People want to think she isn’t lying.
— Vicki Steckler (@VickiSteckler) September 21, 2018
Actually, let me put that differently: Republicans can't convince themselves she is lying, or even that she's maliciously mischaracterizing the incident. https://t.co/GvoLzdBeLo
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) September 21, 2018
Forget the carefully crafted folktales about humble salt-of-the-earth workers — the True Trump Believers are American Poujadists, middle-class small business owners and their spokespersons, the ‘populists’ whose only political interest is in keeping their taxes low and all people-not-them ‘in their place’. People like Ross Doubthat, for example. Or Erick Erickson, Voice of the GOP Gated Community, who’s been losing his meagre moiety of marbles on twitter all week…
What if Ford is in such a liberal campus bubble that she thought she could just accuse Kavanaugh and watch him be destroyed by the claim as often happens on college campuses under Title IX.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 21, 2018
IMO one of the main lessons of this episode is how much of a bubble conservative judicial activists are in. Ed Whelan had to be completely delusional to think his Carmen Sandizillow sleuthing would come across well to a broader audience. https://t.co/yZXsuWonOp
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 21, 2018
‘Serious’ GOP professional looks for a pony in that shitpile…
People drown because they panic, not because they can’t swim. The Whelan email is symptomatic of the utter panic consuming a nomination that hangs by the thinnest of threads and the looming spectacle of out of touch octogenarians like Orin Hatch interrogating Dr. Ford.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 21, 2018
He is a brilliant, meticulous and serious lawyer. He is not a conspiracy nut. It is inconceivable to me that Whelan published that email without discussions, debate and assistance from the WH and GOP Senators and staff. It is not the isolated musings of one man but rather part
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 21, 2018
Of a broader discreditation strategy. No one should presume that Kavanaugh had any knowledge of the premeditated strategy being executed on his behalf. However, if he did, it utterly and irrevocably disqualifies him as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I hope
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 21, 2018
Yeah, that ship sailed so long ago it’s well below the horizon, Mr. Schmidt. Kavanaugh didn’t deserve a seat on the Supreme Court, or even a nomination, when all we knew about him was a long history of being extremely willing to compromise established legal principle to suit whatever his latest GOP master wanted.
Even if he were somehow to get seated now, he’d be looking at impeachment proceedings no later than January 2019, regardless of whether it’s the Sane Party or the Greedy Old Perverts in charge, because it’s increasingly obvious there are a lot of skeltons in the Kavanaugh Kloset.
Question is, how many other GOP judicial operatives is he gonna take down when he goes?
Good lord! This is too perfect. The guy they slimed as the real culprit is one of the alums who signed a letter to the senate attesting to Kavanaugh’s character! https://t.co/W5474G3gAi thx @DoremusJ pic.twitter.com/Yw6Av8URYn
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 21, 2018
Sounds like a win-win to me. https://t.co/pa9l9NbzYX
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) September 21, 2018
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Bayka) ??
I love Erickson’s underlying assumption that Ford must be a liberal because she’s a college professor teaching in California and she’s soley doing this to destroy Kavanaugh.
Who the fuck is that much of a committed ideologue to upend their lives by accusing sitting federal judge of sexual assault?
dmsilev
Only one minor problem with that genius theory, which is that Dr. Blasey said right from the very beginning that she knew that her life would be turned upside down and inside out by the 102nd Howler Monkey Wing (she may have used slightly different wording) and that was why she was trying to stay anonymous.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
And what if Kavanaugh turns out to be the real goatfucker, huh Ewik, what if?
Won’t you feel silly then.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
I love Erickson’s underlying assumption that Ford must be a liberal because she’s a college professor teaching in California and she’s soley doing this to destroy Kavanaugh.
Who the fuck is that much of a committed ideologue to upend their lives by accusing sitting federal judge of sexual assault?
The Dangerman
I’ve lately guessed that a primary to Trump in 2020 might be the trigger to begin a GOP disaster; if Kavanaugh is the trigger, well, so much the better.
azlib
It appears the Republicans are in full panic mode. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people. If they were confident Kavanaugh’s background did not have a skeleton this big, their response would be quite different.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
She paid that price when that animal who walks like a man Kavanaugh attacked her. He raped her, now she rapes his career. Sounds like justice to me.
patrick II
Actually no, Steve, often they cannot swim which is why they panic. What the Republicans and Trump can’t do is act with integrity, so they panic.
