Remember all those “proud to be in the basket of deplorables” Republicans. . .not a handful of whom were women? Well, the times they are a-changin’ and increasing numbers of Republican women are being tested by this nominee. Will they ‘support’ Brett Kavanaugh for the same reasons they did Trump — because he’s a white male who’s got away with sexual assault for decades, and the fish that’s not caught is the fish that got away (with it)? Or will they leave their shaky straw political home for the one where they once lived in that was built out of Family Values bricks, and join the rest of decent society that protects itself from predatory wolves?
Indications are that at least Republican women want to jump basket on Kavanaugh for SCOTUS.
Six in 10 likely female voters said they prefer the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, according to a CNN poll conducted Sept. 6-9.
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“There is a risk for Republicans if they appear to be insensitive to the accusations, especially among suburban women,” (GOP strategist, Ford McDonnell) — Bloomberg
Certainly, a representative number of the women polled are Republicans whose opinions about congresspersons are influenced by Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members and other Republican officials’ support for Kavanaugh.
And they aren’t the only conservatives who’d rather not be covered in the stink of association with that man. So are right wing Fox News guests. So, even, may be WH operatives.
Here is the legal opinion of FoxNews “legal expert," Brad Micklin expressed today on “Fox and Friends.” (What friends! This expert is clearly under-educated, judging by his grammar.)
“This is [an] act that alleges to have occurred when he was a juvenile. And fundamental to our system of juvenile justice is rehabilitation.”
“And for him to have rose (sic) to this level, to be nominated to the Supreme Court,” the attorney continued, “suggests that he has been rehabilitated, if in fact it is true. So, I don’t think that there is any problem with his confirmation.”
WHAT!?!? Did I read that correctly? Mr. Legal Expert is practically saying that Kavanaugh is guilty of sexual assault and that’s OK. Well, we’ll have to wait and see about that. The distinct possibility of more “sexy” shoes to drop hangs over Kavanaugh, says attorney, Michael Avenatti. And his record as a predictor of yet-to-be-revealed-trouble-to-come-for-sexual-predators is 100% accurate.
What happens at Georgetown Prep does not stay at Georgetown Prep. #Truth #Courage #Basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) September 23, 2018
Certain acts committed by juveniles are mistakes. Certain acts are crimes. Sexual assault is not now, nor has it ever been a ‘mistake’ in the lifetime of anyone living today. Mistakes that draw the attention of the law are not repeated by perpetrators who merely err once as youths. ‘Criminals’ is the word used for that class of youths who repeat their ‘mistakes.’
As for unnamed sources in the WH, it appears that the groundwork for pushing Kavanaugh off the deck of the basket is underway. Apparently Trump’s Fair-Haired prep school Brett (F-HPSB) is “incredibly frustrated,” according to WaPo.
“. . .Kavanaugh grew frustrated when it came to questions that dug into his private life, particularly his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities, according to three people familiar with the preparations, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. He declined to answer some questions altogether, saying they were too personal, these people said.”
Is Kavanaugh’s testiness concerning his drinking and sexual proclivities likely to prove too radioactive for him to survive as Trump’s red meat to Evangelicals? Likely so.
“The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. “If we can’t get the nomination done, why vote Republican?”
. . .[Kavanaugh] has not sought to drop out of the running, two people who spoke to him said. He has said privately and publicly that he is eager to testify.
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But instead of making the final rounds with senators and locking down pivotal swing votes last week, Kavanaugh was calling Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and other key allies, urging them to publicly support him and determining what questions he would face in a hearing that inevitably draws comparisons to the 1991 proceedings with Anita Hill, who had accused now-Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
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. . .(White House lawyer Donald) McGahn (who originally opposed a public hearing) has kept other key aides out of the process, afraid they would leak damaging material. . .
In one of those calls to Sen. Hatch, a staunch supporter of Kavanaugh’s memory and derogatory critic of Dr. Ford’s, Kavanaugh dropped a dime on some “other guy” who was to become his criminal stand-in. Ask yourself, is framing someone else for a crime you committed a qualifying and recommending characteristic of a future Justice? Would anyone not guilty of an alleged crime even think of framing someone else?
Trump, probably unwittingly — how could it be otherwise? — issued a tweet that savaged Dr. Ford’s actual youthful mistake: Failing to report sexual assault when 15 years old. With that, the entire WH strategy to preempt Trump’s disastrous flickering fingers from derailing their attempts to railroad an unfit nominee into Supreme judicial robes blew up.
Even the outlandish proposal that the all white male Republican senators hide behind the skirts of a female attorney who would question Dr. Ford in a Pontius Pilate move to wash their hands of raking her over salacious coals is a desperate attempt bespeaking failure.
Kavanaugh’s favorability quotient has dropped even further since Judiciary Committee members, WH lawyers, and Trump have scrambled to make him palatable. All the efforts they have undertaken have boomeranged to damage their cause. Observers would be fair-minded to conclude that what they are really attempting to do is paint themselves into a position so bad that their only recourse is to jettison Kavanaugh from the basket.
Republican senators cannot afford the damage from their Deplorable base that would result if certain key Republicans vote “no” on their F-HPSB nominee. Defeat would also signal Trump’s “swan song,” again proving his failure to deliver (The Wall) on another promise he made to his Deplorable voters. His brand, now the Republican Party’s brand, would be a complete shambles, a Kavanaugh Krumble into dust, symbolizing the collapse of Trumpism. Therefore, Republican salvation rests entirely on retiring Kavanaugh from the stage, licking their woulds, and throwing another distraction into the wasteland of their tenure in hopes of directing the attention infuriated Deplorables away from their ineffectual efforts. Kavanaugh is the rope Republicans and Trump are hanging from the end of. We will witness death by a million self-inflicted cuts.
So, I’ll take this opportunity to be among the first to say, “Buh-bye, Brett. It’s been deplorable to know you.”