Kavanaugh accused of sexually assaulting classmate in high school

[Landslide Lyndon]

Even if he is confirmed, Democrats ought to put their opponents on record. Ask every Republican running for office, from county assessor to US senator, if he supports or opposes Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Make the bastards bleed.

[7,052,770]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

Would they though? If Trump rescinds the nomination today and replaces him with another right-wing ideologue, I would think that would be fine to most of the base. I guess some voters might think Trump and McConnell pussied out and folded to the libs or whatever, but will that be enough to make them not vote?

[Florida Man for Crime]

I mean, is this really so complicated?



Rape is bad, mkay?

Is there anything more to say than that?

[DrScholl]

Even in high school attempted rape is wrong.

[Xing]

This will, unfortunately, make about as much of a difference as Pussygate did. Republicans will still vote to confirm him because something something Roe v. Wade. In case anyone has forgotten 2016, partisanship trumps sexual assault allegations.

[IceSpear]

So how will this impact Trump 2020. Will this be just another Moore case where it will be forgotten, or since we could have lost Roe v. Wade, women will now be energized to vote. Will Americans start to care more about SC appointments?

Nobody will remember in 2020 either way, unless maybe if Roe v. Wade gets overturned a month or less before the election.

Anyway, I find it extremely hard to believe that Republicans would let something like this stop them from cementing conservative control of the SCOTUS for a generation. Look at all the deplorable filth they've embraced in the past few years to achieve that goal, starting (but by no means stopping) with the current president.

[libertpaulian]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

Would they though? If Trump rescinds the nomination today and replaces him with another right-wing ideologue, I would think that would be fine to most of the base. I guess some voters might think Trump and McConnell pussied out and folded to the libs or whatever, but will that be enough to make them not vote?

Because it gives McConnell an image that he capitulated to the evil libtards.  Not to mention, the Senate won't be able to jam through a new nominee in a month and a half.  It took two months just for Kavanaugh to get an initial committee hearing.

[Del Tachi]

Also, are we seriously to the point now where we should judge public figures based on their behavior at drunk high school parties?

I hope we were always at that point. Sexual assault is unacceptable, no matter how long ago, no matter the age of the perp, and no matter who involved was drunk or wasn't.

While I understand your position is the the "feel good" one to take, there would be a severe dearth of individuals to serve in high-profile positions if their behavior as children was fair game.

17 year old boys are stupid, impulsive and don't understand the consequences of their actions.  We're not nominating a 17 year old boy to the Supreme Court.

[Alabama_Indy10]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

I don’t think rescinding would hurt the GOP. If Trump withdraws Kavanaugh and nominates another conservative, it would give GOP voters a good reason to turn out in the midterms since the hearings and vote for the new nominee wouldn’t be done before the midterms.

[Del Tachi]

Kavanaugh will still be confirmed on a party-line vote, 51 to 49 (which is what I always suspected would be the outcome of his nomination).

While I have no reason to not believe Ms. Ford, the lack of evidence or corroborating testimony to support her allegations means that I do not think these allegations should be enough to sink Kavanaugh's nomination.

Also, are we seriously to the point now where we should judge public figures based on their behavior at drunk high school parties?

I heard some conservatives say this. But Kavanaugh isn't being accused of just fooling around. The accuser's uncorroborated testimony amounts to attempted rape.

FTFY.

This case really is a simple one.  These allegations are not sufficiently corroborated to impugn the character of Brett Kavanaugh.

[Florida Man for Crime]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

The solution for Trump/GOP is pretty simple.

Trump goes on twitter. He writes a tweet that says:

"I am pulling the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court. I am pleased to announce my nomination of Amy Barrett for Supreme Court. She will be great and will do us proud!"

He hits send on the tweet.

Then the Republicans jam through Amy Barrett (or whoever else, but she would probably be good now especially not least because she is a woman) through the confirmation process in the Senate.

[Doimper]

Remember this? Yikes.

https://twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/1037794429669654528

[Florida Man for Crime]

FTFY.

This case really is a simple one.  These allegations are not sufficiently corroborated to impugn the character of Brett Kavanaugh.

Did you not read that it was in fact corroborated, she has been talking about it privately for 6 years, and she also apparently passed a polygraph test?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Kavanaugh will still be confirmed on a party-line vote, 51 to 49 (which is what I always suspected would be the outcome of his nomination).

While I have no reason to not believe Ms. Ford, the lack of evidence or corroborating testimony to support her allegations means that I do not think these allegations should be enough to sink Kavanaugh's nomination.

Also, are we seriously to the point now where we should judge public figures based on their behavior at drunk high school parties?

I heard some conservatives say this. But Kavanaugh isn't being accused of just fooling around. The accuser's uncorroborated testimony amounts to attempted rape.

FTFY.

This case really is a simple one.  These allegations are not sufficiently corroborated to impugn the character of Brett Kavanaugh.

