Image 01 Image 03

“if you want to know why Republicans *will* confirm a nominee this year, watch this video”

“if you want to know why Republicans *will* confirm a nominee this year, watch this video”

Lindsey Graham: “after the treatment of Justice Kavanaugh I now have a different view of the judicial confirmation process”

I don’t think Democrats grasp how Republicans and Trump supporters feel about the mistreatment of Brett Kavanaugh at the hands of Democrats Senators, collaborators, and the media.

It’s a raging fury that has not subsided. Not. One. Bit.

They can’t understand because for Democrats trying to personallly destroy Republican nominees is baked into the confirmation cake. It doesn’t happen with every nomininee, but it happens with enough high-profile nominees to create a terror effect.

So Republicans need to search for nominees without a blemish, and when they found one like Brett Kavanaugh, Democrats savaged him anyway.

What happened to Kavanaugh can happen to any of us, and it is through the cancel culture that has migrated from campus to culture.

Fuzzy put together a good roundup of the timeline of the brutalization of Kavanaugh, but for me there’s a moment that stands out among many others. It’s when Lindey Graham let loose as to the travesty his Democrat colleagues had perpetrated.

This tweet by law professor Andy Grewal highlights Graham’s fury as reflecting why Republicans don’t care about Democrat complaints anymore and will confirm a nominee this year.

You can analyze history and precedents. Or you can point out blatant Republican hypocrisy. Or you can point to Republicans’ mistreatment of Garland. But if you want to know why Republicans *will* confirm a nominee this year, watch this video.

https://twitter.com/AndyGrewal/status/1307925515177734144

(video also here)

Graham released a letter today focusing on the mistreatment of Kavanaugh as a turning point:

Dear Senators Feinstein, Leahy, Durbin, Whitehouse, Klobuchar, Coons, Blumenthal, Hirono, Booker, and Harris,

Like millions of Americans, I was shocked and saddened to hear of Justice Ginsburg’s death. Justice Ginsburg served honorably on the federal bench and was a trailblazer for women in the law. She will be missed.

When the American people elected a Republican Senate majority in 2014, Americans did so because we committed to checking and balancing the end of President Obama’s lame duck presidency. We did so. We followed the precedent that the Senate has followed for 140 years: since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee during an election year.

Because our Senate majority committed to confirming President Trump’s excellent judicial nominees-and particularly because we committed to supporting his Supreme Court nominees the American people expanded the Republican majority in 2018. We should honor that mandate.

Also unlike in 2016, President Trump is currently standing for reelection: the people will have a say in his choices.

Lastly, after the treatment of Justice Kavanaugh I now have a different view of the judicial confirmation process. Compare the treatment of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh to that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, and it’s clear that there already is one set of rules for a Republican president and one set of rules for a Democrat president.

I therefore think it is important that we proceed expeditiously to process any nomination made by
President Trump

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Hearing%20Letter%20Response%2009.21.2020.pdf

Mitch McConnell also spoke of the abuse of Kavanaugh in his speech today promising to push forward:

Democrats don’t understand it because, to paraphrase a well-known observation, they don’t know anyone who supported Kavanaugh.

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Comments

Man, do I wish Republicans acted – and voted – like that display from Lindsay Graham.

And I wish Lindsay Graham himself would act that way. Too often he’s been all talk.

GOPers don’t yet grasp that the Democrats, like Muslims, are playing for keepsies. No do-overs. It is a war. Muslims and Democrats are extremely duplicitous.

Which Way, America?

(A) The way of the Founders/Framers
or
(B) The way of the EU/USSR/PRC/UN/Islam model

    JusticeDelivered in reply to fscarn. | September 21, 2020 at 6:13 pm

    I like the comparison, but dems are not as bad (yet) as Muslims. Dems are marginally smarter than Muslims, and they are not (yet), committing mass mutilations and beheadings (yet) 🙂

    D38999 in reply to fscarn. | September 21, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    I’m pretty sure Republicans will be pouncing on this one.

      I get the feeling that McConnell was very disappointed with how Graham handled the Kavanaugh confirmation. I believe he sees this SCOTUS confirmation to be the pinnacle accomplishment of his career and will not let anything get in the way this time.

      I believe he has already or will soon read the riot act to Graham, Murkowski, Collins and Romney. Graham sounds like he has already heard the music.

      McConnell may have already have made threats to the other three as well. Maybe he will persuade them to abstain than vote “no”. This would allow them to voice their protests about the process without killing the confirmation.

