Friday, September 28, 2018

"A Complete and Utter Disgrace"

Due to circumstances beyond my control I did not watch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings yesterday. If circumstances had been within my control I would have been sorely tempted to skip the degrading spectacle.

By all accounts, Bret Kavanaugh acquitted himself very well. By all accounts, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford presented a thoroughly credible account of her experience.

Predictably, the conservative and Republican media are strongly defending Judge Kavanaugh. Predictably, the liberal press has declared that he should not be confirmed because he did not display a judicious temperament.

Its reasoning is appalling and deplorable. When people are trying to destroy you, an absence of anger would have been deafening.

Piers Morgan, of all people, offered a balanced appraisal in The Daily Mail. His article bears the title:

The day DC should have died of shame as it watched two broken souls be publicly tortured over their pasts in a viciously partisan bear-pit

DC could not have died of shame because DC no longer has a sense of shame. About that we can agree.

Morgan continued, calling it: “gladiatorial barbarism.” The description seems apt:
What I can say though is that this was one of the most disgusting, disgraceful things I have ever witnessed.

For these two previously unknown people to be dragged through such a revolting public court of gladiatorial barbarism for the delectation of a mass TV audience was painful, so painful I could barely watch at times.

Yet it was an absolutely inevitable consequence of the way Washington has spiralled in recent years into a vile cesspit of extreme partisan bullsh*t – fuelled by rampant, vicious social media.

Today was a dark, tragic day for America.

It was a day when the whole country, and indeed much of the rest of the world, tuned in to see two people tortured and humiliated.

I get that Supreme Court nominees have to be vigorously vetted, and have to be held to a different standard of behaviour to the rest of us.

An appalling spectacle, mounted by Democrats to gin up votes and to sink the Kavanaugh nomination… Apparently, no one considered that Kavanaugh was a human being, that he had a family, and that destroying human beings for partisan political reasons is abject.

Morgan continued:

But what we watched today was nothing short of a circus - a long, disturbing, wretched circus; a circus watched by a baying global mob, most of whom decided long before the hearings began whom they believed.

Kavanaugh looked unhinged today – perhaps too unhinged to ever sit on the Supreme Court - but if I’d been falsely accused of the stuff he’s been accused of in the past fortnight, I’d probably be pretty damn unhinged too.

He was fighting not just for a place on the Supreme Court, but for his reputation, his dignity, his family.

To see his loyal wife silently weeping throughout his testimony was agonising.
She knows that everything her husband has worked for in his entire life is now imperilled. Every security she took for granted about their family life is now threatened.

If this is not deplorable, I do not know what is. You would think that Kavanaugh was a Kennedy or a Bill Clinton. Apparently, his life experience and his record on the bench were for nothing… they did not even accord him the presumption of innocence.

The problem everyone is facing is simple: what if they were both telling the truth?

Morgan continues:

If Kavanaugh is guilty, then he deserves to be duly punished.

But what if he’s innocent?

What if Ms Ford, who was just a young teenage kid at the time, has got the wrong guy?

I don’t think she’s a liar, but maybe she made an honest mistake.

How do we know for sure?

How will we EVER know?

Where are the cold hard FACTS?

There aren’t any, there can’t possibly be any after 35 years.

There are no facts. There is no way to prove or disprove the allegations.There is no corroboration beyond that of a psychologist who pretended that science was on her side.

At the least, it was a bad day for America. And it was a bad day for democracy… though one wonders how Democratic senators, the ringleaders of this horror show, can declare themselves to be the guardians of democracy. In the end, they care far less about election results than about packing the courts with judges who will help them impose their agenda on America… like it or not.

Morgan concludes:

That such an important moment in American history should be reduced to this horrific bear-pit is as absurd as it’s unacceptable.

Every American who genuinely cares about their country should share my outrage about what they watched today.

At one stage, Kavanaugh was actually grilled about flatulence - in the United States Senate by a serving United States senator.

Think about that for a moment.

The whole thing was a complete and utter disgrace.

Or as Senator Lindsey Graham put it today: ‘The most despicable thing I have ever seen in politics.’

