Official Brett Kavanaugh Thread, Part 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have read both transcripts. His testimony was precise.

Did his testimony "avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety?" Or did his "precision" have the effect of creating a false impression through omission?

Not provable perjury. But relax. The votes are t there.

I didn't ask about perjury there. I was asking if his testimony was consistent with the standards for being a judge -- "avoiding all impropriety and appearance of impropriety."

[Anonymous]

Brett Kavanaugh’s former college roommate has revealed the FBI has failed to contact him during any of the agency’s background checks into the Supreme Court nominee.



As Brett Kavanaugh's college freshman roommate, I was never contacted by the FBI for any of their background checks. I assume college behavior was not a topic of interest. They did not find Debbie's story because they were not looking for it.

— Jamie Roche (@jamie_roche) October 1, 2018

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Brett Kavanaugh’s former college roommate has revealed the FBI has failed to contact him during any of the agency’s background checks into the Supreme Court nominee.



As Brett Kavanaugh's college freshman roommate, I was never contacted by the FBI for any of their background checks. I assume college behavior was not a topic of interest. They did not find Debbie's story because they were not looking for it.

— Jamie Roche (@jamie_roche) October 1, 2018

Womp womp

[Anonymous]

Trump said, "I say that it’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of.”

Huh, remember this when these young men were exonerated and yet he called for their death penalty.



Oh, he is probably talking about the White men and about how they might be held accountable.

[Anonymous]

"THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS IF YOU’RE TIRED OF WHINING!" - TRUMP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this near the end of thread 3. I’m curious what Kavanaugh supporters think, particularly of the last paragraph.

“I honestly don’t know who is telling the truth. I don’t believe her blindly, but I also don’t think she’s involved in some big conspiracy (even if one is happening around her.) And certainly some people screwed the pooch procedurally here.

All that said, his behavior on Thursday was absolutely horrific and completely unbecoming of a Supreme Court Justice. He is hot tempered and blatantly partisan. Yes, lots of people in the room were being partisan, but he was the only one trying to become a Supreme Court Justice.”

As I’ve said before, if he had been polite and answered the questions cordially and directly, this would all be over. He has humiliated himself and shown he can’t remain calm and impartial in tense situations.”

He was facing people who had called him “evil” and a “threat” and also publicly and proudly announced, “I believe her” before any testimony.
He is an innocent man who was vehemently defending his name, his reputation, his integrity, and his livelihood. This was not a “tense situation.” It was a lynching. It was disgusting.

If you wish to see how he handles himself in tense situations, consider his behavior and demeanor during his 12 years as an appellate judge. There were NO COMPLAINTS.

This is all I need to know.

To the pp, thank you - this helps me to understand how others feel about this. I view the entire affair as a tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Relevant to this discussion is this piece. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1485754002 I know we’re on to the next Kavanaugh scandal, but for all those who doubt Dr. Ford, here’s another account with a very similar situation.

I think this is hard for a lot of women to whom this happened, but who support Kavanaugh, because they really haven’t reframed what happened to them, they still take it on as their fault. I think this is hard for a lot of the men who did this stuff and support Kavanaugh because they can’t accept that what they did when they were teens wasn’t fun stuff, it was sexual assault.

[Anonymous]

Benjamin Wittes: "I know Brett Kavanaugh, but I would not confirm him."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/why-i-wouldnt-confirm-brett-kavanaugh/571936/

Wittes seems to like Kavanaugh on a personal level. "The Brett Kavanaugh who showed up to Thursday’s hearing is a man I have never met, whom I have never even caught a glimpse of in 20 years of knowing the person who showed up to the first hearing." Wittes, in my opinion, gives Kavanaugh way too much of a pass for his temperament based on the idea that Kavanaugh is under a lot of stress. (I'm skeptical that Kavanaugh would afford that much deference to a defendant who showed up in his own court room and treated Judge Kavanaugh the way Kavanaugh treated the Senators.)

But, be that as it may, Wittes says he wouldn't vote for confirmation. Among his reasons:
-Kavanaugh's partisan howling makes it impossible for any litigant on the left of the political spectrum to have confidence that they're getting a fair hearing.

-The testimony wasn't quite a tie as between Ford and Kavanaugh. He acknowledges gaps in Ford's testimony but notes a number of ways in which her testimony was corroborated on the margins that you wouldn't expect if she was just making stuff up. Meanwhile, you have Kavanaugh "whose testimony is not credible on a number of important atmospheric points surrounding the alleged event."

