Tuesday morning Mitch McConnell declared, again, that a vote on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court will happen this week, even though he doesn't have enough votes to make it so. If he had the votes, he'd be scheduling the vote right now. He doesn't. But that's not going to stop McConnell from trying to bluster and bully this into being, no matter how dishonest and hypocritical he has to be. In a breathtaking display—even for him!—he blasted Senate Democrats for delaying and obstructing the vote on Brett Kavanaugh by "demanding" more investigation by the FBI. That would be the supplemental investigation demanded by Republicans Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
He stood on the floor and lied about Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Kavanaugh, saying it is completely “uncorroborated.” That's one of Kavanaugh's favorite lies, by the way. Ford had a witness—Mark Judge—who did not testify before the committee. And none of the people the committee staff talked to who Ford named as being present at the gathering refuted her testimony—they say they didn't remember that happening, and one says she believes Ford.
Then McConnell tried to downplay the news reports of the drunken brawl Kavanaugh was involved in in college as "trivial." "Judge Kavanaugh MAY have been accused of throwing some ice across a college bar in the mid-1980s," he intoned, sarcastically. "What a bombshell." That would be the fight he started that landed one of his friends in jail and the victim needing medical care. All to try to minimize the import of the story related by one of Kavanaugh's friends who was there, Chad Ludington. "I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking," Ludington told reporters, "Brett has not told the truth." That was just warming up for McConnell. When Kavananaugh "demonstrated his widely acknowledged brilliance, open-mindedness, and collegiality," McConnell droned, "some chose a darker road. The politics of personal destruction were willfully unleashed." Because if McConnell and Kavanaugh know anything, it's the politics of personal destruction. Just ask Vince Foster's family who Kavanaugh tormented back in the day, when he was trying to personally destroy both Hillary and Bill Clinton.
McConnell might be trying to make it happen this week, but to do so, needs to have the FBI investigation completed by Wednesday. As of Tuesday morning, the FBI still had not contacted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or her lawyers. Sens. Flake, Collins, and Murkowski have all been making a lot of noise about this needing to be a real investigation, noise that it is going to be awfully hard to back down from him McConnell and Trump arbitrarily declare the investigation over on Wednesday. McConnell's over a barrel, and every day that passes is another day in which another old friend of Kavanaugh's could end up making headlines with stories about his drunken escapades.
Don't let McConnell fool you. This is far from a done deal.
It's time to shut Mitch McConnell and the Republicans down. Please help with $3 to our Senate candidates.
Do you live in Maine? Susan Collins needs to hear from you. Click here to give her a piece of your mind.
Live in Alaska? You have the power. Sign and send a petition to Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Save Roe v. Wade. Oppose any anti-choice Supreme Court nominee.