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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Brett And Bart’s Excellent Bartime Adventures

Brett And Bart’s Excellent Bartime Adventures

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Things are not looking good for Supreme Court Justice Stan Gable:

As an undergraduate student at Yale, Brett M. Kavanaugh was involved in an altercation at a local bar during which he was accused of throwing ice on another patron, according to a police report.

The incident, which occurred in September 1985 during Mr. Kavanaugh’s junior year, resulted in Mr. Kavanaugh and four other men being questioned by the New Haven Police Department. Mr. Kavanaugh was not arrested, but the police report stated that a 21-year-old man accused Mr. Kavanaugh of throwing ice on him “for some unknown reason.”

A witness to the fight said that Chris Dudley, a Yale basketball player who was friends with Mr. Kavanaugh, then hit the man in the ear with a glass, according to the police report, which was obtained by The New York Times.

The report said that the victim, Dom Cozzolino, “was bleeding from the right ear” and was later treated at a local hospital. A detective was notified of the incident at 1:20 a.m.

Yeah it’s super hard to believe a beer swilling football player who gets into bar fights might have attempted to rape someone.

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    Yeah it’s super hard to believe a beer swilling football player who gets into bar fights might have attempted to rape someone.

    But look at all the women he didn’t drunkenly sexual assault! //

  2. 2.

    gwangung

    I still think if Prep Boy had gone the “I was a wild youth and did many things I regret now” route, he could have navigated his way out of this, even with Dr. Ford’s testimony.

    But Eddie Haskelling everyone was just plain stupid.

  3. 3.

    Tim C

    Wait…same Chris dudley who played for the blazers and lost to John Kitzhabber in the 2010 governors race?

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    anyone taking odds that BK’s debts were paid by someone other than his parents and were done by RNC dark money fellow travelers? Is that why they’re fighting so hard for him, to ensure that not only are all of their dirty deeds sanctioned but also boasting a thin patina of legal?

    I can understand being drunk and socially immature and feeling like your wants and desires are paramount to anyone else’s,,, but for fucks sake I grew up and managed not to assault anyone….. this guy is obviously enough of a political power broker to have finally gotten a clue and started to cover his backtrail… although it looks like he’s not only got a skeleton or two left in the closet, but a fully occupied graveyard.

  7. 7.

    dr. bloor

    So now there’s an Ivy-educated NBA player in the mix. A Ferengi transgendered dwarf is undoubtedly waiting in the wings.

  8. 8.

    zhena gogolia

    I vaguely remember this dive. Posted below:

    Seen by some as rowdy, violent, and dominated by Yale jocks and locals, Demery’s was not a welcoming space for many LGBTQ+ Yale students.

    It was “not a place for anyone who was out,” an alumnus told The Politic. “I was in Morse, so I had to walk by it every Friday and Saturday to get home. I knew to keep my head down, [not] make eye contact, move like water, flow around people.”

  9. 9.

    geg6

    Make a correction, Cole. They were basketball players. Apparently, Kavanaugh wasn’t so good, but he hung out with a bunch of better players. The history professor (who was also a basketball player) tells this story and now it’s confirmed. Says ol’ Brett was a huge, mean drunk and he knows this because he was often drunk with him. All Brett’s stories are falling apart.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    @gwangung: This. If K had come out and said “I drank too much at times in high school and college, and while I don’t remember doing anything like Dr. Blasey Ford said, I could be wrong, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart, and I pray to Jeebus for redemption,” he’d already be confirmed by now.

