The Democrats.
- Thread starter Rockport Zebra
- Start date
This all could have been handled behind closed doors. Feinstein used and abused this woman as a political pawn. The lefts willingness to suspend disbelief is ugly. Again, I think he did this...my point is human decency.
No, he's not my relative. I'm in the same boat as that gentleman. I'm waiting for my wife's visa for over 6 months. Fortunately, we have the financial resources to sustain ourselves. There are many American families going bankrupt due to this absurdity. Fyi, his wife and child were such security threats that immediately following his death, they were given green cards.
Again, the republican party isn't showing an ounce of human decency to American citizens. I'll listen to the civil discourse argument, when they stop treating american citizens worse than shit.
Again, how? Ford demanded secrecy. How could a claim from an unknown person be investigated? How can Feinstein release the info without breaking the confidentiality request.
Things have changed markedly within the GOP in the last few years.
“We plan to make him a 1 term president.”
Merrick Garland
Throwing out the rule of 60 for SCOTUS.*
Trump
Legislators beholden to Trump
Of course all this was going to happen. The left is going to quit being nice and start throwing the poop around too. This circus is just the start.
* Yes I know Reid made the first move with lower court judges. It was short sighted then and looms larger now.
He hit some marks for sure. Even if guilty, which I believe BK is...Graham struck at the heart of the situation ans any objective person would agree. This was a a deplorable situation. I am struck by how the left is ok with destroying this poor woman, End justifies the means...right?
Nice? Are you kidding me?
Go back to Bork, that was when Ronald Reagan was President. Justice Thomas? Reid was the one who blew up the Senate rules and then Schumer ****ed up by again blowing through precedent with Gorsuch (thereby leaving the Democrats no room to do anything but character assassination on Kavanaugh).
Nice? Give me a break.
First of all, I thought yesterday was political theather. Lindsey is part of that swamp. I think all of the 60+ year old dregs need to be taken off the stage. Feinstein belongs in a morgue. We need term limits.
But there is nothing objective about today's republican party. They kowtow to the most vile president in American history.
I disagree. Kavanaughs own calendar suggest a plausible time of the attack July 1, lists the people Ford says were present at a party, links up with Ford seeing Judge at the grocery story in mid August of that year. Judge has not said the event didn't happen, only that he has no memory of the event happening and doesn't want to comment further. The others don't have a memory of the event at all. Judge has not bee cross-examined under oath and there is a good deal of evidence from Judge's own autobiographical book as well as Judge's girlfriend of the time that Judge was involved with excessive drinking and acting abusive towards women. Combine that with Ford's vivid memory of the event, her documenting of those memories years ago, her polygraph test. Add to this the other stories about Kavanaugh's treatment of women when he was very drunk. Add to this Kavanaugh's refrain in public speeches that "what happened at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep" that shows a guilty conscience.
What we have on the flip side are essentially angry denials and partisan rage.
You said to handle it behind closed doors. So what does telling the GOP about a confidential letter behind closed doors do? The GOP 1) could then leak it themselves 2) the GOP could then order an investigation which would certainly out the person 3) the GOP could then launch an offensive against the character of the person making the claim. Am I missing choices of what could have happened? How does any of this help the person making the claim?
I have long said the worst organization in the world is the Democratic Party (though in the last decade the GOP has tied them for that honor). The thing is, I don't see any way, given the anonymity request, this entire debate doesn't become fubar. If the Democrats had released her statement without her permission, the GOP would have attacked them for that. In this rare case, I am not sure there were options that would not result in a horribly acrimonious committee.
And I don't blame Ford, she certainly had every right not to want to be dragged out. It seems to me victims of a crime often do not want to seek the limelight for that. I don't blame them.
If there is a magical solution, I have not heard it. In my mind, no one she told had a right to leak that to the press. Someone did. It may have been someone with the Democratic Party. And shame on them if they did. But there is no proof it was a Democrat based on the fact she told other people. At this point we are stuck with a phrase I hate, "it is what it is".
I've obviously not followed closely enough because I don't know the answer to my question: what would have happened had the letter never been leaked?
I would vote no today. There is doubt to his testimony plus his demeanor AFTER the opening statement was concerning. He deserved the opening statement passion and I don't blame him.
