Question to legal scholars: in the context of constitutional law, WTF does it mean to be a “team player”? https://t.co/1o7qAL5tMn
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 4, 2018
“Careful,” a White House official wrote in an email that was sent to Brett Kavanaugh. “These e-mails will all be disclosed in 12 years.”
“Not if Brett can help it,” another White House official responded.https://t.co/5SZnT2t4gu— Michael Kranish (@PostKranish) September 4, 2018
… There have been significant disclosures in documents that have been made public. For example, most of the documents related to Kavanaugh’s work as an associate to Starr have been released. They include a 1998 memo in which Kavanaugh urged that Starr’s deputies pose sexually graphic questions to then-President Bill Clinton about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Many of the documents that have been shielded from disclosure come from Kavanaugh’s three years as associate White House counsel. Democrats have been particularly interested in whether documents would reveal more about whether Kavanaugh played a role in developing Bush’s policy on torture. In his 2006 confirmation hearing for the federal appeals court, Kavanaugh said that “I was not involved and am not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants.”
The following year, The Washington Post reported that Kavanaugh had participated in a discussion in the White House Counsel’s Office about how Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom he had clerked, would view the detainee policy. Durbin and other Democrats have said they felt misled by Kavanaugh’s denial and said they hoped that full disclosure of the files would reveal more on his role…
Brett Kavanaugh's hearing is a Gilded-Age farce and an affront to the American republic https://t.co/wr3ktwLbTx pic.twitter.com/EIdziVyny1
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) September 4, 2018
… [T]he entire Republican case for Kavanaugh is that he is “qualified”—went to the right schools, got on the right career track, etc.—and that his “qualifications” are the only measure by which his nomination should be judged. They all deplored the fact that the nominee (and his young children) should have to sit through this unruly hearing that John Cornyn, the unreconstructed dolt from Texas, called “mob rule,” and that had Orrin Hatch wishing for protestors to be kept away from his delicate self. Individually, Tailgunner Ted Cruz, once again sucking up to the president* who slandered his wife and father, accused the Democrats of wanting to “re-litigate” the 2016 presidential election, when “there was a vacant seat on the Supreme Court,” and in which “the American people” showed that they wanted Donald Trump to appoint his kind of judges by giving three million more votes to the other candidate…
And, inevitably, there was the Tailgunner, whose entire statement was oriented around the fact that the 2016 presidential election was unique because “there was a vacant seat on the Supreme Court.” Which led the wandering mind to the single, simple rebuttal to everything every Republican had said.
Merrick Garland.
The unprecedented obstruction of Garland’s nomination by the Republican majority in the Senate gives the lie to everything they said. A tough process? A Borkian process? Hell, Garland didn’t even get a process. Pivotal moments in the history of Supreme Court confirmations? Garland’s is unique in that history. (This was another key moment that Mike Lee somehow overlooked.) The Court steps in when Congress doesn’t do its job? Congress deliberately did not do its job so that Merrick Garland would not be confirmed, and that there would be a “vacant seat” in the 2016 presidential election.And now an allegedly criminal and arguably half-crazy president* gets to change the Supreme Court for decades. This hearing process didn’t become a farce when it opened on Tuesday, nor did it become a farce when Brett Kavanaugh’s name was plucked off the Federalist Society’s wish list. This hearing process became a farce when President Barack Obama and Judge Merrick Garland stepped into the Rose Garden on March 16, 2016. The only thing we didn’t know is how grotesque a farce it would turn out to be…
Smart stuff from @aidachavez about how the very well-funded effort to create popular support for Kavanaugh has resulted in, uh, the least popular nominee in 13 years. https://t.co/96EawytRkl
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 4, 2018
… The inability to generate pro-Kavanaugh enthusiasm can’t be blamed on a lack of funding, as conservative groups have pumped tens of millions of dollars into an effort to create the appearance of grassroots support. Yet a review of the state-level grassroots activity reveals that nearly all of it is in opposition to Kavanaugh and in clear support of women’s reproductive rights. From Washington, the opposition does not appear to be equal to the energy marshaled in defense of the Affordable Care Act, but that may be largely because only the Senate weighs in on confirmations, and Republican senators have almost exclusively hidden out from public events this summer. No public events; no fiery town halls.