    This choirboy thing was a mistake from the start. The mere idea that a degenerate drinker like Judge, who wrote books about being an alcoholic in high school, could be friends with a guy who went to Little Flower every Sunday and never overindulged is just ludicrous.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    Just remember it is only Monday evening. Just think we will know about this ass clown by Friday morning

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Kavanaugh was trying to rally friends to cast doubt on Debbie Ramirez before the NYer article appeared

    The texts also demonstrate that Kavanaugh and Ramirez were more socially connected than previously understood and that Ramirez was uncomfortable around Kavanaugh when they saw each other at a wedding 10 years after they graduated. Berchem’s efforts also show that some potential witnesses have been unable to get important information to the FBI. …
    Kavanaugh was asked by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, when he first heard of Ramirez’s allegations. Kavanaugh answered: “In the New Yorker story.” …
    According to the information Berchem provided, Ramirez tried to avoid Kavanaugh at that wedding of their two friends, Yarasavage and Kevin Genda.
    Ramirez, “clung to me” at the wedding, Berchem wrote to Yarasavage in a Sept. 24th text message. “She never went near them,” a reference to Kavanaugh and his friends. Even in the group photo, Berchem wrote, Ramirez was trying to keep away from Kavanaugh.

  18. 18.

    dr. bloor

    @JPL: Apparently being a part of the WH strategery team means that you never run out of dicks to step on.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @Tim C:

    Wait…same Chris dudley who played for the blazers and lost to John Kitzhabber in the 2010 governors race?

    The very same. So yeah, maybe not the greatest character witness. Not only is he suspect because he’s obviously a Republican operative, but his own judgment is in question.

  21. 21.

    Jeffro

    I haven’t looked in a while … is the hashtag #FindAnotherWingnut training yet? Because that is what I have been suggesting to wingnut relatives … if they had any principles and/or any common sense whatsoever, they would just drop this idiot and find another wingnut to nominate .

    But they won’t. Why is that?

  22. 22.

    Chyron HR

    That’s weird, I’ve been assured that the GOP totally Lucyed our Footballs by not forcing Kavanaugh’s confirmation through last weekend.

  23. 23.

    dr. bloor

    @Mary G:

    This choirboy thing was a mistake from the start.

    The choirboy thing was less a strategy than an inextricable element of the nominee’s character. Holier-than-thou defensiveness and virtue in the face of the ugly truth is the default, and usually the only available, response.

  26. 26.

    Jerzy Russian

    @zhena gogolia: I remember the name, but I could not tell you where this place is/was from memory. It is one of the properties you can buy in the “Yaleopoly” game, which is a copy of Monopoly with Yale/New Haven streets and places.

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @Jeffro:

    But they won’t. Why is that?

    Consider the possibility that Kav is truly the best option available to them and that all the other candidates have even worse backstories.

  28. 28.

    smintheus

    Kavanaugh didn’t just “get in a bar fight”. Kavanaugh started the bar fight by throwing ice (or beer) in the guy’s face. The term for that is “assault”.

    And there’s also the classic Kavanaugh evasiveness:

    Mr. Dudley denied the accusation, according to the report. For his part, speaking to the officers, Mr. Kavanaugh did not want “to say if he threw the ice or not,” the police report said.

  29. 29.

    Ksmiami

    @gwangung: I agree- he could have just said I did things I’m not proud of as a teen and if I hurt ppl I’m sorry but he wanted to obfuscate and play victim so well fuck that prat

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    @Chyron HR:

    I’ve been assured that the GOP totally Lucyed our Footballs by not forcing Kavanaugh’s confirmation through last weekend.

    I’m just waiting to see if he withdraws or it actually comes down to a vote.

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jerzy Russian:

    It was on the corner of Broadway and Elm. I must have walked by it ten times a day, but I have no memory of every going there. I think it was like Toad’s, just a place you tried to gingerly walk by and not get too close. We did our beer drinking at Naples or the Gypsy.

  37. 37.

    Barbara

    I can’t believe Kavanaugh thought all these Yalies who saw him drink himself into a stupor would never come forward — maybe because they didn’t come forward during his DC Circuit nomination. I love best the lady (now doctor) who said she knows because she got drunk with him all the time. Not everyone feels a need to deny their early mistakes.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Brian Beutler @ brianbeutler
    In his later years he would regret not telling the officers that, where he’s from, throwing ice in someone’s face is actually an act of endearment.

    It’s how we said, “I love you, man” after a night of root beer and charades with my buds

  41. 41.

    realbtl

    Note the thrown ice..”Beer” is what the alcoholic publicly confesses to because everybody has a beer right? Beer my ass.

  43. 43.

