Putting radical partisans in charge of protecting our Constitution will have results negative to everyone, and here we go – Trump unilaterally ended the Obama administration’s policy of tolerance, the SCOTUS, including Boofer Kavanaugh, just reversed a lower court ruling staying his order. So now, yet another group of patriotic Americans are again being made pawns in Trump’s political game of chance. More gleeful cruelty and dickishness, just because they can.
Give us a good caption for this:
Posted without comment. None needed.
From a Facebook post by photographer Mary Mathis:
“I shot the Kavanaugh protests this morning for NPR, and this is the photo that will always stick with me. I walked up to her after, needing her name for the photo but knowing it was a terrible time to ask. When I asked, she ignored me and said, “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting?” I was speechless.
She said, ‘Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.'”
Earlier this week I asked why in the hell Trump would be so stupid as to nominate such a horrible candidate for the Supreme Court. As his nomination to the highest court staggers toward a vote in the Senate, I ask, why in the hell would said horrible candidate publish an op-ed in the WSJ essentially apologizing for his horrible behavior in a nationally televised Judiciary Committee meeting? The pretty certain answer is that he and Trumpland are now desperate. Despite a mountain of evidence, coast to coast protests, mounting opposition by the ACLU, the American Bar Association, Yale Law, over a thousand law professors, and millions of Americans, Senate Fascist Mitch McConnell is pushing ahead for a confirmation vote. The backlash from the sparse FBI investigation whitewash is only making matters worse.
McConnell’s problem, though? He doesn’t have the votes. Axios is reporting that Republicans don’t have 50 and that senators are “walking on quicksand”. At least 4 senators are undecided, but they’re not the only ones. Polls are now beginning to move against senators for supporting Kavanaugh, so the Repubs (and Joe Manchin) face the classic politician’s dilemma: be an asshole to protect your seat, or do the right thing.
I don’t believe it’s as solid as Herr McConnell is making it out to be.
The FBI is now racing to investigate the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh for excessive drinking, sexual assault, and being a general little-rich-boy-elite-asshole. There’s really no reason to investigate the last claim, though, since he put that characteristic on full display Thursday on national television. We also really don’t need to investigate his blatant lying, since, again on national television, Kavanaugh lied about not going to parties that he’d already admitted to, and not to the belligerent behavior after excessive drinking for which he was well known. The investigation will go wherever it will go, as long as Trump’s attack dogs stay back.
The question of Kavanaugh’s character is really not my question, though. My question is, why this guy? Depending on who you ask, there are about 1.2 million lawyers in the US, and about 800,000 lawyer jobs listed by the Department of Labor. In terms of judges, there are just under 900 federal judgeships, and who knows how many state and local judges there are all over the country. There are thousands of law professors and legal scholars. The supply of possible judges for appointment to the bench is HUGE. So, why in the hell would Trump and the invertebrate Republicans nominate and then support this one guy in the face of unrelenting opposition? Did they not vet him AT ALL?
I personally believe that Kavanaugh was selected by Trump simply because he’s the biggest asshole that Trump could identify on the Federalist Society list of approved assholes. Trump LOVES to piss people off, so he characteristically picked the one guy pretty much guaranteed to piss off the most people, as well as invigorating his own base of assholes. However, like everything else Trump does, (like separating families at the border) he didn’t think this one through or allow his staff to actually do any vetting of the potential nominee. His amount of vetting consisted of, “Is he a white man? Did he go to Harvard or Yale? Is he a radical partisan who hates normal people? Is he a flaming asshole? If so, I’m good to go with this guy.”
What Trump didn’t anticipate, though, is that the ground beneath him is shifting. Normal Americans appear to be awakening from a decades-long political coma, waking up to the issues of social justice, equality, racial justice, and the #metoo movement. When Blasey Ford and other assault victims stood up in opposition, motivated supporters leapt to their feet to add volume. Had it not been for Jeff Flake retiring from office, the effort probably would not have been as effective, but the stars aligned, and it was. Kavanaugh’s fast track to the Court is stymied. Let’s not kid ourselves, though; we are still fighting an uphill battle against the GOP populating the Supreme Court with one more asshole, but at least there is a battle.
Time to keep standing.
One didn’t need to watch a minute of the Senate Circus (formerly known as the Judiciary Committee) to know that Brett Kavanaugh is probably the worst Supreme Court pick in the modern era. Republicans, hearing the blue wave approaching, are frantic to get as many deplorables on the federal bench as possible before they fade into the minority; the problem is that Trump picked the wrong guy. Kavanaugh was nominated for one reason and one reason only – he’s a hack. Almost all of his legal career has been as a political operative, giving cover for GWB and his invade-then-torture tactics and later assisting in packing the courts with other radical partisans. He’s being jammed down Americans’ throats right now because he’ll do the bidding of his masters, overturning decades of legal precedent, further eroding our fragile democracy. I vehemently disagree with judges like Roberts, Alito, and Gorsuch, but their legal qualifications and knowledge are considerable. Kavanaugh, though, like Clarence Thomas, is singularly unqualified for a seat on the highest court in the land. That’s why the Repubs had concealed over 90% of his record and were racing to a confirmation vote when Dr. Blasey Ford showed up and tossed a broom handle into their spokes.
There’s an old lawyer adage of, “When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither is on you side, pound the table.” What you saw Thursday after Dr. Blasey Ford’s almost impeccable appearance before the committee was just that – table pounding. Kavanaugh came completely unglued. Blasey Ford made him look like the towel-snapping frat boy that he is, and he knew he’d been had. His only hope was to get through to a quick vote, but as that crumbled before his eyes, his true nature came out in full fury. In declarations I don’t believe I’ve ever heard from any judicial nominee, he actually attacked Democrats on the committee and even remarkably dragged the Clintons into it. To me, if there ever was the fatal mistake, that was it. Judges, even though we know it’s not true, are supposed to be above politics. They’re supposed to be impartial. In his desperation to defend the indefensible, Kavanaugh allowed his radical partisanship to show – and he did it on national television. Combine his horrible performance with the line of accusers forming behind Blasey Ford, the chances for a quick confirmation faded, especially after wavering Jeff Flake was cornered in a Senate elevator by a sobbing survivor of sexual assault.
That’s about the time that Republicans started pounding the table. Every single one of them, all white and all male, shouted and gnashed their teeth. Their voices trembled with rage as their smash and grab theft of another Supreme Court seat was stymied.
Who knows what’s going to come of this catastrophe. Republicans have shown themselves to simply be stooges for the worst president in US history, possessing neither shame or backbone. They are willing to sacrifice our republic to perpetuate their own power and their own twisted world view. Worse, their nominee for the highest court in the land is the same. He’s a spoiled little rich kid who started life on third base who’s goal is to keep normal people from getting to first base. If he gets to the court, you can kiss the principles of fair play, equality, privacy, and voting rights goodbye.