, address, town, and number of alleged assailants is unknown. There is no contemporaneous record, there was no contemporaneous report. If the FBI did get involved that would suggest string pulling.

Michael K said...

So, how did she know it was Kavenaugh and Mark Judge?

There are rumors that she wrote the same letter about Gorsuch. He and Kavanaugh attended the same prep school and both had mothers that were judges. If so, she probably doesn't know who it was.

If it was anybody but her imagination.

MayBee said...

Where is that Gorsuch rumor coming from?

David Begley said...

If CBF will not testify, then call the vote Thursday.

mccullough said...

The FBI can interview her. When she says it was two guys who assaulted her then arrest her for lying to the FBI because her theraoist’s notes say 6 years ago she said it was four guys who assaulted her. Then let the jury decide.

becauseIdbefired said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birkel said...

I assert again that this is a Fusion GPS operation.

Di "Chi Spy" Fi had a staffer leave and raise $50 million for Fusion GPS.
This is well-funded and well-planned.
It is also completely fabricated.

David Begley said...

Ann Gorsuch was head of the EPA; not a judge.

This thing is made up. Katz read Mark Judge’s book and figured out he was friends with BK. This thing was all planned.

becauseIdbefired said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BuckIV said...

Seems like the lunatic liar won't testify after all. The democrats who perpetrated this are simply scum. Don't matter though, a lot of the electorate like having scum for legislators.

narciso said...

The justices mother was Reagan's epa director.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Did you feel no need to show your homework and report the fact that the Republicans had this information also?

Is it really so problematic to conceive that the guy could have been spared the embarrassment of having to answer this stuff if the Republicans did the honorable thing and declined to nominate him to one of the nine highest judicial offices in the land? There's nothing wrong with having a higher standard for a Supreme Court judge than the Republicans have for their regular old club of towel-snapping boys in senators' clothing.

becauseIdbefired said...

But then Feinstein came back with a sledgehammer: "During every step of this process, I’ve found every single piece of information from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford eminently credible, sincere and believable. She knew this would have a huge effect on her life and she was incredibly brave to come forward.

Timing is important. Did DiFi say this before or after Ford said she would not testify until after an FBI investigation, an investigation the FBI says it will not do?

Don B. said...

With no date, no location, and no contemporaneous statements, it sounds more like a job for the Psychic Friends Network than the FBI.

narciso said...

What Begley said, maybe she did it on her own.

tcrosse said...

Kavanaugh is guilty as hell of having been appointed by Donald Trump. The rest is just pretext.

Hagar said...

Tucker Carlson just said that Ms. Ford has announced that she will not testify before the Senate on Monday, but will await the results of a thorough FBI investigation.

He then had Joe diGenova on who said the FBI will not investigate because there is nothing to investigate based on what Dr. Ford has stated to date, etc., etc.

This I do not agree with, as I have previously stated, but there surely are rules for what the FBI may get involved with, and I can readily believe a number of these would be violated here, besides the FBI already has about all the trouble they can readily handle without going looking for more.
However, a private investigator should not have too much trouble establishing whether there ever was such a party or not and, if so, the 5 W's of the story.

But, of course, the idea is just to delay Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing to after the election and hope that he Democrats will retake the Senate.

I lay all this on Senator Diane Feinstein, who is much too smart not to have realized that something like this mess would be the result of her sending Ford's letter to the FBI, but Roe v. Wade is just too important to the Democrats; never mind the damage done to the Senate and our government in general.

Big Mike said...

Feinstein came back with a sledgehammer: "During every step of this process, I’ve found every single piece of information from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford eminently credible, sincere and believable. She knew this would have a huge effect on her life and she was incredibly brave to come forward."

Incredibly brave, perhaps, but more likely incredibly foolish to think she could get away with her drive-by character assassination? Feinstein may find “every single piece of information” to be “eminently credible, sincere and believable,” but the only part of the story that I find credible is that a spoiled rich girl (there are no other kind of students at Holton-Arms) went to a party and got drunk. Did she even meet Kavanaugh there? Can anyone prove it? Why did she go upstairs? The homes in Potomac are large and have powder rooms on the main level, why couldn’t she have used the powder room? How’d she wrest herself away from a varsity defensive back and a second male? Maybe she tried to entice them into an upstairs bedroom and she was “traumatized” when they rejected her? Prove me wrong, Althouse!

Feinstein is a liar, or else she’s dumber than dirt.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I don't think it is that bad.

I have leftist children and we don't talk about politics.


Haha. Lemme guess - they would have a point and that would make you angry so you forbid it.

mandrewa said...

I think we are looking into the face of evil.

And I suspect that we all know in some sense what is evil
and the half of us (I mean of all the people in the US, not
just those who are reading this) who are doing evil, have
some awareness, however much we try to suppress it, that we are.

