ND - Cramer +12 (FOX)

[Virginiá]

Mostly great news. This keeps Dems one more seat away from a majority, which they certainly don't deserve with their despicable handling of the Kavanaugh situation. However, I say only 'mostly' great because this means that there will be even less ideological diversity among the Democratic senators, as a leading red-state Democrat is knocked off.

Still, on the whole, good news.

With all due respect, this kind of criticism regarding the courts is meaningless coming from Republicans. You guys have made it abundantly clear that you do not accept that Democrats have every right to pick judges when in power, just like Republicans do, and that apparently the federal judiciary is the sole property of the Republican Party, so why should Democrats do anything but impede your party's attempts to stack it?

This is what happens when you stand by as your party engages in scumbag partisan power plays. You ruin the idea of bipartisanship and make everything a "win-at-all-costs" battle. And you turn people like me, who just wanted each party to accept that if their opponents control the White House, they get to pick federal judges within reason, into jaded political activists who now want their party to pack the courts in a long-shot effort to teach the opposition that the world doesn't revolve around them.

[Virginiá]

I actually wholly agree with you on this issue. The current (and relatively newfound) partisan rancor surrounding Supreme Court nominations is frankly disgusting, and BOTH sides  of the senate refuse to act as a mature, unified body determined to assess the qualifications of nominees.

That being said, this case with Kavanaugh is particularly sinister, as it not only involves one side trying to delay his confirmation but also involves, quite literally, the ruining of his life and that of his family with no substantiated evidence.

I mean, unless you think Democrats recruited Ford to accuse Kavanaugh, it's not really fair to put it all on them. It's not our fault you guys picked someone with a history of heavy drinking and partying in HS/college who seemed to engage in questionable behavior with women.

And as dismayed as Republicans may be, there is an equally-if-not-bigger group of Democrats who for the life of them can't understand why you guys are clinging to Kavanaugh as if he's the only possible judge for the job, and would risk undermining the public's trust and confidence in the Supreme Court instead of just picking someone else and ramming through their confirmation before January. To me at least, it shows a stunning level of recklessness, which unfortunately isn't exactly new for the GOP, who have been undermining confidence in our elections almost every cycle, with fake claims of fraud, particularly in close elections (re: North Carolina).

It's nice that you don't agree with your party, truly, but the same can't be said for the vast majority of your partisan compatriots.

[Virginiá]

The reason I, and nearly all Republicans, both politicians and regular citizens, are so vehemently in favor of Kavanaugh's confirmation is that if his nomination is withdrawn, it sends a message that any future Supreme Court nominee (or really any official) can be taken down and have their lives ruined by unsubstantiated claims. That would be a travesty for justice, the rule of law, our politics, and would only encourage more of this* in the future.

* - A political side using unsubstantiated allegations as a political weapon to sink an otherwise supremely qualified person. I'm not saying that Ford may not have been, at some point, a victim of sexual assault.

Alright, well, fair enough.

But I still think Republicans are taking for granted the institutions to which this country depends on. Watergate, 2008 and a plethora of events between and after have seriously rattled the public's faith in our system, and at some point, partisan objectives need to take a backseat to what is best for the country. If that means someone like Kavanaugh has to settle for a lowly appellate court seat instead, it shouldn't be considered the end of the world.

Until then, we can just keep taking all of this for granted I suppose.

[Virginiá]

Tbh a GOP Senate is bearable if Democrats at least gain the House. Just to have that would be much better than right now.

no. The House is a useless consolation prize. The Senate is where all the real power in Congress lies

I don't know if I'd call it useless, as Democrats will use it to turn over every single rock in the Trump administration, and if we remember Clinton, that can eventually cause serious problems, but I do get what you're saying. The Senate is crucial for having any input in the staffing of the executive and judicial branches between at least now - 2021. If Democrats want to blunt the impact of Trump/McConnell stealing a ton of judicial vacancies for Trump to fill, they need the Senate to do that.

[Virginiá]

The problem I have with the argument that "she over-performed and won in 2012," aside from the folly of basing a prediction on an event you can't actually predict, is that she just barely won in 2012. It could have easily went the other way. So even if she is down by a lot right now and she does end up over-performing, maybe this time it won't be enough.

Like another user said already, after a certain point, I can't deny what the data says. Maybe she does win in the end, but for right now, she looks like she is on track to lose.