But what do I know? Brett Kavanaugh, elite Yale-trained lawyer and federal district court judge nominated to the highest court in the land adopted the first strategy in his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday breaking with every conventional notion of principled judicial temperament defending himself as if he were a Tea Party congressman appearing on Alex Jones' Info Wars. He threw away his prepared opening statement and ranted and raved for more than 40 minutes alternating between unctuous whining about the unfairness of it all and cloying sentimentality, barely holding back tears as he discussed how difficult this nomination has been for his family, which is perfectly understandable, but also choking up as he discussed his habit of calendering during high school years and remembering his buddies on the basketball team. It was, to say the least, highly emotional and very dramatic.
After having been forced to sullenly sit in silence as Dr Christine Blasey Ford gave her searing, heart-wrenching, controlled testimony that nobody on the planet could believe was contrived or inauthentic, the Republicans on the committee had been despondent, worrying that they might not "plow through this" as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had promised. She was an extremely effective witness. So, they were downright giddy about this operatic Trumpian spectacle by Judge Kavanaugh. But after Senator Dick Durbin managed to land a very effective blow by making it obvious that there was something very, very strange about the fact that the judge would not ask the White House to re-open the FBI background check process and question the witnesses whom he insisted would back up all his claims, the GOP Senators shuffled off the "female assistant" lawyer they had tasked with asking questions and went nuclear.
Senator Lindsey Graham led with a display of fiery temper that indicates he's been watching way too many Jack Nicholson movies. The wild-eyed expressions and tone of his voice showed stunningly vicious, splenetic wrath.
He was so proud of himself that he tweeted out links to his hysterical performances :
This laughable declaration by a House manager in Clinton's failed impeachment trial on behalf of one of Ken Starr's dirt-digging partisans was particularly rich:
“To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics,” Graham said. Then, gesturing to the Democrats: “You want this seat? I hope you never get it.”
The death of John McCain seems to have liberated him from the necessity to pretend that he is anything but a ruthlessly ambitious political hack embracing Trumpism with both arms.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC)
September 28, 2018
Kavanaugh was little better. He too launched a blatantly partisan attack which revealed a temperament and a worldview that does not belong on any court and certainly not the highest court in the land which routinely hears politically charged cases that have deep resonance in the culture and society at large. He coined a clever phrase --- "advise and consent has turned into search and destroy" --- which doesn't have quite the ring to it of Clarence Thomas' "this is nothing but a high-tech lynching." On the other hand as angry as Thomas was during the Anita Hill hearing he never personally sank to Kavanaugh's level:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record. Revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. This is a circus. The consequences will extend long past my nomination. The consequences will be with us for decades.
It's one thing for a power-drunk politician like Graham to turn into a ferocious partisan attack dog, but Supreme Court nominees who claim they are simply "umpires calling balls and strikes" speaking in such paranoid conspiratorial terms is disqualifying all on its own. In another time, such an accusation by a man seeking a lifetime appointment to the High Court would be scandalous.
That is how a professional character assassin like Kavanaugh would see it (and would also curry favor with his patron Donald Trump) but it just isn't true. Yes, Democrats wanted to defeat him. They went after his record as hard as they could (and were thwarted by the majority at every turn.) That's hardball politics where the stakes are very, very high.
But Ford's accusation is legitimate and important and the Republicans caterwauling about the "delay" caused by her testimony was nothing more than misdirection and silly posturing. There is no deadline and the people that held open a seat for nearly a year in order to fill it with one of their own have a lot of nerve wringing their hands over a couple of weeks. But then accusing the Republicans of hypocrisy is a fools game. They are shameless and without shame, the concept of hypocrisy is meaningless. After that hearing it's obvious that the concept of dignity and decency have finally been put out to pasture as well.
The word is that the president was ecstatic that Kavanaugh "fought back" and needless to say the fact that he behaved like a petulant child, blaming the Democrats and raging at the unfairness of everything for hours on end, was received as the tribute it was meant to be. If the Senators "plow through" and confirm him, as they probably will, in spite of credible accusations of sexual assault and repeated lying, he will be Donald Trump's perfect legacy.