    Chyron HR

    @TenguPhule:

    I think the worse case scenario for GOP senators would be if the vote fails and they don’t get their guy on the supreme court, but they still have to run for re-election against a barrage of ads featuring very concerned white women saying, “Senator so-and-so voted to put an accused rapist on the Supreme Court.”

  45. 45.

    Chetan Murthy

    @JPL: I once got shushed by the barmaid for yelling at a guy about [a matter that I won’t bring into it, b/c it doesn’t matter — it was still inexcusable]. I’ve never been back to that bar, b/c too ashamed.

  46. 46.

    smintheus

    What will Kavanaugh’s explanation be?

    “The poor man had spontaneously combusted and without a thought for my own safety, my choir boy training kicked in as I rushed over to douse the flames. I blame Sen. Feinstein for leaking this police report that completely exonerates me.”

  47. 47.

    scav

    @smintheus: So he didn’t want to admit or deny he threw the ice. Did he get into the cops grill and shout “Haven’t You ever tossed a little ice?! Ever!??!“

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    Another tidbit:

    Demery’s invited the type of behavior that university administrators might have found undesirable.

    “It was great fun to go up the Branford/Saybrook tower and launch water balloons from a giant slingshot just after closing time at Dem’s,” recalled an alumnus.

    In the same comment thread on an alumni page, another Yale graduate replied: “It’s also worth mentioning that this was shut down after a balloon caught a woman in the face and detached her retina.”

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    I am so proud of us. We continue to not fall for the okey doke. We never fall for the GOP shiny object… which is the reason why they want to suppress Black votes.

    Mangy Jay (@magi_jay) Tweeted:
    80% of black voters believe Dr. Ford over Kavanaugh, as do 66% of hispanic voters. Only 40% of white voters do.

    When split by gender, 46% of white women believe Dr. Ford and 43% believe Kavanaugh, a statistically insignificant difference

    Only 37% of white men believe Dr. Ford. https://t.co/EAfWlqm9Xj https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1046802694617419776?s=17

  54. 54.

    hueyplong

    @smintheus: I wonder what would have happened if a differently pigmented young male had declined to answer a police inquiry as to whether he threw the ice.

    Meanwhile, in the words of Charlie Pierce, Robert Mueller reaches across his desk and picks up another file folder.

    And meanwhile, each of us makes sure that someone we personally know who has trouble getting to the polls actually gets there on Nov 6. I’ve picked out an 84 year old who hates Trump but is a little wobbly on leaving her condo on a good day. If I’m smart, I’ll do a lot more than that.

  57. 57.

    Chetan Murthy

    @rikyrah:

    Only 37% of white men believe Dr. Ford.

    Ehh. I don’t think they disebelieve her. I think they don’t care what she thinks now, or thought then. They think it’s alright to do what you gotta do [and I QUOTE] “for the love of the sport”. Per Bertie Wooster “No, they enjoy it, like foxes. How they enjoy being hunted.”

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah:

    80% of black voters believe Dr. Ford over Kavanaugh, as do 66% of hispanic voters. Only 40% of white voters do.

    wow, 40%, that’s just sad.

    Right after the election, Al Giordano told us that women, but particularly women of color, were going to lead.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    Cripes, they didn’t vett this guy for shit, did they?

    If Brettley Eager Winston Cavanaugh VI goes down perhaps he takes the Federalist Society with him. That would make this shitstorm almost worth it.

  61. 61.

    ns

    Yeah it’s super hard to believe a beer swilling football player who gets into bar fights might have attempted to rape someone.

    Come on Balloon Juice, are we really going to make plausibility a standard for judging serious accusations? It’s not ‘super hard to believe’ that any guy might have attempted to rape someone since all sorts of pleasant people with great jobs and families have been revealed as scumbags. Dr. Ford shouldn’t need Kavanaugh to fit a profile to be taken seriously and all the narrative-shaping about mean jocks and rape culture has gotten in the way of this story. I believed Dr. Ford before her testimony and I super believe her afterwards and beer muscles don’t have anything to do with that. Being an obnoxious drunk is not evidence of sexual assault (although it might help prove that Kavanaugh perjured himself.)

