Kavanaugh accused of sexually assaulting classmate in high school

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

[Florida Man for Crime]

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.

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would want to have an attempted rapist on the Supreme Court.

There are many Conservatives who are not rapists, aren't there? (Or are there???).

Just pull Kavanaugh's nomination, nominate some other conservative who is not a rapist, and shove them through the Senate. If need be, they can be confirmed in the lame duck session after the election (no doubt Mitch McConnell of all people would have precisely 0 scruples or shame about that).

Then *poof* you have your Conservative that you want on the Supreme Court, and you are not forced to perform summersaults on internet discussion forums trying to defend rape or make it out to be not-that-big-of-a-deal.

[PSOL]

The level of rape apologia is honestly disturbing, I can tell you that the majority of my former male classmates know they are old enough to judge this behavior.

[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.

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

He warned them.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mcconnell-trump-supreme-court_us_5b420c9de4b05127ccf335a0

[Del Tachi]

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.

You really make yourself sound closed-minded and ignorant with these types of posts.  I am, in fact, closely related to a woman who was a victim of sexual violence to a much more severe degree than what is being described in the Kavanaugh allegations.  I don't appreciate you implying that I am unable or unwilling to sympathize with victims of sexual violence.  

Also, you're missing the broader point that these allegations should not be enough to sink Kavanaugh's nomination because 1) they are not sufficiently corroborated and 2) based on what we know, they sound more like a case of youthful indiscretion than part of a pattern of sexual violence that Kavanaugh has continued into his adult life.

[Yank2133]

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.

lol

Collins and Murkowski is their best hope.

[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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

Everyone knows that sexual assault is wrong, I don't think there is any genuine disagreement on that question.  There is a question as to what the standard of behavior should be for a 17 year old child, and how the actions of a child should follow him into adulthood.

[Florida Man for Crime]

You really make yourself sound closed-minded and ignorant with these types of posts.  I am, in fact, closely related to a woman who was a victim of sexual violence to a much more severe degree than what is being described in the Kavanaugh allegations.  I don't appreciate you implying that I am unable or unwilling to sympathize with victims of sexual violence.

Does your close relative who was a victim of sexual violence like to talk about it? I can tell you that my close relative who was raped does not like to talk about it. Rather like this lady here. I wonder why that could be?

Why could it be that victims of rape (or "just" attempted rape) don't like to talk about it?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Sure, it should be and will be investigated further, but what we know about right now, just an hour or so after learning who the victim is, is not insubstantial, and not unsubstantiated.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Attempted rape is not a youthful indiscretion.

[Florida Man for Crime]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/youthful%20indiscretion

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Can attempted rape be described as a "minor mistake"? Is there anything minor about attempted rape, do you think?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why the f**k won't Republicans just drop him and appoint someone else? WHY?? Surely there is ONE judge who's just as conservative as Kavanaugh but isn't such an utterly depraved human being.

This is despicable. Everyone who still supports Kavanaugh's confirmation after this needs to pay.

[UncleSam]

Glad she came forward, hopefully they investigate this in a timely fashion - obviously his nomination should not be rescinded because of an accusation, what the hell kind of guilty-before-proven-innocent standard does that set? Investigate it then vote on his nomination.

[Frodo]

Senate Republicans should, at the very least, delay the confirmation vote.  Who knows if there are more victims who have yet to come forward? 

[The Dowager Mod]

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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

Everyone knows that sexual assault is wrong, I don't think there is any genuine disagreement on that question.  There is a question as to what the standard of behavior should be for a 17 year old child, and how the actions of a child should follow him into adulthood.

Seriously?
He was 17 so it was ok to try and rape her?

[Del Tachi]

Attempted rape is not a youthful indiscretion.

That's really a semantic argument, so there's plenty of room for genuine disagreement.  Kavanaugh was a youth when the alleged instance occurred, so in that regard what is alleged would very clearly be a youthful indiscretion.  The fact that this instance does not appear to be representative of a wider pattern of behavior that Kavanaugh has continued into adulthood further reinforces that it was a youthful indiscretion.

[JG]

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.

That's what I think is going to happen.

[Florida Man for Crime]

Glad she came forward, hopefully they investigate this in a timely fashion - obviously his nomination should not be rescinded because of an accusation, what the hell kind of guilty-before-proven-innocent standard does that set? Investigate it then vote on his nomination.

That would take too long, given that the purpose of this whole charade is to stack the Supreme Court with another right wing judge prior to the midterms.