Our potential self-awareness is pushed back by not really
thinking about the situation and ignoring the clues that evil
is being done and imagining scenarios where the evil that
we want to do is justified.

mccullough said...

The FBI isn’t touching this pile of shit. And it’s not their job. The passed along all relevant information as to whether Kavanaugh posed a security risk to the US. They passed along all relevant info. It’s not their job to determine who is telling the truth here. It’s the Senate’s job.

Hold the vote. If he gets voted down then he gets voted down.

For every GOP who votes know ask them if they will vote to remove Kavanaugh from his current judgeship. Press them on this. Then primary them and isolate them. Send them packing. Open investigations into their families finances.

Ask every Dem did Bill Clinton rape Juanita Broderick. Ask them did Menendez have sex with 15 year old girls who were the victim of sex traffickers.

Get rid of McConnell like Trump got rid of Corker and Flake. And get rid of Collins and Murkowski.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge wrote plenty of things that only make it all look worse.

One of his little storybooks has a "character" named "Bart O'Kavanaugh."

Lol. How sneaky.

Still wondering how "exemplary" I'm supposed to assume the behavior of high school Catholic prep school boys. Right.

narciso said...

Ephesians 6:12, comes to mind,

MBunge said...

Out of all the nonsense in #theresistance, the most deranged is the absolute certainty they all have that Trump is an idiot.

He's a world famous billionaire businessman, entertainer, and cultural icon who, at an age when even the most accomplished people in the world are usually coasting on their laurels, made himself President of the Freakin' United States. He's more successful on virtually every material standard Mankind has ever bothered to measure than not only 99% of his critics, but 99% of his critics COMBINED.

Yet they remain 100000000000% convinced he's a moron.

Mike

BUMBLE BEE said...

By any means necessary. Think about it. Assassination action on republican senators. Maxine the mouth talkin "knockin off Trump". Feinstein brings in a psycho teenage hosemonster who can't remember fuck all (but she's a "Qualified" professor in CA). And the Dems want FBI to investigate a guy for the 7th time. Hows about FBI toss the Ford house say, about 0300, weapons drawn, and talk to this kite case's husband for about 72 hours. Get their phones, computers, filing cabinets out the door. One monkey don't stop the whole show kinda thing

OH... here's some guidance.
https://spectator.org/on-spartacus-and-crucifixion-democrats-and-kavanaugh-and-rosh-hashanah-and-yom-kippur/

Rabel said...

Last week I got a letter soliciting money from the RNC. I threw it in the trash as I always do.

Today, as luck would have it, I got a letter soliciting money from the Make America Great Again Committee. At the bottom of the letter was the signature of Donald Trump.

Tomorrow, for the first time ever, I will make a campaign contribution.

mccullough said...

Cut a deal with Feinstein’s driver. Then arrest Feinstein and her husband on espionage. The Chinese will provide the relevant evidence to incarcerate them. Have the trial in Idaho.

Original Mike said...

”She knew this would have a huge effect on her life and she was incredibly brave to come forward.”

Spare me. She’ll be a lefty folk hero for the rest of her life.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ahhh... the right-wing psyche at work:

Ask every Dem did Bill Clinton rape Juanita Broderick. Ask them did Menendez have sex with 15 year old girls who were the victim of sex traffickers.

Use the FBI for political purposes! Just like Nixon did!

Get rid of McConnell like Trump got rid of Corker and Flake. And get rid of Collins and Murkowski.

Revoke the people of Maine and Alaska's right to vote! Suspend elections! Declare martial law! No more constitution!

mccullough said...

Cut a deal with Feinstein’s driver. Then arrest Feinstein and her husband on espionage. The Chinese will provide the relevant evidence to incarcerate them. Have the trial in Idaho.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Today, as luck would have it, I got a letter soliciting money from the Make America Great Again Committee. At the bottom of the letter was the signature of Donald Trump.

Tomorrow, for the first time ever, I will make a campaign contribution.


Good for you. Putin's very own "self-funder" sure ain't gonna fund himself. I heard contributions to Trump University are also their own reward. They pay back as handsomely as the tuition dollars. LOL!

Leland said...

Ken B @ 7:47pm:
"Why would the FBI investigate? It's a state crime, not federal. The statute of limitations has passed. And there is no concrete accusation: the year, address, town, and number of alleged assailants is unknown. There is no contemporaneous record, there was no contemporaneous report. If the FBI did get involved that would suggest string pulling."

Yep. It just needs to be continually stated.

narciso said...

The problem is mcturrle won't do any of this.
Probably Cornyn who is successor wouldn't either.

mccullough said...

Ritmo,

I’m just having fun. These are all games. I don’t take these people in DC or you seriously. That’s why I never address your comments. You are a fucking loon. A big league loser who cries everyday because Trump is president.