-His lack of candor. "People throw around words like perjury too blithely. I won’t do so here. I will say that I do not believe he showed the sort of candor that warrants the Senate’s—or the public’s—confidence. To the extent some commentators on the right are defending Kavanaugh’s testimony as containing the sort of white lies that anyone might tell under the circumstances, let me just say that I don’t believe that Supreme Court justices get to tell self-exculpating white lies—and I don’t believe in white lies from anyone else either in sworn congressional testimony."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this near the end of thread 3. I’m curious what Kavanaugh supporters think, particularly of the last paragraph.

“I honestly don’t know who is telling the truth. I don’t believe her blindly, but I also don’t think she’s involved in some big conspiracy (even if one is happening around her.) And certainly some people screwed the pooch procedurally here.

All that said, his behavior on Thursday was absolutely horrific and completely unbecoming of a Supreme Court Justice. He is hot tempered and blatantly partisan. Yes, lots of people in the room were being partisan, but he was the only one trying to become a Supreme Court Justice.”

As I’ve said before, if he had been polite and answered the questions cordially and directly, this would all be over. He has humiliated himself and shown he can’t remain calm and impartial in tense situations.”

He was facing people who had called him “evil” and a “threat” and also publicly and proudly announced, “I believe her” before any testimony.
He is an innocent man who was vehemently defending his name, his reputation, his integrity, and his livelihood. This was not a “tense situation.” It was a lynching. It was disgusting.

If you wish to see how he handles himself in tense situations, consider his behavior and demeanor during his 12 years as an appellate judge. There were NO COMPLAINTS.

This is all I need to know.

Nope. Brett just can’t control himself. He is unfit for the bench. He wrote this kind of crap - ““If Monica Lewinsky says that you ejaculated in her mouth on two occasions in the Oval Office area, would she be lying?” https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/aug/20/brett-kavanaugh-bill-clinton-questions-1998-memo-trump The questions that were posed to Brett were far more polite than what Bretty felt should be put to the President. Poor little snowflake couldn’t control himself. He can’t control himself. He handled himself very poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More Seth Abramson Retweeted The Hill
Uh...actually, *false* sex-crime allegations against Kavanaugh were LEAKED BY GOP STAFFERS over the OBJECTIONS of Democratic staffers, who asked that the FBI probe the allegations rather than—as GOP staffers insisted—grilling Kavanaugh on the phone then publishing the transcript.Seth Abramson added,

0:26
The Hill
Verified account

@thehill
Mitch McConnell: "Shortly after Dr. Ford's confidential letter made its way into the press the floodgates of mud and muck opened entirely on Brett Kavanaugh and his family. Out of the woodwork came one uncorroborated allegation after another."
11:43 AM - 2 Oct 2018


The republicans on the committee put the questioning of the uncorroborated allegations on the record so they could be released and get people incensed. I would not be surprised if they themselves had created those fake allegations. It is a strategy where if a bunch of truly uncorroborated (IE Not Ford, Ramirez, Swetnick's) come out then as they are proved to be false or retracted, it makes people believe it is indeed a smear and the corroborated ones that are legit accusations seem like part of the smear.

I have to hand it to Republicans--they're geniuses at this stuff. Democrats are not as great at marketing/swaying public opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion is this piece. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1485754002 I know we’re on to the next Kavanaugh scandal, but for all those who doubt Dr. Ford, here’s another account with a very similar situation.

I think this is hard for a lot of women to whom this happened, but who support Kavanaugh, because they really haven’t reframed what happened to them, they still take it on as their fault. I think this is hard for a lot of the men who did this stuff and support Kavanaugh because they can’t accept that what they did when they were teens wasn’t fun stuff, it was sexual assault.

I'm a woman who thinks that something happened but that neither Ford nor Kavanaugh may remember it clearly after all this time. I don't think that's fair to say that men struggle with this because they can't accept that it wasn't just fun, it was sexual assault. I think that teenagers do all sorts of things and ideally learn in the process, and I don't think that actions as teenagers need to be atoned for forever as adults. I think Kavanaugh's response now is the important one, not whatever he did or did not do 30-some years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion is this piece. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1485754002 I know we’re on to the next Kavanaugh scandal, but for all those who doubt Dr. Ford, here’s another account with a very similar situation.