Shalimar
I think the unwillingness to investigate shows that Grassley, McConnell, Collins and White House officials like McGahn believe her. They just don’t see any reason rape should keep someone off the Suprene Court.
Jay
Infrastructure week just keeps giving, and giving, and giving.
Nazi tears are delicious.
Raoul
Kind of a read, but see what happens when a girl has a super creepy dad (who happens to be a GOP state Rep and chair of the House Ways and Means cttee). She tried telling her mom. And her friends. And people at her church. Even law enforcement.
No one helped her.
At least her decision to go public now has ended his elected career. I just feel so gross reading this, but it’s what goes on far too often. Oh, and that Rep? He pushed those shitty ‘bathroom bills’ here, trying to drum up anti-trans sentiment. Just a vile man. And part of a major party of vile man after vile man.
GregB
I think Trump is nearing his own Bush style Katrina event horizon.
The entire GOP at that.
The amount of bile and filth pouring into America at their behest is becoming untenable.
The GOP media complex is melting down and the Kremlin-bots can shine turd any more.
Jay
@patrick II:
A lot of people who drown, can swim, that’s why they are in the water.
The GrOPer’s are in panic mode because their months long, carefully crafted plan, to whitewash Special K and cover up that he’s a serial gang rapist, has been blown to hell and gone.
Now, there’s now way out for them, with out injuries, ranging from the bad, to the horrific.
GregB
Can’t shine.
Mary G
There is just too much news these days, and I would like a vacation from Infrastructure Week, please.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
To be fair, outside of Econ departments, this is a reasonably safe bet, according to all the polls I’ve seen.
NotMax
@Mary G
One hopes someone is tracking the price of MAGA hats.
Origuy
AL, thank you for introducing me to Poujadism. It matches Trumpism almost perfectly, down to the anti-Semitism. I’ve often thought that Trump’s rural base isn’t really the farmers as the tractor salesmen and the guys at the feed store–and their wives.
danielx
And what about if pigs might have wings?
Suzanne
It weirds me out that they all seem to think that college professors in every major and area of study sit around discussing politics with their students all the time. I would be willing to bet that most of my professors and adjuncts were center to left, but, like, I was studying art and architecture. Partisan politics didn’t come up frequently. And I was in college for nine fucking years.
danielx
@Major Major Major Major:
Also to be fair, John Yoo is a big deal at UC Berkely. Never let it be forgotten those misbegotten Federalist Society swine are everywhere.
NotMax
Dear Mr. Erickson,
People who live in crass bubbles shouldn’t throw stones.
Major Major Major Major
@danielx: to Berkeley Law’s ongoing shame, yes. Obviously even overwhelmingly liberal departments may have a stray war criminal. Prof. Ford can probably teach us more about outliers!
Jay
@Suzanne:
It’s a hobbyhorse of theirs. It’s part of “working the ref’s” because facts, science and history have a known liberal bias.
It’s also a faux embrace of “anti-intellectualism”, to play the rubes.
NotMax
@Jay
“Via ovum cranium difficilis est.”
– Adlai Stevenson II
Mandalay
@Raoul: Thanks for that article (I think). I just read the whole thing and feel sick and empty. Her mother has disowned her, but that is a very good thing:
Terrifying enough to have a dad that molests you. But also having a mom who is an enabler?….
FelonyGovt
How disgusting that evangelicals are pushing to have an accused attempted rapist confirmed right away, or else. How low these “devout” folks have shown themselves to be.
Chetan Murthy
@Mandalay: Oof. Uh, please don’t do that again. I read the blockquote before I could stop myself, and now I’m disgusted. You could have, y’know, just linked-to it with a strong trigger-warning. Or used whatever-it-is to hide the text under a big block of color. Just ….y’know, it’s pretty sickening.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: The B-schools would like a word with you.
Anne Laurie
@Origuy: I believe I stole the concept from Davis X Machina — the commentor responsible for our ‘sparrows on curtain rods’ aphorism…
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: oh sorry I was only thinking of educational institutions. ?
?BillinGlendaleCA
Got a call from the kid, she’s awaiting boarding at LAX for her flight to Australia. Her mother and I had a minor accident this evening headed to the market, I hit a traffic island while making a left turn and got a flat tire.
