Red Mosquito

--- wrote:

Orpheus wrote:Y'all will bend over backwards to avoid calling these cowards and crooks what they really are. Unbelievable.

And y'all will bend over backwards to avoid keeping your eye on the ball and according these distractions exactly as much attention as they're worth: zero.

It really would be something if this hearing could be used as an opportunity to discuss constitutional philosophy or judicial interpretation or the consequences of federalism's erosion on the tension between democracy and the judiciary or any number of ideas worth spending time and energy on.

But no. Cheap political theater is enough.

AKA the Republican playbook.

It really would be something if this hearing could be used as an opportunity to discuss constitutional philosophy or judicial interpretation or the consequences of federalism's erosion on the tension between democracy and the judiciary or any number of ideas worth spending time and energy on.

This would be awesome. And then, as part of that, senators could consult his records to see if his high-minded answers actually match his practical application of law, or if he is just saying whatever it takes to make it through the...

oh.

So has he been grilled about his views on presidential investigations and deference to the executive branch by the judiciary?

4/5 wrote:So has he been grilled about his views on presidential investigations and deference to the executive branch by the judiciary?

I haven’t been able to watch since this morning, but I’d expect little of that to show up on day one.

If you ask much about a topic on day one of a hearing like this, majority tends to scold you for bringing it up again on subsequent days (accuse you of rehashing, etc), and may work to narrow or limit your questioning. Today is also likely to lean heavily on character witnesses, if I recall....which is another reason that handshake choice was such a gaffe. Today’s headlines should have been about known figureheads (maybe Rice?) coming in to praise him, which is the freest good press a nominee gets, but now some of those will be devoted to a grieving parent with their hand left ignored, hanging in the air.

tragabigzanda wrote:holy shit, the girl smirking while giving the 4Chan/white power sign behind Kavanaugh is actually his assistant, and her name is Zina Bash.

You don’t really think she is doing that right?

McParadigm wrote:

4/5 wrote:So has he been grilled about his views on presidential investigations and deference to the executive branch by the judiciary?

I haven’t been able to watch since this morning, but I’d expect little of that to show up on day one.

If you ask much about a topic on day one of a hearing like this, majority tends to scold you for bringing it up again on subsequent days (accuse you of rehashing, etc), and may work to narrow or limit your questioning. Today is also likely to lean heavily on character witnesses, if I recall....which is another reason that handshake choice was such a gaffe. Today’s headlines should have been about known figureheads (maybe Rice?) coming in to praise him, which is the freest good press a nominee gets, but now some of those will be devoted to a grieving parent with their hand left ignored, hanging in the air.

That makes sense.

tragabigzanda wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:holy shit, the girl smirking while giving the 4Chan/white power sign behind Kavanaugh is actually his assistant, and her name is Zina Bash.

You don’t really think she is doing that right?

Honestly, I didn't at first; I have totally held my own elbow in a loose-claw like grip before (seriously). But once I heard more about her, I am now ready to join the LibArmy in their rage.

trag, c'mon.

Man apparently I’m out of it. I have no idea what a white power sign looks like.

It's this now, apparently:

The greatest trick the devil (or 4Chan) ever pulled was convincing paranoid lefties that the ok sign is a white power symbol.

cant blame the guy for not shaking that hand the meeting was a semi-riot and he was obv shaken and who the f knows who that guy is and if he plans to knife you aside from it being a normal reflex to find that kind of personal intro super creepy

linda sarsour was there? Jesus, I need to watch these things. It sounds like an absolute clown show.

96583UP wrote:cant blame the guy for not shaking that hand the meeting was a semi-riot and he was obv shaken and who the f knows who that guy is and if he plans to knife you aside from it being a normal reflex to find that kind of personal intro super creepy

In a room full of senators for a supreme court hearing I highly doubt that he would be able to bring a knife in.

Oddly enough, they probably wouldn't let him bring a gun in either. Those are just for schools.

Yeah, it isn’t until the very audible “...was murdered in Parkland” that he turns and leaves.

Really, the only measurement of consequence for such an act right now is: will it serve to make him less popular, and thus do further harm to Republican candidates in in-play seats? I say again: the reason for documents being withheld isn’t that they could possibly derail his nomination. The documents are being withheld to keep Kavanaugh from becoming even more unpopular, because there is an election coming and it can mean the difference between losing just the house, or losing both sides.

It’s hard to imagine that anything he says tomorrow will overshadow this, on air or around water coolers. Whether you think he was reasonable or not, this is something republicans badly needed not to have happen.

--- wrote:

Orpheus wrote:I am one of the few Americans acually watching the hearing. I have the mental capacity to "keep my eye on the ball" and recognize that these men are also the modern scum of the Earth.

That you think "keeping your eye on the ball" means passing judgement on the character of the individuals involved - subject to an extraordinary amount of incomplete information, and with the particulars of what is known selectively passed through the highly politicized lenses of each side's ideological water carriers - rather than considering the ideas that motivate literally any of the substantive objections to Kavanaugh's nomination means that no, you have not kept your eye on the ball at all.

That you think all I know about these people is literally only what I've seen with my eyes in the last few hours is insulting, but go for it I guess.