Friday, September 28, 2018

The Kavanaugh Capers

I have to admit that I got momentarily hopeful during Brett Kavanaugh's meltdown before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday afternoon.

Despite his denials, it was supremely obvious that this middle-aged preppie had watched Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against him that morning. He had noticed, right along with the rest of the country, that the Republican men on the committee were sniveling cowards who abrogated their own sworn duties to a female sex crimes prosecutor in a vain attempt to hide their historical misogyny from the world. 

Therefore, in a desperate attempt to save his professional life, he dropped the noblesse humility routine and unleashed the ugly aggression he had more or less kept hidden from the world for his entire life. Between copious gulps of water to hide the self-pitying tear-water gushing unbidden from his beady little eyes, he waxed bathetic about his obsessive-compulsive, calendar-keeping father being the role model of minutiae for any red-blooded American preppie who worked his tail off competing in violent sports and hanging out at the country club. He blubbered about being the only child of a woman jurist whose idea of family mealtime conversations was badgering her husband and son in practice sessions for courtroom inquisitions. The Kavanaugh kitchen table apparently did double duty as a witness box.

No wonder Kavanaugh kept sobbing and slugging the water through his angry tears. His throat must have dried up just thinking about the torture of his upper middle class home life - torture that he may have relieved by drinking to excess and assaulting young women and girls before he finally graduated to writing the legal justifications for torture as a well-credentialed pathocrat in the Bush administration. He finally matured just enough to sublimate his sadism.

Until, for possibly the first time in his adult life, he was called to account.

Kavanaugh's unhinged, paranoid opening statement should have been enough to condemn him. Who wants a cornered wild animal on the Supreme Court? Even the most die-hard Republicans might have taken pause, given that one of their own was making a Donald Trump ultra-right campaign rally look almost like a sober academic exercise in comparison.

Very naively, I expected that the very first words out of lead Democrat Dianne Feinstein's mouth would be to ask him whether he'd been drinking alcohol that afternoon, or if he was taking any psychotropic medications, or if he had ever sought or received mental health counseling or substance abuse treatment. Demanding that he count backward from 100 or name the first president would also not have been beyond the pale, in light of his public tantrum with its own microcosmic mix of mood swings between anger, despair, megalomania, and paranoia.  Instead, she appeared merely stunned and mindlessly persisted with her own rehearsed line of softballs.

Oh well, I thought, the woman is in her eighties. She's probably tired. But then, one after the other, the Democratic "opposition" of trained legal eagles fell like a house of cards. One after another, they asked the same lame question about why Kavanaugh wouldn't independently request an FBI investigation into the latest allegations.

It didn't take long for both the feral Republicans on the panel and their nominee to sniff the terminally anemic Democratic blood. After only a few minutes they even dispensed with their female sex crimes prosecutor proxy and started not so much asking questions as ranting their opposition to the Democrats. (They actually did make a valid point in speculating which Democrat had  leaked Dr. Blasey Ford's name to the media without her consent.)

As for Kavanaugh, his own tears quickly dried as he went into full prosecutorial mode against his own pretend-prosecutors. If they dared question him about his drinking habits, he hectored them about their own drinking habits. And they sat there, and they took it. He was the raging locomotive, and they were the decrepit piles of automotive rust stuck on the tracks.

Lest he be seen as a Mama's boy for conferring too often with his own attorney, a woman named Beth Wilkinson who is married to current CNN contributor and former NBC star David Gregory, Kavanaugh took breaks from the proceedings at regular intervals. (compared to only one taken by Dr. Blasey Ford that morning.)  To be fair, though, he could also have a weak bladder from drinking all that water, or whatever it was.

The bad parts: Kavanaugh will probably be confirmed, once GOP "moderates" Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins can safely vote No with the help of perhaps a few Democratic wingnuts like Joe Manchin giving him the thumbs up. Kavanaugh will then proceed to take more legal revenge against women, and children, and men, than he normally would have without having been accused of sex crimes.  

Strangely enough, though, there is plenty of good stuff coming out of this hearing.

--Most important of all, Dr. Blasey Ford is inspiring many more women to speak up about - and out against - their own predators. It has been a catharsis. Even if her own attacker is confirmed, her testimony will not have been in vain. Predators in all walks of life and from all social classes have been put on notice like never before.