Mandalay
@Chetan Murthy:
Oh FFS, Grow up, or go find another web site.
Jay
Btw,
“Erick Erickson Quitting RedState To Spend More Time F*cking Goats
Mmm, sexy goat
After twat-teasing us over the summer with promises to go the fuck away, and then not doing that, the redundantly named foul-brained metric fuckton of shit squeezed into a half-fuckton sack that is conservative blogger Erick Erickson has finally promised he will stop jerking off and putting his word jizz on the internet.”
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.wonkette.com/erick-erickson-quitting-redstate-to-spend-more-time-fcking-goats-2569282710.amp.html
Gotta love Mommy Bloggers.
Platonailedit
Thug totus and his traitorous party drowning murka in the bathtub of ever increasing sleaze, corruption, racism and noxious sexism is not a symptom, it’s the disease most its citizens have.
Jay
@Platonailedit:
Nope, 27% and falling every year.
West of the Rockies
@patrick II:
Although I actually now think Schmidt can be a hoot on MSNBC interviews (he nails Trumplings to the wall), you are right about his phrasing. It’s a bit like when people sagely observe that falling out of a building won’t kill you; landing will.
smike
Ted Cruz, famous alt.human, still prattling on about death taxes and George Soros. Go Beto!
Jay
“Two-thirds of drowning victims are good swimmers, according to the United States Coast Guard.”
http://thelocalne.ws/2018/05/23/two-thirds-of-drowning-victims-are-good-swimmers/
sukabi
@danielx: what about the cranks that are so deep in their bubble they think trying to pin the attempted rape on one of their other comrades is a great idea.
Jay
@smike:
Calgary Cruz,
Gotta use the correct terms,
Convicted Felon D’nesh D’suza,
Goat Fucker Eric Erricsson,
Pyramid Expert Ben Carlson,
Serial Gang Rapist Special K,
SectionH
YOU posted a disgusting quote, which YOU prefaced by saying YOU felt “sick and empty” and then YOU turned around and dissed a guy who also had a bad reaction? You really are a piece of work.
SectionH
@Mandalay: That was meant for YOU.
Major Major Major Major
@Mandalay: @SectionH: we don’t really have a policy about this sort of thing, but “don’t be a dick” is always a good rule to post by.
SectionH
@Major Major Major Major: I could have made it clearer I was addressing Mandalay, if I’d caught that the Reply button isn’t working either. Sigh.
Please go back and read above. Mandalay’s post to Chetan Murphy, who is one of BJ’s best new frequent commenters, well imo, and Mandalay’s reply. Gee, and I’d just un-pied Mandalay…
What sort of Policy are you talking about? Policy that someone can’t call out another commenter with their own words?
Major Major Major Major
@SectionH: no hard rules about content warnings or anything, I meant. You were not the one being a dick.
SectionH
@Major Major Major Major: We owe Cleek so much.
Amir Khalid
@West of the Rockies:
Well, if it was the fall that killed you, Omnes and Subaru Diane the Badass Jackal would not be among us today.
gene108
Read John’s post about how his favored congrèssional candidate is not accepting special interest money, and I think a lot of Democratic candidates are forgoing corporate and special interest money this year. My congressional candidate Andy Kim is.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out with the larger fundraising activities of Democrats in Congress should these candidates (hopefully all) win.
raven
wtf-k?
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Hope that you all are ok.?
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: Section H is being the dick. Mandalay gave a clear trigger warning above the quote box.
Spanky
@raven: “f-k”? Who are you and what have you done with raven?
NotMax
Mmm. Felt a bit on the adventurous side tonight so invented a new cocktail.
Place one black peppercorn in the bottom of an old fashioned glass.
Fill glass with ice.
Pour in two dashes of sambuca.
Pour in 3 oz. of vodka.
Add one drop of Angostura bitters.
Stir well.
Hill Dweller
Whelan was trying to collect personal info on Dr Ford before her name became public. Who leaked her identity to Whelan? The WH? Kavanaugh?
p.a.
I realize they’re stuck with K because they fear the impending election results, but did we ever think to consider he is the choice because he is the cleanest of all the Fed Society trash on the lists??!
