It makes a lot of sense. This has turned into a 3d chess match. Glad we've got Trump and Bobby Fischer's ghost working on our strategy :- )
Click image to see it large.
Posted on 09/25/2018 7:40:30 AM PDT by Alberta's Child
After watching the events of the last 7-10 days unfold I really feel a need to post something to get some things on the table here. Some of the posts I'm seeing here reflect a lot of venting without a lot of thought, and the references to various media reports and TV "talking heads" make it obvious to me that a lot of folks should step back and think about a few things related to this Kavanaugh nomination process.
I'll lay this out as a list of items that are either factual or are probably strongly likely to be true:
1. The Democrats have probably lined up quite a number of so-called "victims" with accusations against Kavanaugh. This was probably done months ago -- and the process may have started YEARS ago when Kavanaugh began his career on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
2. This approach was modeled on the Anita Hill charade from 1991, and even now you can see an almost identical chain of events unfolding.
3. The list of credible accusations probably got very short very quickly. And after a lot of thorough vetting, the Democrats and their special-interest groups probably came up almost completely dry.
4. The Christine "Buzzy" Ford allegation was clearly a last-ditch attempt to delay -- or even derail -- the nomination ... just as the Anita Hill allegation was.
5. The allegation that Buzzy Ford has made dates back so far, and her story has so many holes in it, that it would have been laughed out of the HR office of any company in America.
6. Up until a couple of days ago I believed the Democrats were trying to delay the process and string it out for weeks, months, or indefinitely. Maybe they were at one time, but now I believe they have TWO main objectives: (A) Keep Buzzy Ford (or anyone else) from ever making a formal allegation in anything that constitutes a legitimate legal process (testimony, sworn affidavite, etc.), and (B) Get Kavanaugh confirmed as quickly as possible.
7. Item 6(B) sounds outlandish but it suddenly became important for the Democrats to do this. This is because Buzzy Ford is losing credibility by the hour as a formal witness but will be given tremendous credibility as an "aggrieved victim" in interviews to be carried on 60 Minutes, the Today show, Loser Holt's Dateline NBC, etc.
8. See Item #7. I suspect the interviews with Ford have already been taped. They probably have 4-6 hours of interviews that are ready to be cut up into 10-20 segments on network news shows like the ones I listed above. But these interviews can't be broadcast on TV until AFTER Kavanaugh is confirmed ... because they can't air an interview on TV and then have Ford's story shredded in a Senate committee hearing under cross-examination.
So if you are President Trump, Mitch McConnell and Charles Grassley, what is the best strategy for playing both the formal Senate process and the parallel political process play out?
I believe we are already seeing how this is being deployed. It is a two-pronged approach from two different angles: by attacking the Democrats on procedure and defending Kavanaugh politically.
Look at the Senate for an example of the procedural approach. Everyone seems to think Grassley is botching this thing because they're impatient about the process, but his role is to make sure the process plays out correctly and attack the Democrats and Ford's legal team over their violation of procedural protocols. It's IMPORTANT to remember this, folks: It's not the Senate's job to "defend" Kavanaugh. It's their job to carry out a legitimate confirmation process and publicly maintain a very high level of impartiality.
The procedural side of this actually provides a lot of political cover for the second angle of approach, which is the personal defense of Kavanaugh as a man and as a nominee. This is not the Senate's job, but the job of President Trump. Kavanaugh is simply a tool in his own defense, but he is TRUMP's nominee, not the nominee of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
I think the Republicans are actually playing this perfectly. Despite all the ventilating we're tempted to do about Grassley and his committee management process, he's actually doing exactly what he and McConnell need to do to facilitate Kavanaugh's confirmation while shielding themselves from damaging political blowback -- especially from moderate/independent women voters.
With this in mind, I'd say that confirming Kavanaugh quickly might be the WORST thing the Republicans can do right now.
