Also, this is a lot of firepower just to testify in a couple days.  I'm not sure what they're playing @ but it could be an attempt to drag this beyond his confirmation.

That’s been their intent since the day Feinstein received that letter back in July. They were well aware of losing the confirmation vote then. This has always been their ace in the hole. My guess is they were intending on dragging out the confirmation process longer and then playing this card to give them time for the ‘blue wave’. They were also probably hoping the MSM could help their cause, but they’ve been exposed and are now toothless. It’s time now to throw everything against the wall and hope. Expect Schumer to get nastier than ever.

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I can’t see this helping Democrats. I felt like they had decent momentum going into elections, but playing the sexist/racist card is only going to help the conservatives. They’re portraying this like white men are protecting white men. Reminding voters that you hate white men going into elections can’t help you, and to then entertain the idea of impeaching a Supreme Court judge (and Trump) in the absence of evidence is absurd.

The entire democrat playbook is to blame white men. When that doesn’t work, impeach them for a crime they may or may not have committed.

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I can’t see this helping Democrats. I felt like they had decent momentum going into elections, but playing the sexist/racist card is only going to help the conservatives. They’re portraying this like white men are protecting white men. Reminding voters that you hate white men going into elections can’t help you, and to then entertain the idea of impeaching a Supreme Court judge (and Trump) in the absence of evidence is absurd.

The entire democrat playbook is to blame white men. When that doesn’t work, impeach them for a crime they may or may not have committed.

They're leveraging an alleged sexual assault as a political cudgel. If any gains are made from this, it will be short term. Couple that with the fact they're running far left candidates to counter a raging economy and the prognosis looks grim. 

The left has been teetering on a house of cards for years. Their only weapons now are mud, dust-farting leadership, and spittle-flecked hatred. It's collapsing in front of their shocked disbelieving eyes and they can only lash out.

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I can’t see this helping Democrats. I felt like they had decent momentum going into elections, but playing the sexist/racist card is only going to help the conservatives. They’re portraying this like white men are protecting white men. Reminding voters that you hate white men going into elections can’t help you, and to then entertain the idea of impeaching a Supreme Court judge (and Trump) in the absence of evidence is absurd.

The entire democrat playbook is to blame white men. When that doesn’t work, impeach them for a crime they may or may not have committed.

They're leveraging an alleged sexual assault as a political cudgel. If any gains are made from this, it will be short term. Couple that with the fact they're running far left candidates to counter a raging economy and the prognosis looks grim. 

The left has been teetering on a house of cards for years. Their only weapons now are mud, dust-farting leadership, and spittle-flecked hatred. It's collapsing in front of their shocked disbelieving eyes and they can only lash out.

Yet a 'blue wave" is still likely to happen. Their base is even worse than the leadership.

---

They're leveraging an alleged sexual assault as a political cudgel. If any gains are made from this, it will be short term. Couple that with the fact they're running far left candidates to counter a raging economy and the prognosis looks grim. 

The left has been teetering on a house of cards for years. Their only weapons now are mud, dust-farting leadership, and spittle-flecked hatred. It's collapsing in front of their shocked disbelieving eyes and they can only lash out.

Yet a 'blue wave" is still likely to happen. Their base is even worse than the leadership.

Don't count on the fact that their base are single minded Code Pink or Antifa dolts. They were told before the presidential election that if Trump became president, the end of the world would surely follow. Now there's abundance and confidence, with the only naysayers being the sore establishment democrats. It's a very real possibility that the blue wave will end up as a ripple. Security and the pocketbook trump ideology every time.

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I think its still up in the air how this will play out politically. I think that going in, the smart money would have been that a sexual assault charge against the presidents supreme court pick would mean a widening of the gender gap. But in reality, polling shows that women are actually slightly less likely to find Ford's claims credible. The biggest question in their minds isn't so much who did what, its making sure that this woman or any woman gets her day in court to have her claims evaluated objectively and fairly. We can quibble about whether or not the president should have asked about a police report from the time of the incident, but by and large the GOP and most conservative pundits have been consistent in being open to Ford testifying and reserving criticism for her story/lack of detail instead of making some referendum on her sex life, dress, or appearance.

