Have Democrats gained or lost so far as a result of the Kavanaugh accusation?
This writer says Feinstein got exactly what she wanted out of the Ford accusation against Kavanaugh: propaganda points for the 2018 election.
I tend to be pessimistic as a rule in politics. But I wonder. I don’t see it quite that way, although I would have agreed a few days ago, before Ford’s refusal to testify. I think a lot of people have been turned off by the sinister calculation of the entire Democratic approach, and surprised by the Republicans’ willingness to cooperate by letting Ford testify, and put off by her refusal.
Here’s some evidence that those things may be true.
Yes, of course, the leftist troops are all fired up to get with the program of “Republicans hate women and they nominate rapists to the Court, and conservatives want to take away all your reproductive rights and institute The Handmaid’s Tale.” But I think that’s mainly preaching to the choir. Plus, by the sound of the blogosphere anyway, the right has been energized as well.
Men are probably most upset, but I’m not even sure of that. Many non-leftist women (and who knows, maybe even some leftist women) have an interest in not having their husbands, sons, brothers, fathers, male friends, grandsons, nephews, falsely accused and vilified.
Yes, even if confirmed, Kavanaugh’s name will always be tainted. But Clarence Thomas has been quite effective even with that hanging over his head all these years.
I counter ask those who said imagine if Ford is your daughter to imagine if Kavanaugh is your son, father, brother, cousin, uncle or best buddy who’s lifelong reputation was destroyed by a smear campaign cooked up by the demoncracks colluding with a self righteous sociopath for political reasons.
This non-leftist woman definitely believes in fair treatment for men as well as for women.
Yeah, I wouldn’t automatically calculate this as a propaganda for the Democrats since they’ve evolved into full-blown misandry mode. Regardless of the veracity of the accusation, this was handled by Feinstein and the Democrats (and the press) in the most nakedly political way possible.
There is also now talk about claims made by Ed Whelan. He, apparently, is not only a friend of Brett Kavanaugh and a Harvard law grad, but a well respected legal writer and Twitterer. Whelan claims that there is information forthcoming that will completely exonerate Kavanaugh and have Feinstein apologizing to him. With regard to the first, we’ll have to wait and see. With regard to the latter, probably when Hell freezes over.
Good take. The true believer Democrats and Republicans are simply hardened in their positions by this whole affair. As far as vote getting goes, the target audience is everyone else. I think the Democrats have not only failed to win converts with this scam, but have created some votes for the Republicans. Were the situation similar to Thomas & Hill that would likely be reversed, but it’s not.
The tactical move of sitting on the letter until after the confirmation hearings was the right one if you expect, as Feinstein did (and I would), that the Republicans would cave and dramatically slow down the process. They didn’t and so the tactic blew up on the Democrats. Acknowledging the seriousness of the charges and using that to demand immediate hearings was brilliant. It severely damaged the Democrats talking points, exposed them as disingenuous, and forced the accuser to make even more stuff up.
I’m no Nate Silver but am willing to bet this delivers more to the Republicans in November.
I agree with Steve Walsh.
Oh this is not, as of today, over yet. They can announce by that this thing WILL testify on Monday. It will be announced with all sorts of strange qualifications. And there is also the real probability, from the disgusting and depraved Democrat playbook, that several more “anonymous” women will “come forward” with similar tales over the weekend.
This isn’t over until the Repubs have enough sand to go to a vote.
I think this latest tricky crap might just bite the Democrats in the backside, I was thinking about two years ago when they released the Trump Tape, “Grab’em by the lady-parts”. They sat on it until is was a last minute trash throwing and you know what? Trump Won !
This attack on Kavanaugh might have similar results, both in getting him confirmed and then a carry-over in November and that would be nice.
Don’t know if this is the material Ed Whelan was alluding to, but the Holton-Arms Yearbooks have just hit the net. The link is below (H/T Instapundit):
The Money Headline:
Link:
https://cultofthe1st.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-christine-blasey-fords-high-school_19.html?m=1
David Marcus from Neo’s Federalist link made me laugh.
“If Kavanaugh is confirmed, Republicans will have to tread very carefully, as they have been already. Even Donald Trump has been so shockingly appropriate and presidential in regard to the allegations that we might wonder who he is, and what he’s done with the actual president.”
via Instapundit.
UPDATE: Cokie Roberts praises White House, slams Dems over handling of Christine Blasey Ford. Cokie Roberts.
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 12:01 pm
* * *
The Dems have already lost Flake & Collins, probably others as well, but I haven’t read any reports.
