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SEPTEMBER 23,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:45 P.M. ET: 

ANOTHER ONE? – As many old hands predicted, a second woman has come forward to make sexual claims against Brett Kavanaugh.  One of his Yale classmates now claims, after 35 years, that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her and engaged in vulgar behavior at a dorm party.  No actual evidence is provided.  The accusation is revealed in a new edition of the New Yorker, in a story written by Ronan Farrow and feminist writer Jane Mayer.  Previously, Mayer co-wrote the book, "Strange Justice," a hit piece on Clarence Thomas.  Several former Yale students have already come forward to refute the new accusation, but already Senate Democrats are calling for Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings to be suspended.  That would mean Professor Ford's, yesterday's woman of the week, would not even be testifying.  I hope Senate Republicans hold their grand and continue with this week's schedule, especially as the new charge seems full of holes, and the woman making it appears somewhat unsure of the facts.  The timing, of course, is suspicious, but not shocking.  This is a show, after all, and this is the second act.

AND MORE DRAMA AHEAD – A third act is coming.  Michael Avenatti, known primarily as lawyer for the famous exotic dancer, Stormy Daniels, and a self-proclaimed possible presidential candidate in 2020, announces that he, too, will come forward with a new client, who will make "credible" sex charges against Judge Kavanaugh.  I have no idea where they get these women, in the last days of a confirmation hearing.  But please recall that Anita Hill, accuser of Clarence Thomas, also "came forward" in the final days of his confirmation hearing.  I guess that's what the playbook calls for.

EITHER DO IT OR SHUT UP – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg said he’ll decide whether to mount a 2020 challenge of President Trump after the midterm elections.
“Right now, I’m only focused on the midterms,” Bloomberg told CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on Sunday. “I believe that the Republicans have not done what they should have done in terms of providing some counterbalance to the executive branch.”  He added: “And then afterwards, you take a look at it.”  Bloomberg is spending an estimated $80 million to help Democrats take back control of Congress and counter Trump’s policies on gun control, climate change and immigration.  After the November elections, Bloomberg said he’ll evaluate how best to spend his time and fortune.  “And we’d see whether or not it’s possible and how I feel, but that’s down the road,” Bloomberg said of launching a presidential bid.  “There’s lots of possibilities . . . and lots of ways to make a difference.”  Reminds me of our late Governor, Mario Cuomo, sometimes called "Hamlet on the Hudson," because he could never make up his mind whether to run for president.  Decide, Mike, and send us an email. 

September 23, 2018       Permalink

A USEFUL PERSON – AT 1:52 P.M. ET: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been one of the most effective commentators on the Kavanaugh case.  He states what appears to be true, that Professor Ford is simply a useful woman for the left to exploit before throwing her under the bus with all the other women that movements have used and abused.  From Fox: 

Christine Ford, the California professor accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than three decades ago, is "being used" by Democrats who have "betrayed her," Sen. Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday."

Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also made clear that Republicans "are not going to turn the hearing over to her lawyers" by allowing them to dictate which witnesses to call, or in what order to call the witnesses. If Ford's lawyer's persist, Graham said, "there won't be a hearing."

The South Carolina Republican specifically took an apparent shot at Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who received Ford's allegations in a confidential letter in July through a Northern California congresswoman. Ford only went public last week after news of the letter's existence leaked to the Intercept -- a leak Republicans have linked to Senate Democrats.

"I want to listen to Dr. Ford," Graham said. "I feel sorry for her. I think she's being used here. If she truly wanted to be anonymous, the person who brought this allegation to the public owes her an apology."

He added: "I don’t know what Dr. Ford expected us to do with an anonymous letter. If she wanted to stay anonymous those who betrayed her need to apologize."

That criticism was echoed last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who wrote a letter telling Feinstein, "I cannot overstate how disappointed I am" in her handling of Ford's claims.

COMMENT:  That's on the money.  Dr. Ford is the flavor of the month.  Next month they'll be another flavor, but Ford will be invited to a chicken dinner or two.

