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Senator Collins: A True Stateswoman in the Kavanaugh Brawl
Senator Susan Collins is my hero for the day. I am always wary of Senators Murkowski (R-AK) and Collins (R-ME) when any check on abortion-on-demand is at issue. However, Senator Collins has been a true stateswoman in the Kavanaugh hearings. She has sent a letter to Chairman Grassley, published on her Senate webpage, which will make the absolute best out of the mess intentionally created by Senator Feinstein.
Senator Collins proposed the Judiciary Committee hearing open with the attorneys for the accuser and the accused questioning the two of them. This would let the strongest questions be asked before Senators start grandstanding or pulling punches. Senator Grassley knows he has a problem: he has no female Senator on his side of the room, so the optics will be bad if they don’t roll over. The two attorneys are both women.
Steven Hayward of Power Line believes that Senator Collins’ recommendation, if wisely adopted, will be decisive in this political contest:
As of this writing there are reports that Prof. Ford is balking at testifying, or demanding certain conditions or limitations on the questioning, though with this fast-moving story and flood of incorrect or inaccurate information, it is hard to know what is really going on. But I have a hunch that if Sen. Collins’s proposal is embraced, Prof. Ford will withdraw from the hearing.
If Senator Grassley takes the lifeline Senator Collins has thrown him, the Democrats plan will be seriously disrupted. With the very shaky story Prof. Ford has offered so far, it appears they were expecting another circus hearing with Grassley wearing a big red clown nose, honking impotently.
It would still be wise to pin down “Never Trump” Senators Flake and Corker, as I suggested the other day. I fear they are itching for a McCain moment, when they can publicly stick their thumbs in the eyes of the “deplorable” electorate and destroy the party so they can save it.
Update: Later in the day, Professor Ford’s attorney, Debra Katz, sent email to the Committee, stating Prof. Ford will not testify, and copied CNN, who published it. She rolled out the DNC #MeToo talking points, demanding delay and an FBI investigation. Of course, she insinuated Anita Hill was right and Justice Clarence Thomas was a sexual harasser. Katz likely also knows her client won’t hold up under questioning by Beth Wilkinson, Kavanaugh’s lawyer.
I don’t think the Republicans will play by these rules. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) threw the delay-of-game penalty flag on the Democrats’ “FBI investigation” ploy.
Good overview of how FBI background checks of nominees work. Not criminal investigation, not credibility judgment. Collect information & provide to Senate. That’s has happened. Cynical senators calling for “FBI investigation” know all this. https://t.co/eB51Vi2s0R
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 19, 2018
Senator Flake then “implored” Ford to appear on Monday. Is he desperate to have an excuse to stick a thump in Arizonans’ eyes, or is he ready to support confirmation, absent compelling evidence of wrongdoing?
When Dr. Ford came forward, I said that her voice should be heard and asked the Judiciary Committee to delay its vote on Judge Kavanaugh. It did so. I now implore Dr. Ford to accept the invitation for Monday, in a public or private setting. The committee should hear her voice.
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 19, 2018
Steven Hayward offers a more positive read on Senator Flake, and reinforces Senator Collins as stateswoman.
Sen. Collins is clearly perturbed and offended by the way the allegation against Judge Kavanaugh came to light, and Sen. Jeff Flake (also the wavering Bob Corker) have both said that if Dr. Hill doesn’t appear next Monday, the Senate should proceed to a vote. The hint seems to be that all of them, in the absence of any additional credible information, are ready to vote for Kavanaugh. Keep your eye on them through the weekend. Their public statements will signal how it is going to go. (I expect there will be yet another last minute Democratic attempt to produce new “information” late in the week or over the weekend to screw up Monday’s scheduled hearing—a new “witness,” or some fresh “rumors” of rumors.” So it’s not over until it’s over.)
The attempt by Democrats to smear Justice Thomas again calls back to mind his confirmation hearings and the 1991 Thomas confirmation vote. The Democrats controlled the Senate, and yet, he was confirmed 52-48. “Voting yes were 11 Democrats and 41 Republicans. Voting no were 46 Democrats and 2 Republicans.” Will we see any Democratic statesmen join the stateswoman of the hour, Senator Collins?
Published in Domestic Policy
Well this should be good.
Dear Lord hear my prayer!
I’m not sure that’s the best idea tbh. What’s keeping the attorney asking Kavanaugh questions from going off the rails and the media taking soundbites? Isn’t there nothing holding the attorneys back? In a normal court there would be ramifications, but here? Sure that strategy wouldn’t necessarily garner the needed down-votes from the republican senators, but wouldn’t it be a step in that direction?
I think Senator Collin’s recommendation is the best alternative for getting out of this debacle and getting Kavanaugh approved in committee. There seem to be too many Republican senators who don’t realize how much trouble the party will be in if Kavanaugh withdraws or isn’t confirmed.
