Janis Kliphardt (Emery)
The protests feel different today-- #MeToo stories that include a “hearing” by men who don’t care. The Republican Senators are all too eager to move forward to vote. Chuck Grassley pulled down his tweet indicating Kavanaugh's confirmation is a done deal.
FACT:
“Whoever she is, she’s mixed up,” Republican Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.
How do we teach our chidren values when SCOTUS nominee laughs at question about his youth? Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy asked Judge Kavanaugh about his youth-- was he a John-boy Walton or a Ferris Bueller? all we heard was Brett Kavanaugh laughing in front of a large group of young girls wearing Blessed Sacrament School plaid jumpers and Peter Pan collars where Kavanaugh coaches Catholic Youth Organization basketball... "What a prop! I call BS."
FACT:
Brett Kavanaugh in 2015: “What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep. I think that’s been a good thing for all of us.”
Truth (not time) is of the essence.
My concern is not that Kavanaugh is a sexual predator--
“High school isn’t the totality of a life... he could have said: ‘Like a lot of misguided teenagers, I drank irresponsibly, and I have only vague memories of that time. I am certain as I stand here today that I never attacked anyone, and I have no specific recollection of Dr. Ford. But if I or any of my friends were involved in immature behavior that was painful to anyone at the time, I regret it.’ - or -
“ ‘Judge me for my lifetime of service, not for whatever may have happened at 17 that I was too stupid and drunk to remember.’
“But that’s not what Kavanaugh is saying. He dismisses not only the allegation but the context around it. He says he wasn’t that kind of kid. He says he wasn’t there, in the house Ford can describe in detail. He makes a victim of her all over again, by essentially calling her delusional. He makes no allowance for the possibility that his own memory is blurred by inebriated youth.”
And there is a pattern of deception I heard and saw from Kavanaugh in his judicial hearing.
“My fear is that his experiences as a partying teenager didn’t actually teach him a hell of a lot about fallibility or shame ... A Supreme Court justice doesn’t need to be a perfect person, or to have led an unfailingly exemplary life. None of us can say that. But, especially on a divided court in a divided nation, we deserve a justice who demonstrates a capacity for nuance, reflection, and humility.
“Whatever else is true about him, Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t seem to be that guy.”
with attribution to Matt Bai Yahoo News September 20, 2018 “What Kavanaugh deserves — and what we deserve from him”
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