September 23, 2018       Permalink

IT IS WRONG – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  What is happening to Judge Kavanaugh is wrong.  Here is a man with a superb reputation, a fine family, and two daughters who must hear their respected father destroyed on television by fanatical Democrats eager for a scalp. 

I have no idea whether Judge Kavanaugh committed an offense.  I wasn't there.  But absolutely no credible evidence has been presented against him. 

No man has to prove his innocence in this republic.  The government has to prove you guilty.  But we seem to live in a time when the charge alone is enough to destroy a man's life. 

The term is McCarthyism.  You're seeing it played out before you on your television screens. 

And yet, consider this remarkable summation of the facts from Charles Cooke of National Review, as presented by Scott Johnson at Powerline: 

Well, we seem to have hit a brick wall. All four of the people named by Kavanaugh’s accuser have now given their accounts to the Senate. And all four of them have said either that Kavanaugh is innocent of all charges, or that they have no recollection of his doing anything — anything — wrong. Put as simply as can be, there is nothing in the testimony of any of the named witnesses that corroborates, supports, or even implies Dr. Ford’s allegations. Of the five people who were supposedly at the party, only the accuser has suggested misconduct.

COMMENT:   So why will there be a hearing this week?  Why are we about to see a circus?  Because the weak Republican Party has once again been sucker punched.  The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee could have conducted an investigation on their own, declared there was no real evidence against the judge, and proceeded with a vote on his confirmation.  But they fell for the "nice" game.  It's happened before.

September 23,  2018     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 22,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

I'M SO DISAPPOINTED – FROM BREITBART:  Although Fahrenheit 11/9 opened this weekend on a massive number of screens, it is projected to earn a paltry $3 million.  After a decade of disappointments for the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, even the early projections for what was supposed to be Moore’s comeback film did not look promising — a mere $6 million, but the reality is even worse: half of that.
Outside of the fact he has not had a hit since Sicko grossed a respectable $24.5 million all the way back in 2007, Fahrenheit 11/9’s humiliating opening is especially embarrassing when you consider it opened in an astonishing 1,719 theaters.  The whole idea behind Moore’s anti-Trump doc was to recapture the glory days of his Fahrenheit 9/11, which opened in the summer of 2004 in just 868 theaters to an astonishing $24 million. It would go on to gross $119 million...It will be a miracle if Fahrenheit 11/9 reaches $10 million.  Moore probably thinks the audience is unworthy of him.

NOT GOOD FOR THE PROFESSOR – FROM NRO:   In written testimony sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a third named witness has rejected the allegations made by Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser. Having been asked by a Senate staffer to comment on the charges advanced against the nominee, a lawyer for Leland Ingham Keyser wrote:  "Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford."  Under 18 U.S.C § 1001, letters to the Judiciary Committee are subject to criminal penalty if false.  Ms. Keyer, whom CNN confirms is “a lifelong friend of Ford’s,” is the third named witness to deny any knowledge of the allegations. The other two, Mark Judge and Patrick Smyth, issued written statements to that effect earlier in the week. Thus far, nobody has backed up the account advanced by Kavanaugh’s accuser, while Kavanaugh and three other named witnesses have rejected it outright.  The accuser has a moral right to be heard, but so far she's not brought one bit of evidence to the table.

GOOD ADVICE BY A BRILLIANT GUY – FROM FOX:   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News to air Sunday that officials not on board with helping to achieve President Trump’s mission “ought to find something else to do.”  Pompeo was asked by “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace about a New York Times report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year suggested secretly recording President Trump to expose chaos in the White House and enlisting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.  "I’m not going to comment on that in any way, other than to say this: I’ve been pretty clear since my beginning of service here in this administration, if you can’t be on the team, if you’re not supporting this mission, then maybe you ought to find something else to do,” he said.
“I’ve told that to my senior colleagues, I’ve told it to junior folks at the CIA, and the State Department; we need everyone who’s engaged in helping achieve President Trump’s mission,” he said. “And I hope that everyone in every agency: DOJ, FBI, State Department is on that mission.”  Asked if wiring the president and talking about the 25th Amendment was “not being on the team,” Pompeo said: “Not remotely.”  Well said and absolutely accurate from a man who graduated first in his class at West Point.

