Those familiar with abuser behavior will recognize where we are in the cycle with Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote an op-ed in the WSJ reassuring us that there will never be a repeat of last week’s unpleasantness:
I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said.
Josh Marshall wonders if the op-ed is a sign that the GOP doesn’t have all the votes lined up after all. I’ve made my calls, written emails etc., and will continue to do so, but I’ve resigned myself to seeing two confirmed misogynists staring back at me when I see photos of the United States Supreme Court.
The op-ed is just the candy-and-flowers stage of the abuse cycle, and here’s the “never again, baby” paragraph:
Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good.
If we just give him what he wants — what he’s entitled to — he’ll stop hitting us. He promised.
Open thread.
Duane
That op-ed would have been fine if it hsd concluded with ” I withdraw my nomination.”
Tony Jay
It seems… odd, doesn’t it, that on the eve of a defining vote to tilt the balance of the Supreme Court towards a Republican majority two Republican senators have left Washington DC, and another one is wobbling after previously being a firm Yes vote. And that’s not even including any of the Fulcrum Four.
McConnell might have it in the bag and this is all theatre, but it’s a hell of a confusing plot twist to end the season with. What’s going on in that Writer’s Room?
Baud
“I only did it because I love you, Democrats. “
EveryDayIHaveTheBlues
Yeah he’s gonna be sober and even-handed until the next time someone disagrees. Then it’s going to be all the Clintons’ fault, just like the last time.
One might also note that this was a written statement. Written the night before. After some 18 hours of reflection, he still thought it was a good idea to proceed? I can buy it if during some aggressive questioning, he blew up. But that was not the case here. There also reports out (TPM) that this was cleared by McGahn at the white house.
Seriously, where do they find these idiots? And try as I can, I can’t think of a single such egregious counterpart on the left. Judge Garland, who had more of a right than BK to blow his top, was calm and collected.
So yeah, for multiple reasons, this is a pile of steaming shit.
OzarkHillbilly
He just can’t stop lying.
JPL
You made me hit you, I didn’t want to do it.
Chyron HR
Can Matt Damon do SNL again so soon?
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: Maybe the Senatortoise doesn’t have the votes. It’s hard for me to believe they’ll come up short, given the utterly depraved behavior and nature of the party, but who knows? My assumption is that they do have the votes, and this op-ed is a fig leaf they’ll point to when folks rightly express concern about Kavanaugh being a partisan hack. They have the sham FBI report to address the sexual assault allegations, and this op-ed is a complementary piece to address the new problems Kavanaugh created for himself when he ripped off the impartiality mask and bellowed about left-wing conspiracies and Clinton revenge ninjas.
Tony Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Oh you could well be right. Almost definitely, in fact. The determination on the Right to pack the Supreme Court with their trusted boys has been obvious since they Nullified Obama’s right to pick a nominee. There’s no way I can see them letting this opportunity go, not when they have until January next year to slam through whoever they like.
OTOH, do they really – need – the fig-leaves? The MSM seems pretty comfortable reporting that the FBI whitewash has answered all of the questions that needed asking after the hearings, and while Rapey K’s Scooby Doo villain rant last week may have underlined his colossal unfitness for any job outside of Breitbart Editorial to everyone with a brain and a heart, that’s not who he was pitching it at.
I don’t know. Someone said earlier that the WSJ piece was Rapey-K’s post-Primary pivot to the Centre after winning the love and loyalty of the MAGAts with his “I Love Beer an’ I hate Bitches!” performance. Sounds about right. But the GOP Senate seems very, very jittery about this if it’s a done deal.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: Those Clinton revenge ninjas are EVERYWHERE!
Soprano2
“Democrats, why did you make me hit you?”
biff murphy
“Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good” …except in cases when it comes to political parties, then I promise to be as partisan as ever.Crushing govt unions,roe vs. wade,and mercury in our drinking water for everyone.I’ll be so in for big business you’ll think Scalia was a rookie!
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: Good points. I’m convinced Kavanaugh’s anger bear performance at last week’s hearing was to appease Trump, who was allegedly displeased with the milquetoast Fox News appearance. But Kavanaugh really does have two constituencies — Trump and the putatively anti-Trump Republicans who want Kavanaugh’s help looting the Treasury for the rich without the rube drama. The op-ed is for the latter.
Tony Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Indeed. I guess it all boils down to one simple question that the “Why did my beautiful Party have to go and marry an asshole?” Caucus have to ask and answer over the next few hours. What’s more likely? Voting for Rapey-K keeps me in tight with the Party and his elevation protects the vote-suppression/foreign assistance/dark money trifecta that will keep them in power until The Pustule is out of the picture? or, voting against Rapey-K gets me just enough credibility with the overwhelming majority of the electorate who are going to come down on The Pustule and all of his enablers over the next few cycles that I might – just might – emerge into a post-Trump GOP as some sort of electable figure?
