Posted on 09/30/2018 6:02:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
You dont know me, though Ive met both Collins and Murkowski when I worked for the late Montana Senator Conrad Burns. But my life, and the lives of everyone in this country, are hanging on what you do next in the confirmation battle over Brett Kavanaugh.
I call it a battle rather than a process because it is a battle, a fight, even a war. I know each of you think youre doing your best to stave off that war, but youre only making it more likely.
Senator Flake, you were confronted on national television by two activists, both claiming to be rape survivors. Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila gained national fame over the video of that confrontation, and both say theyve never spoken about their experiences before. The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford gave them the strength, they said, to come forward. But they havent, at least as far as Ive seen so far.
These women have an opportunity to tell their stories and hopefully get justice. I hope they do. And I hope journalists whove granted them hero status, follow up and air their stories so other women wont risk being victimized by their attackers.
But theyre also dedicated liberal activists. There is no investigation, no piece of evidence (or lack thereof) that will change their opposition to Kavanaugh. If Dr. Ford herself held a press conference saying shed had more memories recovered and she now realizes she was wrong about him, Archia and Gallagher will not then encourage you to vote your consciences.
The same people whove been threatening all of you and your staffs are the same people youre hoping to placate. There is no process that ends with anything other than what they want that will quell this angry mob.
I know you dont want to believe that, youd prefer to believe there is some magical path forward that will please everyone. That doesnt exist.
Hours after Senator Flake caused yet another FBI background check of Judge Kavanaugh, the official Twitter account the Womens March tweeted out his picture with the caption, Rape Apologist.
In fact, they called every single one of your colleagues on the Judiciary Committee a Rape Apologist, with each getting their own tweet and captioned photo. Do you believe your fellow Republican Senators are rape apologists? How do you find middle ground with that? What, short of total and complete capitulation, will be enough for them?
What will be enough for people who verbally attacked Senator Ted Cruz and his wife in a restaurant? Or Secretary Kristjen Neilson? Or anyone else with an (R) as their political affiliation whos been on the receiving end of the liberal mobs rage?
I understand your desire to look for the best in people, even people doing horrible things. But sometimes its not simply good people doing horrible things under extraordinary circumstances, sometimes theyre just horrible people being themselves.
One liberal activist from a prominent left-wing organization said, after the elevator confrontation, Tell me again why we shouldn't confront Republicans where they eat, where they sleep, and where they work until they stop being complicit in the destruction of our democracy.
Is that what you want, more of your colleagues confronted where they eat, where they sleep, where they work? If this tactic is rewarded, there will be no reason for more people to not use this tactic, on both sides. After all, Democrats eat, sleep, and work too.
Some of these liberal activists published the home addresses and phone numbers of Senators Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, and Orrin Hatch this week with that very thought in mind. It was just last year that Congressman Steve Scalise was shot and nearly killed when one of these mob members set out to murder as many Republicans as possible on a baseball field over the health care debate. The left won that battle, yet the hate didnt subside. Not even a little.
Nothing will ever be enough.
The Democrats playbook is to keep people in an emotional frenzy over everything to prevent rational thought. Have you heard widespread condemnation of Republicans being confronted in public by Democratic leaders? Passive, yes, but consistent rebuking of each event? No, you have not.
I wrote a book on this very subject. Id send each of you copies, but I know how the Senate mail system works and how the radiation used to render any chemical or biological agents harmless destroys paper. But trust me, none of this is spontaneous, and none of this will end as long as there are people who stand in their way.
Brett Kavanaugh is not the monster they are portraying him as, any more than you are as they have and will continue to portray you to be. There is literally nothing to indicate there is truth in any of the allegation against him. People just dont grow out of being monsters, its either in them or its not.
Unless everyone named by Dr. Ford was, under penalty of felony, lying to you and the press, the FBI will return quickly with the same statements youve already read. Outside of Dr. Ford, who cant remember the only details of her story that would allow Judge Kavanaugh to clear his name the where and when there is no credible human being who can say he did anything inappropriate. No witnesses to an allegation at a crowded party at Yale, no memory from Dr. Fords friend who would have been abandoned by her at a party. If someone were abandoned at a party by their friend, leaving them the only female there, it would be remembered and it would be asked about the next time they saw each other. But that didnt happen.
As for the outrageous gang rape claims, theyre so absurd on their face that they arent worth a seconds thought.
Thursday, you heard testimony from a woman who is being used by activists and politicians to obtain a political goal. Dr. Fords lawyers said she was afraid to fly, which was why the hearing wasnt held sooner. Yet she testified that she is not afraid to fly. She testified she wished Senate investigators would have come to her privately. That was offered to her, repeatedly and publicly, but her team insisted on a public hearing. Someone is not telling the truth.
Activists wanted that hearing public, they needed that hearing public, no matter what Dr. Ford wanted. Her name and story were leaked, against her wishes, to start this process; and her team, suggested to her by Senator Feinstein, worked to make it happen. It was a ploy, used to delay, used to fundraise, and used to try to destroy a good man for the sin of existing wrong in the eyes of the political left. If you truly want to return some civility to our politics you need to make sure incivility doesnt work, that is fails.
Im a nobody and you have no reason to believe my words simply because I wrote them. However, you should believe everything youve seen, and everything youre seeing.
The past 2 weeks have seen Democrats and activists demanding an FBI investigation, which you now have facilitated. Once they got it, they demanded it not have any limits is time or scope. Just as the previous week saw a demand to hear Dr. Ford, then once immediately agreed to, demands for delay for reasons she testified were not true.
All the while, Judge Kavanaugh, who immediately pledged to cooperate with this latest FBI investigation, was declared a rapist, something no one has even alleged, by politicians, pundits, and journalists. USA Today said this man who loves coaching his daughters in basketball should stay off basketball courts for now when kids are around.
There is nothing remotely resembling proof of anything alleged, yet these partisan guttersnipes dont care, they want his head because they are terrified he reveres the Constitution. If it were not Brett Kavanaugh, these poison arrows would be sticking out someone elses back. Hes not under attack for what hes done, hes under attack for what he believes.
We need to be better than this as a nation. We can be better than this, but only by defeating it. And you three are the only ones who can defeat it. If you want a legacy, let it be that you stood up, in the face of extreme hatred and smears that, only a few years ago, would have been unthinkable, and said no more.
The fate of the future of our politics and our country literally hangs on your votes. I implore each of you: do not leave my children a world where these tactics work. No legislation youve introduced, no vote youve ever cast is as important as standing up for decency and justice now.
Thank you,
Derek
Flake voted YES just so he could get the FBI investigation. If he had voted NO, there’s no way the investigation could have advanced.
IMHO, he really wanted to vote No due to his utter hatred of President Trump.
Jeff, your retirement day can’t get here soon enough. Good luck in the lobbyist community. I’m sure there are big bucks waiting for you.
Which is even more reason Grassley should have provided for Rebecca Mitchell to submit her findings/opinion of Fords allegations during the public broadcast of the hearing. As we know by now, she with her years of experience looking for probable cause (or reason to believe it more likely the event occurred than not) states there is none in this case.
That may not have been procedurally possible, of course.
However, since the Dems applauded Mitchells even handedness perhaps McConnell ought to call her back for a debut, or at least ask for a written opinion it can read for the record (in order to frighten a handful of Dems who might fear it would give their constituents reason to turn on them).
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