September 22, 2018       Permalink

BULLETIN:  AT 3:15 P.M. ET:  Professor Christine Ford, accuser of Judge Kavanaugh has kinda, sorta, agreed to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee...but only if details can be worked out.  In other words, it's a halfway "yes."  We know nothing more.  My skepticism continues.  Senator Grassley was expecting a definitive reply by 2:30 today.  He did not get one, and readers should be cautious about the phrase "agreed to testify" being bandied about on CNN and other amateur sources.  Stand by. 

CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT – AT 1:58 P.M. ET:   Are we serious here?  Democrats are talking about attacking Judge Kavanaugh further, even if he is confirmed for the Supreme Court.  How low can you get?  From Fox:   

The midterm elections loom over the debate over the timetable of Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.

Should Democrats succeed in delaying the confirmation vote past November and pick up seats in the Senate in the midterms, then they will likely have enough votes to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

However, if Republicans confirm Kavanaugh before November, Democrats have indicated that the fight would not be over are raising the prospect of further investigations and even impeachment.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said that “as soon as Democrats get gavels”, the party will investigate the Kavanaugh allegations even if he is confirmed and sitting on the Supreme Court.

“This is such bad practice that even if they were to ram this guy through, as soon as Democrats get gavels we’re going to want to get to the bottom of this,” he said on CNN.

When pressed as to whether he was saying Democrats would investigate a sitting Supreme Court justice, Whitehouse said he was “confident of that.”

“And I think we’ll also be investigating why the FBI stood down its background investigation when this came up in this particular background,” he said.

His stance was backed up by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, who said in an interview with Fox News that there could not only be an investigation, but a push for impeachment.

“If the Republicans rush through a nominee where you have unanswered sexual assault allegations, I can promise you that Democratic senators will be interested in going and looking at those allegations, and if Judge Kavanaugh lied under oath, you could see a judicial impeachment, and that’s not good for anybody, so we should try and avoid that,” he said on “America’s Newsroom.”

COMMENT:  It is hard to exaggerate the full extent of the madness that has overcome the Democratic Party.  Can you imagine the impeachment of a sitting Supreme Court justice based on the Ford case, 36 years old, with no corroborating information? 

I suspect that saner heads will prevail, if there are any sane heads left among the Dems.

September 22, 2018       Permalink

AND SO WE WAIT ONCE MORE – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  The new deadline awarded by Chairman Grassley to Professor Ford and her professional Democratic handlers to inform the world if Ford will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee is 2:30 p.m. today.  The last deadline was 10 p.m. last night, but extended at Ford's request.

So we wait.  My guess, only a guess, is that the Ford people will make further demands.  If they do, I hope Chairman Grassley will shut the whole thing down and proceed with a vote on Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation.  This is enough of a farce already.

There is an undercurrent of feeling that one gets on the internet that Republicans are becoming impatient with Chairman Grassley, who has been endlessly gracious toward Professor Ford.  Republicans understandably are concerned that Grassley will make the classic GOP mistake – being too nice, in the hope that the other side will then reciprocate.  Don't go there, Chuck.  The other side is run by the hard left, which doesn't play by our rules.  On the hard left there is no graciousness, no compromise, no reason, no decency, no sense of honor.  The personal is political, and winning is the only acceptable objective, no matter who gets hurt.

After his 2008 presidential defeat, John McCain expressed dismay at the way he was treated by the press.  He had always been friendly to journalists, assuming they would be fair to him.  He never calculated that, in the end, the leftist press would do what leftists always do...attack and crush.

On the left there are no friends, only interests.

September 22,  2018     Permalink