Now shut up go get your fucking shine box.

Michael K said...

I see failed molecular biology student Ritmo has surfaced.

I remember now that Gorsuch's mother was EPA head but the similarity is still significant.

It would be interesting to get confirmation about the Gorsuch letter.

I think they will wait to give her a chance to appear, maybe until Monday, then vote. Flake will vote no but the nomination can still go to the Senate, He can't block it.

Night Owl said...

but Roe v. Wade is just too important to the Democrats; never mind the damage done to the Senate and our government in general.

What I don't get is, why? Why should anyone still care about this? If this law is overturned abortion will not be outlawed in this country. The blue states will never outlaw it. And I doubt that even the very reddest of red states would outlaw it completely. This is not 1950s America. People who are still concerned about roe v wade being overturned are living in the past.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It only makes sense for Republicans to have a rapist in the Supreme Court given all the raping of the American people and their liberties they've been committing themselves to for the last several decades.

Lucien said...

The letter by Dr. Ford published by CNN is dated July 30 and addressed to Senator Feinstein. It refers to another letter sent to a local representative (presumably Eshoo) on July 6. Why the second letter? Is there a substantive difference between the text of the July 6 letter and that of the July 30 letter? Was Dr. Ford eagerly goosing the process along?

Rabel said...

There will be an extra hundred dollars in honor of Ritmo.

Ken B said...

Michael K
How do you know Ritmo failed molecular biology? I am curious not skeptical. I can think of so many things he fails at ...

Browndog said...

I accidentally clicked on MSNBC--first time in years.

Maddow is interviewing Hillary Clinton.

cronus titan said...

The phrase "play into their hands" is also an old boxing expression. Usually, it means opening yourself to inside punches by getting away from jabbing and getting too close for a blow. That is literally playing into the other boxer's hands. Its a cousin to "leading with your chin."

rcocean said...

"However, a private investigator should not have too much trouble establishing whether there ever was such a party or not and, if so, the 5 W's of the story."

Have you been paying attention? This happened, possibly 34-36 years ago.

Ms. Ford needs to tell us when and where the party was. Until then, there's nothing to investigate. She also needs to identify the other two members of the party.

Judge and Kavenaugh say there was no party with Ms. Ford.

What is the FBI to establish? You don't have a Why, When, Where or Who. You just have a How.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Now shut up go get your fucking shine box.

I remember what happened to the guy who said that.

I’m just having fun. These are all games.

It's good to know you take yourself as unseriously as anyone else would. For you apparently self-loathing and your sense of insignificance substitutes well for lunacy.

Trump doesn't make normal people cry. He makes them vomit.

Narcissists are just nauseating people who simply lack the sense of self necessary for taking responsibility for how nauseating they are. Sounds like you relate to at least one of them pretty well. No surprise there.

narciso said...

This is why she erased her social media profile, any prior contacts to eshoo, burgess et al, some aspects of her c.v remained at her schools alma mater website as well as linked in,

rcocean said...

Now, its all up to Collins and Flake.

Do they want to go ahead or have FBI investigate.

Tune in tommorrow. Same bat time, Same bat channel.

madAsHell said...

Trump continues to slaughter the English language

I think he slaughters the language on purpose. He wants to emphasize certain words that will resonant with others. Trump has a little hip-note-ism working for him.

Ken B said...

Senator Hirono (D) wants all men in America to just shut up. And do the right thing for once too.

Hagar said...

By this time "overturning" Roe v. Wade just means SCOTUS "repeals" that "statute" and apologizes for having gotten into the legislative business again.
This will not affect any of the laws, rules, and regulations adopted in the meantime by federal, state, and local legislatures and agencies.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Michael K
How do you know...


Michael K doesn't know sh*t. He just plays little kiddy narcissist personality games based on whether he's more contemptuous of service workers that day or the poorly educated. Which is ironic given that he thought that Craig Venter "discovered the genome."

Nothing K says to insult me has anything to do with me. It's just his fear of being poor (McDonalds) or ignorant (failed college) slipping out. It's all about him.

People don't see the world as it is. They see the world as they are. K especially.

Night Owl said...

Talk of overturning Roe v Wade is a useful scare tactic that is effective on people who don't think too deeply about things. AKA Dem voters.

Bay Area Guy said...

Ok, I have the winning move.

Kavanaugh has already hired this kick-ass attorney Beth Wilkinson. By Thursday this week, Wilkinson files a lawsuit against Dr. Ford in Federal Court for libel. Get her under oath, with a videotaped deposition. Subpoena Dianne Feinstein for a deposition too, since that's the third-party publication.

Any threat of a counter-suit for sexual battery will be shot down due to statute of limitation issues.

That will shock these bozos into reality.

Damn, I shoulda went to law school.

Sebastian said...

