They Romneyed Kavanaugh
Democrat Senators and activists portrayed Kavanaugh as a monster, just as they did to nice guy Romney.
The lesson of nominating Mitt Romney for president is that it doesn’t matter how objectively nice a Republican presidential candidate is, the media and Democrats will portray the person as a monster.
Romney was portrayed as someone whose main attributes were that he gave a woman cancer and kept women in binders. His decency on the campaign trail was not rewarded. The media swarmed to ensure his defeat.
Nominating objectively nice guy Brett Kavanaugh also wasn’t rewarded. They Romneyed him, portraying him as a liar seeking to enslave women and numerous identity groups.
David French at National Review catalogs the lies and deceptions by Democrat Senators and advocacy groups used to smear Kavanaugh:
For those keeping score at home, millions of Americans have now been exposed to false and ridiculous claims that Kavanaugh is a slippery perjurer who surrounds himself with racists and a cold, dark soul who deliberately snubbed a murdered child’s father.
The disruptions of the hearings were unprecedented for a Supreme Court nomination, with waves of Democrat Senators trying to prevent the hearings from going forward, and waves of screaming alt-left protesters shouting inside the hearing room.
Emily Zanotti expressed a sentiment I think a lot of people have at this point: F*** it, no more nominating Mr. Nice Guy:
Honestly, I don’t know why Trump picked Kavanaugh. Did anyone really think we were going to avoid this circus with a more “logical” SCOTUS pick? I’d have gone full right-wing. Let them bring the Handmaids. Let them rend their garments. LET THEIR TEARS FUEL THE FIRE WITHIN ME.
It wasn’t possible this time because Trump needed to keep Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski on board.
The Kavanaugh nomination was what I called Trump’s mature decision to nominate Brett Kavanaugh:
When it comes to Supreme Court nominees, we really do need OUR best and brightest. We need our Scalias on the high court. From what I’ve been able to gather, Kavanaugh is among our best and brightest, as was Gorsuch.
Trump now has nominated two Justices who have the potential to be intellectual heavyweights in the place we need that weight the most…
The closest I came to a prediction was when I commented:
The “rational” me says someone in Trump’s position would take the safe pick, Kavanaugh. Barring a skeleton in the closet, he’ll be confirmed before the First Monday in October.
But I suspected that Amy Coney Barrett would be the nominee because of the politics of the anti-Catholic bigotry focused against her. And it certainly would have made for amazing political theater. But Trump took the rational and mature approach.
That maturity has been the hallmark of Trump’s approach to reshaping the judiciary. And we will benefit from that maturity for a generation to come.
The next nominee will need to have impeccable credentials and be a star, because that is who WE WANT on the Supreme Court.
But should Republicans pick up 3-4 net seats this November, which is a real possibility, Trump will have more ideological leeway.
You know how you get the Supreme Court nominee you really want? You elect more Republican Senators.
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Comments
Well, word is Justice Kavanaugh put Mooochelle Obama on the top of his car during a cross country trip.
So, the comparison with Romney might be accurate.
But Romney is no Kavanaugh. Rather, Romney is in a class of fools we enjoy voting out of office.
Caption contest on the first photo:
My entry:
“More pizza for me!!!!”
My submission: “Are we having a second date?”
Romney was not nice to this med pot user.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACHQZf73iA0
The Mormon Church is going all out against Med Pot which is on the ballot this November.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/08/23/lds-church-announces/
Since that is their right to do so and it isn’t unexpected, what is your point? Libertarian feelings aside–i.e., allowing people their freedom–I have mixed feelings on it as well (because of a fairly well-established chain of events that happen to some percentage of those who use it), but I’m also sure, deleterious side effects aside, that we haven’t gotten anywhere close to discovering how to use it medicinally without those side effects, at which point the LDS Church’s position could well change.
My gripe about Romney: he gave Massachusetts Romneycare, the forerunner of Obama care. Yes, he’s a nice, decent man who earned well, takes care of his family, including a wife with MS, and he keeps his zipper up and pants on, but he does NOT have conservative credentials and has no business pretending to do so.
This is not new. The Mormon Church controls the state government in Utah. They don’t want to admit it, but for anyone who has spent any time there can see it plainly. Most, if not all of the top politicians are Mormons.
What’s your point? Mormons shouldn’t be allowed to vote?
They’re not trying to cut anybody’s head off.
“Romney is in a class of fools we enjoy voting out of office.”
Except that Utah is in the process of putting him in office right now. They had a good chance to get rid of the RINOs at the primary, but the GOP establishment won again.
The voters of Utah are gullible and fearful.