I think this is hard for a lot of women to whom this happened, but who support Kavanaugh, because they really haven’t reframed what happened to them, they still take it on as their fault. I think this is hard for a lot of the men who did this stuff and support Kavanaugh because they can’t accept that what they did when they were teens wasn’t fun stuff, it was sexual assault.

This is a great story. Thank you for the link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this near the end of thread 3. I’m curious what Kavanaugh supporters think, particularly of the last paragraph.

“I honestly don’t know who is telling the truth. I don’t believe her blindly, but I also don’t think she’s involved in some big conspiracy (even if one is happening around her.) And certainly some people screwed the pooch procedurally here.

All that said, his behavior on Thursday was absolutely horrific and completely unbecoming of a Supreme Court Justice. He is hot tempered and blatantly partisan. Yes, lots of people in the room were being partisan, but he was the only one trying to become a Supreme Court Justice.”

As I’ve said before, if he had been polite and answered the questions cordially and directly, this would all be over. He has humiliated himself and shown he can’t remain calm and impartial in tense situations.”

He was facing people who had called him “evil” and a “threat” and also publicly and proudly announced, “I believe her” before any testimony.
He is an innocent man who was vehemently defending his name, his reputation, his integrity, and his livelihood. This was not a “tense situation.” It was a lynching. It was disgusting.

If you wish to see how he handles himself in tense situations, consider his behavior and demeanor during his 12 years as an appellate judge. There were NO COMPLAINTS.

This is all I need to know.

To the pp, thank you - this helps me to understand how others feel about this. I view the entire affair as a tragedy.

Hyperbole much?

He's trying to be on the Supreme Court. He lied, misled and avoided answering in response to question after question. As a member of the federal judiciary, he is expected to behave beyond reproach. "A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen." He failed.

But, here's an essay by his good friend and colleague Benjamin Wittes who has come to the conclusion that after Kavanaugh's performance at the hearing he no longer supports his nomination.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/why-i-wouldnt-confirm-brett-kavanaugh/571936/

Faced with credible allegations of serious misconduct against him, Kavanaugh behaved in a fashion unacceptable in a justice, it seems preponderantly likely he was not candid with the Senate Judiciary Committee on important matters, and the risk of Ford’s allegations being closer to the truth than his denial of them is simply too high to place him on the Supreme Court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of investigation is the FBI doing if they're not responding to people sending evidence?

NBC News reached out to Berchem for comment after obtaining a copy of a memo she wrote about the text messages. In a statement to NBC News, Berchem, a partner in the law firm Akin Gump, said: “I understand that President Trump and the U.S. Senate have ordered an FBI investigation into certain allegations of sexual misconduct by the nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I have no direct or indirect knowledge about any of the allegations against him. However, I am in receipt of text messages from a mutual friend of both Debbie and mine that raise questions related to the allegations. I have not drawn any conclusions as to what the texts may mean or may not mean but I do believe they merit investigation by the FBI and the Senate."

On Sunday, Berchem emailed FBI agent J.C. McDonough her memo. After getting no response, she resent the summary on Monday morning along with screenshots of certain texts that she thinks raise questions that should be investigated. “I’m sure he’s really busy and expect that he’ll get back to me,” said Berchem.

Berchem’s memo outlining her correspondence with Yarasavage shows there’s a circle of Kavanaugh friends who may have pertinent information and evidence relevant to the inquiry who may not be interviewed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already set in motion a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on the Senate floor for later this week.

I think the word you are looking for is SHAM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relevant to this discussion is this piece. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1485754002 I know we’re on to the next Kavanaugh scandal, but for all those who doubt Dr. Ford, here’s another account with a very similar situation.

I think this is hard for a lot of women to whom this happened, but who support Kavanaugh, because they really haven’t reframed what happened to them, they still take it on as their fault. I think this is hard for a lot of the men who did this stuff and support Kavanaugh because they can’t accept that what they did when they were teens wasn’t fun stuff, it was sexual assault.

I'm a woman who thinks that something happened but that neither Ford nor Kavanaugh may remember it clearly after all this time. I don't think that's fair to say that men struggle with this because they can't accept that it wasn't just fun, it was sexual assault. I think that teenagers do all sorts of things and ideally learn in the process, and I don't think that actions as teenagers need to be atoned for forever as adults. I think Kavanaugh's response now is the important one, not whatever he did or did not do 30-some years ago.

But how do you reconcile that with that teenagers are often tried as adults, and convicted and sentenced to adult sentences? Do you not agree with that at all?