Yet conservative forces have been virtually incapable of driving any real pro-Kavanaugh activism on the ground, despite the tens of millions of dollars outside groups have committed to building public support. And the pro-Kavanaugh events that have been spotted were largely organized by just a handful of staunchly anti-choice groups with laser beam focus on overturning Roe V. Wade.
A NARAL Pro-Choice America analysis found that conservative organizations are spending over $30 million as part of their effort to build public support. The Heritage Foundation pledged to spend the “bulk of” its $11.5 million budget on confirming Kavanaugh; the Judicial Crisis Network committed at least $10 million; the Great America PAC and Great America Alliance committed a combined $5 million; and the anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List committed $3 million, according to the report…
Indeed, there was more energy at Tuesday morning’s hearing than along the stops of the various bus tours, as women dressed as characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale” were escorted out by Capitol Police, and Democrats on the Judiciary Committee objected to the hearing taking place, motioning for an adjournment after a 42,000-page document dump from the GOP on Monday night…
Nationally, fewer than three in 10 women believe he should be confirmed, according to the CNN poll. Eyes are on moderate Republicans and red-state Democrats concerned with re-election, but as the failed pro-Kavanaugh campaign shows, lawmakers would be bending over backwards to appeal to a mythical voter — while making enemies of very real ones.
I remember what it was like before Roe. I know how dangerous it was. When I was at Stanford, we passed a plate to collect money so a friend could get an abortion in Tijuana. Another woman became pregnant unintentionally. She killed herself. We can’t go back. #WhatsAtStake
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) September 4, 2018
The Kavanaugh fight feels like the 2016 election to me, in that people will only understand the stakes until after it is too late to actually do anything. @irin sums up the frustration of many here: https://t.co/geB8jrHY2L pic.twitter.com/PIwxRbl0ki
— laura olin (@lauraolin) September 4, 2018
AUG: @NRA says it'll spend at least $1 million on TV ads urging the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
SEP: Kavanaugh refuses to shake hands or acknowledge @fred_guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime died in Parkland. (photo via @andyharnik) pic.twitter.com/jgo9yhNGxs
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) September 4, 2018
Gin & Tonic
Andy Harnik deserves a Pulitzer. I can only hope that image becomes as iconic as Eddie Adams’ photo of Nguyen Ngoc Loan.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
What’s amazing is that this is not a “gotcha” photograph. I’ve watched the incident from several angles, still and video, and Kavanaugh’s sneer is the same in all of them. He is a BAD MAN.
Josie
@zhena gogolia: Yes. He is actually looking down his nose at the gentleman. Every time I see his politician’s smile, I will think of the look on his face in this moment.
FlipYrWhig
@zhena gogolia: And, seriously, how hard is it to say “Sir, I’m so sorry for your loss, especially because I’m a father too. Let’s meet up after we’re done”?
Dennis Croskey
“Team player” simply means “whatever ruling my party wants me to make, I’ll make.”
WaterGirl
In that moment, Kavanaugh showed use everything about himself. He is a fucking arrogant classless pig; it’s a disgrace that this piece of shit was even nominated, let alone given the legitimacy of a confirmation hearing.
The level of rage and loathing that I feel for this man is shocking, given that this whole presidency has been a shithole. Disrespecting the father of a murdered Parland kid is a bridge too far. Way too far.
Corner Stone
You can just *feel* the smarm and smug oozing out of Kavanaugh. He’s a mean, petty, vile little man that can not wait to be seated so he can stick it to the little guy/gal.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Good photojournalism does require an element of luck, and it was luck (probably) that put Harnik in the position he was in, getting that angle. Yet the moment was very brief, when Guttenberg had his arm extended and Kavanaugh was buttoning (or pretending to button) his jacket. I’ve also watched it on video, and a fraction of a second before or after wouldn’t have been as powerful, even though the sneer was the same.