They could have handled this behind closed doors without destroying these families and having nut cases on either side threatening them. Now...somebody might have leaked it then of course.
Her best friend that she said was at the party says that she never even met Kavanaugh. I notice you want to skip over that, much like Dr. Ford had to basically say that her friend was mentally unfit to give a statement yesterday. Forget Kavanaugh's people, Dr. Ford's own friend could not corroborate what she was saying.
I am watching the Democrats this morning in absolute amazement. I can't help but laugh at these people. They won't win, so they won't vote. Watching Booker and Harris shake their head no on voting, and acting like the petulant children that they are, is priceless. They continue to talk and disrupt Grassley as he is reading his opening statement, him having to hit the gavel twice, and then finally giving up and just saying he will put his statement in the record. Then they just get up and leave. What babies.
That is a good question, one I am sure someone has a good answer to. Alas, I do not.
If this wasn't leaked, the Republicans would have covered this up like they always do. They were never interested in a serious investigation or background check, they wanted a coronation. For crying out loud, Senator Grassleys employee was leading the investigation. Did you see his tweets? Let's call a spade a spade. The Republican party is purely interested in power. They don't believe in Democratic norms.
How could it have been handled behind closed doors? Why should it have been handled behind closed doors? You can’t resolve a Supreme Court nomination behind closed doors.
And it wasn’t leaked until after the original hearings, so is it fair to assume that but for the leak it never would have been addressed?
That's ever so slightly disingenuous, imo. The obvious answer is for Feinstein to have a sit-down with Ford, discuss the importance of this, tell her that the committee can examine it behind closed doors, admit she can't promise it won't get leaked, and persuade her to take the risk. I watched Ford's testimony. First, I don't get that Ford "demanded" secrecy. She requested it. Second, I get that Ford was divided all along, that is, willing and able to be persuaded.
Behind closed doors means confidentially, just like Senate committees conduct other types of business confidentially. I don't know the rules on that, but whatever the rules are, Feinstein could have explained them and explained to her the limits of that. BUt that's not really my point. My point is Feinstein could have persuaded Ford to provide witness to a closed hearing, way back when.
Look at what Republicans are doing now. They're making hay out of this simply because it came out late, NOT BECAUSE THE ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE OR FALSE. The Democrats screwed the pooch, like it or not.
It doesn't surprise me that Dr. Ford's friend doesn't remember. That is not saying her friend is unfit. All of this could be investigated carefully but the GOP is unwilling to do it. You should ask yourself how it is possible that apparently thousands of children were molested and abused by priests over decades? The answer is that those vested in the institutional church systematically turned a blind eye, blocked investigations, paid hush money etc. That same dynamic was at work at Michigan State, at Penn State, at Ohio State (with Meyer) and that dynamic is at work here with the GOP now. In all these cases powerful institutional interests backed by partisan interests chose to circle the wagons and slime the victim rather than seriously investigate allegations. That instinct always makes things worse.
I think that's right. As I understand it, the letter itself didn't leak, but its existence did. As people began clamoring to see the letter, Feinstein turned it over to the FBI and publicly acknowledged its existence.
She requested anonymity. What does Feinstein do if she sits down with her and asks for her to come forward and Ford says No? Then let's suppose that it was one of her friends who leaked the story and it still gets leaked, how is anything improved?
Now lets pretend the woman says yes, she will come before a closed committee to be heard. Then again, one of her friends leaks the story (as they MAY have). There is tremendous outrage that the Senate withheld the fact a nominee was accused of sexual assault and never ever told the people about it.
Now let's say she agrees to come forward and tell her tale behind closed doors. What is the senate supposed to do. One, they obviously have to tell Kavanaugh. Secondly, they obviously have to go talk to people like Judge. So what good is there at being behind closed doors. If the victim (and lets assume she is a victim) doesn't want to be outed, she has just been outed. There is no way the Senate staffers can go around and ask people "do you know of an incident between Ford and Kavanagh and keep it secret.
There is NO way this goes away quietly if we assume it was a friend who leaked it. Now if it was Feinstein, that's different. Here's the thing, there is no more proof Feinstein leaked it than there is proof Kavanaugh committed assault.
I agree with all of that, except that there is no proof at all that Feinstein leaked the letter, and I think it's unlikely that she did.
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