Interestingly enough, I think that the Dems now see that (rightfully) we aren't going to have a parade of victim shaming from the right so instead I think there is actually an outside play to get Grassley to cancel the hearings or reject Ford testifying so that they can advance the narrative that Ford DIDN'T get her day in court and that the evil white men of the committee/GOP never really wanted to hear her out in the first place. When you look at the list of demands that they have put forward they are all pretty much ridiculous for any lawyer to put forward. Brett Kavanaugh has a constitutional right to confront his accuser and cross examine (through his attorney). Ford's attorney's don't want that. The defendant has always spoken second to respond to accusations, Ford's team actually wants Kavanaugh to go first which is just INSANE! When news broke today that Ford had accepted the invitation to testify, it was also mentioned that in that "acceptance" Ford was still rejecting the framework put forth by Grassley for a hearing on Wednesday, with her going first and presumably Kavanaugh's attorney (who is female) being able to question her. It's a clever ploy for time to make it seem like she "really wants to tell her story" while not agreeing to the basic structure of Senatorial and Criminal proceedings since the earliest understandings of our current legal structure.

If she testifies it ill have nothing to do with what she says (unless there is some kind of smoking gun that we don't know about yet.) In reality Ford doesn't have a 'Story to tell' She has a graphic account of 7 minutes wrapped in no verifiable facts. I don't think that in the absence of new information that you are going to come out of the hearings with a large consensus of people who actually believe that this happened. It's going to have everything to do with how respectful the GOP senators are to Ford. If they succeed in outsourcing all or most of the questioning to Kavanaugh's lawyer then that's going to severely mitigate any damage that the GOP is going to incur as insensitive old white men, and instead it will just be a representation of a woman asking questions of Ford that a majority of women in the country are already asking about her story and I don't think that she is going to have a lot of answers for that.


If Ford doesn't testify its going to Grassley, The president, and conservatives through media to show that their offer was reasonable and they were open minded. If she testifies, its important for them to show that they are respectful and open minded and let the natural holes in her account speak for themselves (most people have more questions about her story anyway.) I think that given the current disposition of the country that the Dems face a huge possibility of overplaying their hand. To the points made above the Dems are pushing very very hard to the radical I hate men I hate white people left for a while. I don't think that's a really attractive message when standing on the foundation of a 4 decade old allegation with no corroborating evidence or even a coherent timeline. If they keep up with the 'If you can't see the sky is purple you're a sexist racist homophobic rape apologist good time rock and roller' they are going to alienate a lot of people in the middle who just wake up in the morning slug down a cup of coffee and try to feed their families.

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The saddest most under reported story in this whole thing is that while the left has been crying about an FBI 'Background Check' the Judiciary Committee has actually been, you know, INVESTIGATING!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/22/politics/...index.html

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I think its still up in the air how this will play out politically.  I think that going in, the smart money would have been that a sexual assault charge against the presidents supreme court pick would mean a widening of the gender gap.  But in reality, polling shows that women are actually slightly less likely to find Ford's claims credible.  The biggest question in their minds isn't so much who did what, its making sure that this woman or any woman gets her day in court to have her claims evaluated objectively and fairly.  We can quibble about whether or not the president should have asked about a police report from the time of the incident, but by and large the GOP and most conservative pundits have been consistent in being open to Ford testifying and reserving criticism for her story/lack of detail instead of making some referendum on her sex life, dress, or appearance.  

Interestingly enough, I think that the Dems now see that (rightfully) we aren't going to have a parade of victim shaming from the right so instead I think there is actually an outside play to get Grassley to cancel the hearings or reject Ford testifying so that they can advance the narrative that Ford DIDN'T get her day in court and that the evil white men of the committee/GOP never really wanted to hear her out in the first place.  When you look at the list of demands that they have put forward they are all pretty much ridiculous for any lawyer to put forward.  Brett Kavanaugh has a constitutional right to confront his accuser and cross examine (through his attorney).  Ford's attorney's don't want that.  The defendant has always spoken second to respond to accusations, Ford's team actually wants Kavanaugh to go first which is just INSANE!  When news broke today that Ford had accepted the invitation to testify, it was also mentioned that in that "acceptance" Ford was still rejecting the framework put forth by Grassley for a hearing on Wednesday, with her going first and presumably Kavanaugh's attorney (who is female) being able to question her.  It's a clever ploy for time to make it seem like she "really wants to tell her story" while not agreeing to the basic structure of Senatorial and Criminal proceedings since the earliest understandings of our current legal structure.  