SiubhanDuinne
Kavanaugh is mugging and sneering and smiling boyishly and nodding and making all kinds of faces and gestures that have nothing to do with Grassley’s words or the protests taking place behind him. I don’t see an earpiece but it sure looks to me as though he is reacting to comments/instructions that are coming from … somewhere else. It’s just bizarre.
zhena gogolia
Why did all those idiots fail to vote for Clinton? Couldn’t they SEE WHO WAS OPPOSING HER? Couldn’t they?????? I would have voted for Joe Manchin, for God’s sake!
Gin & Tonic
Some old broad who should be knitting is spending her morning on Twitter instead.
Kraux Pas
@zhena gogolia: Well, referring to people as idiots is usually a good way to get through to them.
Chyron HR
@zhena gogolia:
Because the Great One didn’t think he’d live long enough to get his coronation in 2024.
Chyron HR
@Kraux Pas:
Is this like when Bernie’s chosen people (the glorious white working master race) whine that they only act like nazis because those mean liberals keep calling them nazis?
jacy
@WaterGirl:
It’s quite upsetting that every time I think I can’t loathe one of these monsters more than another, one of them does something so godawful that I have some very dark thoughts about what should happen to them. They all, as my grandmother would say, have nothing to recommend them. They are completely abhorrent, each and every one of them.
Steve in the ATL
I can’t read anything about this guy. It’s too depressing.
I am thankful that my wife and daughters can afford to travel to a blue state to get healthcare if they need it, but this is so, so unfair to the millions of women who cannot. And the millions of workers and consumers who will be screwed by his decisions. And future generations who will suffer from the horrible precedents. This is awful.
zhena gogolia
@Kraux Pas:
If the shoe fits . . .
oldgold
I am not sure I fully qualify as legal scholar of Constitutional Law. A field that died when Bush v. Gore was rendered.
That expressed, for these Republicans in black robes “team player’ means right fielder.
Kraux Pas
@Chyron HR: I just think people in both camps should consider their own contributions to the acrimony. I came here to have serious conversations about the primary, but there was a group of people on here who wouldn’t engage anything I had to say and instead tried to hold me accountable for every intemperate comment they ever saw on Twitter, a service I’ve never even used.
Basically no matter what I said the response was “Hurdy hur, he marched with MLK. Fuck BernieBros.” I was lectured over and over by, with very few exceptions; cis, straight, white, male supporters of Hillary Clinton about how supporting Bernie was inherently racist. I put up with this for months before I went on a two week rage fest of my own that I’m not especially proud of.
I’m just saying that trying to hold yourself up as unimpeachable paragons of virtue holding fast against the ravening hordes isn’t convincing anybody who wasn’t already there.
Milo
OT, but if I remember correctly, Pelosi has many fans here.
Any idea why she’s such a strong supporter of ‘Pay Go?’
https://www.axios.com/2018-midterm-elections-democrats-detailed-agenda-76866210-1cf5-40f7-8422-bb29949437ae.html
the Conster
@Kraux Pas:
Referring to people who are idiots as idiots is a good way to accurately refer to them. Hit dogs holler.
Chyron HR
@Milo:
I guess because she didn’t drink the Kool Aid and still thinks somebody, somewhere actually has to pay for “free” college and health care. Good job focusing like a laser on the REAL enemy, though.
Milo
@Chyron HR: “Is this like when Bernie’s chosen people (the glorious white working master race) whine that they only act like nazis because those mean liberals keep calling them nazis?”
I don’t know the backstory here, so maybe that’s a double-reverse satirical statement, but otherwise holy shit. Gorka? Is that you?
rp
What’s amazing is that Kavanaugh would have been politically bulletproof if he’d hugged Guttenberg. He could have sat through the rest of the hearings with his feet on the desk smoking a cigar.