AesopFan,
Now, in the face of the Holton-Arms yearbooks (above @ 2:44 pm), let’s just see how carefully the Republicans and the President need to tread (a la Marcus).
I’ve heard of being hoist by one’s own petard, but this is the first time I’ve seen a nuclear petard.
Prediction: popcorn futures reach record territory.
Just in at HotAir: Ford’s bestest friend says Ford never mentioned assault until this summer . . .
https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2018/09/fords-college-best-friend-never-mentioned-assault-summer/
It’s like all bankruptcies, whether financial or political, at first they go real slowly and then they go all at once.
While I wouldn’t attribute any of this to President Trump playing 4D jiu jitsu…what he continues to do is force his enemies to out themselves as screaming lunatics bent on destroying whatever stands between them & unchecked power.
Kavanaugh’s “process” is exhibit 200,000 or so…Every win like this for the President (and Kavanaugh will be seated as Justice within a month) emboldens the squishes, marginalizes the Never-Trumpers, & fires up his more ardent supporters. AND I think it scares the pants off the whacky Ds like Pelosi, Mad Maxine & Schumer et al…And it drives Hillary & 0 to the microphone & camera and that always helps the President…so yeah…this goes in the W column for the Rs.
Now…wait for the DNI, ODI, DOJ etc to start slow-walking those documents he ordered released unredacted & you’ll see another big win and maybe learn a few things you suspected but didn’t want to know…because sometimes knowing ain’t so great.
> While I wouldn’t attribute any of this to President Trump playing 4D jiu jitsu…what he continues to do is force his enemies to out themselves as screaming lunatics bent on destroying whatever stands between them & unchecked power.
Um, if you ask me that’s exactly 4D jiu jitsu. The good Lord has granted the old proverbial wish that all of President Trump’s enemies are ridiculous. For someone who frequently ventures in the world of ridiculousness himself, I think the President doing the perfect thing by keeping his distance.
CJ…I am happy to concede your point. 🙂
Not one to shy away from giving Trump points for playing n-th level chess, I do think his approach on this is very simple and would have been obvious to anyone.
Kavanaugh has been through 6 official background checks. He has been in the public spotlight for a very long time. He has a well known and noted history from school to his professional life and private life. The accusations against him are completely at odds with what everyone knows about him. Trump assessed the likelihood that the accusations are true to be very, very low and so could quite soberly agree they are serious and that the accuser should be heard. He didn’t know but had a strong belief that she and her story would crumble.
So, no jiu jitsu or such like, just plain old clear thinking and astute reading of the facts.
I don’t think Democrats care if people believe them or not, if those people aren’t Democrat voters. The only action they wouldn’t take is any action that would alienate their base.
(Which has a certain perverse loyalty to it.)
But I think Feinstein & Co. are hoping that these accusations delay confirmation until after the election; and, they are hoping they will take the Senate (or make it 50/50, or functionally 50/50 by means of some of the more moderate/centrist Republicans).
In short, they want to run out the clock until they get a chance to change the balance-of-voting in the Senate. It’s their only play and they’re going for it.
One has to keep one’s eye on the ball, which in this case is the extraordinary scandal perpetrated by the Obama administration and by Hillary Clinton, for which the Mueller “investigation” is the major cover-up and last defense.
This fraudulent Feinstein fracas is a huge—and successful—distraction from the latest—what should be bombshell—revelations in this incredible scandal.
Given Feinstein’s successful distraction, one can only conclude that the Democrats have been benefiting while the country has been losing.
And so, one must every effort to keep one’s eye on the ball.
To keep one’s eye on the ball, the twitter rolls of Mollie Hemingway’s and Lee Smith are absolutely required reading, as are the in-depth, astute posts by the incomparable Andrew McCarthy (at the “National Review”)
https://twitter.com/mzhemingway
https://twitter.com/leesmithdc
One must keep one’s eye on the ball.
This whole disaster reminds me of the Duke Lacrosse outrage. The lefty faculty beat up the boys without mercy.
The good Lord has granted the old proverbial wish that all of President Trump’s enemies are ridiculous.
I think the Greek gods have intervened. Those whom the gods wish to destroy, first they drive mad.
Aggie: Yes, politics is much more like Greek mythology than anything to do with the Judeo-Christian milieu.
“Feinstein got exactly what she wanted out of the Ford accusation against Kavanaugh: propaganda points for the 2018 election.”
The dems would first love to get the Kavenaugh nomination derailed. Failing that… their hopes are that the propaganda will indeed result in less low-info “independents” voting for Repubs in 2018. The Left will vote for dems and the right for pubs, I suspect both sides will see strong participation, it’s the independents who’ll determine the outcome and most of them watch the MSM. But… Trump won!
