Kavanaugh and Perjury

[Guest]

What do you think will happen in a week when nothing beyond what is known is found? If I had to guess, after this 'FBI INVESTIGATION' wraps up in totes one week, the vote goes party line (with maybe one GOP Senator dissenting for some reason).

- Doc

Let's hope that doesn't happen! I share your fear that it will, though.

ETA: Another thing that scares me is that even if both Collins and Murkowski vote against Kavanaugh, and are joined by Flake, it is still not a sure thing he will be rejected. There are at least 4 Democrat Senators who seem to be on the fence on this issue.

I missed where the link to Townhall.com talked about the Democrats who may align with Republicans on this, but I thought the closing argument is worth bringing forward:

This isn’t about honoring the traditions of the process right now. The victory we would clinch in this Supreme Court fight is too good to pass up. Senate majority be damned for now, we can always win back Congress. Democrats will overreach, Trump will have the perfect punching bag for his 2020 re-elect, and the far left lunacy that will be peddled out won’t catch on with voters. In the meantime, a solid conservative majority will be on the Court. It’s time to fix bayonets, GOP.

I've seen liberals in various places say they hope Kavanaugh will get confirmed because it will ensure a motivated Democrat turnout in next month's midterms. Every time I read that it reminds me how politically naïve so many liberals are compared to conservatives. While the argument is really academic (the Republicans are almost certain to get someone on the bench before January) the idea that a Supreme Court justice, with a lifetime appointment with decades of influence, is balanced out by taking Congress for two years is just plain stupid. It's why we ended up with Trump in the first place, because dummies who couldn't do math and realize voting in Clinton for 4-8 years guaranteed two young, liberal justices (Alito's replacement, and Ginsberg's) with a possibility of a third if Kennedy had decided to retire with a Democrat in office was a major reason to show up LAST damned NOVEMBER. But Clinton gave talks to big corporations for a paycheck and had email issues, voted to authorize the Bush administration's war in Iraq, and wasn't prone to authoring dead on arrival bills with ideologically lofty titles that were pragmatically impossible so “F” that. Choosing to vote third party, stay home, or even worse, "We'd be better off with Trump because he's an Washington outsider and will “F” things up in Washington,"...

But the article above gets how the branches of government work, terms limit the impact of any one election, and that it's inevitable any major takeover of Congress will fail to meet expectations so the motivational swings will go the other way in a measly two years.

[_honorentheos]

On the question of Democrats looking at supporting Kavanaugh, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota is the Democrats most vulnerable Senator this election and totes herself as independent in a very conservative state. Her voting record supports her claim she isn't for or against Trump, and voted in support of Trump's position over 50% of the time in the last two years. I'm fairly sure if the FBI investigation does not uncover something that sheds new light on Kavanaugh that also impacts the uncommitted Republicans, she'll vote to confirm.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I'm fairly sure if the FBI investigation does not uncover something that sheds new light on Kavanaugh that also impacts the uncommitted Republicans, she'll vote to confirm.

Thanks for giving me something to google-fu today, Honor. I really, really, REALLY believed that Democrats would close ranks on this one. The game is afoot and to hand Trump a second justice on the Supreme Court, I thought, was intolerable for them. All they need is two Republicans to break ranks; surely there are two Republican Senators that can't afford to appear to their base to not #justbelieveher?

If the Democrats lose a Senator on this confirmation it's disastrous because it just blew up their angle for the November elections and I think their base would lose steam since the GOP would point to a female Senator and say, "See? Even a woman Senator knew this was total BS!?!?!"

- Doc

[Guest]

It's politics, Cam. She's in a state where her survival as a Senator depends on being seen as independent from both parties. She voted to confirm Gorsuch, for example, though it was clear at that point he was going to get confirmed. If, after the investigation, things stay as they are it seems likely she'd see a vote against Kavanaugh as falling on her sword that benefits no one.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

1. In 2004, Kavanaugh said he was not involved in the handling of the controversial nomination of federal Judge William Pryor. That was a lie. E-mails later showed that he was involved.

2. Kavanaugh was asked if he was involved with a scheme to steal Democratic staff e-mails related to judicial confirmations. He lied about it. E-mails showed that he was involved.

3. In 2006, Kavanaugh was asked if he was involved in the controversial nomination of federal Judge Charles Pickering. He lied about that too and said he was not.

