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Consistently wrong since 2002

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There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Come on, man.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Everybody saw this coming.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You cannot shame the shameless.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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I really should read my own blog.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Senator Grassley, Via His Staff, Tips His Hand

Senator Grassley, Via His Staff, Tips His Hand

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Now we know why they brought in the sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona.

The state of play less than ten hours out from the hearing is that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s GOP majority has conducted three interviews, with two men, without notifying the ranking Democratic member or any of the Democratic staff on the Judiciary Committee, both of whom claim they are the man who attacked Dr. Blasey. I will be very, very, very (pleasantly) surprised if the female sex crimes prosecutor from Maricopa County, AZ doesn’t conduct an inquisition of Dr. Blasey tomorrow morning.

Brace for impact!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  1. 1.

    Emma

    It is quite a spectacle, watching a bunch of old men who call themselves Christians damn their souls to Hell for all eternity. I mean really, God only has ten or so unbreakable rules, but the one about “not bearing false witness” is pretty cast-iron.

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    I put this marker down in a non-Kavanaugh thread, so I’m moving it up to this one:

    The most recent accusation made me realize that the reason we’re not hearing more about Kavanaugh’s behavior after law school is because he’s been targeting conservative women whose careers would be destroyed if they dared to accuse him. There’s a reason the three named accusers are from outside the Republican circle.

    If just one of those Republican women who has been victimized breaks her silence, the whole façade will come tumbling down.

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Emma: Actually there are 613 commandments. Approximately 110 to 120 are actually observable in the 21st century.

  6. 6.

    sukabi

    Dr. Ford needs to file a complaint in Montgomery county against both Kavanaugh and Judge. I hope her lawyers are on it.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, these morons confessing to the crime know that a prosecutor can throw them in prison even if Dr. Blasey Ford says it wasn’t them, right? As I understand it, a voluntary confession trumps a witness identification. Hope they’re getting paid enough to go to prison for the honor of the Republican Party.

  9. 9.

    zanamu

    Not every day someone will own up to committing a sexual assault when there is no statute of limitations in force for the crime. Will they be charged? This is an “above & beyond” situation where the party is concerned: “NO! I did it!!!” Ya right.

  10. 10.

    Emerald

    Wondering who they’re going to find to admit that they assaulted the other women? Because we really do just get so confused when we’re being attacked.

    Or if the committee never calls the other women to testify, then they don’t exist?

  12. 12.

    Boussinesque

    I don’t even have words to describe how far beyond offensive this tactic they’re attempting is. Having people basically volunteering to fall on their swords to protect Rapey McFuckface so they can play the “poor wimmins must’ve been confuzzled” card is just…breathtaking in its arrogance and callousness. I am not a violent man, but if you put me in the same room with Grassley at this point I feel like I’d end up gnawing through the necks of every fucker involved in conceiving this plan, that’s the level of teeth-gnashing I’m feeling right now. I can’t even imagine how much worse it must be for the survivors out there.

  15. 15.

    gene108

    When I was getting of off dialysis today, the guy in the chair next to me says tomorrow is going to be nuts, with the Kavanaugh hearing. I say thankfully, I will be at work and will miss the whole shit show.

    He then says, he wonders why women wait this long to report this stuff. He seems like a nice enough guy, when I have spoken with him. I believe he has a son and daughter and a couple of young grandkids.

    My only response was I think Kavannaugh should withdraw and put an end to this circus act, since he’ll still be employed on the second highest court in the country.

    He just nodded after that.

    Being not a woman, and not having enough experience with the rape-y crowd in high school or college, I really do not have a lot of experience to fall back on to explain this other than what I read on the internet here and other places. I feel like, if I tried to summarize what I have read, it would be like giving a book report.

    I am really not sure how to get the points I have read across to others.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @gene108:

    Next time, I think you can be safe saying, “Women wait to tell anyone because they think they won’t be believed. It sure looks like they were right to think that, doesn’t it?”

  21. 21.

    gene108

    @Emerald:

    Or if the committee never calls the other women to testify, then they don’t exist?