ChrisS
I’m not sure why all of these conservative groups are spending millions on Kavanaugh. He’s going to get confirmed. Who cares if its 60 votes or 50+Pence? The majority of Dems will oppose him and all republicans will vote for him because he’s a career conservative soldier.
Lee
Another thing to consider if the worse comes to pass and all abortion is illegal:
Those of you with means will need to make sure any pregnant women spend their time in another country. There is a chance that during a miscarriage the doctor will need to perform an abortion to save the women’s life.
zhena gogolia
@rp:
He’s incapable of it. He’s evil to the core.
And anyone who looked at Trump in the fall of 2016 and didn’t foresee all this is AN IDIOT.
Kraux Pas
@the Conster:
But it’s an idiotic way of getting other people to consider what you are saying.
the Conster
Talking to idiots is an utter waste of time.
zhena gogolia
@Lee:
Everyone needs to read Gail Kligman’s book about how reproduction was controlled in Ceausescu’s Romania: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520210752/the-politics-of-duplicity
The Thin Black Duke
@Kraux Pas: Fuck off, troll.
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic: Too bad she didn’t care about issues that affect young people.
SenyorDave
@Milo: The US has a structural deficit in the trillion dollar range. We are in a booming economy and will have a deficit of about $800 billion. It is one thing to run deficits during recessions, but things like GDP to debt ratios do matter eventually. There is no excuse for growing the deficit in a good economy, either find something to cut or get some new revenue. Eventually 2.9% for 10 year treasuries won’t look so good to the rest of the world, and the deficit will get out of control when we have to service our debt at 4 or 5%. Paygo is fiscally responsible. Fortunately, most people realize the Republicans are complete frauds when it comes to fiscal Republicans. The Democrats acting in a fiscally responsible matter is good for the party and good for the country.
Kraux Pas
@the Conster:
Yet unavoidable. Also, sometimes there are non-idiots watching and if they don’t already have strongly formed opinions, the name-calling may put them off too.
Neldob
Kavanaugh is afraid of anyone who may be left of center, who is not on his “team”. He is so well stewed in the right wing muck anything different is a threat. He’s an evil, lying fiend and I wish Al Franken was there to question the toady.
NotMax
Hope this is cued up correctly.
Just these few seconds (from an unexpected place) sum up these ‘interesting times’ all too well. Damn it.
SenyorDave
@SenyorDave: Fortunately, most people realize the Republicans are complete frauds when it comes to fiscal Republicans
Said Republican when I meant responsibility, must have been some type of weird Freudian slip
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Yes, most apt. And I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huh, as the mid-terms approach, Dwight and the chief Emo-Wilmerite have been dipping their toes back in the pool. Funny, that.
JPL
Our next supreme court justice won’t answer whether or not a sitting president can be subpoenaed. He should have answered only if you are a democratic president.
Kay
I don’t believe him. Roberts ran the same scam in his hearings. I think I hate the phony earnest Boy Scout far Right judges more than the up-front Right wing nuts. At least the open far Righters are honest.
The immediate danger is to voting rights. They know they are unpopular and outside the mainstream. They’ll do whatever they can to protect the incumbency of the far Right legislators.
It’s an all hands on deck time for voting rights. Luckily Democrats and liberals have become much more plugged in to that issue since 2000 and it’s now part of every Democratic politicians agenda.
We need to win some state races for voting rights supporters because we can’t count on federal protections. That won’t help in states like FL or GA where we have AA candidates running for state offices this cycle so that will have to be done by private sector lawyers and non-profits. As everyone knows because I bitch about it constantly I would like to see many more people in the field for voting rights protection. It can’t just be lawsuits. There have to be people watching in precinct polling places.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kraux Pas: Was z_g trying to reach anyone when she called the idiots idiots or was she venting about idiots?