      The threat McConnell holds over their heads is his power to select committee chairmanships and assignments. It seems to me, if the rules allow it, he could strip the three of all chairmanships and assignments were they to vote “no”. Having been stripped, they would then become “back-benchers” aka “ministers without portfolio”. Hard to run for re-election or legislate effectively when ousted from every process in the Senate.

      This would be particularly hurtful to Collins is currently up for re-election. The other two would have to switch parties to save face, probably ending their political careers.

      Just thinking out loud but I really do believe that this is THAT important to McConnell.

        Collins is down in the polls at the moment. She’s in a tight jam. She did vote for Kavanaugh and the Maine lefties haven’t forgotten. If McConnell is successful to get her to vote yes, the Maine lefties will go ape-shiitte for sure. Maybe enough to sink her for certain. Remember, she’s down in the polls.

        Is there an upside for her if she does McConnell’s bidding? Possibly. Janet Mills, the current D governor, has acted like a czar over the COV-19 stuff, like a lot of D governors. So much are the people fed up with her that Paul LaPage, Mills’ predecessor, is going to run again for governor.

        So Collins could get her act together and work that end of the street. Why she was so quick out of the box to say “Do it after the election” simply stunned me.

          tlcomm2 in reply to fscarn. | September 21, 2020 at 9:32 pm

          Collins will be able to backpedal and support a FEMALE nominee readily enough, especially since Biden hasn’t named any of his choices. Anyone in Maine – here now in my 2nd home – who cares to watch the Supreme battle will already be voting in November – many of the Dems multiple times ;). Disconcerting number of Biden signs though I am on the coast.

          txvet2 in reply to fscarn. | September 22, 2020 at 12:29 am

          Collins isn’t going to get any Dem votes anyway. She might have tried doing something different for a change and actually tried to please voters in her own party, but that would have been too out of character.

          bhwms in reply to fscarn. | September 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

          IMHO, One of the reasons she is down in the polls is because she keeps playing the milque-toast Senator – one of the 3 or 4 that always seem to gum up the works. GOP voters say “meh.” If she were to actually take a firm position on this and say, “Hell yes! 100% support for President Trump on this,” she might ignite some support & enthusiasm from the base.

          Any Downeasters care to comment?

        Graham wasn’t in charge of the Kavanaugh hearing. He got in charge of the judicial committee after that.

I don’t think Democrats grasp how Republicans and Trump supporters feel about the mistreatment of Brett Kavanaugh at the hands of Democrats Senators, collaborators, and the media.

The only thing they grasp, is their hate for President Trump and Republicans (i.e. conservatives).

Everything else is irrelevant to them.

There was no hypocrisy, let alone bigotry, no mistreatment of Garland. Throw another baby on the barbie, this one isn’t ready. h/t Ginsburg

Wow…
I never saw Lindsey that kind of mad.
Somehow, I am thinking that confirmation will be the fastest in history.

You want to say, anything outrageous enough to make Graham grow a pair must have fired up every other Republican in the chamber. And yet, I still hear mostly crickets.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to henrybowman. | September 21, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Dried Chinese Crickets……..

    stevewhitemd in reply to henrybowman. | September 21, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    Wait until Friday or Saturday when President Trump names the nominee. Then let’s see what the Senate Pubs do in the next week to 10 days after that.

    By 10 days after they’d better be starting or about to start the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. If they haven’t scheduled it then there’s no vote before the election.

    By the 3rd week of October that hearing had better be history. If not, no vote.

    Mitch had better have the vote scheduled by the 22nd; count on the Dems to use their usual delay tactics. If not, no vote.

    Trump is waiting out of respect for the Ginsburg family. Fine, I get it, and I’d do the same. Then I’d ram it home. If the Pubs don’t get on board they’ll lose the election and they’ll deserve to lose.

    Trump has a spine. We’re about to see if the Senate Pubs have spines.

You can analyze history and precedents. Or you can point out blatant Republican hypocrisy. Or you can point to Republicans’ mistreatment of Garland.

Huh? I kind of know what he’s talking about when he refers to hypocrisy. He’s wrong in this instance, but OK, at least I understand. But what mistreatment of Garland is he talking about? I don’t recall any Republican saying one bad word about Garland, or mistreating him in any way. I simply don’t understand what he is referring to. Did something happen that I was unaware of? Does anyone know if there was some incident, some way in which some Republican said or did something that hurt or offended Garland, or harmed him in some way?