    More or less. As we all know, if you ignore a problem long enough, it sometimes goes away by itself. ?

  22. 22.

    philpm

    @Mnemosyne: That begs the question: who’s paying these two enough to destroy their own lives to save the career of a drunken yutz who couldn’t keep it in his pants.

  24. 24.

    Sister Golden Bear

    So I assume the two anonymous men will be turning themselves into the police in Maryland… I thought not.

    (And if they do, then the FBI damn well ought to be looking at their financial records for some very recent, very large deposits.)

  25. 25.

    oatler.

    And now blogger James Lileks has posted another demure “critique” of the Kavanaugh situation, but don’t accuse him of passive -aggressively fomenting partisan rage among his fans…

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @philpm: Leonard Leo’s dark money network that he uses to fund the Federalist Society, the Judicial Crisis Network, and his other even more shadowy pursuits. Most likely in conjunction with Ed Whelan and that crisis PR firm they were using to try to frame Kavanaugh’s classmate and then laundered through some shell corporation.

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: Actually I was looking for funny animal stories to do a post and came across this. No worries here. I’m all in favor of same sex marriage, as well as same sex couples being allowed to adopt children.

  29. 29.

    West of the Rockies

    Maybe the Republicans can get Jose Chung to explain how Ford was actually abducted by extraterrestrials.

    I hope the Republican party is destroyed, obliterated, and annihilated in November.

  30. 30.

    gene108

    @philpm:

    Koch brothers, Adelson, Mercers, Pete Peterson, Devoses, etc.

    One thing Republicans don’t lack are a bunch of rich sociopaths, willing to underwrite all their fuckery, with what amounts to a blank check.

  32. 32.

    philpm

    @Major Major Major Major: I saw something earlier that Rosenstein’s WH meeting may be postponed. Orange Julius is going to be glued to his TV all day for the hearing, at least until he realizes that his pick is going down in flames, and which point his Twitter account will light itself on fire.

  33. 33.

    Mandalay

    YOU DON’T CALL ME OUT LIKE THAT ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!!!

    Normally I can only take about twenty seconds of pundits losing it and screaming, but this CNN discussion is a bit special. Kirsten Powers explained the position of women about the Kavanaugh nomination, and Michael Caputo perfectly expressed the Republican position.

    If you had just parked your flying saucer and wanted to learn what the Kavanaugh brouhaha was all about that video is the quickest way to find out.

    TLDR: Caputo is a nasty piece of work, and a really vile pig. Powers used him as a floor mop.

  36. 36.

    jeert

    The root of the Kavanaugh ‘issue’ bears repeating:

    “The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, as it is officially known, has played a crucial role in putting conservative jurists on the bench. As White House counsel, McGahn is responsible for helping Trump select his judicial nominees. And, as he explained in his speech that November afternoon, he had drawn up two lists of potential judicial appointments. The first list consisted of “mainstream folks, not a big paper trail, the kind of folks that will get through the Senate and will make us feel good that we put some pragmatic folks on the bench.” The second list was made up of “some folks that are kind of too hot for prime time, the kind that would be really hot in the Senate, probably people who have written a lot, we really get a sense of their views — the kind of people that make some people nervous.” The first list, McGahn said, Trump decided to “throw in the trash.” The second list Trump resolved “to put before the U.S. Senate” for a confirmation vote. The president, McGahn assured his audience, was “very committed to what we are committed to here, which is nominating and appointing judges that are committed originalists and textualists.”

    (NYT)

  39. 39.

    Aleta

    The two need to be escorted to the police where they can make their confessions.
    Since they’re determined, let’s assume each is confused about the person they harmed. For everyone’s safety, jail them during the investigation.

    –Possible one/both have a mental illness that compels them to confess.–no joke–

  40. 40.

    Aleta

    There’s another suspect case, an anon. accusation of Kav pushing someone (who’s also anon.) against a wall. There are witnesses but all of them are anon. too.

    The writer of the letter provided no names but said the alleged victim was still traumatized and had decided to remain anonymous herself.