Is this November 2017? Are we still talking about Roy Moore?

[Torrain]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

The only way they can salvage this is to leave it until after the midterms and try to use it to whip up the necessary votes to toss out McCaskill et al. But thankfully, that would likely only fire up the Dem base more.

What I’m really concerned about now is a lame duck confirmation, rushed through alongside Session’s replacement.

[Del Tachi]

FTFY.

This case really is a simple one.  These allegations are not sufficiently corroborated to impugn the character of Brett Kavanaugh.

Did you not read that it was in fact corroborated, she has been talking about it privately for 6 years, and she also apparently passed a polygraph test?

The veracity of polygraph tests is highly suspect and Kavanaugh was retroactively indicated as the suspect (the 2012 notes do not name an accuser, it became Kavanaugh in 2018).

[Badger]

Now the scumbags here and elsewhere in Trump’s universe can try to slut-shame her.

I have not yet read the rest of this thread past this post, and I'm only bracing myself for the level of denial, projection, whataboutism, and above all defending a professor who names names and, most importantly, describe the incident 6 years before Cavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court. Yeah, completely made up I'm sure.

[Yank2133]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

Would they though? If Trump rescinds the nomination today and replaces him with another right-wing ideologue, I would think that would be fine to most of the base. I guess some voters might think Trump and McConnell pussied out and folded to the libs or whatever, but will that be enough to make them not vote?

Because it gives McConnell an image that he capitulated to the evil libtards.  Not to mention, the Senate won't be able to jam through a new nominee in a month and a half.  It took two months just for Kavanaugh to get an initial committee hearing.

I can see McConnell bailing since he didn't like the Kavanaugh selection from the start. Not because of this, but because of his paper trail.

[libertpaulian]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

Would they though? If Trump rescinds the nomination today and replaces him with another right-wing ideologue, I would think that would be fine to most of the base. I guess some voters might think Trump and McConnell pussied out and folded to the libs or whatever, but will that be enough to make them not vote?

Because it gives McConnell an image that he capitulated to the evil libtards.  Not to mention, the Senate won't be able to jam through a new nominee in a month and a half.  It took two months just for Kavanaugh to get an initial committee hearing.

I can see McConnell bailing since he didn't like the Kavanaugh selection from the start. Not because of this, but because of his paper trail.

I thought McConnell wanted Kavanaugh and Trump therefore chose him as a consensus pick?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Whether his actions as a (presumably drunk) 17-year-old in this case are disqualifying is going to be an ongoing debate.  IMO they are disqualifying, but I do see the argument on the other side.  But regardless of that debate, *if* this accusation was known and Kavanaugh lied to the FBI about it during his investigation...that's without question disqualifying.  And a felony, for that matter.

[libertpaulian]

FTFY.

This case really is a simple one.  These allegations are not sufficiently corroborated to impugn the character of Brett Kavanaugh.

Did you not read that it was in fact corroborated, she has been talking about it privately for 6 years, and she also apparently passed a polygraph test?

This story is being blown up on my Facebook feed right now.  One of my FB friends said "She can't even remember the exact time of year that this supposed incident happen.  She can't even say if it happened when she was a junior or a senior, yet I'm supposed to take her seriously?!"

[Florida Man for Crime]

We're not nominating a 17 year old boy to the Supreme Court.

Correct. We're nominating an attempted rapist.

Have you ever been raped, or do you know anyone who has ever been raped? Or do you know anyone who has been the victim of an attempted rape? I am guessing probably not, or else you would take this more seriously.

[Torrain]

To me, this is a lose-lose situation for the GOP, either way:

1) If Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed, that'll spike female, youth, minority, suburbanite, etc. turnout to insane levels.  We know who those demos are going for...

2) If Trump were to rescind his nomination, the GOP base will cruicify the GOP at the polls.

The damage has been done.

The solution for Trump/GOP is pretty simple.

Trump goes on twitter. He writes a tweet that says:

"I am pulling the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court. I am pleased to announce my nomination of Amy Barrett for Supreme Court. She will be great and will do us proud!"

He hits send on the tweet.

Then the Republicans jam through Amy Barrett (or whoever else, but she would probably be good now especially not least because she is a woman) through the confirmation process in the Senate.

This is probably what McConnell is pitching right now.
Who knows what Trump will do though. He’ll probably bluster around just long enough to bleed political capital then relent after listening to his handlers warnings about the midterms.

[ProudModerate2]

Also, are we seriously to the point now where we should judge public figures based on their behavior at drunk high school parties?

Are you trolling or what?
What is described is an attempt to rape someone. How can that be overlooked?
If a "drunk high school" student killed someone at a party, should we just excuse that also (as you are suggesting)?
Come back to planet Earth and get real.

[Crumpets]

Maybe the Democrats can flip Lee and Hatch if they play up the "he was drunk at 17" angle instead of the "he tried to rape somebody" angle.