American political culture has been in decline for decades. I watched the Anita Hill hearings, at which senators were merely disdainful or dismissive about nuisance comments made by Clarence Thomas to female co-workers. Yesterday's hearing was a display of unbridled rage at one woman, Sen. Diane Feinstein, and complete disregard for the testimony of a sexual assault victim, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Sen. Jeff Flake's one-minute call for a return to civility seemed almost laughable in the midst of yesterday's awfulness. And it rings hollow given Flake's support for Kavanaugh. UPDATE: Flake called for a one-week delay for an FBI investigation, which seems to be where things are going, though Trump will have to order the investigation, so who knows?
Ten things that made me ashamed of American politics at yesterday's hearing:
1. Donald Trump, Jr., who was tweeting throughout the proceedings incessantly, noted:
I’m no psychology professor but it does seem weird to me that someone could have a selective fear of flying. Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all.Excuse me, but she DID fly to testify.
2. GOP prosecutor Rachel Mitchell's implied criticism of Ford for taking a lie-detector test instead of submitting to a cognitive interview. How does blaming a victim for not knowing how to prosecute her own sexual assault discredit her?
2. Boofing and Devil's Triangle. As far as I can see, Kavanaugh perjured himself when he claimed that boofing refers to flatulence and a Devil's Triangle is a drinking game. Please, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, familiarize yourself with the Urban Dictionary if you are going to try to plumb the depths of GenX booze and sex slang. This exchange was even more uncomfortable than the references to Long Dong Silver in the Anita Hill hearings.
3. Kavanaugh's failure to watch Ford's testimony, spending, he said, the time preparing his own statement. Never mind what this says about a judge who is supposed to listen carefully to all sides of an argument. Had he watched Ford's session, he might have toned down the red-faced yelling, crying, and hyperbole ("My family is destroyed!").
4. "I like beer." If I didn't think Kavanaugh had a drinking problem before the hearing, I sure did after hearing him say this repeatedly and, often, randomly.
5. Kavanaugh's exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who asked about Kavanaugh's drinking habits, which she prefaced with the disclosure that her own father is a recovering alcoholic and attends AA meetings at age 90. Klobuchar was polite and clearly trying to get to a larger issue about Kavanaugh's fitness for the job based on his drinking habits. She gave him an opportunity to show his ability to think soberly and dispassionately. Instead, he acted like a defensive drunk at an intervention.
6. Kamala Harris smirking at Kavanaugh.
7. "Crap," which was how Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ben Sasse referred to the way in which Democrats, i.e., Sen. Diane Feinstein, handled the sexual allegation letter. They seemed less concerned with the allegations than the fact that their nominee was being politically manipulated.
8. Sen. Orrin Hatch's bizarre comments about Ford's being "attractive" and his insistence that all evidence against Kavanaugh added up merely to his being "immature in high school."
9. Kavanaugh's claim that he was being smeared by Democrats acting out of vengeance on behalf of the Clintons.
10. And then there was President Trump's tweet that capped off the proceedings:
Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!
I received alerts within the last hour that the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to confirm Kavanaugh, with the vote being 11-10 along party lines. This after earlier reports that several Democrats had walked out on the proceedings, so seemingly they were induced back inside. But ... the deciding vote, Sen. Jeff Flake, made his vote contingent on his calling for a one-week FBI investigation into Ford's allegations. But ... Flake's calling for it doesn't make it so; the FBI would have to agree to do it, and quite possibly, someone (like the President or the head of the Bureau) would have to direct them to investigate. I guess Ford could cut through all that by filing a criminal complaint with the FBI, although the response to that might be, "No federal laws were broken".
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, on to the Senate, where we'll find out whether any Republicans or Democrats wavered.
... and now Senator Murkowski has joined with Flake in calling for a one-week delay to give the FBI time to investigate. Maybe some sanity will prevail here.
DeleteFlake is just living down to his name. The President would have to ask for it, and I think Sessions would have to order it, and we know those two love birds don't agree about anything.
ReplyDeleteJean, Not having sat through it, as you did, I can't say this definitively, but from all I heard on the radio on a 155-mile round trip this morning, you nailed everything. Except Kavanaugh always promoted LIGHT beer, a sort of buzz for people who don't want to get too fat to fit into judicial robes.
Gee, I always thought those robes would be quite flattering and hide a variety of "figure flaws." In any case, you can get pretty drunk on Bud Lite. I've seen it done.
DeleteJean, as an old Milwaukeean, I have to point out that "Lite" belongs to Miller. Bud has to be "Light." And I don't have to drink it, Lite or Light.
DeleteI only drink O'Doul's amber, so I've got out of the habit of reading labels. I defer to your expertise.
DeleteSeems Republican leadership just agreed to the one week delay and the FBI investigation. I guess that's a sign that McConnell doesn't have his votes lined up yet.
ReplyDeleteYes, Flake + Murkowski = 1 week delay for FBI fact-finding. I think this is a good move in that the FBI (we hope) has no political agenda and will ask those involved law-enforcement-type questions vs. political-agenda-type questions.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, Kavanaugh disqualified himself with his testosterone-fueled opening rant. I have never been sexually harassed or assaulted, but I have worked with guys who flew off the handle, sometimes throwing things around the conference room. They rarely make good decisions.
Jean, definitely a double standard here. First we had Kavanaugh's hissy fit, and then we had Lindsey Graham's. Can you imagine if they had been two women carrying on like that? Because women are too emotional to maintain a cool head in a crisis. Funny, I don't remember Hillary Clinton losing it like that when she was under quite a bit of pressure.
DeleteBut of course part of this was performance, playing to Trump and the base.
Wonder if Lindsey Graham had to practice the honey badger snarl in front of a mirror?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"American political culture has been in decline for decades."
ReplyDeleteYes. I don't think the hearings achieved a new low as much as offered a clear glimpse of reality. It was eight hours of fall campaigning masquerading as a committee hearing.
Jim, you are right that this was campaigning theater.
DeleteOne thing has bugged me all along. Of course we don't want a sex abuser on the Supreme Court. But the sex thing has sucked up all the oxygen in the room. We're getting zero discussion of Kavanaugh's judicial record. From what I've read, it skews pretty partisan, anti-labour, and in favor of corporate interests. If they decide that the FBI didn't find anything in their investigation which rules him out for abuse, he is likely to be confirmed, and any other objections will fly under the radar.
ReplyDelete