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @ns:

    Being an obnoxious drunk is not evidence of sexual assault (although it might help prove that Kavanaugh perjured himself.)

    The rules are different in the Court of Public Opinion.

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    @gwangung:

    I still think if Prep Boy had gone the “I was a wild youth and did many things I regret now” route, he could have navigated his way out of this, even with Dr. Ford’s testimony.

    I agree — he would probably be getting sworn in right now if he had taken that tack. But he can’t because (IM layperson’s HO) he’s an active alcoholic, so it’s impossible for him to admit that he does anything wrong when he’s drunk. Anything that occurs while he’s under the influence is everyone else’s fault, never his.

    Seeing him ranting red-faced up there gave me nasty flashbacks to the times when my dad would come home drunk when I was a kid. He was never a full-blown alcoholic, but I think he came very close to tipping over into that when I was in high school. I’m not the only one who suspects that he had a couple of quick pulls from his flask to steady his nerves before he walked into the room.

  67. 67.

    Chetan Murthy

    @WaterGirl: Well, the latter is (after all) inculpatory, and maybe they’re afraid of what their wives’ll do when they’re asleep.

    Lorena Bobbitt was ahead of her time.

  69. 69.

    dr. bloor

    @trollhattan: The Federalist Society sent a name over and said, “this is the guy.” That’s what passes for “vetting” in the WH these days.

  70. 70.

    Chetan Murthy

    @dr. bloor: Now now, maybe we should check into Rachel Mitchell’s employment history? Maybe she was a po-po in New Haven back in the day.

  71. 71.

    dr. bloor

    @ns: They’re not litigating a court case, they’re interviewing a job applicant. The standard is “You’re gone if I don’t like your fucking tie.” Any of the interviewers who weren’t thinking “we can do better” three minutes into his self-righteous screed last week is lying to themselves and undermining the republic.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @chopper:

    looks like his legal experiences started with “taking the fifth” an awful lot.

    It looks to me as if a lot of his legal experience started with “taking a fifth”.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    They may have started the anti-Ramirez effort as early as JULY.

    You guys, I’m not joking when I say that I am convinced that it’s an open secret in Republican circles that Brett gets grabby with the ladies after he’s had a few. They’re counting on Republican omerta to keep his conservative and Republican victims quiet, but they had to take extra steps to try and quash the stories from the women like Blasey Ford and Ramirez who can’t be pressured that way. That’s why they did the whole “carpool dad” charm offensive. That’s why they had a “liberal feminist” woman lawyer introduce him. They know that these stories are out there, and they were trying to discredit them ahead of time.

    The three named victims are just the tip of the iceberg. Wait and see.

  80. 80.

    smintheus

    @ns: Kavanaugh did more than be an obnoxious drunk. He assaulted someone. A propensity for violence is a key predictor of sexual assault.

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @Lalophobia: He may be toast, but the Republicans on the committee don’t see any charing yet – not enough to scrape off the toast, anyway.

  82. 82.

    mad citizen

    We used to shoot water ballons out of a surgical tube/funnel contraption in college. We called it “the Wanger!”–of course, we were freshman. In the dorm, not in the frats. The best was shooting across the street at the Betas (the highest level of greeks at our school), enticing them to chase a group of us to our dorm, whereupon they were soaked from above from a third floor balcony from water-filled trash cans. We also shot oranges, lit-firecracker hard-boiled eggs, and maybe a golf ball or two. Don’t thing we hurt anyone, thank goodness.

  83. 83.

    Percysowner

    @gwangung:

    I still think if Prep Boy had gone the “I was a wild youth and did many things I regret now” route, he could have navigated his way out of this, even with Dr. Ford’s testimony.

    But Eddie Haskelling everyone was just plain stupid.

    Being deeply cynical, you only go with that defense if you actually did STOP doing this type of thing after college. I think that there may be more recent incidents that he thinks will come out, or that there are times that he can’t account for because he blacked out due to over indulging.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    Let’s all take a slight bit of comfort that ethics complaints against Kavanaugh will be fielded by the Chief Justice of the DC Circuit – Merrick Garland.

