“What's past is prologue” - evil Sebastian

Seems about right, and as expected.

Amazing that this and the trump tax fraud stories essentially overshadowed one another resulting in minimal overall coverage.

The week break was brilliant. Another failed attempt for Dems. Rolled the dice on this report and public opinion. In the end, looks like they may lose both the seat while energizing base republicans.

The Savior wrote:Amazing that this and the trump tax fraud stories essentially overshadowed one another resulting in minimal overall coverage.

The week break was brilliant. Another failed attempt for Dems. Rolled the dice on this report and public opinion. In the end, looks like they may lose both the seat while energizing base republicans.

They have no power here and there was nothing they do. This was always going to rest on Republicans. I'm fine placing blame where blame is due, but what...they either accept Flake's 1 week thing or they say no because it will be a sham and this all is accelerated by a week. And it lets Rs say 'look we tried to start an FBI investigation and they didn't want it'.

They could have improved their questioning and probably done some little things here and there but there is nothing in this universe that they could do to sink this nomination as it stands today.

Werthless wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

traderdave wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:Collins called it a thorough investigation. With all indications that it was not, or at least some stuff unvetted it leads me to believe she’s a yes.

Quite simply, if, at a minimum and for whatever reason, the FBI did not interview Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh, to call this a "thorough investigation" is utterly absurd.

This to me has been one of the weirdest Dem talking points on the FBI investigation. Ford gave her statement & testified before the committee for hours. Kavanaugh did the same, plus has participated in multiple meetings and calls with committee members, other senators, and committee staff. It's a supplemental background check by the FBI to present Senators with information as they make their decision on confirmation. They've already gotten extensive information from both Ford and Kavanaugh. One piece hangs out there from Ford, her therapist notes, but if she doesn't want to turn them over that's her prerogative.

Eh, I don't know. The confirmation hearing was a political circus, not necessarily structured to determine objective truth. "Your 5 minutes starts now."

Yeh, there were multiple times where Kavanaugh avoided a question and/or gave a non answer that the questioner didn't have time to follow-up on.

This article does a good job parsing out those moments.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/09/ ... h-is-lying

National Council of Churches comes out against the nomination. I'd like to think this will have an effect with the evangelicals propping up these assholes, but I'm pretty sure it won't.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing ... ination-to

Evangelicals don't care about the National Council of Churches because they feel it does not represent true believers.

Flake punk'd everyone. Based on what he was about to do, why was there any need for him to conference with Dems in the anteroom before the committee vote? They weren't directly affected by his actions, but he got everyone to say what a stand-up guy he was and made it seem like he was controlling/stonewalling the evil Reps. Probably even had tears in his eyes.

They all had a pretty good idea no additional corroborating evidence was coming forward, the one-week time frame was putting nothing in jeopardy, and if any Senator throws too big of a stone on heavy drinking there might be a lot of glass houses shattering. Nobody wants that becoming a primary theme.

Flake may be planning a future presidential run, and if so this may have been a strong ploy for him. He runs the small risk of looking like a fence-sitter, but at least temporarily endeared himself to most people outside of Trump. He also now looks like someone who is able to think a few steps ahead of most of his peers. He even loves and listens to women, which is a reputation the Reps desperately need.

Of course, if he votes "no" he punk'd me as well.

I was subjected to an explanation that Kavanaugh experience is Trump's #MeToo moment in that this happens to Donald all the time, and Kavanaugh is just another example. Literally said 'me too moment', and (drum roll) it was from a woman.

Heidkamp a No, which I’m glad to see. Voting yes wouldn’t have helped her in her election so good to see her vote correctly.

Heard it mentioned that her race/polling imploded as Kavanaugh's hearing began. Since she has been reliably pink to red for her constituents, what happened?

pacino wrote:Scott Wagner believes that marijuana use leads to opiods and would worsen the opiod issue.

I might talk to my wife about leaving the state if he gets elected.

edit: fuck that, I will talk to my wife about selling the house and moving if he gets elected.

I assume that Ben Sasse earned his Whatever W after his speech when he votes YES. There is no chance he votes NO right.

Justice Stevens said that Kavanaugh's temperament disqualifies him from becoming a Supreme Court Justice. Prepare for Capitol Hill and the White House to say shut up old man.

pacino wrote:Scott Wagner believes that marijuana use leads to opiods and would worsen the opiod issue.

Dumb as a good percentage of the people who would otherwise vote for him are young men who fancy themselves libertarians and like weed

JUburton wrote:

Squire wrote:

JUburton wrote:

Squire wrote:Kavanaugh is just such bad politics from the R side that I don't get it.

See the Joboggi thread (not the joboggi thread but the other joboggi thread)

I disagree with the joboggi analysis fwiw.

And the article? Grievance politics is almost all the GOP has left. They cater to two wings. The ultra rich get tax cuts. The rest get to say #$!&@ the libs and their feelings. I hope it's an untenable coalition but it seems to be working out well for them so far.

Folks dont seem to be reading the article. Trump trashed Ford to play to his fascist base. They rejoice in saying lock her up, Ford.

I would read Serwer's article again.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... tand-ideas

The cruelty is the point

Andrew Serwer

This is the Kavanaugh article that hits pretty close to many of my thoughts. Obviously, I don't have the same personal experience as the author, who knows Kavanaugh, but it's written from the perspective of a conservative who opposes Kavanaugh's confirmation based on the information from the last few weeks.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... gh/571936/

I read this article and I think: People get their maddest when they believe they have something and, at the last minute, someone or something takes it away from them. Everything about this feels like expert psychological manipulation- make it seem like we’re confident, we know we are going to win. Hold the vote. Let it “collapse” at the last minute. Blame Democrats and traitors. Profit.

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018 ... ans-870666

Werthless wrote:This is the Kavanaugh article that hits pretty close to many of my thoughts. Obviously, I don't have the same personal experience as the author, who knows Kavanaugh, but it's written from the perspective of a conservative who opposes Kavanaugh's confirmation based on the information from the last few weeks.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... gh/571936/

Agreed. Extremely well-written and articulate in expressing the view of those of us who are not part of a partisan conspiracy on either side of the aisle but simply believe Brett Kavanaugh should not be a Supreme Court justice based on questionable candor and temperament.

Werthless wrote:This is the Kavanaugh article that hits pretty close to many of my thoughts. Obviously, I don't have the same personal experience as the author, who knows Kavanaugh, but it's written from the perspective of a conservative who opposes Kavanaugh's confirmation based on the information from the last few weeks.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... gh/571936/

It's the perspective of a Democrat who's a fellow at Brookings and shoots a cannon off on Twitter whenever something bad happens to Trump but knows Kavanaugh personally