Filling Kennedy’s seat is the undercard fight though it has real meaning because Kavanaugh represents a dependable 5th vote unlike the maybe-he-will-maybe-he-won’t Kennedy. The main event will be when one of the four lefties leaves the court (with the Buzz and Breyer the most likely simply based on age). That will be the 6th vote which represents a real lock. And all the lefties know this. Likely Trump and his team have a choice/s ready should the opportunity come.
The most bizarre part of this is that “WE” aren’t being political about it. WE just want the constitution interpreted fairly. It is THEY who want the special treatment that is not supported by the constitution, as evidenced by Booker being upset that Kavanaugh would dare to be color-blind in his decision making. Their world is seriously bizarro when no-bias is seen as bias.
and the media and the left delegitimize the court and the justices as they lose control. The left pushed the court to the pinnacle it’s on as it’s been the only way they’ve moved their agenda. Now 70 years since that swing, a more Constitutional group is being seated, and the left wants nothing to do with it. They claim their gains are set in stone. They claim that any redress is politics and unfair.
I hope the President is able to put a another two justices on, but it won’t bring us peace. No, the left is going to just move the goalposts… again. The left will not relent. We will not be allowed to be happy in our restored country. Nope.
Give them Moar Trump!
They are going to treat us like Trump even if we are Romney. So what’s the point of being Romney?
“But we’re better than that”
Shut up and rot, McCain. You were useless, the “Maverick Moderate” who routinely threw conservatives under the bus in the spirit of civility, decorum and compromise.
And the played you anyway. The Brits had nothing but contempt for Benedict Arnold. Same here. For all your Groveling Apology Tours and Failure Theater and Losing Gracefully, you were still their Hitler.
Hell, they didn’t even have enough respect for you to honor you at your own funeral – instead, they turned your corpse into a campaign prop the bash Trump. That’s where your path leads.
Mcain didnt act ‘in the spirit of anything’ except ‘in the spirit of getting the democrat media to flatter him. The people he swore to protect be damned.
What a POS he was.
It would be interesting if LI could cover what precedent setting cases are in the pipeline and what the impact may be from the SCOTUS lineup, and the implications for those cases if a third appointment is made by Trump.
Keep in mind, some stuff will be inserted into the pipeline. There will be an effort to seek out cases that would allow a Constitutional court an opportunity to reexamine prior case law.
I’d love to see a redo on some bedrock stuff, like say… the Commerce Clause and Regulatory agencies setting policy.
I don’t see where the rabid Democrats spilled a single drop of Kavanaugh blood.
I do see where they spilled plenty of their own.
I am thinking Kavanaugh is the Judge’s Judge.
He comes off entirely sincere, and he ain’t a dummy.
How do you call the odds I wonder?
Oh, and when do they vote?
Loved your coverage of this one.
Thanks,
Mark
Roberts is no dummy either. He let us down anyway.
‘Let us down…’
An understatent of Sessionian proportions.
Kavanaugh is a great and deserving pick. His credentials are impeccable, and, he seems like a general stand-up guy and a fundamentally decent person. I think that he’ll serve the Constitution well.
That said, I think that the optics of an Amy Barrett nomination would’ve made for some exceptional theater — a conservative woman jurist; a religiously devout American (not that Kavanaugh isn’t devout, but, his devoutness seems less outspoken); representing everything that the contemporary Left despises about conservative Americans.
If Trump gets a third pick, I would love to see Barrett receive the nod.
I agree with the Professor’s thesis — it simply does not matter how objectively “nice,” or, “likeable,” or, fundamentally decent a given GOP candidate or judicial nominee is. If that person supports limited government, the free market, Second Amendment rights, is pro-Israel, supports robust enforcement of immigration laws, and, views the U.S. Constitution as a necessary constraint upon federal power, rather than an alleged hindrance to the Left’s vision of unfettered federal power, the Left and their media lackey-allies will do all that they can to vilify and to destroy that person. History has proven this to be so, since at least 1964, when Barry Goldwater ran and lost against LBJ.
“If that person s̶u̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶m̶i̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶v̶e̶r̶n̶m̶e̶n̶t̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶r̶k̶e̶t̶,̶ ̶S̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶A̶m̶e̶n̶d̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶-̶I̶s̶r̶a̶e̶l̶,̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶s̶ ̶r̶o̶b̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶e̶n̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶i̶m̶m̶i̶g̶r̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶l̶a̶w̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶,̶ ̶v̶i̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶.̶S̶.̶ ̶C̶o̶n̶s̶t̶i̶t̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶e̶c̶e̶s̶s̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶n̶t̶ ̶u̶p̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶e̶d̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶r̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶e̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶n̶d̶r̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶L̶e̶f̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶v̶i̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶u̶n̶f̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶e̶d̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶,̶ is a Republican…”
FIFY
It precedes Goldwater as this October 26, 1948 headline in the racist New York Times clearly illustrates:
https://www.nytimes.com/1948/10/26/archives/president-likens-dewey-to-hitler-as-fascists-tool-says-when-bigots.html
Good point Snow. They shot to the their – er, hu Fuzzy.. I meant to say they didn’t keep their powder dry. They had no chance of affecting this SCOTUS nomination, but they showed us all their moves anyway. If the GOP is smart, they will make adjustments for the coming Ginsburg Apocalypse.
