Posted on 10/05/2018 6:50:40 PM PDT by RightGeek
At 12:30 in the afternoon on September 27, I don’t think there were many serious political thinkers or activists on the Right who thought Brett Kavanaugh would survive that morning’s testimony by his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
Eight days later—today—Kavanaugh all but secured his appointment. The question is, how did this happen. The answer is: Kavanaugh happened.
In his unprecedented speech following Ford’s testimony, Kavanaugh not only blasted the process but made no pretense when it came to those who had manipulated it—liberal groups, people angry with Donald Trump, people wanting to take revenge for the Clintons. The speech electrified the right. There is no other word for it.
It was this very speech that caused so much tut-tutting and concern about Kavanaugh’s judicial temperament among the very people who were already opposing him for any and every reason—and among those who instinctively feel the need to beg for mercy and seek absolution any time anything a conservative says or does puts liberals in high dudgeon. But everything that triggered those people turned Kavanaugh into what he had not been before—a cause.
The idea he was attempting to convey was that the career-destroying and reputation-destroying forces that been activated against him were singing from an old hymnal. They were seeking to ruin him to deny the views he might have shared with conservative Republicans their place on the Court. They wished to invalidate conservative views through any means necessary, including the deployment of a horrific charge made without any supporting evidence.
For Republicans and conservatives with a long memory, this was not just about Kavanaugh. It was about Bob Bork, and the near destruction of Clarence Thomas, and the illegitimate prosecution of Reagan Labor Secretary Ray Donovan...
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
Hey John, all of you 'serious' assholes who thought that load of BS she was peddling was going to derail this nomination should quit your jobs as 'political thinkers' and live the rest of your sorry ass lives hanging your pathetic heads in shame.
sorry but the first sentence makes me laugh because it’s silly and also makes me wonder why does the writer try to tell me what they think i was thinking sept 27?
Good article. I’m glad Kavanaugh didn’t give up. The ‘rat bastards can’t be allowed to get away with this crap.
Great post!
And from Commentary, wow, didn’t expect that from them.
GreAt article. Masterful writing.
“Kavanaugh, for the first time, used language in his testimony to make it implicitly clear to the people whose support he needed—people who would pressure wavering senators—that he was being assaulted by the very forces Republicans and conservatives had been fighting against for the better part of 40 years. He called them out by name and thanked President Trump for his support. This was a breach of judicial etiquette, but you cannot ask a man to allow himself to be ruined to preserve a set of behaviors that have already been rendered passe by the deployment of charges of sexual assault and gang rape. I mean, you can ask, but only a fool would take you up on it.
Kavanaugh saved himself. The staggering turnabout in polls in different races in different parts of the country makes that clear. Privately, Republican campaigns report they have never seen a sleeping body politic jolt awake in this way. You don’t like the politics of it? For those otherwise sympathetic to Kavanaugh’s plight who think he took it too far, you simply have to understand that had he not done so, he would have been known forever as the gang rapist who lost his Supreme Court gig.
And for those unsympathetic to his plight, for those who decided (even if they believed every word of Ford’s claims) to play this high-risk last-minute hand—you overplayed it. Your bluff was called. Brett Kavanaugh himself called it.”
IIRC correctly John and his serious friends didn’t think there was a real chance Trump would be the Republican nominee. Then they didn’t think there was a serious chance he would beat Hillary. Not exactly a bunch of Kreskins.
Kavanaugh did happen but there were a couple of points during the questioning where I did cringe a little at his answers. Not that I disagreed personally, but when you’re dealing with sick minds, you should know they will take whatever you say and twist it. But I think Graham’s statement at the end of the hearing had a profound effect on some senators (and others) on the right who did still have some level of doubt. It was a great rallying speech.
“Republicans and conservatives could see the same enemies arrayed against Kavanaugh they had seen over the past 35 years: liberal interest groups and the Democratic politicians whose staffs help populate those groups working hand in hand with a pliable and credulous media to create the impression of guilt and evil where there are no facts to back up that impression.”
Nailed it.
“. . . to make it implicitly clear . . .”
Implicitly works well too, though.
John doesn’t know any serious political thinkers or activists on the right, hence the erroneous opening line.
Oh yeah Collins vote was a given /s
It was a near miracle and highly improbable that he got confirmed.
I did and you’re right - it’s an excellent summary.
I thought at the time that Kavanaugh’s speech was perfect, and if you’d asked me why I would have said “Because he is hurt, angry, and pissed off, which is exactly how any innocent man would have been in his place. He showed raw emotion, not the rehearsed croaky-voice emotion from Ford’d performance, and everyone knew in their gut he was telling the truth, regardless of whether the chose to admit it or not.
It was like Damnatio ad bestias - throwing Christians to the lions - except he’d crawled, beaten and bloody, up to the dias where the Emperor and his court sat and made what he thought might well be his last public speech. You knew at the time that his fate was in their hands, but he didn’t beg or humble himself, instead he stood as a man falsely accused and defended his life, family, and reputation.
It will be a speech for the ages. By calling out the injustice his accusers were putting on him he stood alone for the most basic principle of the law and it’s highest tradition - the presumption of innocence.
Thanks for posting.
The article is right, Judge Kavanaugh saved himself, no thanks the the nutless, hand-flapping, bottom boys of the GOP. President Trump helped but he couldn’t have saved Judge Kavanaugh by himself with the whipped curs that we have had representing conservatives in Congress.
what also happened is, the Repubs took their time back from Rachel Mitchell, just in time.
Nope.
The answer is : Trump happened.
The push was for him to pull the nomination, which is the typical GOPe response.
But he not only would not but backed Kavanaugh.
PING
It will be a speech for the ages. By calling out the injustice his accusers were putting on him he stood alone for the most basic principle of the law and it’s highest tradition - the presumption of innocence.
Read more at # 14.
Thank you, bigbob.
I totally agree. If Kavanaugh ever gets tired of the Supreme Court there is nothing preventing him from stepping down and running for President. We know that he is a good judge, we know that he has experienced abuse at the hands of those in power, and know that he fights; what more could we ask for?
Trump didn’t give up.
Others I could mention would have, long ago.
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