It looks like some of them are having trouble making that decision, when you’d expect that by now they’d be coming down hard for the former. Fingers crossed.
rikyrah
@Baud:
???
Bill Arnold
@EveryDayIHaveTheBlues:
So it’s yet another lie, albeit wrapped up as a WSJ Op-Ed.
Elizabelle
Has it occurred to you guys that the second purpose of Kavanaugh’s WJS op ed is saving his day job? Do you think the DC Court of Appeals relishes having someone of Kavanaugh Kaliber — partisan, sneering, dismissive, dissembling, dishonest — as one of their judges?
I don’t think McConnell has the votes. I think women and other resisters are flooding all the Senators’ offices with contact. I think some of them realize the tiger they were trying to ride is actually a hornet’s nest that a more decent class of people would have had the sense not to kick.
JaneSays
Grassley just admitted that they don’t know if they have the votes yet, and furthermore, he said that 99% of the time they do know in advance that they have the votes.
I don’t want to get my hopes up, but… most of us on the left were absolutely convinced Obamacare was dead on that gut-wrenching night in July 2017. Until it wasn’t.
Jussain… it ain’t over till it’s over.
kindness
Republicans didn’t used to be this way. I don’t know, maybe in the past individual Senators may not have needed so much cash and were able to be more independent. None the less, Mitch apparently controls the spigot for them. John Roberts screwed us once with Citizens United and he’s doing it again with it now. I have hope 2 Republicans will break ranks and vote no. I’m delusional in that way, but at least I have hope.
Raoul Paste
Wow, Spot on!
RobertB
They could fail on the votes, grab a non-asshole jurist for the Supreme Court, and use the rejection of Kavenaugh to jazz up their base.
low-tech cyclist
@RobertB:
I don’t know that that would work, because ultimately it would be the Republicans who didn’t get it done. I think if they can’t get Kav across the finish line, it’ll be a big letdown for the base, and their anger will be at their own party.
I also think the longer this drags on, the more they’ll start wondering why the Repubs can’t seem to close the deal.
EveryDayIHaveTheBlues
@Bill Arnold: precisely. I would in fact argue that all WSJ editorials are lies.
Furthermore if he’s so fucking even-handed, maybe he could go on MSNBC and be interviewed by Maddow or Melber, etc. to demonstrate his bipartisan credentials.
Nashville_fan
I think he forgot to mention that he went to Yale and that he likes beer . . . guess he did not write this one himself.
Barb 2
Women are pissed off. There is a new book on this very topic – “Good and Mad” by Rebecca Traister.
I’ve been asking women friends for years of they have ever experienced sexual harassment. These are during wide ranging conversations – sharing of life stories. Where are you from, where did you grow up etc. Plus I was trained how to do this as part of my MA. Group Counseling. I’ve talked to hundreds of women – different ages, education, cultures, etc through the years and every one has had at least one memory of sexual harassment and/or unwanted touching or rape. There is a look on their faces when they remember – an awareness that what happened to them isn’t unique but common place.
Once a woman denied that she was ever a victim – later she came to me and told me that she has had to fight off guys – a date gone bad or what ever. She had always blamed herself for the actions of the males. BK is just one more male who has managed to get away with being a sexual predator. The difference that this time women are angry and sharing that they aren’t that different from Dr Jones – something bad happened which has made them hyper aware of their surroundings and that they self censor where they go etc.
Like I said women are pissed and maybe it is about time!
Today’s Washington Post has a review of sorts of Traister’s book – Good and Mad. It is now on my kindle.
kindness
Crap. Manchin votes yes to move the vote to cloture. Shit.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
It’s funny to hear him talk about how “emotional’ he got as if it was just some spontaneous eruption. He was reading from a script. He was literally flipping pages as he raged at Democrats. If he got too emotional, it’s because that’s precisely how he wrote and practiced it.
Barb 2
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
Too true. Rawstory.com reports that a panel of experts on a news program where laughing about the spur of the moment “emotional” claim of B K. People are making fun of him and pointing out his obvious lies.
All these nasty males who are so full of themselves.
Get the dems in power and they can put B K in jail for lying. Something to work for – use the anger to get out the vote.
cleosmom
We’re not yet at the point where the abuser beats his victim badly enough for a hospital stay, and visits her with flowers.
“Awww, now I know he won’t hit me again.” Don’t fall for it.