    DaveGinOly in reply to Milhouse. | September 21, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    The entire set of references are from the Democrat perspective. They believe Garland was “abused” because his nomination wasn’t considered. Of course there was not abuse of Garland, but that’s not how the Dems see it.

    Sanddog in reply to Milhouse. | September 21, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    Democrats believe that Garland was entitled to the seat and entitled to confirmation hearings. They view passing over him as a personal attack, far worse than anything they threw at Kavanaugh.

    artichoke in reply to Milhouse. | September 21, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    The Dems are the party of results! Like equality of results (equity) not equality of opportunity. Like “by any means necessary”.

    Garland didn’t get onto SCOTUS. Therefore he was “harmed”. If that language doesn’t work, they’ll say someone did “violence” to him.

This is Kirk vs. Khan level drama here.

Why hold hearings at all? They’re not required. And they’ve become a pointless, malicious charade. Take a floor vote, up or down, and hold every Senator accountable for his or her vote.

It doesn’t matter who the nominee will be, the democrats will turn any hearings into a circus. No thanks, I don’t need to see scum of the earth like kamela harris or corey booker smear someone while grinning like jackals. Go straight to a vote of the full Senate. harry reid, difi and gang, even rbg herself brought this on themselves. I don’t care how many more fake Articles of Impeachment they trot out, fill the seat and let the salt flow.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to CKYoung. | September 21, 2020 at 6:30 pm

    See Billdyszel’s comment above.

      Notamember, billd’s wasn’t there as I started typing, I obviously agree 100%. I don’t care to listen to democrats anymore, they’re pro-violence, corrupt, anti-American liars and criminals. Not to say the GOP doesn’t have it’s problems, but I’m more than done with democrats.

    DaveGinOly in reply to CKYoung. | September 21, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    The Dems are already saying Trump will “ram through” his nominee even with the full panoply of the process, as if the process is already contaminated. If they’re going to accuse him of “ramming” his nominee through, he should give them a proper “ramming,” and go straight to a vote. That will hurt. The Dems deserve it. They will squeal like pigs when it happens. It will be music to my ears.

    Does anyone here doubt that the Dems would do the same even if they knew their candidate couldn’t pass an examination by the Judiciary Committee? They would absolutely ram through such a candidate. The Dems go for ideological purity, “character” is way down the list, if it’s on the list at all.

    artichoke in reply to CKYoung. | September 21, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    I think they’d have to impeach this week, maybe a surprise impeachment vote and they tell 250 Dems to keep quiet and don’t let Trump know it’s coming.

    Once Trump has announced his nomination, I doubt that “except in cases of impeachment” will stop the process which is by then in the hands of the Senate for advice-and-consent.

      I don’t understand the reference. The phrase “except in cases of impeachment” appears in Article III and has to do with trial by jury, and nothing to do with the nomination of judges, which appears in Article II. Is there a constitutional expert in the house?

Being scolded publicly works pretty well if you’re emotionally and morally normal, did something terribly wrong and indecent, and are made to feel appropriately and effectively guilty by the process.

My understanding is, nature installs these functions in us so that all involved, the aggrieved and the blameworthy, have the means to return to a prior condition of wholeness, once all the necessary venting and regret has passed.

Too bad Sen Graham’s attempt fell on proverbial deaf ears — because none of his Dem fellow Committee Members would appear to be normal in the respects cited, nor did any feel proper remorse for their heinous, un-American conduct, I’d also venture to guess.

All the more reason for the president to go ahead and announce his nominee, later this week. Republicans are not dealing with a civil opponent, but apparently, rather, ruthless, amoral savages, going through all the required motions, but camouflaged.

I only wonder about what will happen in the nomination process if, and probably just as likely when the RAS party, a/k/a the Democrats, decide to a) not take their seats at the Graham-led Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing, or b) not participate in the Republican-led, full-senate final vote to confirm or decline the president’s USSC nominee for associate justice, assuming the RAS/Dems had 50 nay votes beforehand, or both of the above.

Uncivil is what uncivil does. And they get paid while being allowed to behave that way! Nice racket.

    Barry Soetoro in reply to GatorGuy. | September 21, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    Per Moral Foundations Theory (https://moralfoundations.org), Leftists are on the narrow and shallow end of the morality pool:

    https://theindependentwhig.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/moral-foundations-graph.jpg?w=300&h=268

    Leftists claim to value the moral foundations of care and fairness (although they often act contrary to both; but, they do not value loyalty, authority, and sanctity. People on the Right value all five moral foundations. A functional society cannot exist without respecting all five.

