“Opposing Kavanaugh by ‘Whatever Means Necessary’”

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;

’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed.

William Shakespeare, Othello

***

I particularly liked Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s speech today on the floor of the Senate.  The following article contains a link to a 12-minute video of his remarks.  I strongly recommend them:

“GOP senators defend Kavanaugh as exasperation mounts: ‘We’re in the Twilight Zone,’ Graham says”

He raises a very interesting issue when he suggests that the Senate Democrats are exploiting Christine Blasey Ford, and that they really don’t seem to care much about her.

But Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate minority leader, is “one politician who can keep a promise”:

“Opposing Kavanaugh by ‘Whatever Means Necessary’”

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No wonder Mazie Hirono, Democratic senator from Hawaii and self-described hanging judge when it comes to men and Republicans, dislikes Judge Kavanaugh so much.  He has the gall and effrontery to respond when he’s under attack, instead of obeying her command that, as a male, he should just “shut up”:

“Kavanaugh denies sexual misconduct in Fox News exclusive: ‘I know I’m telling the truth'”

Predictably, though, Judge Kavanaugh is already been lampooned and criticized for asserting something that is just so weird and ludicrous to sophisticates that, in their eyes, it counts as a major black mark against him:

“Kavanaugh’s ‘I was a virgin’ defense is already getting ripped apart”

I mean, really.  A virgin?  In college?  Do we really want people like this on the Supreme Court of the United States?  The man must be a pervert.  It just proves that he’s guilty.

***

One or both of the accusation against Brett Kavanaugh could, of course, be true.  And, obviously, the state of the evidence could change suddenly and dramatically at any moment.  As of now, though, both allegations seem pretty weak to me:

“Third Named Witness Rejects Kavanaugh’s Accuser’s Allegations”

“NYT: Kavanaugh’s New Accuser Recently Told Former Classmates She Still Isn’t Sure It Was Him”

Incidentally, the accusations are very different.  Objectionable though it is — and particularly so to straitlaced Latter-day Saint puritans such as I; I certainly don’t minimize the seriousness of the supposed offense — what Dr. Ford has accused Judge Kavanaugh of would simply be an example of behavior that is probably all-too-common among some inebriated, hormone-driven adolescent men when they find themselves at late-night parties with inebriated, hormone-driven adolescent women.  By contrast, what Deborah Ramirez has alleged would make Brett Kavanaugh a real creep.  And there are other rumors out there, thus far without any credibility behind them whatever, that would, if true, make him an absolute monster.

This is a terrible time for American political life.

***

David French seldom if ever disappoints, and he doesn’t disappoint in these two pieces, either:

“On Kavanaugh, We’re Through the Looking Glass”

“When Evidence No Longer Matters”

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In their frenzy to achieve the near-term defeat of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, are the Democrats and their supporters losing sight of the long-term damage that they may be doing?  Do they even really care, at the moment?  Is it a matter of instant gratification?

“The Kavanaugh Circus Could Destroy the Me Too Movement”