4. In 2006, Kavanaugh was asked about his role in the nomination of William Haynes, the Pentagon general counsel involved in creating the Bush administration’s interrogation policies. He lied about that.

This is the big stuff that ought to scare the crap out of anyone that genuinely believes he's a threat to the Supreme Court' ability to be neutral. I really wish the Democrats would've hit home with more of this, because there has to be more than this about his time on bench and his involvement with the GOP. Hopefully this week the Democrats shift their approach a bit and get away from the nonsense. This is the stuff that matters and they have a week to inundate Senators with allegations that genuinely translate to his professional conduct.

5. He said the term “devil’s triangle” in his yearbook entry referred to a drinking game. Google it. It doesn’t.

So, I googled 'devil's triangle urban dictionary' and this is one of the entries:

Devils triangle

A pretend drinking game made up on 9/27/18 by "Honorable" Brett Kavanaugh when faced with credible allegations of sexual assault put forward by no less than four (so far) women. Devils triangle is a threesome with two men and one woman, not a drinking game like Quarters, as Kavanope would like everyone to believe. Devils triangle can also be defined as a lie told under perjury when a belligerent white male feels cornered when confronted with his own disgusting behavior, most likely with the blessing of a patriarchal and mysogynistic system.
"Devils triangle is a game like Quarters, except its nothing like Quarters and its actually code for a sexual threesome. Please believe me I have told myself these lies so many times I am beginning to believe them. Help I'm a scared white male!" --Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court Hearings

"Can you believe the Devils Triangle that that guy just offered under oath?! It's obvious he's lying and no sane person would believe this ridiculousness..." --a sane person with common sense, right before a whole bunch of self-serving, corrupt, and close-minded politicians stood by the lie

via giphy
#devils triangle#devil's triangle#devils' triangle#kavanaugh#kavanope#save our democracy#fbi investigation now#i believe christine blase ford#believe survivors#we will not go back#sanity now

This will not be a successful tactic to dissuade anyone of Kavanaugh's professionalism, and in fact will energize the GOP base because it just comes across as smears, a hit job, and hysteria.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

I'm pretty sure a funny Urban Dictionary entry making fun of Kavanaugh's lies is going to have approximately zero effect on electoral politics.

[_EAllusion]

So the other day I was thinking there is a 90%+ chance that people on the alt-right are going to try and manufacture a false rape allegation if and when a Democrats are able to nominate a male to the Supreme Court. Team red pill loves false flag operations as it is, but alt-righters also generally also believe what's good for the goose is good for the gander and that the allegations against Kavanaugh are a liberal plot to discredit him with lies.

I was thinking about this in the context of how important it is for liberal culture to think more intelligently about how to process allegations of sexual assault to deal with the coming storm. Then it dawned on me today that James O'Keefe's group invented a false rape allegation and took it to the Washington Post in an effort to discredit Roy Moore's legitimate accusers. The Washington Post just didn't fall for it because Project Veritas were incompetent hacks about it. I nearly forgot about that. It feels like it was 47 years ago.

[_subgenius]

I'm pretty sure a funny Urban Dictionary entry making fun of Kavanaugh's lies is going to have approximately zero effect on electoral politics.

as will anything Urban Dictionary has to offer. Only an idiot would consider UD as a definitive resource to validate or invalidate slang terms from the 80s.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I'm pretty sure a funny Urban Dictionary entry making fun of Kavanaugh's lies is going to have approximately zero effect on electoral politics.

Of course. But the point is the definition is how the use of 'devil's traingle' is being taken by Conservatives. I have to imagine it's just taken as a smear tactic rather than Kavanaugh being 'edgy' in his yearbook. It's just another thing the Right can take and point to as being nonsense hysterics by the Left.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

Remember when Sotomayor, easily the best person on the Supreme Court at the moment, was subject to a quasi-panic over her being a mediocre thinker who got to where she was due to affirmative action? Or when she was compared to Hitler on Fox News because she half-agreed with Obama about the importance of empathy in judicial decisions?

I do. Both of those things were aptly described as hysterical. The hysterics didn't drive Republicans into the arms of the Democratic party to ensure perpetual Democratic control. They probably didn't move the needle at all. Describing Kavanaugh's laughbly implausible descriptions of his yearbook entry as lies is neither hysterical nor the sort of thing that drives anyone's partisan habits.