Instead, the best course of action is to lay low, give as much credibility to the "victims" as necessary, and drag the process out until it becomes more and more clear that the whole thing is a charade and NONE of these "victims" are really willing to testify. In the meantime, the only thing the Democrats can do is call to delay the process because they already know their "victims" will be easily shredded if they DO testify. In the meantime, the 5-6 weeks of endless attacks in the media from weeping "victims" who were allegedly denied a chance to tell their story to the Senate Judiciary Committee never happens.
If Kavanaugh is an eminently qualified man and has an outstanding personal reputation that will shine through in any televised process ... and this assorted group of Mos Eisley-like mutants who have been assembled on the Democrat side to attack Kavanaugh are peddling accusations that have no credibility ... then the best course of action for the GOP is to have the accusations debunked in a very public way AS CLOSE TO ELECTION DAY AS POSSIBLE.
Very well thought-out and stated.
This needs to remain within the formal process so that the Democrats can not use their propaganda machine (the MSM) to freely conduct a personal destruction campaign where the recourse would be to file a libel or slander suit - which, as a Supreme Court Justice, Kavanaugh would have no practical ability to pursue.
The accusers are in great legal danger themselves in a formal process under oath - which is why they don’t want to go there. If the process was just conducted on MSM TV, they could lie with impunity and embellish to their heart’s content. They could even make up new memories. Under oath, they’re speaking with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head...with a fraying string.
We WANT Ford to testify. But of course, she never will.
She doesn’t have to prove anything. Kavanagh has to prove he didn’t rape all these women.
Nice one, Junkie.
That is a well presented argument.
Timing is everything.
Letting this drag out, and waste the Democrat’s pre election time is actually a good strategy.
It shows the public that Democrats are real losers trying to repeal the Magna Carta of 1000 years ago.
Democrats obstruct progress is the message.
I trust Trump’s timing.
Let him handle it and vote Republican across the board in November. And tell your friends to vote Red Wave.
#VoteRedWave
VOTE RED WAVE
I don’t find much to disagree with. If nothing else, the last 2 years have been a daily exposition of how FReepers (who I could characterize as conservatives who closely follow politics) disagree with virtually everything that Congress and certain branches of the administration are doing. This leads to much angst and frustration.
Two facts are clear:
1. We all get our information from 3rd party sources at best, whether via the media or those who have ‘sources’. In contrast with members of Congress we are at a disadvantage information-wise. They know things we don’t and which they can’t disclose. This is inevitable in a representative republic.
2. There’s not much we can do about it. If someone can show me a long list of actions that have been prompted by calling or emailing members of Congress I’ll be happy to be proven wrong, but I think the reality is they are going to do what they’re going to do regardless. So it’s mostly an exercise in futility to think these campaigns are going to make any difference.
As a result, it’s healthier to accept your premise that those who have the most/best information from primary sources and who are also operating “in collusion” with the Administration to get this nomination approved are doing it the most effective way under the circumstances.
For example, despite all the bashing he’s taken, Chuck Grassley has served in public office since 1959 and at the federal level since 1975 and in the Senate since 1981. You don’t get re-elected that many times without having pretty good political horse-sense and the ability to mitigate crises like this. He is also chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee - who exactly knows more than the Senator in that role?
Relax and enjoy the show!
I was skimming this post but it got so good I went back and gave it a better read. That says a lot.
I think you are onto something.
I will add that I believe every Republican senator who was successfully re-elected in 2016 won his or her own state by a larger margin than Trump's victory in those respective states.
Look at Charles Grassley, for heaven's sake. How many other U.S. Senators are there today who were actually around not only for the Clarence Thomas debacle in 1991, but the Robert Bork charade four years before that? Three that immediately come to mind are Grassley, McConnell and Orrin Hatch. Patrick Leahy might be the only Democrat left from 1987.
Lisa Murkowski's FATHER was one of Alaska's senators back in 1987!
