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As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in its hearing of Dr.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2018\/09\/should-senator-jeff-flake-have-voted-no\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kermit Zarley Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-30T19:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-02T04:09:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2018\/09\/JeffFlake2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2018\/09\/should-senator-jeff-flake-have-voted-no\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2018\/09\/should-senator-jeff-flake-have-voted-no\/\",\"name\":\"Should Senator Jeff Flake Have Voted \\\"No\\\"?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-30T19:25:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-02T04:09:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\"},\"description\":\"That was a tough decision for our Arizona Senator Jeff Flake to make yesterday. 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{"id":6567,"date":"2018-09-30T12:25:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T19:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?p=6567"},"modified":"2018-10-01T21:09:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T04:09:08","slug":"should-senator-jeff-flake-have-voted-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2018\/09\/should-senator-jeff-flake-have-voted-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Senator Jeff Flake Have Voted “No”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>That was a tough decision for our Arizona Senator Jeff Flake to make yesterday. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in its hearing of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s allegations of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, swing voter Flake decided to vote yes to move the decision out of committee to the Senate floor on one condition\u2013that a one-week FBI investigation of the matter be taken immediately.<\/p>\n

The problem with that is that President Donald Trump controls the investigation. He has constantly disparaged the Department of Justice and the FBI because of it\u2019s investigation of him regarding possible collusion between Russia and Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign to get Trump elected. I don\u2019t trust Donald Trump at all. He is a notorious, serial liar. And that\u2019s what Flake\u2019s decision is all about\u2013trusting that the FBI investigation will be done honestly, promptly, and thoroughly within the seven-day restriction.<\/p>\n

Regardless of Dr. Ford\u2019s testimony yesterday, I think Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s testimony showed him to be unfit for the Supreme Court just like I believe Donald Trump was unfit for being the U.S. president. Kavanaugh demonstrated a lot of anger for a judge. He showed himself to be very politically partisan. As I said in my last post about this, he looked scripted and thus coached by the White House. Kavanaugh was very evasive with some of his answers, even refusing to answer on occasion. Moreover, he would implement distraction by turning the interview into him interviewing his interviewee. He asked Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island if he liked to drink beer. That question was obviously to present a picture that it is normal for high school guys to drink a bunch beer. He also asked the Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota if she had ever \u201cblacked out\u201d from drinking alcohol. She looked at him perplexed and replied, \u201cCould you answer the question, judge?\u201d Kavanaugh answered, \u201cYeah, and I\u2019m curious if you have.\u201d She answered, \u201cI have no drinking problem, judge.\u201d He responded, \u201cNor do I.\u201d But they were not talking about the present, but when Kavanaugh was a young man. Her time then ran out.<\/p>\n

After the hearing, to his credit Kavanaugh reportedly apologized to Klobuchar. She then revealed that one of her parents had a drinking problem, and that caused her to be be \u201ccareful about drinking.\u201d It was the same with me. She then told the media, \u201cOne idea here is that he simply was drinking more he was saying over this time period and that he didn\u2019t remember what happened, and so I was just simply trying to get at that.\u201d She added, \u201d you have these people from parts of his life who have said that he was belligerent when he was drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s tough to be quick on your feet with a proper response to what someone says to you. But I think at least one of\u00a0 times when Kavanaugh questioned the interviewee, he should have told something like this, \u201cMr. Kavanaugh, I will ask the questions here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It appears so far that during high school and at least his early part of college, Kavanaugh had a serious drinking problem. His best friend in high school, Mark Judge, really had one. He has admitted this week to being a \u201crecovering alcoholic\u201d while reportedly being holed up in some seaside bungalow to keep low profile. But he has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI.<\/p>\n

Kavanaugh may have been lying about multiple things. If true, that is really serious for a judge. And there are too many unanswered questions here. Will the FBI interview the third female accuser, Julie Swetnik? She has far greater allegations against Kavanaugh than Ford made, such gang raping at these house parties? But she is being represented by Michael Avenatti, who is also the lawyer for Stormy Daniels who is suing Trump. And Trump hates Avenatti, calling him a \u201clow life.\u201d Avenatti is probably going to run for the Democratic nomination for president for the 2020 election. He told Trump, \u201clet\u2019s go,\u201d meaning \u201cbring it on.\u201d I don\u2019t know about Avenatti\u2019s credentials, but he could turn out to be a strong candidate to oppose Trump, dishing it out to him just as much as Trump ever can.<\/p>\n

I can see that Senator Flake felt his decision would help the nation. But that\u2019s only so if we can trust that the FBI investigation will be on the up and up. It should therefore include interviewing Mark Judge, Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnik, and perhaps others who come forward this week with further allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.<\/p>\n

So, due to doubt about the integrity of this FBI investigation, I think Flake should have voted \u201cno\u201d and thereby forced President Trump to recall his nominee and offer one more qualified. But Trump has a reason for keeping Kavanaugh that is more important to Trump than anything else about this matter. Kavanaugh has made recorded statements that seem to mean that a sitting president cannot be subpoenaed or charged with a crime. President Nixon tried during Watergate and it didn\u2019t work. Congress thereafter passed a law saying that could happen. But current justices on the Supreme Court can always try to overturn past laws.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"