Steve in the ATL
@Milo: pro tip: citing Axios is not a good way to support your position
tobie
@zhena gogolia: I think last night’s thread answered this question. People wanted something new, hip, cool, an intriguing flavor, an exciting brand. While experience and expertise count a lot when you’re choosing a doctor, a school, a mechanic, they seem to mean shit when it comes to politics.
P.S. This is not a statement about Pressley, who did the tough work of serving for a long time in City Council. Good for her for that. It means she’ll know something about governing which, as the GOP has proven, is different than winning elections.
Kraux Pas
@Omnes Omnibus: Maybe she wasn’t trying to reach anyone at the moment, but this is a public place. There are a lot of eyes here. And when you leave here and interact with people in meatspace, it really doesn’t help to be thinking “my god, this person is an idiot.” This will be a more likely outcome, however, if you spend years online deriding people as idiots.
@Jim, Actual Idiot: I never left and I am not commenting now any more or less than I have over the last couple years because my chief bullies don’t seem to have a life commenting here. Omnes has lightened up…a little. Why don’t you take a cue from him. Or is this all hard to take because of how I changed the text in the reply link. You’re still thinking about it. Aren’t you?
japa21
I was really trying to avoid watching but did watch a few minutes while Feinstein was questioning him. My wife and I had two different reactions. She, being a genteel woman, said, “Boy he is a really good dancer.” I, on the other hand, yelled out “Answer the f–king question!” Nothing genteel about me.
patrick II
@Kay:
He could have just set yes, he supports the precedent of Roe v Wade. He didn’t. He said it was an important precedent, but he avoided saying he would reaffirm it which would have answered the question. It also doesn’t stop him from doing what Roberts did to the VRA which is to cut the heart out of it without repealing the entire law.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kraux Pas: Yes, Prince Myshkin, you have been very clever with your typing today. Would you like a cookie?
japa21
@japa21: I should add, that for medical reasons, primarily avoid to BP problems, we will probably not be watching much more.
Mike in NC
Under Trump/Pence the country is going to see a setback of 50 to 75 years. After abortion is banned in one of the most populous countries in the world, they’ll work on outlawing same sex marriage and any form of protection for the transgender population. Also, too, more gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts. How long until conservatives try to bring back segregated water fountains and bathrooms?
japa21
@patrick II: Note that response was to a question as to whether or not he felt that case was wrongly decided. He never answered that question.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kraux Pas: Yes, it is a public place and people use it for a variety of purposes. Venting is one of them.
And anyone who isn’t a racist, right wing asshole who couldn’t see that Trump was a disaster is an idiot. If that makes me a poor candidate for doing outreach, so be it.
Kraux Pas
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: No, I’d like you to get a clue, stop bullying people you don’t agree with, and quit it with your own version of virtue signalling.
Also, please have a nice day. School’s starting.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kraux Pas: “bullying people”? I made a casual observation without mentioning you and you attacked me. I was very hurt by your typing.
chopper
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
THAT IS ASSAULT!
Kraux Pas
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You mean calling people names? Not the names they’re using but names to make fun of them? As if no one knew whom you were talking about? Name calling is basic bullying. That’s usually how they introduce a bully character in the movie?
Also, hiding behind plausible deniability to excuse bad behavior is SO Republican of you.
Still, have a nice day. I’m done wishing people ill. Anyone.
Aleta
@Steve in the ATL: Thanks for saying that. Some are saying, at least there would be states and networks to help women get access. Thankfully true. Today I’m thinking about other quite common situations that preclude travel beyond $ and time off and organizational skill. Like literacy, intimidation by partners/parents, certain disabilities/health probs. Caretaking of family members who are young or old or have a disability. No local public transportation. Mandatory church meetings/school. Women living with domestic violence for whom another pregnancy would make things much worse or screw up their escape plan.
Domestic short hair tabby (fka vheidi)
@Gin & Tonic: first thing i said to mr domestic
chopper
@Kraux Pas:
don’t miss the first bell, too many tardies and you’ll end up in detention.
Kraux Pas
@chopper:
That was more for myself to get me loading the dishwasher and cleaning out the car. Done.