AesopFan,
I once thought well of Cokie Roberts but haven’t in quite some time. She’s completely abandoned her former middle of the road approach. She sacrificed her integrity for continued exposure.
Wow, Neo,
Check out this – it looks like it was not Kavanaugh but a man named Garrett who looks very similar.
https://twitter.com/EdWhelanEPPC/status/1042893987747713024
Tons of inside house plans, and information.
After Kavanaugh is confirmed, I wish someone of standing (not in government) would take on the idea of how young people have been taught about sex for decades. It has been sold as purely pleasure, and the connection to relationships and children has been totally neglected. From condoms on bananas to the hookup culture, I suspect a lot of youngish people are feeling an emptiness. Whoever brings this up should not do it in terms of sin or going to hell. The teen years should be seen as a time when the young learn to build relationships and they should be told how to do this and what standards have been thrown overboard. I don’t think teen boys bear all the burden for what has happened. Society and feminists have failed.
expat — Jordan Peterson has been working on exactly that, and making great gains among many young men and not a few young women.
The information on Ed Whelan’s Twitter line is interesting, to say the least. Apparently guys who went to school with Kavanaugh and Garrett were well aware of their very similar appearance. The suggestion that Blasey misidentified one for the other seems possible.
Further, I have thought all along that Blasey was probably overly dramatic in her memory of what happened. Other kids may not remember the event at all because they were not aware that anything bad happened. She says herself that she never shared this story with anyone for thirty years.
James Freeman has a piece in the WSJ about the blowback for Dianne Feinstein. He quotes the following:
The Times report follows an editorial this week in Ms. Feinstein’s hometown San Francisco Chronicle:
“Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s treatment of a more than 3-decade-old sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was unfair all around. It was unfair to Kavanaugh, unfair to his accuser and unfair to Feinstein’s colleagues — Democrats and Republicans alike — on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Feinstein, a California Democrat, took the worst possible course by waiting until almost a week after Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing was completed to ominously announce that she had turned over “information from an individual” about Kavanaugh to the FBI, and adding that she would be honoring the woman’s “strongly requested” confidentiality.”
I could take the cynical viewpoint and assume that the SFChronicle really wants to replace Feinstein with someone further to the left, but their words are really on the mark.
Not kidding Jordan Peterson has a Jesus like status in Asia where a large number of young single male “hermits” who are still living with parents and masturbate to anime porn well into their 30s inhabit. His books were responsible for changing many young people lives, encouraging them to get out of their shell and reorganising themselves mentally and physically to prepare to return to society as productive members (and getting a girlfriend too)
He is known in Chinese speaking countries as the saviour for the losers.
While you guys keep watching the Dems try to tear apart everything setting an example that no person who is not on their side will EVER run for president and take on what Trump is taking on voluntarily with fore thought.
Dave, dont read this, it has a link to the asian jesus of losers..
obviously your kind of one sided in your edumacation and his CV and ability to talk…
however, on another note The future has taken root in the present
if only someone or some people were perceptive enough, or more sensitive, or more observant, or whatever lets some people notice things, would say something so that wars, and conflicts, and political corners could be avoided, why oh why do they happen.
imagine if everyone was mostly nearsighted
and a farsighted person was born with the vision akin to a hawk
Until whatever those farsighted people notice and see and maybe can articulate registers on the minds of the mentally nearsighted, the farsighted are nuts, conspiracy, annoying, off topic, mansplaining, being a party poop, and probably a hundred other reasons. IF not that, then they are enaged and their points considered not valid because of accepted explanations, etc…
the same is true of people with high IQ.. they don’t necessarily do well
people fantasize that if they were smarter, people would listen to them
[Jordan Peterson – IQ and The Job Market]
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0 ]
no, the truth is that they listen LESS…
they are suspicions of being tricked or controlled
they cant follow the line, so they cant validate in their heads what is being shown
their responses tend to be passive…
so whatever it is, remains invisible…
until its close enough that even the blind can see,
but sadly, that is often WAY to late…
I had brought it up before…
With that said… i would like to quote Merlin:
Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you’ve tasted it what do you really know? And then, of course, it’s too late.
China’s Sea Control Is a Done Deal, ‘Short of War With the U.S.’
“U.S. military aircraft,” came the challenge, delivered in English in a harsh staccato. “You have violated our China sovereignty and infringed on our security and our rights. You need to leave immediately and keep far out.”
May, Adm. Philip Davidson sounded a stark warning about Beijing’s power play in a sea through which roughly one-third of global maritime trade flows.
