It is a good thing Washington politicians do not hold themselves to the same standard as that to which Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is being held. The new standard appears to be that an unverifiable allegation of wrongdoing during a nominee’s high school years, disqualifies that person from holding public office. Were such a bar applied to virtually any Republican or Democrat in Congress, in all probability we would be looking at 535 vacancies. Of course, for the 21st Century Democrat Party, what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander; and the one-sided madness continues.
The comedic performance by the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats earlier this month during the Kavanaugh hearings, which appeared at the time to be the worst they could muster, sadly turned out only to be prelude to what now is taking place. The childish tantrums by Senators Feinstein, Booker, Harris and company, have turned to blood sport as they gleefully dance around their cauldron of hatred, into which they have tossed unverifiable allegations that Kavanaugh committed a misdeed as a teenager nearly four decades ago.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Sen. Schumer’s gang has been joined by a handful of Republican Senators afraid – as always – to stand and defend their own turf.
At the outset, it is unclear what would the modern-day Inspector Javerts have the government do with the unverifiable and dated allegations now levelled against Kavanaugh? The FBI correctly declined Feinstein’s kind offer to launch an investigation into what would have been – even if verifiable proof were to be had – a non-federal crime.The Senator, herself a lawyer, apparently had forgotten what she surely learned in Criminal Law 101; that short of murder, the statute of limitations applicable to allegations such as she “discovered” would have expired decades ago.
Perhaps Feinstein is hoping there is a crime lurking somewhere in the thousands of forms and other statements made by Judge Kavanaugh during or before his nomination, in which he denied an event such as is now being alleged, and he is therefore and somehow guilty of lying? This would be preposterous on its face if presented to any federal (or state) law enforcement official; yet even some Republicans quake in the face of such a mere allegation – piously huffing and puffing that “we must get to the bottom of this.”
While Majority Leader McConnell asks the right questions -- in which he sort of, kind of, indirectly impugns Feinstein’s motives -- the door has been pushed open, to now drag the confirmation process deeper into the mud and murky waters of character assassination some believed had been buried a quarter century ago with the Clarence Thomas confirmation. Sadly, the years between then and now appear to have taught us little. Professional qualifications count for nothing; character assassination is the name of the game, and the Republicans foolishly have afforded the Democrats a stage on which to present their theater of the absurd.
The new standard on which to reopen hearings for a nominee after extended hearings in the regular order, now has become no standard at all. Judiciary Chairman Grassley stated that “[a]nyone who comes forward as Dr. Ford has deserves to be heard.”Republicans now have established the precedent that “anyone” who levels a charge against a nominee will be entitled to have their accusation aired; even after extensive public hearings have been held, and notwithstanding that a member of the opposition deliberately holds onto the unverifiable accusatory information until after the regular-order hearings concluded.
To some extent, one can sympathize with the situation in which McConnell finds himself. The razor-thin GOP majority in the Senate means that just two weak-kneed members can scuttle the confirmation of a person eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court; one who reflects the highest and best judicial philosophy favored by the Republican Party. This essentially places McConnell at the mercy of a Jeff Flake, a Lisa Murkowski, a Susan Collins, or a Lindsey Graham; any one of who would throw Kavanaugh under the bus if it made himself or herself appear saintly in the eyes of the mainstream media.
In thus succumbing to the Democrats, and in caving to the leftist media and so-called #metoo movement that would have us see a deviant sexual predator lurking behind every bush, the Republicans have undercut perhaps the last vestige of fair play and decency remaining in the “advice and consent” responsibility placed in the hands of the Senate by Article II of the Constitution. This represents a sad day for our Republic, which promises to become only sadder in the times to come.