Shouldn’t we all agree on that?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real threat is to the rule of law and thousands of years of juris prudence developed from that history. To use the idea that this is not a trial is to throw out the reasons we enacted those laws. The degradation of legal principles and protections will ultimately lead to a disrespect and a desire to settle thing in a manner that will lead to a French Revolution with the same results. No matter the protections for the minority, accused, et al we have set as standards. If we do not put a stop to this we will reap the whirlwind

My thoughts of this are basically summed up on this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGz_IKFT9As&feature=youtu.be

dtrumpet

Sam L. said...

The Democrats have shown that what they want is power, and they will do anything to get it, or to deny it to the Republicans.

David Spence said...

ONLY the Democrats would put the country through this. That is a huge difference.

Sam L. said...

Let he who says he has never farted be henceforth know as a liar.

Anonymous said...

This could well work against the progressives/democrats as time goes on. They couldn't have demonstrated more clearly their dirt nature and totalitarian beliefs. Who, besides their own kind, would vote for that?

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Another example of the Stupid Party not realizing the war they’re in.

The Kavanaugh allies say “limited investigation,” the Democrats say “first step.” Watching this Progressive-Conservative war is like watching the Vietcong-U.S. Army battle it out. ‘They won’t fight us honorably,” Conservatives say. Well, HOT DAMN! Let’s get some SEAL units in action, put Special Forces on the ground for FID and start a Phoenix Program and kill these ****** ******s!!! (Politically, not literally... literally is what Leftists do)

That’s what’s needed. Otherwise, our side is toast. Do we want to get in the mud? Of course not! Can we win this war if we don’t? Absolutely not. Dick Durbin, Kamala Harris and Sheldon Whitestone ain’t gonna fight fair, folks.

It’s time to grow a pair. Testicles or ovaries, you pick. But it’s time to be real and be an adult. Lexington Green, Concord Bridge.

Whaddaya imagine is going to happen with this sham “investigation”? I’ll tell you...

“Hey FBI, we’ve got a great case for ya. Republican SCOTUS nominee. Smart university professor says he sexually assaulted her in 1982. Kind of a political circus. He said-she said. No physical evidence. Let’s get to it...”

Wow. Sounds like a real winner. Unless the FBI is stacking the deck... maybe Peter Strzok will be assigned.

I guarantee you Trump’s advisors are telling him “We have to be reasonable...”

Bullshit.

Meanwhile, some loony zoologist is going to come forward and tell you Brett Kavanaugh engaged in bestiality with a queer giraffe. And that’ll be reported in the NYT.

Anonymous said...

Judgments based on stereotypes are okay when we do it!

Ares Olympus said...

Piers Morgan: The day DC should have died of shame as it watched two broken souls be publicly tortured over their pasts in a viciously partisan bear-pit

Strangely I only heard one person tortured over his past. Ford was calmly cooperative to all the questions, and never balked once, corrected herself when she saw ambiguity in her own words, and apologized when she couldn't answer questions as well as she would have liked.

Mostly what seems a disgrace is that victims won't come forward immediately, and now we learn the consequences of that. Victims need to redefine themselves as fighters, but not 36 years later when there's no possible justice because the original people involved no longer exist.

So I can blame Ford for this chaos, because she didn't speak up when it happened. She didn't challenge Kavanaugh that very evening in front of her peers, and told everyone exactly what he did. So hopefully this will be a lesson to all future potential victims - get your justice early.

Maybe Kavanaugh doesn't have the temperament now to be a good Justice, but maybe had he had some accountability in high school perhaps he would now be a better man, and he wouldn't have to lie 36 years later.

Anonymous said...

Ares Olympus has always claimed his views are about facts and evidence. And yet Ares Olympus claims to know Brett Kavanaugh is a liar, and Christine Ford speaks the truth. I would like to know how Ares Olympus knows this. And given Ares Olympus' bearing, how might he have the temperament to be a good Supreme Court Justice...

Ares Olympus said...

Anon@8:39pm, That's a very good question. How do I know?

And Kavanaugh, even for all his emotionalism is a smart man. He was relatively careful to avoid answering questions he didn't want to answer, but like here's the transcript. Does someone who is innocent talk this way? No, this is someone who can't be sure himself what is out there. Whatever he remembers his past self won't look as good as he is portraying.

Like he can whitewash "Renate alumnius" as an appreciation club, but does anyone believe him, just one person in the entire world?! Why not just tell the truth if it is simple as saying "Boys don't think about how their fun and lies affect others. I'm no longer that boy." How hard could that be? But give an inch, and everything can be taken away, so the truth must be covered by the emperor's new clothing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-hearing-transcript
---
DURBIN: I want to know what you want to do.
KAVANAUGH: I — I’m telling the truth.
DURBIN: I want to know what you want to do, Judge.
KAVANAUGH: I’m innocent. I’m innocent of this charge.
DURBIN: Then you’re prepared for an FBI investigator…
KAVANAUGH: They don’t reach conclusions. You reach the conclusion, Senator.
DURBIN: No, but they do investigate questions.
KAVANAUGH: I’m — I’m innocent.
---

Anyway, thanks to Senator Flake, and President Trump the FBI has been giving their 1 week investigation, which won't go far, but you can talk to a lot of people in a week, if they want to talk.

Christopher B said...

CNN has obtained a copy of the letter, which includes a quote from Smyth denying seeing any "improper conduct" from Kavanaugh.
"I understand that I have been identified by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as the person she remembers as 'PJ' who supposedly was present at the party she described in her statements to the Washington Post," Smyth says in his statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh."

Mark Judge
As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Van Gelder's September 18, 2018, letter, I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved. We have told the Committee that I do not want to comment about these events publicly. As a recovering alcoholic and a cancer survivor, I have struggled with depression and anxiety. As a result, I avoid public speaking. Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school, but we have not spoken directly in several years. I do not recall the events described by Dr. Ford in her testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee today. I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes.

Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford," her attorney Howard Walsh wrote in a statement sent to the committee.

These were the people identified by Christine Ford as being present, not Brett Kavanaugh, and none of them come even close to corrobrating her story.

None of them are offering mushy statements typical of people who know of an incident but don't want to admit to it, or recognize a pattern of behavior.

Your focus on year book minutiae betrays the lack of credibility of the central accuser in this smear campaign.

Ares Olympus said...

Christopher B said... Your focus on year book minutiae betrays the lack of credibility of the central accuser in this smear campaign.

So what you're saying Kavanaugh wasn't lying about his past, just mistaken. He really has simply whitewashed his own history in his mind and doesn't want to think about who he was back then. Of course a person who can whitewash that much on the small stuff, can be trusted to whitewash a lot more serious things about his past.

It's easy enough to conclude he probably did it, and if he's really truthful in his lack of memory, that it wasn't a memorable event to him, or the others at the party. And with no collaborating witnesses (so far), justice can't be reached for anyone.

But for me I'd vote him down for his denial about his level of drinking as a youth that he can't even know whether he committed a sexual assault. The alcoholism might also help explain his high levels of credit card debt as an adult, another troublesome sign of weak character.

I'm guessing the only reason the Senate GOP is sticking by him while there are so many other candidates available is simply expediency, given an approaching election and a small chance they might lose a seat or two after the election. I do expect Flake will vote for him in a week, but we'll see.

Anonymous said...

In commenting on temperament, the above gentleman reveals that rather than think for himself, he subscribes to the democrats/progressives for his thoughts. What is important is how a candidate for an office has carried himself in the execution of his duties, not how he, who is likely not a professional politician, responds to filthy politics.

Besides, how many people are immune to some kind of accusation (irrespective of the degree of truth of it), and how many of them went to deliver in their occupations? Generals crucial to the winning of WWII, modern presidents of ability, and certainly many others in all sorts of fields have checkered pasts by the so-called "standards" of today. Should they have been cashiered in a public manner in favor of second-choices? Today's accusations use words whose meanings have been expanded beyond recognition for their value in taking an attitude of self-righteousness and the feel-good rush of adrenalin it generates. With the violently fluctuating public fancy, overnight someone can become a potential felon.

Our constitution is designed to protect us from public fancy, the mob mentality, tyranny through democracy. A judge who understands this should sit on the supreme court. Even someone who might have had some trouble many decades ago. You better believe that the democrats/progressives would take that line about their guy/gal.

Ares Olympus said...

Anon@5:22: You better believe that the democrats/progressives would take that line about their guy/gal.

That's excellent sibling rivalry thinking. "But daddy, Johnny is an idiot too, so why can't I be an idiot?"

Fortunately not everyone in the Republican party is an idiot. Thanks Senator Flake! Bipartisan conscience is not dead yet.

Anonymous said...

Wrong. Apply the same reasonable standards to both. The democrats/progressives are having a little problem with that.