--For anyone who still thought the Democrats were the champions of the little guy, and gal, they were disabused of their faith from watching the sad liberal performance at Thursday's hearing. Not only was it not the "grilling" that was advertised, the Democrats may as well have donned their butlers' uniforms and presented Kavanaugh with a tray full of gourmet soft-serve custard. They are so used to serving money and power they couldn't help being their normal, collegial, deferential selves to his snarling face. They will save their faux vitriol for the TV cameras and their fundraising emails.  This debacle should cost them plenty in both money and votes, hastening the demise of a hopelessly weak and corrupt party which has become nothing but the slightly liberal appendage of this country's de facto totalitarian system of one-party rule of, by, and for corporations and billionaires.

--Kavanaugh was probably right about one thing. He will never be able to resume what he creepily described as his life's crowning achievement and pleasure: coaching girls' basketball. Along with getting lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court, Preppie Boy will also have to spend the rest of his life on the virtual Sex Crimes Registry. He will likely be marginalized by his peers in the court. All his opinions - if he is even allowed to write a couple - will be tainted with corruption, both personal and institutional. Perhaps he will even succeed where Clarence Thomas failed, becoming the impetus for Supreme Court term limits.

For that to happen, though, we must first ensure that there are at least two ruling political parties in this country. That sounds like a low bar, for sure, and it certainly must be accompanied by the removal of bribery money from politics. 

A pivot to anything even remotely resembling representative democracy will be a long slog, to put it mildly. But the more people who are finally waking up to their own justified anger, the better. The wake-up calls have been coming in loud and clear lately, despite the best efforts of the political-media complex to alternately keep us entertained and scared witless by the twin specters of Trump and "Russian meddling in our totally free and fair elections."

Thanks, Kavanaugh. Thanks, Senate. You are virtual alarm bells ringing in the heads of the moribund. You should be very, very afraid.

13 comments:

Anna Radicalova said...

Poor Christine. The Democrats hung her out to dry. They didn't even do the least bit of preparation to support her testimony. It took Rachel Mitchell to point out the date of July 1 on Brett's calendar which noted the names of the same cast of characters that Christine testified were at the pre-party. That's of course when the Republicans pulled Ms. Mitchell off questioning and took over with their speeches.

Democrats didn't do any homework in regard to the yearbook either. K explained to Corey Booker that his reference to 'Devil's Triangle' in his yearbook was a reference to a drinking game and Booker accepted his lame explanation. A quick check at Urban Dictionary would have revealed that it refers to a sexual threesome which is pretty much what Christine Ford was alleging was attempted against her will. Brett barely suppressed a smirk when he got away with that one.

Then Booker asked about the yearbook phrase used by both K and Mark Judge 'Have you boofed yet?'. K claimed it referred to flatulence, as in 'Have you farted yet?' That is more commonly a term that refers to anal sex which can also be part of the Devil's Triangle. Duh. Brett also got away with indignantly throwing the Renate Alumni Club back at the Democrats - How DARE they sully the name of his good friend! Shame on them! They bent over and let him boof them.

No wonder Brett had himself worked into near hysteria as he arrived. It was all spelled out in black and white in the yearbook. Yet appallingly, the Democrats only cared about using Dr. Ford to beat the dead horse about an FBI investigation, nothing more, as they proved by their lack of preparation.

To add further insult to injury to Dr. Ford, her lawyers weren't much better. They didn't set up a forensic interview which Rachel Mitchell indicated was the usual and customary practice with a sexual assault victim, the first step. Nor did her lawyers clearly inform her that the committee was willing to go to California so she wouldn't lose what little privacy she had left, instead she was set up to suffer all that stress just so Democrats could posture and showcase themselves.

Furthermore, poor Dr. Ford wasn't even aware that her lawyers were working pro bono until they sprung that on her publicly in response to Rachel Mitchell's questions about who was paying her legal fees and the polygraph test. They probably had to pull the pro bono deal out of their hats when Mitchell busted them for legal malpractice.

Political malpractice by the Democrats and legal malpractice by her attorneys: Christine Ford escaped rape by a calculating preppie brat in her childhood only to get screwed by calculating professional lowlifes as an adult.

Bill Sprague said...

Well put. It's WAY past time for there to be honesty and more than just 2 parties. BTW, I didn't vote for Trumpf or Sanders or Jill Stein (who's she?) or HRC. We're allowed to write in (or waste) our votes in Taxachusetts so I probably voted for Mickey Mouse or Goofy. I forget.

Anna Radicalova said...