Can you imagine if Trump is the one to flip the Supreme Court back into a solid lock for Originalism? What a success story. His legacy will determine our Liberty for the next 40 years.
At this point we can only hope and pray.
God’s work must truly be our own. Dont sit on the sidelines: do your best to counter fascism.
I belivce the blonde whackadoo whose photo is on pretty much ALL MEDIA – is none other than LACEY MACAULEY – none other than head of the DC ANTIFA (amongst every other protest group out there). One of the QUEENS of the Pink Pussyhats (sounds like a girl band – but that would be TOXIC MASCULINITY speaking there).
From her Twitter page:
“Aug 30
FRIENDS, PLEASE DONATE.
I’m six months pregnant, planning to raise a wonderful free-range child. I’m launching a project, a parenting blog for radicals and activists to share our thoughts, rants, and advice, for real people with dreams and limitations.”
Yeah – Lacey, ok.
So, she’s PREGNANT – wow, actually opted not to scrape-n-vac her child. Hmmm, she might actually think it’s a CHILD, and not a clump of cells.
Planning to raise a “free-range child”? I guess that means she’ll be giving zee a number instead of a name, and letting zit(sic) decide what gender and name zit will be, as soon as zit can vocalize it.
PRIME EXAMPLE why abortion SHOULD remain legal (and in some cases encouraged).
Hopefully she gets REPORTED to the welfare/ebt/wic/medicaid authorities for her (very likely) UNDECLARED INCOME from her GoFundMe, and her Soros NGO checks (cash?).
Think the current coming-of-age-generation is f’d up. WAIT TILL THEIR KIDS turn into little anarchists (with no idea WHO they actually are).
I’ll leave you with this:
https://youtu.be/ERlREOaLzaM
It’s satire, but sadly, pretty close to the truth in LUNACY.
Can’t wait till the mid-terms are over – because next comes: THE RACE FOR 2020.
Never thought I’d ever in a million years CONSIDER MYSELF NORMAL. Don’t know what’s SCARIER. THEM – or the concept of me actually being NORMAL…
Rick
Wanna bet she’s not pregnant?
Hard to comprehend the amount of beer it would take to bring about that pregnancy.
And lots of brown paper bags.
Or a tarp off of a grain truck.
Sadly, Klavin’s commentary is remarkably close to the truth. Too bad there is no shame in the Socialist party. Ted Kennedy must be looking up with pride.
“Free Range Parenting” (http://www.freerangekids.com/) is actually an attempt to reclaim the center. Lefties have won the culture wars to the extent that the normal is now considered at the very least right of center if not full “right wing” – whatever that means.
Can you even imagine the press coverage and the exploding heads if even one single person shouted or protested when Obama’s choices of two unqualified women judges were being interviewed?
The offending person would have been dragged out, beaten and thrown in jail for years – while the press blamed all Republicans for this “outrage”. And McCain, Ryan, Romney and others would have apologized for something they had nothing to do with.
Meanwhile the democrats hire thugs (sorry, Cory, you weren’t a hired thus – just a thug) to disrupt the meetings and the nominee is blamed for the disruptions.
‘Democrats hire this…”
The profoundity of that statement has seemingly gotten past most readerd here. It should be the main topic of discussion going forward.
There is a Brownshirt corps now in America. It has to be stopped dead.
Sorry: ”this’ should read ‘thugs’
That is not true. The truth about our opponents is bad enough; why do you feel the need to lie about them?
One unqualified woman judge, at least based on results. Sotomayor is incompetent, an intellectual lightweight who just recites usual left-wing nostrums in oral argument rather than getting into the intellectual give and take.
Kagan is a heavyweight, by the same observation. She’s a formidable opponent but a good pick by a leftist president. Maybe the Republican Senate (was it R at the time) should have “resisted” and blocked her though, same as Dems nearly all vote against every Trump pick.
At least Booker provided plenty of ammo for his upcoming failure of a 2020 POTUS run. Booker -> I am Shartacus
And I figure Kamala Harris ended any future presidential aspirations. She was really awful, and she had been awful with Gorsuch as well.
