Day two of the Kavanaugh hearings is well underway, and within moments of Chairman Grassley gaveling in the session this morning, the left-wing shrieking again commenced. Inside the first half hour, roughly 20 protesters were hauled out of the room, approximately half of whom interrupted Kavanaugh's first few answers (on judicial independence). It's against this backdrop that I'd like address two of the ludicrous 'controversies' that emerged from yesterday's hearings -- apart from the Democrats' early scheme of interruptions and motions, that is. As Cortney mentioned yesterday, the father of a slain Parkland student claims that Kavanaugh explicitly snubbed him during a break in the action, declining to shake his hand. Video shows the man approaching Kavanaugh, whose back is initially turned; he extends his hand toward Kavanaugh, who turns around, looking slightly confused. As the judge appears to be attempting to make sense of what's going on, Kavanaugh's security detail intervenes and shuttles him toward the exit:
NEW VIDEO of hearing room clearly shows security intervened when Judge #Kavanaugh was approached. pic.twitter.com/ZGRRCcWroW
— Raj Shah (@RajShah45) September 4, 2018
Numerous leftists, including at least one Senator on the panel, seized on the stupid 'snub' narrative, in order to paint Kavanaugh in the worst possible light. This individual -- who is publicly committed to defeating Kavanaugh -- later claimed he's "certain" that Kavanaugh personally sent security to remove him after the brief interaction -- an assertion for which I've seen absolutely zero evidence. That lack of evidence did not stop hosts at CNN and MSNBC from parroting both accusations:
CNN's Chris Cuomo Thinks Kavanaugh Recognized Fred Guttenberg and Intentionally Didn't Shake His Hand https://t.co/m6OygFZ1pA pic.twitter.com/EtdENzMEWU
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) September 5, 2018
Joe Scarborough Blasts Kavanaugh for Sending Security to Harass Parkland Father Fred Guttenberghttps://t.co/u4XtuCJ82n pic.twitter.com/KN5NqINsK9
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) September 5, 2018
I'm not inclined to call a grieving parent a liar, so I'll simply echo Jonah Goldberg in saying that I'd like to see more facts. But I'll add another point: I didn't chronicle the conduct of the hecklers and shouters above for no reason. I mentioned it as a reminder of the atmosphere inside the room both yesterday and today. After a string of interruptions, it would be entirely natural for Kavanaugh to be apprehensive or reluctant when approached by a total stranger. Beyond that, Allahpundit makes a strong logical point, too:
To believe the worst interpretation of the footage, you need to believe that this guy, who’s been angling to get himself nominated for the Supreme Court since his 20s, would deliberately snub a murdered kid’s father at his confirmation hearing in full view of rolling cameras. He’s spent 30 years working towards this very moment, the whole country’s watching, up comes a Parkland dad to lobby him to … change his lifelong view of the Second Amendment in the next five minutes, I guess, and Kavanaugh backs away not for safety reasons but because a two-second grip-and-grin would be impossibly icky to him. That’s the Democratic view of this.
It's actually insane. And yet, somehow, the so-called 'handshake refusal' flare-up wasn't even the dumbest controversy of the day. That trophy goes to the slew of lefists -- including quite a few from the blue checkmark brigade -- who alleged that a woman sitting behind Kavanaugh was flashing a 'white power' hand signal. Matt ran through that absurdity last evening, but I wanted to highlight the righteously indignant salvo fired by the woman's husband:
The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. We weren’t even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing. 1/3
— US Attorney John Bash (@USAttyBash) September 4, 2018
Some of the Twitter comments have even referred to our baby daughter. I know that there are good folks on both sides of the political divide. I hope that people will clearly condemn this idiotic and sickening accusation. 3/3
— US Attorney John Bash (@USAttyBash) September 4, 2018
Lefties flooded his replies with further lunacy and attacks, clearly reaffirming that ugly Twitter trollery is very much a cross-ideological phenomenon. I understand, even if I don't share, certain ideological objections to Brett Kavanaugh. I even understand some of Democrats' objections about documents (though this explanation from Ted Cruz is useful). But I cannot take seriously anyone who legitimately entertains the notion that this man would intentionally reject a Parkland father's handshake because of a political disagreement, or that his (biracial and Jewish) former law clerk was sending secret racist messages with the positioning of her hands at his hearing. Good grief. If there were ever definitive proof that the collective Left has nothing of substance that can derail Kavanaugh's nomination based on his qualifications and record, the desperate elevation of these preposterous "controversies" is it. I'll leave you with perhaps the best thing that's happened at any point of the Kavanaugh hearings thus far:
A sadly necessary lesson: https://t.co/nsN81Af56V
— David French (@DavidAFrench) September 4, 2018
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