July 13, 2018
Week One #ConfirmKavanaugh – Dems Divided, Debunked Attacks & Nats Tickets
Week One of the fight to confirm President Trump’s new SCOTUS nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, was a tough one for liberals and Democrats, who are badly divided between liberal #Resistance and red-state Senators up for re-election. Meanwhile, their main attacks against Judge Kavanaugh have been roundly debunked by non-partisan fact-checkers. He’s also been exposed as a major Washington Nationals fan.
Politico reported today on the big divide among Senate Democrats, with Sen. Joe Manchin going to far as to tell Dem leadership to “kiss my you know what:”
“Chuck Schumer says he’s going to fight Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court with “everything I’ve got.” To do so, he’ll need to get centrist Democrats to hold the line. The minority leader’s problem? Those Democrats say he can’t tell them what to do.
““I’ll be 71 years old in August, you’re going to whip me? Kiss my you know what,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) when asked if Schumer can influence his vote.
Kavanaugh’s nomination is already a huge headache for the Senate minority leader. Not only is he under pressure from the left to tank the nominee, Schumer also has a half-dozen vulnerable members from red and purple states up for reelection this fall.To defeat Kavanaugh, Schumer has to keep all 49 of his members in tow and convince at least one moderate Republican to break ranks.
But it could prove impossible for Schumer to persuade senators like Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana to vote against Kavanaugh. All three supported Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch last year, and all three say that their decision won’t be swayed by Schumer no matter what he does this year.
The Washington Post covered this divide — with Dem-on-Dem fights breaking out via Twitter:
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who faces reelection, tweeted questions this week he had about Kavanaugh’s stances on health care, abortion and other matters.
“We already know the answers to these questions, Tim Kaine. Stop playing political games and help us #StopKavanaugh” responded Brian Fallon, whose group, Demand Justice, is working to defeat the judge’s nomination.
Then non-partisan fact-checkers roundly debunked several attacks Democrats and liberals have waged against President Trump and Judge Kavanaugh in the first days of the debate:
—The Washington Post called the attack by liberals that Judge Kavanaugh will be President Trump’s “get-out-of-jail-free” card an “extreme distortion” of the Judge’s writings, giving the charge “Two Pinocchios.”
–The New York Times called the criticism of his writings on ObamaCare “Exaggerated.”
—Lawfare’s Benjamin Wittes debunked liberal attacks on Judge Kavanaugh for supposedly believing the president is “above the law,” writing that a proper analysis actually leads to opposite conclusion.
—The Washington Post gave liberals’ bizarre conspiracy theory on a deal between Trump and Justice Kennedy’s son “Four Pinocchios,” saying there’s “no evidence” to support it.
Finally, this week we learned a bit more about who Judge Kavanaugh is, with damning revelations such as:
–He ate ketchup on his pasta in law school.
–He took the daughter of a family friend to a “father daughter dance” after the father passed away, and is generally a great guy.–And he buys Washington Nationals baseball tickets on his credit card for himself and his friends and pays the bill on time!