One wonders how many well qualified people would not accept a nomination because of crap like this.
Written questions then vote.
This.
Same problem we’re having with getting the best people to run for office. The more unpleasant running gets, the more we’re going to get narcissistic and power-hungry politicians.
But wait! Jennifer Rubin and George Will have informed me that the only way to advance Republican goals is to vote for Democrats!
Because Trump.
George Will has become retarded – or he is corrupt.
Take your pick, George.
What would be the icing on the cake is Trump not only nominating someone in 2020 but also getting that pick confirmed BEFORE the election HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Let’s not forget that NRO’s French was, and still is, a NeverTrump. Had his wishes prevailed the next SCOTUS associate justice would be Merrick Garland or even worse.
and this is why Trump sticks to the old fashioned view “never apologize”: because the left will take any apology as a guilty plea, any conciliation as weakness, and any compromise as validation that we are wrong and the left is “correct”.
you can only apologize to, reconcile with, or compromise with parties who are acting in good faith. the left is not acting in good faith, they seek always and everywhere to destroy, or when in a position of inferior power, to degrade us.
the old days of Reagan and Tip no longer exist.
I’d really enjoy a 2 fer…..
Amy Coney Barrett replacing Ginsberg right before 2020 even moderates won’t be able to stomach the anti religious vitriol that will be displayed during a Barrett hearing.
Then, after 2020…. Ted Cruz for the win. That gives Texas time get to know a nice strong conservative to fill his seat.
Cruz or Lee for the win!
MAGA
KAG
This article explains why a person with Trump’s style is necessary: nice guys finish last. This is a culture WAR, and you don’t win wars with nice guys. Destroying the other side is an inherently aggressive, mean thing to do even if it’s necessary.
Wars are won by bastards, not nice guys.
The ghost of General Patton says ” Yep “
Winning 2 or 3 Democratically-held U.S. Senate seats this November (and hanging onto the current 51 GOP ones) is the best way to ensure that the next SCOTUS nominee is a Scalia/Thomas conservative originalist justice. So Prof. Jacobson has reduced our worries about the SCOTUS to a single idea. Now the problem is, how can we help defeat some of those vulnerable Dem Senators up for reelection this November? Let’s see who they are:
Florida – Bill Nelson is being challenged by Gov. Rick Scott. He’s slightly ahead in the polls.
North Dakota – Heidi Heitkamp is tied with Kevin Kramer (R) in the polls.
Missouri – Claire McCaskill is slightly behind Lt. Gov. Joshua Hawley (R)
Minnesota – Tina Smith (appointed when Al Franken resigned) is slightly ahead of Karin Housley (R)
Montana – Jon Tester is being challenged by Matt Rosendale (R); Tester is still ahead in the polls, but Rosendale is gaining.
New Jersey – Bob Menendez is being challenged by a Bob Hugin (R). Despite almost being convicted of bribery (hung jury – the feds decided not to retry him), Menendez was far ahead in the polls. But, Hugin has closed some of the gap recently.
Indiana – Joe Donnelly remains ahead of his GOP challenger, Mike Braun (R). You’d think a conservative state like Indiana would understand they have to elect a GOP Senator. Trump had a 21-point margin over Hillary in 2016. Maybe they’ll come to their senses by Nov.
Ohio – Sherrod Brown is running for his 3rd term & has been way ahead of his GOP challenger, Jim Renacci. But, a recent Ohio poll put Renacci just a couple points behind Brown. Ohio went for Trump over Clinton by 8 points in 2016.
Then there are Senate seats currently held by Republicans that could be lost if the GOP faithful don’t turn out adequately.
Nevada – Dean Heller vs. Rosen (D)
Tennessee – Marsha Blackburn (R) vs. former Gov. Phil Bredesen (Bob Corker’s open seat)
Arizona – Martha McSally (R) vs. Kirstin Senema (Jeff Flake’s open seat)
They ought to enclose the gallery behind soundproof/shaded glass (as in a police interrogation room). The gallery could carry on and the interviewee & interviewers would never know.
Emily Xanotti may have been channeling her inner Genghis Khan and Conan the Barbarian. From WikiQuote:
(Genhis Khan)
“[What, in all the world, could bring the greatest happiness?]
“The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift horse under you,” responded the officer after a little thought, “and a falcon on your wrist to start up hares.”
“Nay,” responded the Khan, “to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best.”
As quoted in Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men (1927) by Harold Lamb, Doubleday, p. 107.”
(Conan)
“(When asked “What is best in life?”)
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
The gallery, and Kamala Harris, did more damage to the Democrats than Republicans could possibly have done.