Agreed. I’ve been saying Grassley will come out smelling like a rose. Without his delaying things, the world wouldn’t have seen the face of the swamp and how they themselves have proven what Trump has been saying about their behaviors and the lying msm with fake news. They’ve shot themselves in the foot. They’ve overplayed their hand and won’t be able to pull this hooey again.
Kavanaugh will be a saint at the end of this if/when cray-cray Blowsey gives her drunken account with nothing to back up a word of it.
Dianne will be seen as the fool she is.
It’s a win-win for MAGA.
Some good thoughts there. However I don’t buy the statement that the dems want to speed up Kavanaugh’s confirmation though. The accusers don’t have to persuade you or me. All they have to do is cast possible doubt on Kavanaugh that is enough to keep some of the three main Senate RINOs - Collins, Murkowski and Flake - from supporting him. It comes down to those three Senators and nothing else matters.
It will be a red wave Nov. 6.
Rush, FOX and some on FR shouldn’t be hand wringing.
Gotta admit........Grassley's "Ol' Farmer Brown" routine has been very successful for him.
But maybe not for this nominee.
Most of us do not have enough facts or experience to outmaneuver what is probably a world-class political effort by the left.
Both McConnell and Trump have said K will be timely confirmed and that is where my money is at the moment. Even though some of our highest federal offices have been recently compromised, this does not seem the appropriate time to try to out-guess our elected representatives.
I agree with your view of a prompt confirmation and I think that is the path chosen by McConnell, perhaps with Trump's urging.
Perhaps just as important, the security requirements now necessary for the safety of the K family gives the nation an entirely new landscape. All of America should be aware of this real threat of what could easily result in anarchy and even, perhaps, a government overreaction (most particularly if the left is in office). All of which would be prompted by the normal course of our political processes.
It makes a lot of sense. This has turned into a 3d chess match. Glad we've got Trump and Bobby Fischer's ghost working on our strategy :- )
Click image to see it large.
That's true, but with each passing day that Buzzy Ford doesn't show up to testify despite being given every practical concession and accommodation, they look like they're mentally retarded if they try to hide behind her accusations to withdraw their support of Kavanaugh.
All three of them know damn well that if Brett Kavanaugh isn't qualified to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, then they themselves aren't qualified to clean outhouses for a living.
They have become filters for their networks various political agendas and narratives. They tell you what they want you to hear. You're not informed but indoctrinated instead.
And for what it's worth, I don't think you're nuts. One of the rational, reasoned posters and commenters on the FR site.
I agree with your assessment about the democRATS and the Kavanaugh hearings. And Grassley's management of the process.
Too many people are impatient to have things go "their" way. That's understandable and reflects human nature.
But I don't know how to break it to them that this process is not about them.
That’s a nice Socratic method you used.....stimulating debate in the form of argumentative dialogue among individuals.
Stimulating critical thinking and drawing out ideas and underlying presumptions is always useful.
You have written a well thought out piece. But to me it feels like it was written in a vacuum. Have you not heard of the Democrat’s “resistance movement”? They want to stall everything that President Trump and the Republicans are trying to accomplish. They want to stall this confirmation permanently and they are hoping to take back the Senate so that President Trump will not be able to get another conservative on the Supreme Court after the midterms.
You are overthinking what is going on. This is stonewalling not delaying.
I agree with much of your analysis but not its conclusion. The Democrats will dribble this out as long as they possibly can until Kavanaugh withdraws. I think Grassley has down a great job. Since there is no evidence, I would let both sides testifies and then call for a vote up or down on Friday. Tell everyone they can make up their own minds.
I've heard about it.
You're watching it -- along with the #MeToo movement -- being destroyed before your very eyes.
Did you see Kavanaugh's interview last night? I didn't see it, but plenty of folks posted about it here. It must have been humiliating for him to get on TV and make public admissions about very personal matters like that.
I immediately reached the exact OPPOSITE conclusion than you did.
Brett Kavanaugh will douse himself with gasoline and walk through hell before he ever withdraws.
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