Posted on 09/29/2018 7:38:13 PM PDT by MaxistheBest
As the Senate Judicial Committee gathered to vote Friday afternoon to move Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for a vote in the Senate, word trickled out that Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana was a no vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Donnelly is in a tough re-election race back home and Republicans hope to separate him from the herd of Democrats in lock-step opposition Judge Kavanaugh.
SEE ALSO: NBC: Brexit’s six months away — and looking like a disaster
As we all know now, Senator Jeff Flake decided to lob a last-minute bomb into the committee’s proceedings by holding his yes vote hostage to a demand that the FBI investigate Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations. He put a time limit of no longer than a week for the delay. Republicans were forced to go along in order to have the votes to move the process out of the committee and onto the Senate floor.
But, a late afternoon headline in a northwest Indiana newspaper shines a glimmer of a doubt on Senator Donnelly’s commitment to a no vote. He told the newspaper’s editorial board that now he’s willing to wait for the FBI’s report before making a final decision. In other words, Donnelly has moved from a no vote to a maybe.
U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said he will await an FBI investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh before deciding whether to raise him to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Donnelly spoke Friday afternoon before The Times Editorial Board.
“I think Hoosiers are where I am on this. I want to know what happened,” he said.
It looks like the last minute demands of the senator from Arizona may give some red-state Democrats cover to vote yes after the FBI investigates. Flake is a weasel. He’s a bitter Never Trumper who, I believe, would like nothing more than to have a big, splashy eff you vote to stick it to President Trump as he ends his time in the Senate. Think John McCain and his dramatic thumbs down on the Obamacare repeal vote. In Flake’s case, he veils his opposition to Trump by virtue-signaling – in this case, it is a sense of fairness to the accuser – yet his voting record is one of siding with Trump more than 90% of the time. He enjoys the attention he receives opposing Trump and the Democrats egg him on. You may have noticed that several Democrats on the committee specifically gave a shout-out to Flake for his hesitancy to vote with the rest of the Republicans.
My theory is that Flake is pushing for a sweet cable tv gig or maybe a spot as a lobbyist (or both) when his time in elected office ends. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine he’ll pursue a run for President in the near future.
So, this one week delay may work out to be a plus for the Kavanaugh vote. I was as aggravated as every other conservative when Flake pulled his stunt but maybe there is the silver lining that Donnelly will vote yes in the end. This also allows Senators Collins and Murkowski to vote yes after a renewed investigation while explaining to the voters at home that it was the fair thing to do. Democrats in red-states that Trump won big (bigly) like North Dakota and West Virginia would then be able to do the same. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Joe Manchin (WVA) may separate from their herd, too. It’s possible.
Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination is supported by Indiana’s Republican Senator Todd Young.
I am certain that this last minute investigation into the accuser’s allegations against Kavanaugh will not change any other Democrat votes. Most of them were a no vote before the hearings even began. I’m sure none have changed after Thursday’s testimonies, either. I’m not alone in this thought.
While the Democrats claim the Republicans are ramming through this Supreme Court nominee, the fact is that there would not have been any need for last-minute theatrics if Senator Feinstein had handled Dr. Ford’s allegations in good faith from the beginning. Republicans have used traditional procedure and protocol while Democrats deliberately weaponized the #MeToo movement for their own political gain.
Senator McConnell is moving forward with Judge Kavanaugh’s vote in the Senate. The tentative date is next Friday for a vote by the full Senate.
Then he will lose he seat in MT where he’s facing a tough re-election battle.
These three, or maybe two of them, will be Chuckie's designated flippers to settle the matter at the end of the day.
They'll also try to smear Amy Coney Barrett when she is nominated to replace (probably) Ginsburg... sometime... possibly in Trump's first term.
Thomas won't retire for awhile yet, not until he's seen something done about lower courts throwing their weight around...
It sounds like the polling across the country isn’t looking good for Democrats. I haven’t heard anybody in a maybe district be firm in voting no.
Missouri is showing Hawley 48% and Mcaskil 46% in the latest poll. People are getting angry. We gotta vote.
Red State Dems know their constituents want Kavanaugh confirmed and while the party’s liberal base wants him defeated they would committing political suicide doing that.
And if Schumer forces them to do it, the Rats will be even more in the minority after November so he has to cut them slack.
Yep - mission 1 for this election is holding the house. mission 2 is making Collins and Murkowski irrelevant to the GOP majority
Polling must be bad for a squish like this to start wavering
If Manchin wants another term he pretty much has to vote yes. Crazy high support for it in WV.
I don’t believe he can get past his hatred of Pres Trump. It’s highly unlikely he votes in the affirmative. Only reason would be if the Lobbying firm he want’s to work with has threatened his future earnings. I mean, if you were a Republican and a Lobbyist name Flake showed up at your office after he voted in the negative in his previous job, would YOU let him in your office? LOL
It comes down to Collins and Murkowski. If they vote yes, then some Dems might vote yes. NO Dem will cast the deciding vote to confirm. Doing so would be seen as treason to the Dems. and they would make that Senators life a living hell.
Both Donnelly and Manchin are waiting to find out how Flake, Collins, and Murkowski will vote. If the Republicans have enough votes to confirm the nomination without any Democrats, that leaves Donnelly and Manchin free to vote yes and maybe save their re-elections. If they vote no, they’re probably in trouble.
Probably rattled by the WV rally
too many women on SC already if Ginzy goes, I hope Trump nominates a guy. Those two other women justices don’t seem to take care of themselves well, i don’t see them lasting so long. Stick a woman in their place, maybe.
Saw the polls and realized a no ends his political career.
Hopfullly IN voters will send him packing either way
Kavanaugh will be confirmed by 52-55 votes. Possibly more as polling shows democrats how badly this played for them.
“And if Donnelly switches, Manchin will be right behind him.”
That’s the old “I don’t want to be first, but if someone else is first, I don’t want to be last!” trick. I remember back in the 1960’s, the “big three” automakers would agree among themselves not to have a horsepower race. Then one would break it, and it was so funny that the other guys had their “engine packages” ready to go right out of the box too.
“If we see a couple more of these flips from Dems, we can say Buh-Bye to the Flake-Collins-Murk Troika, as their votes will not be relevant to the end result. “
Which may also be why, at the end of the day the two GOPe b!tches cave too. Because their “conscience” votes not mattering to the outcome mean that they both end up being “inconsequential!” And when you’re from Alaska or Maine, you are very close to being inconsequential all the time, and may be moving yourself to “irrelevant” to both your constituents and to the country. As Trump would say, “Not Good!”
I hope we hold our RINOs and all the rats vote no so we can hold it over the heads of Donnelly, Heitkamp, and Manchin (and Jones in 2020!!!!!!!!!) not to mention certain no votes McCrapskul and Tester.
That was fast from a no to a maybe in a few days.
In the Orient; it is known as an out to 'save face'.
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.