Kavanaugh cave-in
1) Heitkamp has the guts to do the right thing even though her re-election effort is in trouble and voting against Trump's nominee may make her struggle even more difficult. Manchin doesn't, even though he's ahead of his opponent by a comfortable margin. (Don't mistake my meaning -- we're still better off with that seat held by Manchin, who sometimes votes the wrong way, than by a Republican, who would always vote the wrong way. But he's the weakest link.)
2) The Senate Republicans, with the apparent exception of Murkowski, have again shown cowardice. They've seen ample reasons to reject the Renate Alumnius (sic) even beyond the sexual-assault allegations, but they're frightened of Trump and frightened of the bloodthirsty "own the libs" Morlocks who make up the bulk of their voting base.
3) Don't think that Ford, Ramirez, and Swetnick made their sacrifices in vain. They may not have been able to stop the confirmation, but that would have depended on at least two (or three, with Manchin's defection) Republicans finding a sense of honor and the courage to act on it, a very tall order these days. But they made the enemy's skulking cowardice and hypocrisy far more blatant and obvious. By relying on a fatuously restricted FBI "investigation" whose results were sneaked out in a ridiculous cloak-and-dagger fashion, they provided Flake and Collins with the most threadbare and forlorn fig leaf imaginable. No one except the Morlocks will be impressed. Republicans flagrantly dissed sexual-abuse victims to get what they wanted, in full view of the voters. Ford, Ramirez, and Swetnick may well have made the blue wave a little -- or a lot -- higher.
4) The confirmation of Beery Brett will not stop further information from coming out. Investigations will continue, new accusers may well come forward, and the numerous people the FBI wasn't allowed to talk to may speak out on their own. All this will raise the likely price Republicans pay in November and beyond.
5) Much has been made of a poll showing that the fight has boosted Republican voter enthusiasm. I'm not sure how much difference this will make in the actual outcome in November -- Republican turnout tends to be consistently high regardless of enthusiasm, while that of Democrats fluctuates. Our side will be driven by anger. And some of the less-fanatical Trumpanzees' fervor may wane if, as noted above, more evidence against Mr. FFFFF continues to emerge.
6) We now see that "moderate" Lindsey Graham was dependent all along on John McCain to help him stay in his Dr. Jekyll form. With McCain gone, he's stuck as Mr. Hyde permanently.
7) Just as Trump's repulsive antics have degraded and diminished the Presidency, so the presence of Hundred-Kegs Kavanaugh will weaken the Supreme Court. Much more than the executive or legislative branches, the judicial depends on gravitas and popular deference for its power. Rulings made possible by a blatantly-partisan judge confirmed despite a cloud of un-investigated allegations will command no such respect. The Republicans may get their wish and turn the Supreme Court into a mere utensil of political warfare, but it will be a broken utensil. We knew when Trump took office that he would get the chance to shift the Court to the right. Be glad at least that his victory here comes with such a constellation of asterisks.
[Image at top found via Hackwhackers.]
posted by Infidel753 at 3:23 AM
15 Comments:
I hope your right Infidel. In the final analysis voter turnout will be critical. Democrats will need to come out in very large numbers supplemented by independents like myself voting democrat. A very small minority of ethical republicans crossing over to vote democrat would be the icing on the cake. We'll I can dream can't I?
As much as I regret having to say it ... I agree with your analysis. The *sh__* never stops.
Our current hope lies totally in the November results ... and regrettably, you are correct about the lethargy of the Democrats.
Rational: I'm hoping also that some Republican women are disgusted enough to take action in the privacy of the voting booth, even if they don't dare speak up elsewhere.
Nan: I hope I made myself clear. Anger is an excellent antidote to lethargy.
I never thought any of this would stop him from being confirmed. I can only hope that the Republicans don't keep control after the election.
I'm not sure any cloud, or asterisks next to Kavanbaugh's Supreme Court votes makes any difference. It's the vote that counts. Thonmas's cloud hasen't lessened the power of his votes. The Supreme Court has been losing respect for decades, in my eyes.
If we bother at all to chased down further Kavanaugh lies it should be to impeach him. Making him look worse, or to embarrass him makes no difference to Republicans, or Kavanaugh.
John McCain was all for denying Obama his Supreme Court pick and I'm sure he would have gone along with McConnell's strategy on this circus.
Republicans voters seem to excuse the dirty politics their party leads with, in fact, they revel in their parties defeat over the Democrats no matter how it was done.
The only backlash for the Republicans skullduggery is a huge Democratic win in the election a month from now.
Mary: I figured it was a long shot, but we did come close. If Manchin had stood firm and Flake or Collins had bent, we could have handed Trump a real defeat.
Jerry: By "asterisks" I mean mainly the accelerated undermining of the court's authority, and the likelihood of a backlash in the election.
Core Republican voters aren't bothered by dirty politics because they're a bunch of hate-driven Deliverance mutants. It's about time we quit being squeamish ourselves.
If Manchin/Flake/Collins had torpedoed Kavanaugh today, he just would have renominated and confirmed in January.
Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know. If Democrats had won the Senate, very unlikely.
I just woke up, big college football game yesterday drained me (Texas vs. Oklahoma, Texas won). From what little I gathered this morning, Kavanaugh got it ... shit man.
This nomination has been a clusterfuck of major proportions, and it wasn't just the GOP that was responsible for it. They're bad enough, but the Dems didn't cover themselves in glory. By trying to sabotage the nomination immediately after Kavanaugh's initial Judiciary hearing, they made a martyr of him, which the Right will propound endlessly for years to come. In the same way that the name of "Merrick Garland" has become a battle-cry for the Left.