  85. 85.

    frosty

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Its like I can’t tear myself away from the train wreck in motion.

    You’re not the only one.I look forward to times with less news so I can get something done besides hitting “refresh”.

    Thank you front pagers and jackals for making the news a little more palatable.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: You just know they would call on Merrick Garland to recuse himself because of potential conflict of interest. The same men that would NEVER have Kavanaugh recuse himself on the highest court in the land, for any reason.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chetan Murthy:

    No need — she worked closely with Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona while he was telling his sheriffs to not bother investigating sexual assault and child molestation cases, especially if they involved Latinx victims. She was A-OK with letting people continue to be victimized so Sheriff Joe could pretend to be tough on immigrants.

    She’s a Republican hack with no morals or scruples, just like the rest of them.

  88. 88.

    lamh36

    Welp…

    @kurtdwalters
    Follow Follow @kurtdwalters
    More
    NEW: Brett Kavanaugh’s winter 2019 class @Harvard_Law has been CANCELED, after mass student opposition. #Kavanaugh

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Lalophobia: Ayup. Joy Reid talking about this now

    also, they knew these accusations were coming. Somebody on MSNBC played a clip today of John Kennedy’s creepy ‘joshing’ with Kavanaugh about his wild youth. They ask, in their usual extremely bad faith way, why we’re talking about BK’s high school years. What I want to know is: Did Kennedy ask Neil Gorsuch about high school? Why did McConnell try to warn trump off BK? What did the turtle know and when did he know it?

  91. 91.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mnemosyne: I was just jokin’. And yeah, for anybody who wants to be sickened at what people [ok: “men”] are capable of, the recent case of a guy who got off w/6mos in jail + probation for ….. sickening levels of child molestation …. well, I’ll let ’em look it up themselves. If I were a christian I’d say “Jesus wept” but then, there can’t be a Christ, and can’t be a God, b/c if there were, they wouldn’t let little children suffer like this boy (and maybe his brother, I stopped reading at some point) suffered.

    So yeah, she’s exactly what you wrote.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @Mnemosyne:

    She’s a Republican hack with no morals or scruples, just like the rest of them.

    I thought her first 2 or 3 questions seemed neutral, with smiles and everything.

    THEN it was like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, her fangs started showing.

    Speaking of which, one of the greatest books of all time: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

    I might have to send that to EF to read to his grandchild.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    “No, I remember what happened, and I think you’ve probably had bar fights, senator.”

  95. 95.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We had dinner tonight with a couple who are Rs but did not vote for Trump. Both Mr DAW and the other man thought Kavanaugh would be withdrawn. Both the other woman and I thought he’d be confirmed. Small sample, I know, but I thought it was interesting.

  96. 96.

    PhoenixRising

    @dr. bloor: I’m told they prefer ‘little people’. No shame not to know, I just learned this yesterday. But your point, that the Cambodian dogsled team will be filing an information with the FBI shortly, is taken.

    All he had to say was ‘I lost a few too many weekends & anyone who’s still mad at me, please see 8th step’ and this trauma for our entire country was avoided. The asshole.

  102. 102.

    PhoenixRising

    @Martin:

    ethics complaints against Kavanaugh will be fielded by the Chief Justice of the DC Circuit – Merrick Garland.

    Life is beautiful.

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    @ns:

    Being an obnoxious drunk is not evidence of sexual assault

    It is, however, evidence of being an obnoxious drunk.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: hahaha.

    At least he spells it with two “T”s. I would hate to have him spoil the good name of Bret Maverick.

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    @zhena gogolia: OMG – my dad was a Yale alum (and I tried to be a legacy, but wait list was as close as I got) and I remember him taking us to Toad’s when I was a teenager and we were passing thru’ New Haven. Somehow I had managed to repress this memory till now.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Yeah, I read the story in the Phoenix New Times after you posted the link a few days ago. Mitchell herself negotiated a ridiculous slap on the wrist for a guy who had repeatedly molested a young boy for almost 10 years. When the victim found out how light the sentence was, he attempted suicide. Twice.

