Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dems: Yes, Avenatti hurt us on Kavanaugh
Hot Air ^ | October 7, 2018 | Allahpundit

Posted on 10/07/2018 7:53:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The only thing that’ll make the Kavanaugh saga sweeter for righties at this point is watching their least favorite lawyer get the Billy Batts treatment from his Democratic frenemies. He’s spent the past six months telling them to go get their shinebox. They were destined to stomp him as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

“Well you know at some point there were a lot of folks coming forward making all sorts of accusations,” said Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, when asked about the allegations raised by Avenatti and his client. “It turns it into a circus atmosphere and certainly that’s not where we should be.”…

“Democrats and the country would have been better off if Mr. Avenatti spent his time on his Iowa vanity project rather than meddling in Supreme Court fights,” a senior Senate Democratic aide fumed, referring to Avenatti toying with the idea of seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. “His involvement set us back, absolutely.”

A Democratic senator, who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly, said: “Not helpful at all. I think Susan was always yes, but Avenatti was a useful foil.”…

“It wasn’t helpful because the story became about Avenatti,” [a] Democratic senator [on the Judiciary Committee] said.

“One Republican congressional official called Mr. Avenatti’s involvement ‘manna from heaven,'” noted the Times in a story today. “From the other side, a Democratic congressional official called it ‘massively unhelpful.'” His enemies outside Congress are windmill-dunking on him too:

Kavanaugh owes an enormous debt to @MichaelAvenatti , who may have turned the tide in his favor by diluting Ford’s compelling accusation with an implausible story.

— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) October 7, 2018

“I think a lot of people, including many of my Democratic colleagues, felt like we had gotten into the foothills of preposterous” when Avenatti came forward with Swetnick’s gang-rape claims, said Republican John Kennedy on “Meet the Press.” Avenatti himself was defiant and indignant (always on-brand!) at the idea that he wrecked Democrats’ chances of borking the nominee so he doubled down this morning with a new statement. It’s nominally from Swetnick but written in fluent Avenatti-ese:

Below please find a statement from my client Julie Swetnick regarding the Kavanaugh nomination. I urge you to read it. pic.twitter.com/kBHL7cm8Pi

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) October 7, 2018

That’s the second post from the top at his Twitter account as I write this, by the way. The top post, which has been pinned there for weeks, is a statement of his policy positions ahead of his 2020 run. Ahem.

To be fair, his Democratic enemies’ motives in knifing him aren’t entirely pure. They’re annoyed that he hurt them on Kavanaugh but they’re also worried about him pulling a Trump in the 2020 primaries. His core appeal to liberals is that he alone among would-be nominees, supposedly, is both smart enough and ruthless enough to outmaneuver Trump; the progress of Stormygate, with Michael Cohen ultimately pleading guilty in federal court and implicating Trump in campaign finance violations, is the alleged proof. By pinning the Kavanaugh failure on him, Democrats are trying to drive home to his fans that not only is he not some master strategist, he just handed Trump one of the biggest political victories POTUS will ever have. If that perception catches on, that he got called for a dumb penalty as Dems were driving for the winning touchdown, it’ll smash whatever mystique he presently enjoys among lefties as some unbeatable political athlete.

The irony of the Avenatti/Swetnick matter is that a guy who’s omnipresent in media was done in by media. He makes a fair-ish point in the statement about Susan Collins and others ruling out Swetnick’s allegations as zany despite the fact that the FBI never interviewed her or looked into them. But the media, which was highly motivated for ideological reasons to substantiate Swetnick’s claims, did look into them. They found nothing. Swetnick’s interview with NBC did more to damage her credibility than to enhance it. Republicans and Democrats each operated on the assumption, I think, that if Avenatti had anything of substance he wouldn’t be playing cute by claiming corroborating witnesses and then declining to name them or produce them. He would have run with them to his friends at CNN and been on twice every hour of the day instead of his usual single hourly appearance. Because he didn’t, and because the press found nothing independently in Swetnick’s allegations to back him up, the conclusion was made in Congress that the feds needn’t bother investigating the Swetnick matter in light of the deadline they were facing. You would think a guy as supposedly media-savvy as Avenatti would have grasped that and acted accordingly from the start.