    A Democratic source said the minority wasn’t satisfied by the Republicans’ questions about the incident during the call, calling them cursory, and believed it should be investigated more deeply. But other Democrats downplayed its importance.

    “Senate democrats are focusing on the allegations — serious and credible allegations — that include people who have come forward,” a senior Democratic aide told NBC News. “Without the FBI’s willingness to get involved, we can’t investigate this claim further.”

    “Republicans may have leaked these in an attempt to make the others look frivolous by association,“ the aide said.

  43. 43.

    Jersey Tomato

    So did these two jokers come in together to confess to double-teaming her, or did each of them have a separate “I’m Spartacus” moment?

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    That’s the incident that makes me think that Kavanaugh has been preying on conservative women who have to keep their mouths shut or have their lives ruined.

  46. 46.

    eemom

    @Aleta: @Aleta: @Aleta:

    Yeah, and that one happened in 1998. Ya know, long after he graduated from boys will be boys-hood and was gainfully employed sniffing Bill Clinton’s dick.

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, if I were writing a Jodi Picoult-style “ripped from the headlines” family drama, I would have the daughter of one of Kavanaugh’s strongest supporters tell her parents that he assaulted her. Perhaps make the father a Roger Stone-like dirty trickster who has to choose between supporting his daughter and forcing her to stay silent for the sake of HIS career.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Originally addressed to Cheryl, then realized if might fall more into your sphere of expertise (realizing any such post necessarily cannot go in depth), would welcome a front page post touching upon the topic here.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Unlikely to happen. The physics don’t work and, depending on how the legislation is worded and what it requires, it likely violates the Senate ratified treaty about not weaponizing space.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Well, sure — he would throw his daughter under the bus without a second’s hesitation, just like Dr. Blasey Ford’s father (allegedly) has.

    In fiction, the twist might be that Republican Dad supports his daughter and goes through soul-searching à la David Brock to realize how wrong he was, so Republican Mom goes all Lady Macbeth, accuses him of molesting the daughter, and becomes a Fox News star while father and daughter are shunned by their former friends. Though I guess that’s approaching Gillian Flynn territory.

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    What time does the hearing tomorrow start? Trying to decide whether I should set the alarm or just catch up later.

  59. 59.

    sukabi

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m hoping it will be cancelled due to GOP Jud. Com. Members all suffering overdoses of their prescription drugs and or the resulting complications.

    Vile fuckers.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    @sukabi

    Look for those with more than usually noticeable bags under their eyes, those whose wives refused to let them get a wink of sleep.

  61. 61.

    sukabi

    @Major Major Major Major: Dr. Ford needs to file charges against Kavanaugh and Judge, the resulting investigation would have to eliminate the 2 assholes who have “confessed”.

    If they were part of the group Kavanaugh hung around with they may have participated in some of the rapes….

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    @Mnemosyne: I could see that.

    Quite clear now that the mistaken identity stuff came directly from Kav’s keen and sparkling legal mind. Because it’s his only fucking prayer of an excuse that might allow a serial rapist with witnesses to win the board game. After they took down Kozinski he must have lost a little sleep. But look at Clarence–no one can touch him. Lifetime protection.

  67. 67.

    Joey Maloney

    I certainly hope the alleged GOP staffers who allegedly spoke with the two anonymous alleged men who allege they are the ones who allegedly raped Dr. Blasey will be interviewed by Montgomery County cops and charged with obstruction if they don’t give up the names.

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    Yeah, that wasn’t very clear — apparently Dr. Blasey Ford’s father is still a Republican bigwig in Maryland and it has been reported that he can’t publicly support his daughter for fear of being dropped by all of his friends and colleagues. It’s an anonymous secondhand report, hence the “allegedly.”

  69. 69.

    Calouste

    @Joey Maloney: Yeah, IANAL and stuff, but the exceptions for confessions and client attorney privilege and such are I believe pretty narrow and don’t cover congressional hearings.