    But Mitchell didn’t give a shit about the victim’s pain, because she’s a fucking asshole who just wanted a W on her record.

    (If you seek out the story in the Phoenix New Times, be warned — the details of the molestation and the suicide attempts are quite graphic.)

  111. 111.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mnemosyne:

    after you posted the link a few days ago.

    Oh god, I posted it? Ugh. (1) I’m sorry I did that, and (2) I hope I put a sufficient trigger-warning on it? Ugh. So sorry I did that.

  113. 113.

    Aleta

    @smintheus:

    What will Kavanaugh’s explanation be?

    “He was a great friend of ours. He hung out with us at a bar. We drank beer. Boys and girls. Beer. I believe he still likes beer. And he’s a good person. It’s an abomination his name’s been dragged into the news like this. It’s been misinterpreted. The language in the police report refers to the fact that it was a quarters game. Three glasses in a triangle. I admire him to this day.”

  114. 114.

    eemom

    @zhena gogolia:

    He was in Stiles, but he lived in Lawrance Hall freshman year, which is where I lived and in that time was the Pierson feeder, so maybe he transferred. That’s where the infamous quarters game took place also.

    I didn’t know you went to Yale. What year did you graduate? I was ’84.

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Well, somebody posted it. I’m not sure who. I noticed because I was posting the PNT coverage of the scandal of Arpaio quashing investigations of sex crimes. Those revelations were what cost him his office as sheriff and why I knew he didn’t have a chance in the primary for US Senate. Republican voters are very, very tribal, but Republican politicians aiding and abetting child molesters still tends to upset them.

  118. 118.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mnemosyne:

    Republican voters are very, very tribal, but Republican politicians aiding and abetting child molesters still tends to upset them.

    Thank goodness for small mercies.

  120. 120.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Why should Judge Merrek Garland recuse himself.

    There never was a hearing, technically, his nomination was never accepted.

    Therefore, he’s free of conflict.

  126. 126.

    Schlemazel

    @PhoenixRising:
    Sadly, Garland is a fair jurist & would treat the complaints in a fair and reasonable manner. If it were me in that role they would have the stake up already and be gathering tinder

  129. 129.

    Schlemazel

    @ns:
    If it is not a problem why did he lie about it? Why did he lie about blackouts? Lie about the definition of ‘boof’, ‘Devils triangle’ and ‘FFFF’? Why lie about his well known anger & violence issues?

  132. 132.

    PaulWartenberg

    At some point you’d think Kavanaugh’s public habits would have led to serious arrest and jail time.

    But then again he is white and coming from a rich entitled family.

    If he was Black or Latino, that bar brawl would have led to 5 years in jail and a downward spiral into a cycle of criminal behavior.

    Hell, if he was still white and coming from a middle-income family, there’d have been a plea deal with the judge for 50 hours community service and court-ordered rehab. But still a serious mark on his record.

    No. He gets out of Jail, Free.

  133. 133.

    PaulWartenberg

    @Schlemazel:

    Why lie about his well known anger & violence issues?

    Because nobody in a position to hold him accountable – The Senate leadership – will hold him accountable. Republicans excuse their own. And if the Dems were in charge he’d be yelling at them over “witch hunts” and “politicizing the judicial nomination process.”

  134. 134.

    Aleta

    @Jeffro: Because they’re more sure of him when it comes to protecting Trump? And the privacy of the Trump Organization dealings, or lawbreaking federal agencies? His past work proved his loyalty, and they knew he was vulnerable to being compromised with money (or something else)?

    We know Trump carefully picks the lawyers he trusts with the bad stuff; they say he tests them with smaller things first. He’s bribed a prosecutor, a DA or governor or two. Now that he’s president, having a SC judge just makes sense.

  136. 136.

    Schlemazel

    @PaulWartenberg:
    ns was arguing that the drinking & other issues were not really a problem. If Rapey McRapejudge really thought that he would not have felt the need to lie about them

  138. 138.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Yep. If he’s willing to tell that many lies under oath about shit he did in high school, what isn’t he willing to lie about? ?