If she testifies it ill have nothing to do with what she says (unless there is some kind of smoking gun that we don't know about yet.)  In reality Ford doesn't have a 'Story to tell' She has a graphic account of 7 minutes wrapped in no verifiable facts.  I don't think that in the absence of new information that you are going to come out of the hearings with a large consensus of people who actually believe that this happened.  It's going to have everything to do with how respectful the GOP senators are to Ford.  If they succeed in outsourcing all or most of the questioning to Kavanaugh's lawyer then that's going to severely mitigate any damage that the GOP is going to incur as insensitive old white men, and instead it will just be a representation of a woman asking questions of Ford that a majority of women in the country are already asking about her story and I don't think that she is going to have a lot of answers for that.  


If Ford doesn't testify its going to Grassley, The president, and conservatives through media to show that their offer was reasonable and they were open minded.  If she testifies, its important for them to show that they are respectful and open minded and let the natural holes in her account speak for themselves (most people have more questions about her story anyway.)  I think that given the current disposition of the country that the Dems face a huge possibility of overplaying their hand.  To the points made above the Dems are pushing very very hard to the radical I hate men I hate white people left for a while.  I don't think that's a really attractive message when standing on the foundation of a 4 decade old allegation with no corroborating evidence or even a coherent timeline.  If they keep up with the 'If you can't see the sky is purple you're a sexist racist homophobic rape apologist good time rock and roller' they are going to alienate a lot of people in the middle who just wake up in the morning slug down a cup of coffee and try to feed their families.

I want to be you when I grow up, jj.

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Now there is breaking news that a third witness has sided with Kavanaugh. In a letter to the senate judiciary committee Leland Ingram Keyser, a life long friend of Ford's denies any knowledge of the incident. Further she states she had never even met Kavanaugh.

Oops

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Now there is breaking news that a third witness has sided with Kavanaugh.  In a letter to the senate judiciary committee Leland Ingram Keyser, a life long friend of Ford's denies any knowledge of the incident.  Further she states she had never even met Kavanaugh.

Oops

There's still a good chance this never sees the committee floor.

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Part of me wants to feel sorry for Ford, but she has everything coming to her that she deserves.

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Now there is breaking news that a third witness has sided with Kavanaugh.  In a letter to the senate judiciary committee Leland Ingram Keyser, a life long friend of Ford's denies any knowledge of the incident.  Further she states she had never even met Kavanaugh.

Oops

Sounds like just another white dude. Still guilty.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Now there is breaking news that a third witness has sided with Kavanaugh.  In a letter to the senate judiciary committee Leland Ingram Keyser, a life long friend of Ford's denies any knowledge of the incident.  Further she states she had never even met Kavanaugh.

Oops

Sounds like just another white dude. Still guilty.

She's been married twice, once to Bob Beckel (good gawd), so she's cis-gendered as well. No credibility.

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So just to wrap all this up with a nice bow...

Ford
- California Democrat Professor
- History of drinking and partying in high school
- Anti-Trump
- Husband ahs worked with planned parenthood
- Cannot recall any key details
- None of the witnesses take her side
- Waited till the last second (stall tactic)
- Has still not fully agreed n meeting terms

Kavanaugh
- Impeccable career as a judge
- all of Fords witnesses say the incident never happened
- lots of women have come out in support of his great character including Ex's
- no other women have come forward to accuse him of similar acts

Can we call a duck a duck yet? I cannot fathom how so many high ranking democrats and media/actor types have come out with the I believe Her message. How can you look at the items above and not see that this is a partisan hit job? #Wakeup #Walkaway

The worst part is that if this is in fact a web of lies to taint a judge as it appears to be, what harm has it now done to the #Metoo movement that was exposing real abuse? Ironically most of which has been with the media/actor types.

---

So just to wrap all this up with a nice bow...