Or it could be that he did grasp it but felt obliged to keep Swetnick and the “witnesses” away from the cameras as much as possible because he knew they wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. Plus, let’s be real: The FBI could have spent a month investigating the Swetnick allegations and Avenatti would have whined afterward that it was insufficient if they turned up nothing credible. He’s Trumpy in many ways, but particularly in the sense that emanates from him that he’s incapable of seeing an outcome as fair if it goes against him. (That’s the essence of “He fights!” logic, really.)

But here’s the good news for Billy Batts: If he really does have the goods, nothing’s stopping him from blowing up Kavanaugh now. Bring out the witnesses and sit down for a full hour with Anderson Cooper or whoever to go through the story piece by piece. The fact that Kavanaugh has been sworn in as a justice only raises the stakes for substantiating a big reputation-destroying claim about youthful “rape parties” right now. Imagine how much that would achieve for Avenatti. Kavanaugh would be wrecked personally and professionally. If he didn’t resign immediately, it would turbo-charge the demands for impeachment. Trump and Republicans would be shattered, left to explain why they ignored Swetnick in the first place and saddled with the fact that they confirmed a likely rapist to the Supreme Court. The party would be torn in half as the impeachment debate played out. The FBI would be humiliated for having overlooked Avenatti’s evidence in its own investigation. And the left would be so ecstatic about his ability to turn defeat in the Kavanaugh matter into an unlikely total victory that he’d become the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination overnight. All he has to do his show cards.

If he doesn’t, what are we to conclude about the strength of the hand he’s holding? What are we to conclude about it if he and Swetnick don’t demand that Maryland police launch a very belated investigation of the “rape parties”?

Via the Right Scoop, here’s Susan Collins making an underappreciated point about how Avenatti and Swetnick changed the process. It’s not just that their more outlandish claims intensified perceptions of a smear campaign, it’s that they helped justify Kavanaugh’s display of anger at his hearing. That anger, which rallied the base to his side, was what saved his nomination. If he had been that angry with only the Ford allegation against him, it likely would have put everyone off and sunk him. Exit question: Would Swetnick have gotten more traction if she had chosen a different lawyer to represent her? Both Republicans and Democrats had political reasons to want Avenatti to fail here. If Swetnick had gone to, say, Gloria Allred instead, what would have happened? It still would have been a circus but maybe not one that Dems would have shied away from.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)


TOPICS: Florida; Campaign News; Parties; State and Local; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS: 2018; abortion; alandershowitz; avenatti; brettkavanaugh; creepypornlawyer; democrats; dershowitz; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; florida; garypeters; julieswetnick; kavanaugh; kavenaugh; maga; maine; mediawingofthednc; michaelavenatti; michaelcohen; michigan; midterms; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; richardvinneccy; scotus; smearmachine; stephanieclifford; stormydaniels; supremecourt; susancollins; swetnick; thedersh
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

1 posted on 10/07/2018 7:53:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Not following politics as closely since lately it gives me nausea, but when I first read that this nonsense was about an incident in high school, I WAS SURE that would be the last I read of it.

I NEVER thought it would have legs, as wobbly as they were, and am still in shock and i think this will HURT dems in the midterms.

Because it’s completely ####ing ridiculous.

And even if he HAD done something, though it’s quite obvious he didn’t, I thought dems were all about redemption for criminals, especially ones with only one or two offenses?

hypocrites.


2 posted on 10/07/2018 7:59:38 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

—Would Swetnick have gotten more traction if she had chosen a different lawyer to represent her?-—

This is a dumb question, because Avenatti was trolling for this stuff and willing to throw money at questionable people willing to make up stories.

Swetnick’s “story” doesn’t even happen unless Avenatti is the attorney. HE was pushing it, and found her seemingly out of nowhere.


3 posted on 10/07/2018 8:00:47 PM PDT by StoneRainbow68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas,
You stupid vicious soulless bastards


4 posted on 10/07/2018 8:01:33 PM PDT by j.havenfarm ( 1,500 posts as of 8/10/18. A FReeper since 2000; never shutting up!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]



5 posted on 10/07/2018 8:02:47 PM PDT by Chode ( WeÂ’re America, Bitch!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
I like that the those who see this issue clearly but still have to maintain some modicum of tact call Blasey's story 'compelling' rather than 'credible.'