So it is pretty simple. You pull Kavanaugh. You immediately nominate someone else. You announce that hearings for the other person will begin next week (yes, beginning so quickly would violate Senate norms, but nobody really cares about Senate norms). Or alternatively, you could just wait to begin until the lame duck session.

This would take all of about 5-10 minutes to announce, and Trump/Republicans are pretty dumb to have not already done so. It is the simplest and most viable solution to their problem.

After a few news cycles, everyone would have forgotten about Kavanaugh and whoever the new nominee was would be the center of attention.

[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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

Everyone knows that sexual assault is wrong, I don't think there is any genuine disagreement on that question.  There is a question as to what the standard of behavior should be for a 17 year old child, and how the actions of a child should follow him into adulthood.

Seriously?
He was 17 so it was ok to try and rape her?

No.  I believe that the allegations very clearly demonstrate bad and even criminal behavior.  However, its not fair to assess a 52 year old man's ability to be on SCOTUS based on his behavior as a high school student.  I think the idea that I am expressing here is readily accepted in most parts of our society.

[windjammer]

Why the f**k won't Republicans just drop him and appoint someone else? WHY?? Surely there is ONE judge who's just as conservative as Kavanaugh but isn't such an utterly depraved human being.

This is despicable. Everyone who still supports Kavanaugh's confirmation after this needs to pay.

I mean, I just talked with BK about this.

Strategically speaking what they should do is dropping the nomination and confirm someone during the lame duck session. But most of the GOP senators are rich 50-60's men, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of them made similar stuff like Kavanaugh did, so they're freaking out and they will stick to Kavanaugh just for this reason.

[GeorgiaModerate]

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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

Everyone knows that sexual assault is wrong, I don't think there is any genuine disagreement on that question.  There is a question as to what the standard of behavior should be for a 17 year old child, and how the actions of a child should follow him into adulthood.

Seriously?
He was 17 so it was ok to try and rape her?

No.  I believe that the allegations very clearly demonstrate bad and even criminal behavior.  However, its not fair to assess a 52 year old man's ability to be on SCOTUS based on his behavior as a high school student.  I think the idea that I am expressing here is readily accepted in most parts of our society.

If it turns out that he lied about or failed to disclose this information to the FBI during his investigation, do you consider that disqualifying? 

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why the f**k won't Republicans just drop him and appoint someone else? WHY?? Surely there is ONE judge who's just as conservative as Kavanaugh but isn't such an utterly depraved human being.

This is despicable. Everyone who still supports Kavanaugh's confirmation after this needs to pay.

I mean, I just talked with BK about this.

Strategically speaking what they should do is dropping the nomination and confirm someone during the lame duck session. But most of the GOP senators are rich 50-60's men, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of them made similar stuff like Kavanaugh did, so they're freaking out and they will stick to Kavanaugh just for this reason.

Well, at least Collins and Murkowski are women, in theory? What's their excuse not to come forward against him?

[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.

This statement is disgusting. Many 17 year old boys are immature but that does not make them commit sexual assault.

Stop coming up with asinine excuses for sexual assault. Everyone knows by the time they're 17 that SEXUAL ASSAULT IS WRONG.

Everyone knows that sexual assault is wrong, I don't think there is any genuine disagreement on that question.  There is a question as to what the standard of behavior should be for a 17 year old child, and how the actions of a child should follow him into adulthood.

Seriously?
He was 17 so it was ok to try and rape her?

No.  I believe that the allegations very clearly demonstrate bad and even criminal behavior.  However, its not fair to assess a 52 year old man's ability to be on SCOTUS based on his behavior as a high school student.  I think the idea that I am expressing here is readily accepted in most parts of our society.

If it turns out that he lied about or failed to disclose this information to the FBI during his investigation, do you consider that disqualifying?  

If he lied, yes.  I'm not sure what information he would be under obligation to voluntarily disclose in this case, given that no criminal proceedings were ever initiated regarding the matter at hand.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Why the f**k won't Republicans just drop him and appoint someone else? WHY?? Surely there is ONE judge who's just as conservative as Kavanaugh but isn't such an utterly depraved human being.

This is despicable. Everyone who still supports Kavanaugh's confirmation after this needs to pay.

Because that would be giving into the enemy (Dianne Feinstein (Judiciary Ranking Member), Chuck Schumer (Minority Leader), Dick Durbin (Minority Whip), and Cory Booker (Leaker of "confidential" documents) ).

[Antonio the Sixth]

You are a bad person, Del Tachi.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

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?

It really shouldn’t be that hard to say things like rape, child molestation, and attempted rape are unacceptable regardless of the perpetraitor’s age and level of sobriety.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/cbudoffbrown/status/1041407197148794883