Ford
- California Democrat Professor
- History of drinking and partying in high school
- Anti-Trump
- Husband ahs worked with planned parenthood
- Cannot recall any key details
- None of the witnesses take her side
- Waited till the last second (stall tactic)
- Has still not fully agreed n meeting terms

Kavanaugh
- Impeccable career as a judge
- all of Fords witnesses say the incident never happened
- lots of women have come out in support of his great character including Ex's
- no other women have come forward to accuse him of similar acts

Can we call a duck a duck yet?  I cannot fathom how so many high ranking democrats and media/actor types have come out with the I believe Her message.  How can you look at the items above and not see that this is a partisan hit job?  #Wakeup #Walkaway

The worst part is that if this is in fact a web of lies to taint a judge as it appears to be, what harm has it now done to the #Metoo movement that was exposing real abuse?  Ironically most of which has been with the media/actor types.

A vast majority of those taken down by the #MeToo movement have been prominent card carrying liberals. They simply can't understand why it isn't working on a despicable conservative. The truth be damned.

---

So just to wrap all this up with a nice bow...

Ford
- California Democrat Professor
- History of drinking and partying in high school
- Anti-Trump
- Husband ahs worked with planned parenthood
- Cannot recall any key details
- None of the witnesses take her side
- Waited till the last second (stall tactic)
- Has still not fully agreed n meeting terms

Kavanaugh
- Impeccable career as a judge
- all of Fords witnesses say the incident never happened
- lots of women have come out in support of his great character including Ex's
- no other women have come forward to accuse him of similar acts

Can we call a duck a duck yet?  I cannot fathom how so many high ranking democrats and media/actor types have come out with the I believe Her message.  How can you look at the items above and not see that this is a partisan hit job?  #Wakeup #Walkaway

The worst part is that if this is in fact a web of lies to taint a judge as it appears to be, what harm has it now done to the #Metoo movement that was exposing real abuse?  Ironically most of which has been with the media/actor types.

Also, she was leading research on how the morning after pill should be used for depression and Kavanaugh's mother presided over the foreclosure of her parents home.

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Morbid curiosity led me to tune into This Week. The agreed upon opinion among the panel, and thus the left at large, is that confirmation of Kavanaugh can only mean the Republicans are also calling Ford a liar.

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This is all about making the 3 RINOS happy so they will vote in his favor. Else, the SCOTUS may only have 8 people until Trumps reelection in 2020.

Know what would solve that? A Constitutional amendment requiring that all Supreme Court nominations made by a sitting President be heard within that Congressional term unless the President is in a "lame duck" period (between a November election they lose or do not participate in and their January inauguration) or if there is not enough time left to conduct a hearing. Exact length of time would be up to legislators and voters to decide on. This would prevent stupid situations like McConnell's "yeah, we're just not gonna consider anyone because we don't have to" and the current "zomg RAAAAAAAAAAAAPEexceptnotreally" things from interfering with the Constitutional duty of the Senate to approve or reject Supreme Court nominees.

And yeah, if Kavanaugh is not seated by midterms, it's not necessarily bad news for Trump. Extrapolating a bit here from bits and pieces of what I've seen across a range of news sites, spectrumwide: Trump is likely going to lose the House. There's a chance he loses the Senate, and if he doesn't have Kavanaugh seated before midterms, that chance increases significantly because if he can't get his own team to confirm his selection... 

Losing Congress is not a kiss of death to his Presidency by any means, because he could pretty easily spin the lack of anything getting done as Congress' fault for refusing to work with him. Also, Democrats still don't have a viable candidate for 2020. The name I keep seeing coming up is Elizabeth Warren, and holy crap, if she's elected President, I am moving to Cuba for a free market economy. There remains a pretty good chance that Congress turns blue, Trump wins reelection and we get a repeat of Clinton's second term, where nothing gets done and Congress decides to try and remove the President because they're bored.

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This is all about making the 3 RINOS happy so they will vote in his favor. Else, the SCOTUS may only have 8 people until Trumps reelection in 2020.

Know what would solve that? A Constitutional amendment requiring that all Supreme Court nominations made by a sitting President be heard within that Congressional term unless the President is in a "lame duck" period (between a November election they lose or do not participate in and their January inauguration) or if there is not enough time left to conduct a hearing. Exact length of time would be up to legislators and voters to decide on. This would prevent stupid situations like McConnell's "yeah, we're just not gonna consider anyone because we don't have to" and the current "zomg RAAAAAAAAAAAAPEexceptnotreally" things from interfering with the Constitutional duty of the Senate to approve or reject Supreme Court nominees.