"I just heard on the Tucker Carlson show that Blasey has announced that she will not testify until after an independent investigation is done."

Wait, so then they won't have a chance to ask Kavanaugh the question that will "destroy" him?

Even Susan Collins is on to their game, proposing that the attorneys for both will do the questioning.

Henry said...

Well at least we know one liar in this situation.

My take is that Senator Feinstein decided off the bat that this story was going to hurt the D's and that is why she squelched it.

It was not her office that leaked the story.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Michael K said...

I remember now...


...where you placed your Aricept? Top shelf of the medicine cabinet, left-hand side?

Do you remember now how it was that Craig Venter "discovered the genome?"

Lol!

Hope you're having a good night, Doctor Opioid.

madAsHell said...

There isn't a "social fabric".

Yes, there is. It's called the 2nd amendment. It's a bit brutal, but it works!!

bagoh20 said...

Nothing happened. No rape. No disrobing. No exposure. No physical harm. And we have no proof that the nothing even happened. Nothing! And people think this is how to run a country, with unbridled hysteria about non-events ruling serious national process? Sheese, we are fucking pathetic. Democrats and their women in particular are showing that they cannot be trusted, even to take rape seriously.

traditionalguy said...

The phrase playing into their hands could come from bridge where you know what suits your partner holds as you take tricks.

But I am sure The Donald is referring here to chain wrestling which is blocking one opponent’s move after another. That goes on until a mistake is made by him and the ref slams the mat that he is turned over and pinned.

Darkisland said...

Fivewheels,

A few weeks ago I got a death threat right here in the comments section.

Since the person making the threat couldn't carry out a wet dream, I ignored it. As did our hostess, apparently.

Not in hiding, still here at the same stand. I see nothing to be gained by being squeamish about these things.

John Henry

Browndog said...

Ms. Ford needs to tell us...

No. No, she doesn't need to tell "us" anything.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"There isn't a "social fabric"."

Yes, there is. It's called the 2nd amendment.


If shooting people is a sociable thing to do, I'm curious as to how many holes you and your family and your community have put in each other in the name of such neighborly pursuits. Do you pieces of Swiss cheese strap slices of bread to either side of yourselves? Lol!

William said...

They're not playing a hand. They're playing for a hand, and they'll get it. This won't cost DiFi a vote, and Ford has now become one of the greats--Madame Curie, Anita Hill, and Ford.... Black swan. No matter how many women come forward and testify to Kavanaugh's decency, it doesn't prove he treated all women that way.. And, of course, it's impossible to question anything about Ms. Ford's past behavior. That's blaming the victim. Still what kind of woman would allow a rapist to be confirmed for the Circuit Court bench and not make this an issue. Is she okay with rapist Circuit Court Judges but not rapist Supreme Court Justices? How about rapist traffic Court judges?.......This whole thing is patently slick and manipulative. I suppose you can say the same thing about how the Republicans blocked the Garland nomination, but this is far, far dirtier.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Nothing happened. No rape.

Not yet... at least that we know of.

But wait 'til he's on the bench, ruling on all sorts of new and exciting ways to rape the working people of this country and their wealth. That'll be fun! Corporations are treated so unfairly by the law in this country! Help them and rape the workers!

bagoh20 said...

There is no crime for the FBI to investigate. Not that that stops them anymore. Maybe they can order up another dossier.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Assuming the game was to put a Justice on the Supreme Court who would provide the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Democrats probably win decisively if the Republicans put in Justice Rapey. Think how Democrats could use that to fuel outrage to the decision.

mccullough said...

Ford’s husband finally grew a pair and told her to pull the plug on her bullshit. He’s not going to back her play anymore. Tired of the cuckold life

bagoh20 said...

Yes, workers are doing so badly these days. They have the misfortune of being better off than they ever have in history. Oh, the humanity, the horror of it all.

Laslo Spatula said...

"...and he could be pressured to admit that he's unreliable as a witness to the nonoccurrence of any event from his heavy-drinking years."

Unreliable as a witness to a nonoccurrence.

Again: fucking unreliable as a witness to a fucking nonoccurrence.

Is this really where we are in this situation?

A guy with alcohol problems gets pulled into a story about an event that can't even be located at a time or place, and his credibility is the one to get dragged into the town square to be fitted for the stockades?

I mean, I understand being a Devil's Advocate, but at some point when you are sucking the Devil's cock you really have to admit to yourself that maybe you're more than just an advocate now.

I am Laslo.

Matt Sablan said...

... The FBI declined to investigate. That's about done as it gets.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

There is no crime for the FBI to investigate.

What law school did you fail out of? You think that a rape can only occur if the defendant admits to it or if the accuser produces physical evidence? I guess under your preferred system of laws child sexual abuse would be as natural as drinking water.

You really find it hard to think before you talk, don't you?

DanTheMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 336   Newer› Newest»