Gvg
@Sab: I disagree. The quote box was not hidden enough.
He had previously posted a trigger warning and a link. That was appropriate.
His aggressive response to being told someone didn’t like it was also offensive. He should have apologized and asked for the post to be deleted, then redone it nicer.
I have to read petitions from students to remain on aid in spite of poor grades. Most reasons are mundane, but trauma and triggers are very real for some, and that quote was bad.
Ken
@FelonyGovt: The weird thing is that the evangelicals are so fixated on Kavanaugh, as if there weren’t a dozen other candidates who are ideologically identical but without the sexual assault stuff. (Probably).
Fred Clark over at Slacktivist has often discussed this evangelical behavior pattern. There is a very, very strong resistance to admitting any belief (for example, Kavanaugh is The One) is wrong. That might lead to re-examination of other belief.
different-church-lady
Ross Douthat is an astonishingly dumb person.
low-tech cyclist
@FelonyGovt:
With ironic timing, their “Values Voter Summit” is going on right now; that’s where McConnell said they were “going to plow right through it” and get Kavanaugh confirmed.
Ironic, of course, because the “Values Voters” have abandoned all values besides “give us what we want.”
As Proverbs says, “The leech has two daughters: ‘give’ says one, and ‘give’ says the other.” Describes the religious right perfectly nowadays.
fopaws
@Gvg: TY. Srsly.
MagdaInBlack
@Ken:
Well….smaller scale: you catch some one lying, you start to question other things they’ve said. So, yes, thats pretty on point.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne:
That ridiculous trope. My late in life B.A. Is Urban History and Sociology :my Soc prof was a Marxist ffs. I was 39 when I completed that, old enough to be aware, and I never saw any “liberal brainwashing.”
This nonsense goes all the way back to “The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students :a 1987 book by the philosopher Alan Bloom”……and further
tobie
Poujadists — what a great reference, AL. The term fits every Trump voter I know to a tee: small business owners in small towns in trades that technology might one day render obsolete.
SFAW
@NotMax:
Then pour into the sink before drinking
SFAW
@different-church-lady:
One assumes you meant that in the “I knew that mofo was stupid, but he keeps outdoing himself” sense. [As opposed to the “hey, this Douthat guy is dumb, where’d they find him?” sense.]
Ken
@SFAW:
Amazing how often that phrase comes up when Trump is involved.
BlueGirlFromWyo
@Mandalay: Holy shit. What is wrong with that woman? “Not appropriate to do with your adult daughter”? Because it was appropriate when she was six? Or ever? I’m going to be sick.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Shalimar: I think they do indeed believe her, and that’s part of the reluctance to investigate. But, they’re also in a hurry, and an investigation would probably take weeks, maybe months. McConnell stole that Supreme Court seat and he’s starting to worry that the Dems are going to be able to steal it right back because the Republicans can’t stop tripping over their own dicks. That’s what’s driving the timeline here.
NotMax
@SFAW
Oh ye of little faith.
dnfree
@Suzanne: Yeah, I studied math and physics. I have no idea what the politics of my professors were–and this was in the 1960s. I attended a midwestern state university, and not much political activism existed on our campus, unlike the coasts.
dnfree
@Gvg: I agree that the block quote was inappropriate. Block quotes automatically draw the eye, before even reading the sentence above them. I did go and read the article after the first mention of it, and that quote was easily the most disgusting and disturbing thing in an article that was full of them.
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: I think the sexual-assault allegations actually make Kavanaugh more attractive to conservatives in general. They mean that ramming him through really, really hurts and upsets liberals, to an even greater degree than Kavanaugh’s ideology. (Also, the allegation is precisely the sort of thing that conservatives don’t think is a legitimate strike against anybody, so it becomes all the more important to double down.)
It’s Cleek’s Law. Hell, McConnell said it at a rally the other day: “the angrier the left gets, the better we’re doing”. A guy who will overturn Roe gets the left angry; one who is also an attempted rapist gets them even angier, therefore better. It’s too bad he’s not a serial killer!
dnfree
@Ken: Excellent point about evangelicals. I have come to the conclusion that their version of religion (whether Christianity or any other belief) requires them to ignore science and facts, whether it’s believing in creationism or floods that cover the entire earth at once. If that is your mindset, and it’s very important to maintain that mindset, it becomes the way you look at everything–there’s a right side and a wrong side, and the side you’re on must be the right side. Anyone who disagrees with you is just being obstinate and refusing to face the truth.