I'm not impressed with anyone who was involved in this. Not in the slightest. The GOP got their Christofascist justice on SCOTUS and they'll control the Court for years to come. And they did it by looking the other way and petulantly, as well as childishly, resisting any suggestion there could be something wrong with their guy. But Dems weren't much better.
If in fact they were interested in discovering the truth behind Ford's allegation, they ought to have forwarded her account to the FBI during its initial background check ... before the public was aware of it, and before either Kav or the reported witnesses could figure out their story. (Note: this would NOT have violated Ford's confidentiality, since background checks are NOT public matters. That Feinstein claimed this is why she held back, is a demonstrable lie. Moreover, someone in her office or in Ford's Rep's office leaked her name to the media, so her confidentiality wasn't actually a concern for them.)
Oh, and Chuck Schumer having said, initially, the Dems would do "everything in their power" to block Kav certainly didn't help. That kind of talk only stirs up raging paranoia on the Right, and that faction is already paranoid enough. He may as well have sprayed gasoline on a fire. His words alone gave the GOP a rationale to ignore any and every problem with Kav.
I know this "both sides were wrong" assessment won't be popular, but it's true. The Dems aren't going to get any "wins" by being as incompetent as they were in this case.
Ranch: Yep, he's in. They won this round, but at least our people put up a fight. Next round is in November.
PsiCop: After what the Senate Republicans did to Merrick Garland, any tactic -- any tactic -- against them is justified. They are a party of theocracy and bigotry and must be resisted at every step.
Boofy-Boy may be a martyr to the Morlocks, but our base is angry as hell, and there's more of us than there are of them.
It was the Republicans' decision, after the election of Obama, to turn American politics into a state of all-out war. But it makes no sense to pretend that we aren't in a state of all-out war. At this point, the only option is to fight that war and win it.
Re: "After what the Senate Republicans did to Merrick Garland, any tactic -- any tactic -- against them is justified. They are a party of theocracy and bigotry and must be resisted at every step."
First, let's put away the "any tactic is justified" talk. Honestly, that's ridiculous, and excessive. Taken to an extreme, it could be used to rationalize murdering someone. I know that's not what you meant, but ... come on.
Second, it's one thing to want to use "any tactic" against Kavanaugh. But what's needed, is any tactic that works. Obviously the tactics the Dems used here, did NOT work, because Kav ultimately was confirmed.
Third, the lies the Dems told ... such as that Ford's allegations couldn't be forwarded to the FBI without breaking confidentiality ... damaged their credibility in other areas. In other words, it will now be that much harder for them to block other nominees, because their claims can't always be believed.
Fourth, what this means is that the Dems are now in a worse position than previously. Look, I'd love to see them earn some "wins." But the cold fact is, they keep shooting themselves in the foot. Case in point: Hillary's decision, back when she became Sec of State in 2009, to use her own email server instead of a state.gov account. In hindsight that turns out to have been a really bad decision that prevented her from being elected president. Yeah, I get why she did it; she didn't want Right-wingers all up in her business. But it was a bad decision that bit her and the Dems in the backside, big time. Their behavior this time around likewise did them no favors.
The Dems need to calm down, grow up, and use their heads for once. There's a huge difference between using "any tactic and all," and being successful. So far that's eluded them.
Thanks for this, Infidel--I was waiting to read your take on this.
Just my 2-cents--the Republicans, to paraphrase Blade, do not know who they are fucking with. This has angered millions of women who now see that the GOP is the party of white supremacy, misogyny, and the party that brushes off or outright encourages sexual abuse of women.
The media keeps harping up how this is energizing the GOP base. I disagree--if Kavanaugh's nomination had stretched out several more weeks, perhaps that would be the case. But by shoving him through with a month left to go, the GOP has made a miscalculation that will possibly bite them in the ass.
And one more thing--I would like to shout a hearty "FUCK YOU!!" at the purists who sneered in 2016 that the Supreme Court wasn't a big deal and that Trump was better than Hillary. I've seen tweets from some on the Left who are gloating about voting Republican to destroy the Democratic Party in the midterms, because things have to be burned to the ground. Of course, they care nothing for womens' rights, civil rights, the environment, and other things that will be greatly affected by this Supreme Court.
The best thing we can do--the only thing we can do--is to turn out en masse and vote to take back the House and make inroads into the Senate in November. Thankfully, it does appear that our side is truly fired up and enthusiastic and the purists represent a group that is being pushed aside because frankly, they're just awful.
Marc: Well, I know who the Republicans are fucking with -- women, at least that's who it mainly is at the moment. Nice work, infuriating the biggest voting bloc in the country just a month before an election.
I suppose the ideological purists will always be with us, but there are fewer and fewer of them. The "things have to be burned to the ground" idiocy is more characteristic of Trumpanzees anyway. Nobody cares or remembers or even noticed what kind of "message" third-candidate voters in 2000 and 2016 were trying to send. What mattered was the results. I think people will be focused on results in November.
PsiCop: I think most of my readers know the truth about Ford's letter and Feinstein's handling of it, so I'm not going to bother debunking that point-by-point. I think the Democrats' tactics have worked. There was never more than a very faint chance of actually stopping Boofy-Boy's confirmation, so I don't count the fact that he was confirmed as a failure. The Democrats hugely raised the cost to the Republicans of ramming this through. Millions of voters are more energized than ever for November. We'll see then just how successful the tactics actually were.
Finally, if you think my views on political tactics are "ridiculous and excessive", maybe you'd prefer to read something else. It's a big internet.
Post a Comment
<< Home