Anyone catch a glimpse of Brat's mother? Old lady with floofy blond hair/wig. Scary looking.

Explains a lot but doesn't excuse it.

Anna Radicalova said...

Good news - there will apparently be an FBI investigation after all.

I wonder if Chief Justice Roberts called Trump and told him K is a no-go after watching his histrionics yesterday, then they had to find a Senator to make it look like it was an honorable Republican concession.

I'm just hoping that an FBI investigation will be what it takes to force K to withdraw 'for the sake of his family'.





Yama Lustitia said...

Thanks Karen for pointing out the core deficiencies in the Democrats ability to fight back. They do not possess the understanding or conviction to lead.

There can be no turning back, but if Kavanaugh is confirmed it will definitely be more difficult to go forward.

Anna Radicalova said...

My favorite memory of Judge Kavanaugh was hearing him literally cry "I'M INNOCENT!" in response to Dick Durban trying to pin him down with a simple 'yes' or 'no' about an FBI investigation.

For any judge to cry his innocence with contorted face while refusing to demand an FBI investigation to clear himself is rich enough, but it's priceless to witness someone doing that who helped craft the legal rationale for torture, denial of due process, and presumption of innocence.

The longer Judge Kavanaugh desperately clings to his lifelong dream of becoming a Supreme Court Justice, the longer Our Lady of Karma has for payback, and She's just gotten started. His opening rant insulting over half the country guaranteed that.

I'm surprised he hasn't withdrawn yet, but hubris does have a way of blinding people. As a matter of fact, he prefaced his vicious opening statement by saying he wrote it himself and no one else had seen it. You know what they say about a man who represents himself in court? He has a fool for a client.

Judge Kavanaugh couldn't see how his own calendar was going to work against him. Did he overrule his own lawyer about submitting that to the committee? He now can't see what's coming from Our Lady of Karma after his rant. He's either being ill-served by his attorney or he's taking matters into his own hands - a fool for a client.

Kavanaugh proudly boasts of all his lifelong women friends, of his female staff, and of his intent to have all female law clerks if he's confirmed to the SC. His current lawyer, as Karen pointed out, is female (David Gregory's wife). I suspect Kavanaugh has a deep-seated belief and confidence that women will protect him just as his momma did. I wouldn't count on it. I think he only respects women who he can boss and not vice versa. Amy Klobuchar would probably agree.

Heads up to Judge Kavanaugh: Karma's a Bitch!

Will said...

Our own Anna already expertly covered some of this, but u gotta read this article from the Intercept too:

https://theintercept.com/2018/09/29/the-unbearable-dishonesty-of-brett-kavanaugh/

U know I have to throw some funny in here too. Enjoy:

https://twitter.com/ohboyson/status/1045604378370027520?s=19

Jay–Ottawa said...

There is a reason to suit every temperament for barring Kavanaugh from the Court. Let me count the ways. First, the reports put forth by Ford and other women: if you believe them, as I do, the guy is vile. Alas, in this matter we choose between conflicting statements; the original events of the Eighties lie beyond our personal observation.

Next, there's the written record of his life's work as a legal advisor in government, in which work he abetted the Bush Administration's penchant for crimes against humanity as well as the plutocracy's interference with the majority of Americans chasing after life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Then, his decisions as an appeals court judge. I'm told by lawyers who keep track that Kavanaugh consistently sides with the rich and the powerful. Justice can be both palpable and abstract, depending on where you're perched in society. Pinning down the principal source of injustice is complicated. There is so much confusing linkage between the 80% harmed and the 20% who instigated and facilitated the injustice.

Last week, however, there was no need to rely on belief or the assessments of experts about what is just and unjust in the complicated worlds of economics, privacy, and government. Thursday I was able to trust my own eyes and ears as events unfolded. I was able to take the measure of Kavanaugh at first hand by witnessing his testimony before the Judiciary Committee.

He dropped the mask that hid so much arrogance, hatred and emotional incontinence. For me, his preliminary statement and manner before the Judiciary Committee served as proof dispositive––case closed––that Brett Kavanaugh has no business in judge's robes.

If, hopefully, his elevation to more power is blocked at this juncture and he slides back into his former job on the US Court of Appeals, he should not be left alone and forgotten. He is unfit to be a judge at any level. Because of his deep flaws, legal ethicists, clinical psychologists and women's groups must follow up to see that he steps down from the bench.

Elizabeth -- Marysville said...