It threads the needle saying 'we respected her right to speak, and our obligation to listen once respectfully, but while we can't prove a negative, we find her full of sh*t'

6 posted on 10/07/2018 8:05:00 PM PDT by tinyowl (A is A)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

One lie, all lies.


7 posted on 10/07/2018 8:05:10 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Dear D’s,
what hurt you the most on Kavanaugh were the following...

1. all your lies
2. Diane Feinstein’s perfidy
3. all your SorozNazi street thugs yelling threats and insults
4. all your telephonic, US mail, email, social media, and IM’s threatening or insulting Senators as well as the American people
5. all your party hacks threatening further BULLSheit during and now after the confirmation


you’ve shown your evil nature.... the American people can see what you tried to do ... with Zero evidence....to destroy a fine jurist’s life....and ...
6. you have D’s now bragging they are happy they did it, too

those are some, at least, of the reasons you lost.

Behave like Nazi thugs and the American people will...have already....take(n) note.

This is not 1933 Germany anymore Tell your financier-puppetmeister (SorozNazi)


8 posted on 10/07/2018 8:09:25 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

It was Dianne Feinstein who really set them back .
Ludicrous charges no longer fly.


9 posted on 10/07/2018 8:10:50 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
"The only thing that’ll make the Kavanaugh saga sweeter for righties at this point is watching"

...this meltdown video James woods just retweeted

https://twitter.com/freedom_moates/status/1049063520783032320

10 posted on 10/07/2018 8:11:20 PM PDT by Electric Graffiti (Jeff Sessions IS the insurance policy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Thanks to God for our close escape from satan’s lies.
And thank God there is still a faithful praying remnant of Americans to stave off the Hand of Judgement.

If not for that Faithful, praying remnant, all freedom would have been lost.


11 posted on 10/07/2018 8:11:32 PM PDT by Cyclops08
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

My conclusion: Trump did not sign the non disclosure agreement because of his disdain for the attorney. Indeed, Trump’s name, based on a signature could not be affixed to the whole matter.


12 posted on 10/07/2018 8:12:40 PM PDT by Tuketu (The i(D)iot Platform is splinters bound by crazy glue. TRUMP is the solvent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

The globalist left continually and habitually allies itself with the worst elements of humanity. Avenetti’s only crime to the Democratic Party is that he is too obviously and without a godamned doubt a scumbag.

Only idiots can claim ignorance of the Democratic Party’s criminality and evil.


13 posted on 10/07/2018 8:14:08 PM PDT by WMarshal (America First)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Democrats hurt themselves on this more than Avenatti, particularly Feinstein and Hirono.
14 posted on 10/07/2018 8:14:22 PM PDT by Widget Jr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622
It was Anita Hill 2. I wonder what kind of BS the next nominee will have to put up with, cuz you know it’s coming. 👎 Maybe the next nominee will be a woman, so the rats 🐀 can’t accuse her of gang rape. They will just come up with something else.
15 posted on 10/07/2018 8:16:43 PM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Electric Graffiti

They are indeed mentally unstable. Unable to control themselves. Dangerous.


16 posted on 10/07/2018 8:18:15 PM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Mark17

Wow. Anita Hill. I’m 50 now, was just a lad when that happened :(

And you are right. There will ALWAYS Be something, even if it is a woman.

Abuse of domestic help. Kicking a homeless person, tying her husband into some horrifying Russian menace scheme, something or other.


17 posted on 10/07/2018 8:21:41 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

He kind of pulled the veil back on the Dems didn’t he?

I don’t think he forced the #FakeNews outlets to slobber all over him though.


18 posted on 10/07/2018 8:40:03 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

When the Stormy stuff came out I said the dems will be tripping over each other to shut this guy up.


19 posted on 10/07/2018 8:44:31 PM PDT by bigbob (Trust Sessions. Trust the Plan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622
Abuse of domestic help. Kicking a homeless person, tying her husband into some horrifying Russian menace scheme, something or other.

Maybe they will say her husband had a business class seat on the Lolita Express, and he is a serial rapist, and she is covering for him. Kind of like the Hildebeast, except she was praised for it, and “stood by her man.” What a bunch of ass hats 🎩

20 posted on 10/07/2018 8:48:29 PM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson