I didn’t get into it yesterday in the Brett Kavanaugh story, because I just wanted to talk about the NEWS. I wanted to talk about how there was a man who witnessed Kavanaugh assaulting another woman at Yale, and there were witnesses to Kavanaugh’s assault of Deborah Ramirez at Yale too. That was the news. But the NYT f–ked it up as always, because the old white dudes who run the Times can’t stop writing about how Nazis are quaint and how sexual assault is “harmless fun.” Vanity Fair did an interesting piece on the series of fumbles at the Times over their Kavanaugh reporting – go here to read. Meanwhile, everyone KNOWS that the FBI and Senate f–ked up the vetting on Kavanaugh and now a sexual predator is on the Supreme Court. And so of course we’re talking about impeachment. Maybe it’s a pipe dream, maybe it’s not. But we should have the f–king conversation. But not according to… Senate Democrats?
Senior Democrats are moving quickly to snuff out calls to impeach Brett Kavanaugh, arguing those tactics are unrealistic and politically harmful. Democrats are already wrestling with whether to try to oust President Donald Trump, and leadership sees little room for the party to take on a second divisive impeachment saga barely a year before the presidential election. So the demands by 2020 presidential contenders to remove the Supreme Court justice, on the heels of new reporting about allegations of sexual misconduct, are getting panned.
“Get real,” as Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) put it Monday afternoon. “We’ve got to get beyond this ‘impeachment is the answer to every problem.’ It’s not realistic,” Durbin said. “If that’s how we are identified in Congress, as the impeachment Congress, we run the risk that people will feel we’re ignoring the issues that mean a lot to them as families.”
Except for Kavanaugh’s lone Democratic supporter, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Democratic lawmakers were livid about reports that the FBI did not thoroughly investigate two allegations against Kavanaugh. Many called for new probes into the Department of Justice, some demanded the FBI take up the matter and others hoped the House Judiciary Committee would begin some sort of investigation. But the debate over impeachment may quickly come to a head.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said she will file an impeachment resolution on Tuesday, arguing that “Kavanaugh’s confirmation process set a dangerous precedent. We must demand justice for survivors and hold Kavanaugh accountable for his actions.” The two-page resolution calls on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Kavanaugh should be impeached, according to a draft obtained by POLITICO. The resolution grants the committee subpoena power in any impeachment inquiry of Kavanaugh. It’s going to land like a thud in the Capitol’s leadership suites and with much of the party.
“Mitch McConnell would block any impeachment. So that’s a moot point,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a former Judiciary chairman. He said the lesson to be learned is not to rush lifetime confirmations: “Don’t ever let those mistakes happen again.” Until Democrats take back the Senate, however, there’s little they can do to halt McConnell on nominations.
“People will feel we’re ignoring the issues that mean a lot to them as families…” Yes, the issue of “a politically and financially compromised sexual predator is on the highest court in the land” is an issue that does NOT affect families, right? It’s not like SCOTUS is practically the only check on a fascist administration’s constant overreach. And you know what’s also an issue that affects families? The fact that half the population is totally fine with sexual assault and sexual harassment. As I said, maybe nothing will come of the “impeach Kavanaugh” talk. But it’s still important to have the f–king conversation.
Another good read:
“the *idea* of Kavanaugh is that he is a stand-in for conservative men, a blank slate upon which fears of liberal overreach ruining the lives & reputations of right-leaning heterosexual men can be projected…he’s your son, or your brother, or even you.” https://t.co/k0BGcAhYq6
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) September 17, 2019
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
gawd, his smug face….for me he has become a stand-in for all the white men who have abused me, treated me with disrespect because I am a woman, lorded their male privilege over me and sexually assaulted me and yet they still thrive. I truly despise him.
Yes, every time I see his face it makes me rage for all those reasons.
You said what a lot of us feel so very eloquently, OriginalLaLa. Thank you. (Every time I see that smirking POS’s face, I just want to smack the smug off, repeatedly!!!).
You took the words right out of my mouth.
eff him. and all those who coddle & protect him, denying women a chance to have their say.
Perfectly stated, and true for me too!
Did anyone see how Ben Shapiro was trending all day and evening for demanding a description for Kavanaugh’s junk from his accusers??? LMAO I haven’t laugh so hard in a long time, he got drag to hell and back hahaha
That was hilarious. Ben needs to just shut up.
I tweeted to him that he has a rather prurient interest in seeing KavaNOPE’s “junk”. I’m waiting to be blocked or reported lol.
LOL. He’s such a tool OMG. He’s a laughing stock and I’m sure it’s eating him up inside
OMG I was thinking of Ben Schwartz and I was like nooooooo Jean-Ralphiooooooo
Stronger grounds for impeachment of Kavanaugh are in the 83 charges of judicial misconduct surrounding his lies to Congress about what he did for the Bush administration. McConnell rammed through the confirmation so that the Appeals Court didn’t have time to review and issue a decision on those charges, which two preliminary reviews found were serious and troubling.
Oh man.
this is tough because I do see both sides. He wont be impeached, not by the house and def wouldn’t be removed by the senate. So, it is a moot point in some ways.
On the other hand – I think we deserve to know exactly what kind of man he is. Let’s get it all out there, and then see if anyone changes their mind about impeachment and what kind of person we want on the supreme court. And if there is no impeachment, okay, but lets go after every single person who supports his being on the court. Looking at you Susan Collins.
The point about not rushing lifetime appointments is a good one. But, the Democrats didn’t rush it. The republicans did it. And they have no incentive to change their behavior as long as they keep winning.
He can get impeached if the Democrats win back both Houses of Congress. It can’t happen NOW, but it can happen.
That being said, if I were the Democrats, this is not what I would lead with. Even though this is Obama’s economy (it takes 6-8 years for policies to bear fruit), Trump is getting the credit. In fact, all of Trump’s deregulation and corporate tax cuts are actually going to tank the economy. Democrats need to have a plan in place and good talking points about what they can do for the working and middle class. Impeaching Trump and Kavanaugh are not doing anything. And–god forbid–Trump actually wins a second term, this is not happening.
That’s a good point. I was thinking of the immediate future, but if we keep the House and win the Senate, we could do it.
I agree with your second paragraph completely. I don’t want Kavanaugh on the bench, but I want Trump out of office more, so we need to win in 2020.
Exactly. This one can actually wait a year, during which, hopefully, the smug rapist drunk will have a throw a drunken temper tantrum or two at some lawyers during a hearing, which will make the lack of judicial temperament claims stronger. Roberts isn’t going to want HIS court remembered for Kavanaugh’s antics. And an impeachment process, as I said above, needs to focus on the judicial ethics violations that the Appeals Court was set to investigate. He repeatedly perjured himself. That’s a much stronger case than the sexual assault claims unless someone comes forward with specific dates and times. Or his wife takes out a restraining order.
As much as I would love to see both of those monsters go, I have to agree – it’s not going to happen until the Dems retake the Senate, and there are a lot of issues to be addressed for the voters to make that happen.
But we ABSOLUTELY should continue to talk about what a horrible and abusive person he is.
I am tired of the impunity. Kavanaugh may not get impeached, but we have a right to know the truth.
I’m disappointed in Dick Durbin. I also can’t help but think if the House would have gotten moving on impeaching Trump sooner we wouldn’t have this impeachment logjam right now. But it is what it is and I agree that every aspect of Kavanaugh’s appointment needs to be reexamined. It was shady in so many ways.
So now dems worry about becoming known as the impeachment congress…wait..did that happen and I missed it? They need to stop worrying about offending the maggat crowd and start doing the right thing. The record turnout last year was fueled by anti-trump, and not these ‘kitchen’ issues that have been over talked in every election forever.
Democrats just are not prepared and never have been. So, here is the truth; thanks to Russia, Comey, and yes, Bernie Sanders, the supreme court is gone. It’s gone. What does this mean? This means climate change is coming, it’s gonna kill you. Hey at least you got to feel sanctimonious in 2016, right?
This supreme court will, WILL, shut down ALL climate change legislation. Forever. For as long as they all shall live.
So, what do we do? Well, we either say yeah we will just sit here like sheep, and live under the tyrannical thumb of the minority. That’s what Schumer and Durbin are telling us to do. Or, we get ourselves some dems who are going to stack the courts, because that is the only way out my friends. Yes he should be impeached, and yes I am 100% for impeachment hearings, but even if we take the senate we will not have the super majority needed to convict and remove. So, we will need to expand the court.
Who has the stomach for this? None of the dems currently in power. I myself, an economical moderate who cannot stand Sanders, and his ilk, will personally go door to door for AOC herself should she primary Schumer here in NY. Because tho I am a neoliberal sellout according to the children of the lefty twitterati, I am far more radical than any of them could ever dream to be on issues that are of no import to them; women’s rights. women’s dignity. racial justice. criminal justice overhaul. guns.
So let’s get moving.
I agree with you but all I have left is an inchoate rage scream.
Like I think Pelosi is slow walking impeachment probably for very good reasons (if Trump illegally fires Pence, is there a chance that the Senate wouldn’t be able to choose a successor?), but altogether the Democrats unwillingness to go to the clucking mat LIKE WE HIRED THEM TO is making me so mad it scares me. My rage doesn’t scare me; my inability to affect change in what makes me so mad my blood boils.
And the fact that TOO MANY of my fellow white women support this GOP huckery because they’ve internalized the misogyny that allows them to support a toxic power structure makes me rage boil too. I shouldn’t speak of the issue since I’m not well enough versed, but I think of white women slaveowners (or given the laws of the 19th century, spouses of). They were content to have less power so long as they had power over someone else and so long as they benefited from the system. That’s what I think of all these Beckys. Willing to tolerate anything – enslaved people, a burning planet, a tattered Constitution – so long as life goes on okay for them.
Oh I agree. I can’t stand the white women who support this and I personally refuse to have anything to do with them in my life.
I can’t stand to even see his dissipated dudebro face.
The sight of him enrages me to levels I didn’t know existed. Yesterday Rachel Maddow played some of the clips from his confirmation hearing and I was angry all over again.
Same, same, same.
His smug face is infuriating.
I have so so so many feelings about this. I have never been raped nor has anyone ever attempted so, but like every other woman, I have a dozen gropings, dirty comments, disgusting propositions, etc.
I hope that there is a a blue tsunami of EPIC proportions. I hope that the scum of the GOP is conclusively destroyed at the ballot box and then I want CONSEQUENCES. I want every single judge or justice appointed under this lie of an administration impeached or legally pulled, including Gorsuch and this creep rapist (yes, I know he didn’t complete his assault on Blasey Ford; I sincerely doubt he stopped at one victim). I want the best liberal judges ever added in their seats and I want two more justices added. I want the GOP punished for what they have done to America. I want the ballot returned to paper and I want forensic examinations done of previous elections where the expected outcome managed to favor the GOP.
I want gerrymandering undone and I want racist AF voter suppression done away with. I want new rules for our idiot corporate media who report the truth, sort of. I want an American renaissance wherein education is valued for its own sake and critical thinking skills and respect for expertise is the rule.
This guy is so disgusting, from his being a Clinton attacking hack to his sexual assault to his drinking to his mystery debt to his gambling. He is a joke and he is unfit, but like Trump, he’s just a symptom of larger rot.
I would give this a standing ovation in person.
I want this too. ALL of it.
I think their best chance of getting him is either his lies to Congress or his funky finances. Kennedy and his son are involved.
Everytime I read about Dems chickening out of impeachment procedures I just rage a little inside. Not just because these people deserve to be impeached, but because I KNOW that since the “impeachment” word has been tossed around so much in this administration, and knowing how petty and childish they really are, they will try their damn hardest to impeach the Dems when they get their turn.
I said it on a past thread and I’ll say it again – whoever the first female president is, she’ll get impeached. And it’ll be for the dumbest thing you could think of.
That so many people DGAF about women has stunned me. I was truly naive. I find myself heartbroken and enraged at the same time.
Exactly. I feel the same. Like someone said yesterday, I was shocked at how much America hates women.
I hate this bastard. We are surely a country in a decline and a backlash when rapists are welcomed open-armed by the mostly all-male, all white Senators into the Supreme Court. In fact, let’s get these horrific Senators out of the Senate. They should have been LONG GONE.
And his faux-shocked, who-me? face needs to be punched stat.
If impeachment isn’t the answer to all my problems, then I’m perfectly fine with a cat 5 tornado tearing up DC on a weekday just before lunch. Know any super villains with a Tspawn2020?
Gawd that makes me so depressed. For the last few weeks I’ve had that quote in my head from Will Rogers, “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”….funny at first but the trueness is biting. Why can’t we get this sh*t together? Impeach (or if not then STFU and stop getting my hopes up)…and I direct that toward both Trump & Kav. If the Karma bus is real, they better carefully look both ways before any street crossings.
Believe it or not, I am more revolted by the sight of his face than Trump’s.
I agree with you.