  141. 141.

    eemom

    @zhena gogolia:

    Nothing mere about that. When were you there?

    Have you seen/signed the various alum letters that have been circulating on social media?

    Also, if you’re on FB, consider joining the group called YaleStrong. (Don’t bother with the general alum group; they’re a bunch of entitled clowns.)

  142. 142.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Barbara: His problem is he’s trying to pretend he was a choir boy when in actuality he was part of some C&W dive bar band.

  145. 145.

    ns

    So many strawmen and so little time.
    “A propensity for violence is a key predictor of sexual assault.”
    — this is the only legitimate point I can see and it is still a correlation/causation fallacy. Also, one incident does not a propensity make (although I count this as a 2nd incident as I believe Dr. Ford.)

    “If it is not a problem why did he lie about it?”
    — I didn’t say it wasn’t a problem. I said that it wasn’t good evidence as to what he had done in the past with women. Nor did I say that lying was OK — I was openly hoping that this episode would help build the case for perjury and therefore that would keep him from being confirmed.

    I also made no argument about whether alcohol abuse and obnoxious behavior as a teen/young adult/adult was relevant (or not) to whether the Senate should confirm Kavanaugh.

    “The rules are different in the Court of Public Opinion.”
    — Alas, public opinion doesn’t vote on whether to confirm the appointment, but I wasn’t writing about that either. I was calling out John Cole for associating a cliche personality type with a tendency towards criminal sexual behaviors.

    That is illogical, and progressives wouldn’t stand for lazy stereotyping in any other context. The evidence that Kavanaugh attempted to rape Dr. Ford is the quality of Dr. Ford’s account and personal testimony. If Kavanaugh drank like a median young adult male, Dr. Ford’s testimony would still be compelling and more than enough to deny him a position on the court. By harping on DKE, extra-heavy drinking, and such, progressives are UNDERMINING future victims who have the bad fortune to be assaulted by someone less unsympathetic than Kavanaugh.

    Now, I understand the bar fight incident as Kavanaugh escalating a misunderstanding by dumping his drink on someone which then escalated further. It’s good evidence that Kavanaugh has a temper. It isn’t good evidence as to what he did with Dr. Ford — and that should be enough.

    Being an asshole is not evidence of criminality. Saying so is not making excuses for assholes or endorsing Kavanaugh for the court or implying that Kavanaugh has good character in the present. There is plenty else in Kavanaugh’s history that disqualify him or raise troubling questions (debts run up and suddenly wiped clean; helping Bush torture; citing partisan conspiracies without a shred of evidence, being quick to anger, etc.).

    I want some evidence to surface that would further support Dr. Ford’s account, like finding out that Timmy’s house had a narrow staircase, or that ________ remembers driving Dr. Ford home one night when she was strangely upset but wouldn’t say why, or something. An altercation at a bar shows nothing new about Kavanaugh’s character that we didn’t know already.

    We need more evidence that relate to the actual alleged assaults. I understand that some would like to excommunicate all former fraternity members from polite society but that’s a distraction. I don’t want an unrepentant sex criminal and liar in my government and at this point the lying is provable and the sex crimes still under investigation. The rest is BS narrative shaping.

  146. 146.

    mere mortal

    Yeah, but he probably only felt comfortable being this aggressive because he had a wing-man to help him…

    Oh, wait, this isn’t helping him out at all…

  147. 147.

    mere mortal

    @ns:

    “By harping on DKE, extra-heavy drinking, and such, progressives are UNDERMINING future victims who have the bad fortune to be assaulted by someone less unsympathetic than Kavanaugh.”

    This is idiotic.

  148. 148.

    ns

    @mere mortal:
    Great argument here, way to discern the meaning and respond with a claim or evidence or reasoning…

    For years, education about rape has rightfully focused on date rape and that the background and reputation of the person being accused is irrelevant to evaluating the claims of the accuser.

    If you can’t tell how this Kavanaugh media circus might reinforce the bogus narratives of the past, try harder. Lazy correlations are bad analysis in either direction.

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