No bells at the University and not getting the education I’m paying out the ass for is a far greater motivator than detention.
Aleta
@rp:My theory is that support or money from the NRA is making him very jumpy. For a handshake they’d start calling him out. Or worse, publicly remind him not to betray them. Dog help him if they suddenly turn on him.
Despite what I knew before, I’m still shocked at the appearance of such a shallow plastic brain pan.
Anonymous At Work
“Brett-boy, now that I have you under Oath, let’s ask a few questions. Like, ‘True or False, there is nothing in the unreleased documents that would cast doubt on your 2006 statement that you did not participate in any discussion of torture.’ or ‘True or False, there is nothing in the unreleased documents about the illegal politicization of the Justice Department under President Bush.’
Nice finish would be, “Can a Supreme Court justice be convicted of perjury before Congress?”
burnspbesq
@Kraux Pas:
You haven’t changed a bit.
Will you ever understand that sanctimony doesn’t play well here?
Annie
Has anyone ever found out the real story behind Kavanaugh’s $200K in credit card debt? If anyone actually believes the baseball ticket story, I’ve got a swell bridge in Brooklyn to sell you — and I’ve been a baseball fan since 1965.
Kraux Pas
@burnspbesq: Clearly that depends on what the sanctimony is in service of.
Kay
@Annie:
I can’t stand Kavanaugh but that story sounds hinky to me. Did he maybe put the tickets on a credit card and then have friends reimburse him? Because that isn’t that unusual – where one person in a group of friends makes the purchase and the others reimuburse.
My husband is on a tennis league and they do things like this- he’ll put a season’s worth of tennis balls on his card – a lot of them- and then the group pays him back. It’s convenience.
Kay
@Annie:
Does he get some kind of special deal for a group purchase or want the seats together?
Kay
@Annie:
I’d have to know if he was carrying the debt or if he just uses the card for the 30 day no interest period and then pays it off.
Lapassionara
@Annie: This. I want to know everything there is to know about this issue.
West of the Rockies
@zhena gogolia:
Yes, Kavanaugh is a privileged prevaricator who displayed his shitty decision-making skills and his prejudice in that moment for all to see. May he go down in infamy.
J R in WV
@Kraux Pas:
I’ve read your comments down this thread, and reached my limit of steaming bullshit when you said “Still, have a nice day. I’m done wishing people ill. Anyone.” Every word you have uttered/typed has wished people ill. Specifically, Democratic people who supported Hillary Clinton and did not support Russian stooge Bernard Sanders.
You are a Russian troll, Milo is a troll, and now that another election is nearing, we are re-infested with trolls trying to prevent open honest discourse about the treason infesting the country, which YOU are a part of. Screw you and the horse you rode in on. Hope I’m being specific and clear here, Pop-Up Troll!
Brachiator
That’s a powerful sentiment against this nominee. I hope the Democrats can continue to use this to help get out the vote for the mid-terms.
I don’t quite get this. What sign are these people looking for? “Yeah, I see the hellmouth, but I’ll wait until more creatures are spewed from it before I’ll fight against the monsters installed in the White House.”
dww44
@ChrisS: Maybe you are mostly right, but, on the slim chance, that there will be another incident like yesterday’s with Guttenberg, I’m gonna continue to hold off with the defeatism and I’m gonna call my GOP Senators ( who are not on this committee) everyday and asked them to vote no and to support a delay of this nomination process. I would hope others will do the same and that collectively we will not “go gently into the night”.
The stakes are very high here, and I, for one, disagree with Tom Sullivan’s post over at Hullabaloo and am curious why LGM has not weighed in on the Kavanaugh hearings. Have they thrown in the towel on this one?
Mnemosyne
@Kraux Pas:
Aww, how cute — after actually doing ill and helping this fucking disaster take root, now you’re going to atop wishing ill on the people who told you from the very start that this was going to be a fucking disaster and you’d better start paying attention to reality.
