Remember Kavanaugh!
The news cycles are so fast these days, with so many different controversies and charges and rebuttals and reactions, that it’s easy to let a particular one fall away a bit in the memory even if it was absolutely central at the time it occurred.
For example, the Kavanaugh hearings and Christine Blasey Ford absolutely riveted the nation for weeks on end. The resolution of that episode was highly important. But in a sense nothing—except Kavanaugh taking his seat on the Supreme Court—was actually resolved by it. The right scored a victory, but I would bet that most Democratic voters still think that Kavanaugh committed some sort of sexual atrocity on Ford when both were teenagers, and that his being confirmed to the Court is just another example of Republican and Trumpian misogynist duplicity.
What happened to Kavanaugh in the press and at the hands of the Democrats in the hearings was the real atrocity. However, one silver lining is that it was marked by the transformation of Lindsay Graham into the man who said this:
The entire thing has faded for the vast majority of people, and that’s normal. We have our lives to live, and even the political circus keeps moving on from outrage to outrage. But just in case we were about to forget, there’s a book on the hearings, by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino. It’s entitled Justice on Trial, and it sounds extraordinarily good:
In Justice on Trial, a devastatingly-thorough journalistic account of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino—both seasoned Washington hands—expose a tale of political intrigue more hair-raising than the conventions of fiction…
Due to sensational—but often one-sided and superficial—news coverage, most people are familiar with at least the highlights of the Kavanaugh story, but Justice on Trial provides a gripping blow-by-blow narrative. The details are highly disturbing—sometimes even shocking.
…An exemplary candidate was defamed and vilified, on the basis of unfounded (and largely unbelievable) allegations by a variety of questionable witnesses. The openly-biased news media establishment aired the baseless charges against Kavanaugh, unfiltered, stoking a public spectacle that demeaned the Senate and would have cowed a man less resolute than an indignant Kavanaugh, backed by an unwavering President Trump. It was an ugly episode in American politics—perhaps the worst in my lifetime—combining the most disgraceful elements of the Bork and Thomas hearings. Kavanaugh squeaked through by the narrowest of margins, and only after his reputation was unfairly impugned by Congress and the media.
It is important to understand precisely what happened, and at whose hand, so history can judge the malefactors responsible, and so that our institutions can make sure that this circus is never repeated. Justice on Trial is an impressive work—truly the “definitive account” of the Kavanaugh confirmation. Meticulously researched, and reflecting “background” interviews with over 100 insiders (including President Trump), the book combines superb reporting with deft pacing, putting the Kavanaugh confirmation in its larger political and historical context.
But it will happen again, if Trump or any Republican gets a chance to nominate another SCOTUS justice. And if the composition of the Senate at the time constitutes a Democratic majority, injustice will carry the day. I hope I’m wrong about that. I hope the pen of Hemingway and Severino—and the power of truth—are mightier than the accusatory sword wielded by the left. But I fear that’s not the case.
Due process is over in some sense for CEO’s, Justices, and even Kamala Harris. Kamala herself was excoriated by Tulsi partly unfairly as every Democrat and Republican had zero tolerance policies toward drugs and crimes. Now even Tulsi herslef can’t even meet with a foreign leader without being judged on the merit of the meeting which was the intent to do good and avoid war.
So – goodbye – due process and goodbye to people sticking their necks out. Risk management is me doing only what is required to get through life – so sad. I live and work here in the belly of the beast in Sacramento, CA and heaven forbid I ever become known.
My past comments will seem heartless to some even though I care.
I got the audio book. We will drive to California Monday and we listen to audio books in the car. We have listened to Caro’s LBJ biography twice. Our last trip (to visit kids) I had Popadopoulis’ book on and my wife got so angry she almost attacked the radio. That is a good one.
I especially enjoyed the video of the guy paying protestors outside the hearing room. Two doctors were in line and noticed him.
The videos are here,
I’m nearly done reading the book. Very good.
I work in San Francisco with lawyers. A few days ago I overheard a woman lawyer casually refer to Kavanaugh as a “sexual assaulter”. As if he was found guilty. This woman is very intelligent and knows how to weigh evidence.
Blasey-Ford impressed me as a crazy lady who I would avoid in real life. I thought the only job she could possibly have would be as a college professor. Her testimony is pathetically weak evidence, and that is all there is.
Does anybody know how many other women contacted the FBI to report ancient assaults by Kavanaugh?
I believe Blasey-Ford went to Sen. Feinstein, not the FBI. Don’t know of any that actually went to the FBI directly. Nope.
I’m reading “Chaos Monkeys.” A techie tell-all, half of which is an insider’s look at Facebook.
For years, normal people were Charlie Brown to the left’s Lucy. And she pulled the football every damned time.
No more. Now it’s proper game theory, Tit-for-Tat: https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/1998-99/game-theory/axelrod.html
The only thing the left understands is – punch back twice as hard. And now normal people play by the left’s own rules.
Senator Graham could not have said it better. What an awful spectacle and embarrassing mark for America. Molly Hemingway is sharp. I listened to a podcast where she discusses her book.
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-bookmonger/episode-255-justice-on-trial-by-mollie-hemingway-and-carrie-severino/
Thank you for remembrance.
Blasey-Ford was not credible (IMO) from the minute she opened her mouth, but even worse than that, even if she was credible, that type of allegation — decades later with zero corroboration — simply cannot be taken seriously.
It’s easy to manufacture and nearly impossible to disprove. Which is precisely why they used it here, of course. Of course, the burden of proof must be on the accuser — but we are steadily moving away from that standard.
We cannot let a single “he said, she said” allegation from 35 years ago derail an obviously super-qualified candidate with a stellar reputation. That’s lunacy, plain and simple. And it caters to liars who will do anything in pursuit of power.
It would be fun to make a Venn diagram of Set A “people who think Trump is a liar” and Set B “people who believed Blasey-Ford”.
Near 100% overlap, I’ll bet. Confirmation bias all the way through.
BTW, any Democrats accused by some rando from 35 years ago of being obnoxious and creepy?
Still waiting on that.
Funny how that works. The same party that demonizes white males is also the only party ever victimized by them. Huh.
‘Tis a mystery!
It was reasonable to want the accusations against Kavanaugh heard in public. It was not reasonable to find Blasey-Ford’s accusations credible. She couldn’t even say specifically what YEAR it happened. Yet a great many people believed her.
Women who have experienced sexual harassment and assault may have had their judgment of the matter biased by those experiences, which is not entirely a bad thing. There needs to be people who believe a woman when others don’t because that woman could still be telling the truth. But they men who said they believed Blasey-Ford? They were either cowards or sociopaths who simply couldn’t image what happened to Kavanaugh happening to them.
Mike
This is the same sort of collective insanity that occurred in the 50’s with MaCarthyism. People could ruin lives and careers with nothing but an accusation. No due process necessary. The nation recovered from that bout of insanity. I hope we will recover from this one.
Well, here’s a bit of news.
According to this article, some time ago fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok was again given access to the FBI building, Strzok has been strolling around for some time now, and has even participated in some sort of meetings there.
See https://truepundit.com/wray-welcomes-peter-strzok-back-to-fbi/