    Democrats are morally unfit to rule.

    Milhouse in reply to GatorGuy. | September 21, 2020 at 11:28 pm

    I only wonder about what will happen in the nomination process if, and probably just as likely when the RAS party, a/k/a the Democrats, decide to a) not take their seats at the Graham-led Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing, or b) not participate in the Republican-led, full-senate final vote to confirm or decline the president’s USSC nominee for associate justice, assuming the RAS/Dems had 50 nay votes beforehand, or both of the above.

    Their presence and/or participation is not required. Things will go much smoother if they choose to boycott.

      Well, they do need a quorum to do business, and if four renegade “Republicans” were to absent themselves along with the Dems and refuse to appear when summoned, theoretically at least, it seems like they could stop further action (at least until the Sergeant at Arms collected them – if they could be found).

        bhwms in reply to txvet2. | September 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

        Isn’t it based on “present and voting?”

          txvet2 in reply to bhwms. | September 22, 2020 at 2:32 pm

          Article I Section 5: “…a Majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.”

          Seems pretty definitive. No quorum, no business.

If the candidate named has already been confirmed for a lower court, it makes it more difficult for the left to try bringing up a smear job. If the choice is indeed a woman, they are risking backlash from women swing voters who will see this is nothing different than what they did with Kavanaugh, based only on political affiliation.

According to Ted Cruz, they have 51 votes. We shall see.

I think the left will get some backlash from their public threats as well. They sound deranged, and few people want to give power to people who come off as deranged.

    Being deranged can make you sound that way. Unfortunately almost half the country, at last count, want to give power to these deranged people.

Murkowski and Collins have already surrendered to the Communists, and Mitt Romneycare is likely to follow. Meanwhile, despite some vague noise about being independent from Manchin (which no one takes seriously) there are no Communists who will vote for confirmation.

So Graham may be a changed person, but the Chamber of Commerce GOPe has not.

    Whenever it comes to the margin, you can count on my Senator Murkowski to make a hard left.
    Every single time.

    IMO, some people believe cynicism is intelligence. But it’s not, just plain old pretension to the Nth

    See my comment above. I believe they would be risking life and limb by defying a suddenly very determined McConnell. This is a historic moment and I truly believe McConnell is determined to get his victory and won’t stand for these three snakes.

    No Republican said they would vote no. They are just saying that Mitch shouldn’t schedule the nominee. Once the nominee is scheduled, I expect their vote will be based on his or her fitness.

      tom_swift in reply to artichoke. | September 22, 2020 at 1:35 am

      I expect it will be based on how each thinks his vote affects his chances of re-election.

        Hollymon in reply to tom_swift. | September 22, 2020 at 12:23 pm

        One thing is certain. Susan Collins will have ZERO chance at re-election if she abandons the folks who put her in the senate in the first place. The election ads in Maine are universally mean-spirited on both sides. In my opinion, the only chance Senator Collins has is for the hearings to play out. The Democrats, filled with righteous indignation, will be unable to prevent themselves from starting in the gutter and descending from there. Susan Collins will vote to confirm.

        We live in an age when only old people like me believe that women should have the same rights as men, but still deserve special deference. Expect these rabid partisans to savage the president’s nominee, this time, a woman. It’s what they do. Public display of their complete intolerance and vicious spirit is Senator Collins’ best hope for re-election.

The thing that struck me when I heard this from Sen. Graham during the Kavanaugh hearings was that this was the first time he really saw “his friends” and that he was shocked. He had never realized that they only cared about power. He, like many, didn’t really understand that President Obama and many others actually want to “fundamentally change the country” it is not just empty rhetoric.

Mitch and Trump are no dummies. They’ve been preparing for this at least ever since Ruth disclosed she had what anybody with a lick of sense would have known is terminal cancer.

Mitch wouldn’t be submitting this nomination to a vote if he didn’t have all his noses already counted.

Maybe the GOP should just publish Sen. Graham’s speech as an ad.

Then cancel the hearings and just have a vote.

    This is not only about putting another Justice who will keep his/her oath to the Constitution on the Supreme Court. This is also about inciting the Leftists to throw an embarrassing and dishonorable temper tantrum right before the election. I suspect that if McConnell and Trump could confirm a nominee with or without a Kavanaugh hearing they’d prefer with.