Don’t worry, I’m sure that the thousands of women who will die or be injured when abortion and contraception are outlawed will be very comforted to hear that you didn’t wish ill on them, you were just too self-centered and egotistical to try and prevent that ill from happening. Your feelings about the Democratic primary process of 2016 were far, far more important than their actual lives.
And I especially love that you’re getting reamed out by a bunch of cishet women and still have no fucking clue why we might be angry. Not even the slightest glimmer getting through the concrete.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: I think that Jim and I are dudes, fwiw.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
The sign they want is, You were right all along! We should have listened to Bernie!
They will happily be devoured by a lava monster from the feet up while still scanning the horizon for that sign, secure in their belief that everyone else is responsible for their predicament, never themselves.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
He’s getting shelled from all sides, but the argument he seems to be constitutionally unable to respond to is the abortion one. Not sure if this is because he realizes that he will be contributing to the death and injury of thousands of American women or because he has no clue what the preceding sentence even means.
chopper
@Kraux Pas:
it’s Hamburger University, isn’t it?
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: $200,000 worth of tennis balls?
JPL
@Kay: Southpaw did put together some information on that, and it appears that the family had been in debt for years, but it increased dramatically. Two of the tweets are here
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1020666983367528448
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1020859997197127681
Uncle Cosmo
@rp: Kavanaugh’s disrespect points to the rot at the core of the brighty-whitey bauble of Herrenvolk populism.
Remember, oh, about a thousand years ago, how Very Important People from both sides of the aisle demanded leniency for Scooter Libby after he was convicted ot outing Valery Plane? Because he was such a nice guy?
Nice guy to whom? Other Very Important People. “Folks” on his own socioeconomic level. He thought nothing of the people he was putting at mortal risk by outing Plame – they didn’t count.
This is classic rightwingery. It’s even nastier than the old saw about how “the Right loves people, it’s humanity they can’t stand.” (Vs the Left, which allegedly “loves humanity but can’t stand people.”) The Right loves its own kind of people & is at best indifferent to the remaining vast majority of the human race, who aren’t people to them, but statistics.
The dirty little gotcha at the heart of Herrenvolk populsim is, Just who are the Herrenvolk? The oligarchs – more properly, their handpicked wholly-owned subsidiary functionaries – publicly mistreat blacks/browns/uppity wimmins in order to con melanin-deficient Y-chromosomed proles into believing they belong – when in fact they get screwed almost as badly (or worse). The Herrenvolk are the oligarchs – who permit their hoity-toity flunkies a tentative & insecure share in the status & can withdraw it at any time.
Kavanaugh is a classic FOO (flunky of oligarchy). Great guy – if you’re one of his peers. All others are cordially invited to “
assumeresume the position.” Neofeudalism, ho!Mnemosyne
@chopper:
Congratulations — you win the thread. ?
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
Right but the thing is if he buys the tickets and then turns right around and gets the money back. Same idea.
It’s on a credit card but is it credit card debt? I see someone else posted Southpaw with more info so I’ll look at that.
Kay
Love her. Still the hardest working First Lady out there :)
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: That deeper look is inconsistent with your theory.
Uncle Cosmo
@Kraux Pas: IIRC your former nym ended in “dope.” Inadvertent truth in self-advertising there.
Kay
It drives us crazy but imagine working for him. None of them can function. They can’t believe a word he says.
It all comes back to that and none of them will ever be able to fix it or even get around it, really. He lies and that poisons everything.
japa21
@Uncle Cosmo: Once again, a comment which underscores the need for some way to express appreciation for a comment.
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
I thought it was amusing because the baseball theme was so clearly designed by marketing people to make him a regular guy, and then it turns out he has this completely abnormal luxury baseball obsession.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
The reporting I’ve seen said that Kavanaugh was carrying credit card debt that ballooned to $200,000, and then he somehow got the money to clear it all at once. Which is why people are a little suspicious.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
Right, and not to beat this to death I was thinking he bought the tickets and then got reimbursed, thus the all at once clearing.