SFAW
@NotMax:
The spirits were weak, but the spirit is willing? Or vice versa?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Matt McIrvin:
That we know of.
Anybody know if his full name is Brett Wayne Kavanaugh or if he has a large collection of clown paintings?
Miss Bianca
Anne Laurie, I learn something new here every day! I had never heard of “poujadisme” before! But you’re right, they are the proto-MAGAts!
Dev Null
This:
https://politics.theonion.com/kavanaugh-sweating-bullets-after-betting-life-savings-o-1829114450
is a parody article, of course, but I can’t help wondering if there’s a kernel of truth in it.
Just One More Canuck
@dnfree: There were a lot of those other quotes that could have been used that would have got the point across
J R in WV
@danielx</a
"And what about if pigs might have wings?"
Oh come on, be real!! Everyone know pigs fly by whipping their tails like a helicopter! Haven't you seen the video? All pigs have tails — I've never seen one with wings!
//
;-)
J R in WV
@Spanky:
Hey! Maybe Raven’s device was running low on Us and Cs…
You ever think of THAT!?!?!
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: FWIW, I have been beating the Poujadisme drum for a few years now.
Wapiti
@dmsilev:
This case reminds me of the case of Command Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney. In ~1996 the Army was having really bad sexual harassment problems. The Secretary of the Army put together a commission to investigate the problem, and McKinney, senior enlisted member of the Army was put on the commission. It blew up, because a female Sergeant Major who had been previously harassed by McKinney came out with the story. She, too, had tried to get him to step aside before going totally public – but he didn’t.
Women are people. They can choke back indignities on themselves, but refuse to allow their attacker a position to harm others.
catclub
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
he is only a justice in the second highest court in the land. very sad.
afanasia
@Raoul: Putting his face between her legs and licking her thighs? How is that not sexual assault. Also, HER MOTHER WATCHED THIS. WTF?
Uncle Cosmo
@dnfree: I was a physics major at Johns Hopkins in the late 60s, & cut classes on Moratorium Day (15 Oct 1969) to join the march downtown. Ran into one of my Modern Physics classmates the next day & asked what Dr. Ettinger had covered that I’d missed. He replied,”Nothing.” He’d come into class, opened up his looseleaf of notes on the front desk, then slammed it shut & said, ‘I can’t do this today, class dismissed.'” Another friend told me he saw Doc E in the line of march, talking to spectators on the sidewalks along the line of march.
I was stunned. Until that moment I had absofuckinglutely no idea what (if any) political views he held – but if pressed I would’ve guessed, like most of the physics dept (many of them hip-deep in DoD contracts), 6 feet to starboard of Genghis Khan.
Well, belated hats off to you, Les Ettinger, wherever you may now be. (Probably in the hereafter – he’d be in his 90s by now. RIP.)
Art
Perhaps the gentleman fingered by Ed Whelan was expected to fall on the grenade to protect Kavanaugh. If Whelan had done his cheap detective routine and the guy had replied that ‘It’s a fair cop’ (a result of a callow youth struggling with alcohol) with an under-the-table understanding that he would face no charges and would be amply rewarded the accusation against Kavanaugh would have fallen apart. This is the same identity switcharoo maneuver that Trumps people used to try to protect him from the fallout from one of his dalliances so it isn’t as if it isn’t in their play book. Looks like the guy either didn’t get the memo, or he declined to put loyalty to the conservative cause above the need of the nation. Either way it looks like a busted play.
dnfree
@Uncle Cosmo: Thanks for sharing your story! I graduated from college in 1967, so in the early stages of dissent. I had Modern Physics the first semester it was offered at my university. It replaced an Optics class that was part of the previous requirement sequence. But they didn’t have a lab yet to go with Modern Physics, so we had the Optics lab with no class to go with it. What do they call “Modern Physics” now? Or has the course just changed beyond recognition?
Xenos
@Omnes Omnibus: here in Luxembourg we have a reactionary political party (the ADR) classified as a Pensioners Party. It swings from extreme left to right and back again based on whichever direction has the best promise to increase public pensions. They are quite reminiscent of many Trump supporters.