“In short, China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States,” Davidson said, an assessment that caused some consternation in the Pentagon.
what is being done is the attempt to change all law by precedent… several actually.. one is that the state should cater to a victim to get them to testify, and so in this case the presumed victim is dictating terms which if the state department meets will do what in the future?
given the way this “testimony” is going to go, i see two violated amendments, which are often violated in cases related to sex, 6 and 14
from 6
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
from 14
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
will they argue, DC is not a state? prob not
but the games being played in appearance of silliness if not watched will end up changing law forever if appeased.
I think Dems have lost far more than they gained on this.
a) Kavanaugh will be confirmed, as was going to happen w/o the unprovable accusation,
b) most of the non-partisan people, including the Dems who do NOT yet have Democrat Derangement Syndrome (aka Trump or Bush DS), will agree it was not fair, it was unjust, to bring this up in this way, and most Americans do NOT like injustice.
c) for men, for Reps, for women who want real men to be available — they will see this excess power of accusation, and will be more likely to vote Rep.
Few change to now vote Dem; many decide Dems aren’t worth voting for; many decide they need to do the work of voting for Reps.
http://cultofthe1st.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-christine-blasey-fords-high-school_19.html?m=1 << the "now scrubbed" yearbooks are pretty damning against Ford's credibility.
Ford is blowing up eight ways from Sunday.
It’s not one thing, it’s everything across the board.
The Dems couldn’t completely scrub her past, something easily done thirty-years ago.
She’d have to be totally crazy to mouth off in Congress come this Monday.
What I care more about than the “scrubbed” yearbooks that make Ford look like a skank back in the day is WHY she mentioned this event at all in “couples’ therapy” in 2012.
What was going on between her & the Mr that caused this revelation to emerge? AND WHY was this private “couples’ stuff” forwarded to the Ds? Sure…I know Romney could win Kavanaugh could be nominated…this is the stuff of X-files conspiracies…But as skeptical of Ds as I am, I’m not sure I’m going there…yet.
Because really…it didn’t work to deny Justice Thomas a spot among the Supremes…Who in their fevered TDS thought it would work here?
I smell funny business all around that started in one place for one reason but got believed & shared & magnified for other reasons altogether. Like a bad game of “Chinese Whispers” where the end result is far far far off base from what started.
John Guilfoyle:
My theory about that, for what it’s worth. It’s just a guess, but here it is.
There were some couples problems, perhaps trust issues, perhaps even intimacy problems, and to explain this she mentioned a bad incident from her teenage years that scarred her in some way. Something like this may have actually happened to her at someone’s hands, and perhaps for whatever reason it did permanently affect her. Not so strange to have mentioned it in couple’s therapy, and for her therapist to write it down.
She did not name any names in the therapy—at least, none were written down by the therapist, not even a first name.
Later, Ford either saw her opportunity to lie and say it was Kavanaugh (ex post facto) or she actually came to believe it must have been Kavanaugh. Either way, she obtained the notes, wrote the letter, and the rest is history.
Of course, it’s also possible she said it back in 2012 just in case Romney won and Kavanaugh was nominated. However, I don’t think so. It’s possible, but too byzantine, and I think my explanation is both simpler and more plausible.
Mr. Frank on September 20, 2018 at 5:15 pm at 5:15 pm said:
This whole disaster reminds me of the Duke Lacrosse outrage. The lefty faculty beat up the boys without mercy.
* * *
Observe the cartoon.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0918/kass092018.php3
Eviscerating Kavanaugh: Sen. Feinstein, have you no sense of decency?
I’m reminded of an old POGO comic strip (which most readers probably won’t recognize):
A character gets his head stuck in a cannon (because stuff like that happened all the time in POGO).
After a great deal of work and general hijinks, the other characters manage to release him.
Whereupon, he says “Excuse me, gents, I forgot my hat”… and STICKS HIS HEAD BACK IN THE CANNON.
You don’t need Jujitsu to beat people like that – just show them the cannon and they jump right in.
richf — Democrats on Judiciary Committee: We have met the enemy and it is never us.
We all have made mistakes as teenagers, but why wait until a person becomes famous to stake a claim. And, who cares that Diane Feinstein has held a letter for months regarding this matter. It’s about time she and Pelosi retire gracefully into the sunset. Kavanaugh is highly qualified to become a Supreme Court Justice. If the internet was more popular 30 years ago, no one could qualify for any post of the government. No one is squeaky clean – “he who throws the stone”, etc. Ask Pelosi about the swimming pool she built with government funds.