To me it matters only in the sense that we DO ding politicians for excessive debt, we’ve had two locally where it was an issue, so he should get the same treatment.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: Some with high interest rates.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
tell that truth
JPL
@Kay: We aren’t even sure if Trump paid off the debt. The amount of debt grew each year.
germy
@Kay:
That was the part that was ugly comedy for me. They so want us to think of kavanaugh as a regular guy, dad, family man, all around nice carpool buddy… “He’s a baseball fan! So relatable. Invite him to our Memorial Day cookout, he’s one of us!” and then the info keeps spooling out before they can turn off the spigot: “Yeah, bought a whole bunch of baseball tickets. $200,000.00. But don’t worry, his credit card debt got paid off right before the hearings.” Just a regular guy.
It reminds me of the old M.K. Brown cartoon: “Did anyone actually see the candidate eat the rat?” “I dunno, but it was a damn fool thing to let happen.”
germy
I see they’ve seated Ms. OK Symbol lady behind Kavanaugh today, where her hands can’t be seen. Yesterday after lunch they put Ms. Rice in her chair.
Steve in the ATL
@Kay: hell, our current governor here in deep red Georgia was so corrupt he had to resign from a Republican led Congress! Then he filed for bankruptcy shortly before taking the governorship, and somehow became a multimillionaire with a year of taking that office.
Eez a puzzlement, as they say.
J R in WV
@dww44:
LGM had an open thread on the Kavanaugh hearings yesterday… do they need 10 of them>?
I Think Not.
Gelfling 545
@Kraux Pas: It’s a trifle late to “ get through to them” now.
Uncle Cosmo
@japa21:To (mis)quote the telegram of some actress legendarily replying to George Bernard Shaw**::
[sic].
(**reference provided upon request)
dww44
@J R in WV: @J R in WV: As I didn’t visit the site until last evening from my desktop and scrolled back a few posts and couldn’t find anything re Kavanaugh I didn’t see it. Re your “think not” others can disagree, no? And the LGM post has over 500 comments. Totally unreadable, IMO. BJ is already on # 2 for the day. They’ve yet to put up a single one.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Kraux Pas:
What about torturing them?
Kraux Pas
@Mnemosyne:
I voted for Hillary, so I don’t know what the actual fuck you are talking about.
sgrAstar
@rp:
That’s what gets me! If he had the slightest empathy, self-awareness, or just common decency, he’d have been able to see through the fog of paranoia and self-righteousness that surrounded him, and take action. In 2 seconds he’d have become a beloved symbol of comity and compasssion. Hahahahahahahahaha. But he is not, and has never been, that guy. And now we all know it.
Kraux Pas
@J R in WV: And please enlighten me how calling people out for bullying behavior and suggesting treating people with compassion wishes anyone ill. I’ve admitted to my wrongs, some of you could use some self-examination
Mnemosyne
@Kraux Pas:
Yes, you’ve made it very clear that you have absolutely no idea why cishet women are freaking out right now, and that it’s far more important for you to discuss your lingering feelings of butthurt about 2016 than it is for you to understand the feelings of other people.
Which is why you’re getting raked over the coals right now, something else you’re too lacking in empathy to understand.
celticdragonchick
@sgrAstar:
Exactly.
Somebody need to tell Benjamin Wittes on twitter. A few weeks ago he was part of the “Kavanaugh is soooo great in my carpool!” crowd and told us all how Kavanaugh was so collegial and had written some collegial articles for his collegial website at Lawfare.
That was were I unfollowed Wittes.
Uncle Cosmo
@JPL: Where did the money allofasudden come from to pay off the CC debt? If KavanAaaaugh had any assets worth mentioning, say in a brokerage account or real estate, he might have paid off the card by tapping a line of credit at a much lower rate of interest, which he could then pay down as the ticket recipients kicked in their shares. That’s what anyone with an IQ over 80 would do in that situation, & maybe that’s what he did – but in that case, why didn’t he do it years ago?