And yeah, if Kavanaugh is not seated by midterms, it's not necessarily bad news for Trump. Extrapolating a bit here from bits and pieces of what I've seen across a range of news sites, spectrumwide: Trump is likely going to lose the House. There's a chance he loses the Senate, and if he doesn't have Kavanaugh seated before midterms, that chance increases significantly because if he can't get his own team to confirm his selection... 

Losing Congress is not a kiss of death to his Presidency by any means, because he could pretty easily spin the lack of anything getting done as Congress' fault for refusing to work with him. Also, Democrats still don't have a viable candidate for 2020. The name I keep seeing coming up is Elizabeth Warren, and holy crap, if she's elected President, I am moving to Cuba for a free market economy. There remains a pretty good chance that Congress turns blue, Trump wins reelection and we get a repeat of Clinton's second term, where nothing gets done and Congress decides to try and remove the President because they're bored.

I am very much looking forward to the democratic primaries in 2020. It is simply going to be epic TV. Can you imagine Warren, Harris, Booker (who groped a 15 year old back in the day), Stormy's lawyer, Joe "Freaking" Biden. It is going to be interesting to see how willing the "old guard" is to hand the reins over to the far left leaning new guard. I wouldn't be shocked if Clinton got back in the mix. All the while Trump is live tweeting during the debates. It could possibly be the greatest TV ever.

Debate summary:

I hated Trump more.
No, I hated Trump more.
No, I REALLY hated Trump more.
No, I REALLY REALLY hated Trump more.

Moderator: What are your plans to keep the economy moving in its current direction?

Answer: I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate Trump!

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Know what would solve that? A Constitutional amendment requiring that all Supreme Court nominations made by a sitting President be heard within that Congressional term unless the President is in a "lame duck" period (between a November election they lose or do not participate in and their January inauguration) or if there is not enough time left to conduct a hearing. Exact length of time would be up to legislators and voters to decide on. This would prevent stupid situations like McConnell's "yeah, we're just not gonna consider anyone because we don't have to" and the current "zomg RAAAAAAAAAAAAPEexceptnotreally" things from interfering with the Constitutional duty of the Senate to approve or reject Supreme Court nominees.

And yeah, if Kavanaugh is not seated by midterms, it's not necessarily bad news for Trump. Extrapolating a bit here from bits and pieces of what I've seen across a range of news sites, spectrumwide: Trump is likely going to lose the House. There's a chance he loses the Senate, and if he doesn't have Kavanaugh seated before midterms, that chance increases significantly because if he can't get his own team to confirm his selection... 

Losing Congress is not a kiss of death to his Presidency by any means, because he could pretty easily spin the lack of anything getting done as Congress' fault for refusing to work with him. Also, Democrats still don't have a viable candidate for 2020. The name I keep seeing coming up is Elizabeth Warren, and holy crap, if she's elected President, I am moving to Cuba for a free market economy. There remains a pretty good chance that Congress turns blue, Trump wins reelection and we get a repeat of Clinton's second term, where nothing gets done and Congress decides to try and remove the President because they're bored.

I am very much looking forward to the democratic primaries in 2020. It is simply going to be epic TV. Can you imagine Warren, Harris, Booker (who groped a 15 year old back in the day), Stormy's lawyer, Joe "Freaking" Biden!

My God, this is going to be epic. Can you imagine the debates about them trying to out-do each other on who actually hated Trump more? It's going to be a train wreck.

I'll throw a name out there: Tulsi Gabbard. Yes, she left her role at the DNC because of how they were steamrolling Bernie, and yes, she has his support, but her record is surprisingly centrist. She's in the ANG, she's worked directly with Trump, she's not as hot on gun control as most "progressives" are, she acknowledges that Islam is a motivation for terrorism, there's a lot to like there if you try to pick the candidate least likely to set the country back five decades. She's in trouble with the Democratic Party entirely because she works too well with Republicans. That's what I call a promising legislator.

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