Rush said today that Kavanaugh’s lawyer is married to David Gregory is is very good at defamation.
The GOP. No other party could hold the Presidency, House and Senate and still be so powerless to get a nominee through a committee. What a clown show.
Breaking News: Ford is not testifying on Monday.
Here’s the letter. This circus just jumped the shark. I’ve been very much on the fence about this. I want Kavanaugh confirmed because I share his judicial philosophy and think it important that the Court adopt it. But I don’t find her story implausible. I was a freshman in college, in a fraternity, at about the same time, and I am sure such events occurred far too often on my campus and in my house. It was what many boys that age, 17-18-19, felt entitled to do. It was “no big deal.”
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean Brett Kavanaugh did it. And even if he did, I’m uncertain whether such behavior, at such a young age and so long ago, should be disqualifying now.
But this letter has resolved my confusion and my doubts. It tracks democratic talking points, making clear the accusation is political. And it rejects the offer to be heard sometime this century, suggesting the accuser is either uncertain about her story holding up, or just plain lying.
In short, this accusation is nothing more than the latest move in the democrat strategy to try to delay, delay, delay, in the faint hope that they can get past the election, retake the Senate, and then demand that nothing happen until the new Senators are seated. It is no more in good faith than the documents nonsense or the “I am Spartacus” sillyness from Cory Booker (D-LaLaLand).
If she’s unwilling to testify, Kavanaugh should be voted out of Committee with all due dispatch.
Flake and Corker are lowlifes.
I’d hire Victoria Toensing. She’d go in like a smiling shark.
I needed a good laugh today. Thank you. :-)
I believe Ace coined the phrase “Failure Theater.”
It does make one wonder whether not if you were to put all Republican Senators combined balls together there would be enough to make one pair?
Wait one: Cotton (AR) is in the Senate right? Maybe just talking about the Republicans on this particular committee.
Yes. Senator Grassley must now adopt Senator Collins’ recommendation and insist the hearing be held Monday, as there is no evidence beyond the testimony of the accuser, the accused, and the one named boy alleged to have been there. If Senator Feinstein believed a word of it, she would have dropped it on the nominee as soon as she got it this summer.
Of course they would. But do you really think DiFi and the Dems would give them back?
I’ve updated the post accordingly, and found Sen. Flake has tweeted, “imploring” Ford to testify Monday.
From her firm’s website:
She’ll do.
Feinstein and her democrat friends are shameless. But, Flake is despicable. We can’t get him out of the Senate soon enough.
Mitch McConnell gets the downside if Kavanaugh withdraws or is not approved and tells the Judiciary Committee “Let’s get it done.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/407304-mcconnell-tamps-down-any-talk-of-kavanaugh-withdrawal
Not even a side order of Lamb Fries.
It galls me that Corker is one of my senators. ‘Course, it galls me that Alexander is my other one, too.
Vote for Lamar, because plaid becomes him!
To his credit, he’s also said that if she doesn’t, he’ll support pushing the confirmation forward.
What I’d like to see, in light of all this torch-waving and hullabaloo about opening another FBI “background check” due to information that has “just now” come to light, is some sort of punitive action (not sure why that would look like) against the Democrat members of this committee, starting with DiFi, who’ve known about, and been sitting on, this “new information” since at least July. Apparently, they were willing to hide it and leave this senior judge in his current position, despite the overwhelming flaw in his character that they’ve been aware of for months. Shame on them.
At the very least, they have been negligent in their duty to the country by not bringing it forward until now, because, after all, there’s a monster sitting on the bench for the DC Court of Appeals. At worst, they have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on hearings, investigations, administrative, office, photocopying costs and salaries to support this fiasco. And, had they been assured that Kavanaugh’s nomination would go down in the Senate, they’d not have bothered to bring it up now, when they’re clearly hoping to tread water until they think they see their way forward to a Democrat majority vote. They’re a disgrace.
How can they be held accountable for their delinquent and reckless behavior? Let’s start talking about the “Feinstein Cover Up,” for Pete’s sake.
I wonder if Susan Collins decided she’d had enough when liberal activists sent her a three-foot, cardboard cutout of male genitalia:
https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/13/susan-collins-kavanaugh-obscene/
Outrageous stunts like this have a habit of backfiring. I think it did with Collins, and with voters . . .
It sounds like the GOP Senate will move ahead with Corker and Flake on board ….
“If we don’t hear from both sides on Monday, let’s vote,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., tweeted.
I don’t find the story in general implausible. I’m sure stuff like she described happens all the time. What I find implausible is Ford saying it happened to her, and that Kavanaugh did it.
The timing, the DiFi hype behind it, the transition from wanting total anonymity to going public . . . all of it is classic Democrat smear politics based on a lie. Whether Ford came up with it on her own or was cajoled into it remains to be seen . . .
The Senate should censure Senator Feinstein for deliberately hiding this letter until the hearings were over.