    Of course I won’t believe that these guys committed this particular attempted rape even if they show up tomorrow morning at Montgomery County police station with a signed confession, but might as well get them for something else. If the GOP take is that an assault victim would be confused about her attacker, why couldn’t the attacker not be confused about his victim?

  70. 70.

    Jay

    My Plan A would be that after Mrs. Ford testifies, she and her lawyers immediately leave for Maryland to file charges,

    Then gives interviews,

    Aventetti and his clients file charges in Maryland later in the day.

    Then give interviews,

    Then Friday AM, as soon as Maryland PD opens, someone from the Democratic Party on the Commitee files Obsttuction of Justice charges against the ReThug Staffers,

    Followed by the Chair of the DC Courts, a little known to ReThug’s guy by the name of Judge Merrek Garland opens a Morals and Ethics charge against Special K, for sex, perjury, financial impropriety.

  72. 72.

    hitchhiker

    I don’t see what they hope to accomplish.

    If they just want to throw a smoke bomb into the proceedings, how does that help persuade anybody that this process has delivered a clear and reliable result? To me it just seems like it would underline the need to have law enforcement take a few days and get to the bottom of what happened, to the extent that’s possible.

    Christine Blasey Ford is not going to suddenly become unsure who was in that room with her, right? She knew who it was. This isn’t a recovered memory situation. This is something she’s always known.

    Something else I keep hearing is the possibility that both those boys were in a blackout. My long and fascinating history with alcoholics and alcoholism is the basis for thinking that’s really, really not something they want to claim. Blackout drinking is almost exclusively a thing that happens to alcoholics. There are definitely teenagers who are already full blown alcoholics (ahem, mr. hitchhiker!), but in my experience it’s very uncommon. Usually teenagers drink to excess and puke or pass out … they don’t run around doing stuff that they can’t remember the way blackout drunks do.

    Being the child/sibling/spouse/friend of a blackout drunk is described this way: They do and say awful things, but they can never remember those things — and you can never forget them. It does sound like Mark Judge may have been one of those very young alcoholics, based on his own memoir. But if Kavanaugh is too, then he’s lying about his history. And if he’s not, then he remembers that night on the bed with the girl who wouldn’t shut up.

  74. 74.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Joey Maloney: That’s exactly what I was thinking. If these guys exist, they have confessed to a serious crime. It is the Senate staffers duty, as citizens to report them to the police. As Government employees, failure to do so is an even more serious breach. Aren’t they (Senate staffers) guilty of a crime, obstruction, assisting an offender, whatever?

    Have these people thought this through?
    Oh, sorry I forgot!

  75. 75.

    Aleta

    Cheryl Rofer @CherylRofer
    It is about power. It is about what toxic masculinity does to its holders. “If that can happen to him, it can happen to any of us.” The women must be brought under control.
    Sept. 26

  77. 77.

    Aleta

    @Mnemosyne: you gotta be kidding me (I wish)

    The serial rape accusations make this a national tragedy. The idea that only a few Yale graduates can risk to coming forward in support, that Republicans received Dr. Blasey’s full letter to Feinstein a week ago + the other people’s allegations before today– but are still lying about her and about Cravenaugh–I’m stunned.

    I’ve begun to wonder about those big debts. Payoffs?

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    Christine Blasey Ford, I am sending a mind meld — filled with courage and strength; the peace that comes with knowing you are doing the right thing, even as men who care only about privilege and power try to bully you and stack the deck against you; and infinite thanks from the bottom of my heart for your sense of honor and duty, which led you to speak out to protect all women from this privileged serial abuser.

    Win or lose, some things cannot be unseen; you have exposed the rot at the core of so many powerful men and powerful institutions. I am forever grateful. You are my hero.

  81. 81.

    Dan B

    @Villago Delenda Est: The Federalist Society needs to be transported to 1770 or earlier with their current clothes and ID. No never mind, they need to arrive in Salem in small groups in their swimwear.

    I’m sure they’d go all “we’re originalists” on those fine Calvinists. (Or were they Puritans? Whatev’s..)

  82. 82.