I’d open the confirmation hearing, spend an hour on the Nominee’s background and credentials and proceed to a vote.
Only to open interrogation and hearings if the initial vote fails.
Just pull it with power if possible.

Wapoop already has an article out claiming Amy backed a rapist in a college case.
They just can’t help themselves. You can bet should they ever get power again there will be 4 new senators and the SC will have 15 members, voter fraud will be legalized and your money and life will be stolen.
Welcome to the democrat party agenda of the 21st century.

John McCain’s demise is very, very underrated. It rival’s Ginsburg’s.

Imagine the scene if that toad was still in the Senate?

Shocked, SHOCKED to hear of Ginsburg’s death.

You know what’s shocking? – That we haven’t heard about hillary clinton and/or pelosi’s deaths.

Every step of this puts The Screaming Ds in an impossible position, where they can only inflame n motivate their opposition, disappoint their supporters, or both. The smartest move for them is just shut up; resist enough to get run over, then use that to show why they need a majority. They just can’t do it.

They’re Electing Him Again…
It doesn’t even matter which way the confirmation vote goes. If the Ds “win” TheOrangeCrush says: first thing in my second term, I’ll renominate her. The Senate R’s say: we need a couple more seats (or one less Rommney) to git er done. The House R’s say: supposed to be “can’t nominate if impeached for something else” not “fake impeached so he can’t nominate.” If they “lose” this one their supporters abandon them, light up more streets (creating more support for anybody else) or both.

That letter wasn’t for the addressees: it was for everybody else. That “we’re gonna vote” wasn’t for the protocol, it was to keep the issue alive. “We’re gonna vote” was genius. Not “We’re gonna confirm.” That gets the swarming hordes demanding positions from everybody involved. And that most likely pick. Wanna motivate on the fence Catholics? Wanna really motivate them, let Kamala Extract or DiFi come at her again.

Playing identity n election like with a VP…
If the nominee is Accused of Being Catholic-woman vs. Floridian Cuban-woman it would suggest the campaign sees more value in swinging Catholics n values voters across the board than local Florida, or Hispanic. They think they have Florida, n enough change in Hispanic voting to disrupt the D’s.

Picking the broader-issue icon expands the map; grabs a another fraction of a point in a whole bunch of races. It broadly spreads enthusiasm, frustration, and disgust from “There … go I.”

You can buy the segmentation-jockeys’ take that a few key votes in a few key places swung the last one. Another take is TheOrangeCrush only scored by contesting every inch, in every venue.

I think the Rs are spreading the map. I think that’s what’s moved the odds over the last few months. Now, the Screaming Ds have declared they’ll burn it all down. They just recruited for the other team in every as yet unscorched locale.

I also think that “approval” n similar measures are nonsense. This time people aren’t voting against a horrible authoritarian grifter. This time they’re voting against a universal, unbounded programmed destruction. Every step of an orderly nomination process lets the whack jobs display what we’d be voting against.

Just skip the hearing and have a floor vote

Suggestion for Lindsey Graham:

Before the first confirmation hearing, tell the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, “I’d just like to give you a heads-up and friendly warning that if anyone tries to pull any stunts or break decorum during these proceedings, I will order the Sergeant-at-Arms to haul them out of the room and kick their a** down the Capitol Hill steps.”

    Hollymon in reply to MarkJ. | September 22, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    Expect Senator Graham to do exactly that, well maybe not exactly that, but the colossal ugliness of the Kavanaugh hearings, and the embarrassment of the institution still burns hot in his gut. As soon as their nonsense starts he will gavel it to death. He will fight for the decorum of his institution… and, he should.

Lucifer Morningstar | September 22, 2020 at 10:18 am

Here’s how it should go:

1. Pres. Trump nominates the person he thinks is qualified to hold the office of Supreme Court justice.
2. Senate immediately schedules one day for a hearing the morning of the next day for a vote. (No delays, no exceptions)
4. Hold hearing and vote as scheduled.
5. Immediate swearing in of new SCOTUS Justice.

And then plug your ears as the howls of faux democrat outrage fill the halls of Congress as the democrats realize they’ve lost once again.

” Winners Focus On Winning, Losers Focus On Winners.”

– Conor McGregor

Politics ain’t beanbag. Democrats get that, and got it ab initio. Republicans are always shocked, just shocked!