"or whatever it was."
LOL!

voice-in-wilderness said...

Excellent vent on Kavanaugh and the process. Once the GOP leaders and voters bonded like ticks on a dog to Trump and his record with women, I'm afraid it is all downhill. I have little hope that he will be denied the Supreme Court, but I do hope that someone writes a book about his life, as there is a lot of information surfacing about his life, his work such as with Ken Starr, and the lies he has told at other hearings.

Anna Radicalova said...

I hope I don't offend anyone (stop reading now), but going back to the yearbook question of 'Have you boofed yet?', it almost certainly refers to and derives from a far more common term. In other words, had their question got past the yearbook advisor or editor in it's uncensored form, it would have read 'Have you BU**F***ED' yet?'. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

It's the 'yet' that really gives it away. It must have been a sexual milestone for male adolescents attending that Catholic prep school. Maybe for the staff too, who knows. You'd have to ask the Catholic priests about that.

Those boys wouldn't (couldn't!) consider boofing or anything other than vaginal intercourse to be sex, first and foremost because it's the only form of sex which actually requires a female and there were none of them on campus, probably not even on the staff. All boys, all the time. Are you getting my drift yet?

Therefore, the accepted definition of sex had to be loosened, or tightened as the case may be. 'I'm so confused!' said young Beer Kavanaugh.

So you see, Judge Beer is INNOCENT! because sexual assault has to involve 'sex' and 'sex' has to involve vaginal intercourse with a female. Everything and everyone else doesn't count.

If you don't believe me, just ass, oops I mean ask, a Catholic priest.

Erik Roth said...


I heartily agree and especially appreciate all sentiments and insights expressed here on this tawdry episode. But I wish I could share Ms. Garcia's underlying optimism, and dearly hope to be proven wrong. The painfully obvious parallel to the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill travesty should be sobering, to use an apropos metaphor. That earlier debacle led to "The Year of the Woman" and yet many of those elected then are now gone, while Clarence Thomas sits on the Supreme Crock (sic) for life. Like I say, I pray I'm wrong and the coming midterm elections will sweep the chauvinist pigs out of the cesspool of Washington, and not the way Hurricane Florence flooded out the industrial farm waste ponds in North Carolina.

Thomas More once noted: "The devil…that proud spirit…cannot endure to be mocked."
So, for your amusement, I call your attention to this:
Kavanaugh Hearing Cold Open - Saturday Night Live -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJecfRxbr8

Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh is magnificent.
While Tina Fey as Sarah Palin set the satirical bar beyond reach, Rachel Dratch as Amy Klobuchar ably nails Minnesota’s senior senator.
(Ruefully, #MeToo, principally Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris, absent all sense of proportion, knocked our junior senator, Al Franken, out of the Senate.)

And watch this:
SNL Weekend Update: Brett Kavannaugh and Dr. Ford Testify
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljmCX0R7Tqg

Yet note this:
post show — Kanye (now simply “Ye” ?) preens around in his MAGA red cap ...
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/30/kanye-west-pro-trump-remarks-boos-snl-studio-chris-rock




Jay–Ottawa said...

The Kavanaugh Caper is being followed in Canada. Here's a political cartoon (where realism and symbolism almost join) that's going viral.
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/halifax-artists-cartoon-in-response-to-kavanaugh-hearing-goes-viral-245873/

O/T: Meanwhile, the NAFTA redo as USMCA is not going down well up here. Canadians have more reason to grow tired of Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Prime Minister who has been pulling "obamas" (major campaign pledges boldly broken) at the federal level since elected.

Trudeau's Liberal Party is now getting beat up on the provincial level. Yesterday, Quebec held elections for provincial office. The Liberals went from being top dogs in charge down to sorry defeat, the opposition (CAQ, center right) winning a resounding majority (74/125 seats).

Likewise in Ontario, the Liberals (something like uniparty Democrats) got booted from top to bottom, the Progressive Conservatives (alas like Trump Republicans) now in charge with a majority (75/124 seats) in the legislature. My point is that on this morning after, the Liberals of Ontario retain but 7 seats, which is one less than a parliamentary party needs to ask challenging questions in the Ontario Parliament. Ouch! Let's see whether these votes in the most populous provinces help Trudeau rethink his positions on the environment, proportional representation, corporations and trade.
https://www.spencerfernando.com/2018/06/07/ontario-election-results-updated-seat-counts-popular-vote-totals/