    Dan B

    @Mnemosyne: Shoild the Book Club be brought back as the great Trumpian eras’ (blip, please) definitive novel. Jackals, and some hangers on, flesh out the plot.

  84. 84.

    JR

    Watching the US Senate trying to exploit the statue of limitations is quite the public display of lawlessness

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    On a daily basis — no, HOURLY basis — read about the evil actions of Rethug leadership, and although I don’t believe in Heaven and Hell, I keep hoping for il Commendatore to make multiple appearances and drag those evil motherfuckers back with him. Right-the-fuck NOW!

    And, as if on queue, The-Always-Clueless Joan “I Hates Me Some Strong Wimmins” Vennochi “writes” an op-ed talking about Joe Biden’s “Anita Hill problem.” I guess the only thing that surprises me is that Vennochi hasn’t (yet) written one about Dr. Blasey Ford, titled “Bitch Had It Comin’ ”

    To borrow from schrodinger’s_cat (and others):Fuck the Fucking Boston Globe.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    On the plus side: the coming-forward [sic] of those anonymoses fearless men now allows the oh-so-concerned Susan Collins to unfurrow her brow, and provides her the cover for which she had been begging that most patriotic of men, Treason Turtle.

    They don’t make me physically sick, yet, but it’s close.

  89. 89.

    Edmund dantes

    @hitchhiker: it’s quite possible to be blackout drunk without being an alcoholic.

    And not all drunk people become assholes.

    But that’s neither here nor there with Kavanaugh.

  90. 90.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    I hope she doesn’t show up and her lawyer makes one statement: To clear up all confusion and give this matter the investigation it deserves, my client Christine Blasey Ford is currently at the Montgomery County police department filing charges against Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. Mic drop. Walk out. These fuckers don’t deserve to hear from her.

  91. 91.

    J R in WV

    @Mandalay:

    Normally I can only take about twenty seconds of pundits losing it and screaming, but this CNN discussion is a bit special. Kirsten Powers explained the position of women about the Kavanaugh nomination, and Michael Caputo perfectly expressed the Republican position.

    If you had just parked your flying saucer and wanted to learn what the Kavanaugh brouhaha was all about that video is the quickest way to find out.

    TLDR: Caputo is a nasty piece of work, and a really vile pig. Powers used him as a floor mop.

    I don’t really know who this Caputo monster is, but I hope he gets what he deserved, coming out in favor of unrestricted gang rape and blaming the young women trying to be part of the in crowd back 30 years or so. Not that it has going away today, as we saw with that swimmer at U$C and the sweetheart now-fired “judge” who gave him, what, 6 months probation for his rape.

    Perhaps the most despicable person not named Trump I’ve seen on TV lately !!.. Ms Powers hung in there, but I wouldn’t say she wiped the floor with the despicable piece of crap. Why don’t the engineers on these shows have orders to drop the mic level on these guys who never want to allow a Democrat or a woman to have any say about their incoherent frothy anger ranting…

    If it was my show, I would have a knob right by my place to do just that, just turn them down so we can hear the opposing facts. No reason for people with intelligence to have to strain to be heard over a ranting madman! Which is being kind to Caputo, really. Frothing at the mouth because he too is guilty of assault on young women when he was young and strong and wicked. No other reason for his behavior, none.

    What are we going to do with all these rape supporters? Really!?

  92. 92.

    justawriter

    I’m Spartacus.
    No I’m Spartacus!
    I’m Spartacus too!!!
    Roman General: I don’t care, nail them all to trees.

  94. 94.

    smintheus

    Oh, and once again, it should be emphasized that the willingness of Republicans to entertain a(nother) mistaken-identity theory demonstrates that they cannot believe their own claim that Ford is lying.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    @J R in WV:

    Ahem. Brock Turner was a swimmer at Stanford, not USC. Big geographical difference since USC is in LA and Stanford is in Palo Alto/Silicon Valley.

  97. 97.

    lofgren

    I have absolutely no difficulty believing that there was enough sexual assault going on in this social circle that these guys legitimately cannot remember who they tried to rape 35 years ago.

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