Senate Confirmation Hearing Descends Into Partisan Knife Fight In P.M. - As Kavanaugh Bawls

"BWAHAHAHHAA! Them Dems Is So Disgusting.....!  WAAHHH!"

Question:  When 11 angry, entitled white men with  ‘R’ after their name channel their hate and frustrations into a heavyset female prosecutor to take down a fragile, female sex assault victim – so THEY don’t look bad- what do you get?  Ans.: A Battle Axe!

 And so it was Thursday that the Senate confirmation hearings for accused sexual molester Brett Kavanaugh descended into a full fledged farce,  when the 11 male members passed on their responsibility for questions to Rachel Mitchell – a Maricopa County AZ  prosecutor.  The strategy in using this woman was clear: The Repukes wanted a battering ram – or even battle axe- to tear down the victim’s defenses and render looking like either a phony or fraud.   It didn’t work!  As MSNBC cohosts Lester Holt and Casey Hunt –put it, Mitchell didn’t lay so much as a mitten on courageous Christine Ford.

Speaking in no nonsense, but emotional overtones, Dr. Ford made her sobering opening statement and followed it up by her compelling revelations as well as the impact of the whole thing on her life and her family.   Most appalling was her reference to being called “some of the most vile names imaginable” as well as being  subjected to a barrage of death threats from clearly mentally deficient degenerates.  Rather than face such a woman – bowed but unbroken – the Republican Senate Judiciary misfits chose to use a female avatar (Rachel Mitchell) to do their questioning for them. So terrified were they of the negative optics – for THEM – of besting up on a traumatized woman.

So the pussies had to get another woman to do their dirty work for them – a puppet trick if ever there was one.  In fact, the whole time I was watching Mitchell’s grilling of Dr. Ford (the first three questions) it was plain to see they were all marked by legalistic mumbo-jumbo framing, and hyper fine splitting of terms - all designed to trap Dr. Ford into perjury or inconsistencies.

Mitchell’s dual role itself almost invited a kind of schizoid approach given she had to play both defense lawyer and prosecutor.   The problem was that the “prosecutor” came out way too much when interviewing Dr. Ford and the defense lawyer came out way too much to favor Kavanaugh. In this way the whole event could be seen as one long grandstanding show designed to confer false credibility on “Booze ‘em& Bang ‘em” Brett.  This in order to expedite an unholy rush to judgment,….errr ….confirmation of the arch liar and pussy grabber, for tomorrow.
So no wonder John Clune, a Boulder CO attorney for Deborah Ramirez referred to the Senate hearing bluntly:

“This feels like a setup, designed to obstruct the truth  and guarantee a political outcome.”

 In other words, just like the Warren Commission- concocted by LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover.  But in this case, the lies and M.O. were exposed from the get go.  This was especially in the P.M. session when the Reepturds and Kavanaugh dropped any pretense of an apolitical, non-partisan process and turned full rabid rat on the 10 Committee Democrats  - depicting them as the uber villains.

Led by the likes of  Southern Chauvinist Drama Queen Lindsey Graham - pitching his own hissy fits and squawking ‘mob rule” – even as he whined "this is the worst process I've ever seen". Etc.  But we know that what he really meant was too such transparency and democracy had found its way through the hoopla and nonsense.    But the whiny little bitch's biggest outburst was left for last, when he screamed in a high pitched, falsetto voice:


"Boy, so y'all really want power! I hope to God ya never get it!"


Totally failing to grasp, amidst his scripted convulsions, that HIS lot has failed to use ANY power, i.e. in checks and balances, to stop Trump's excesses. So yeah, someone with balls has to take the reins, Little Lindsey.

As for Janice's reaction to Graham's selective hysteria - well I dare not repeat it in a family -oriented blog. :(

Chuck Grassley, the octogenarian Reeptard fossil overseeing this farce,  belched earlier with a gusto that nearly invited a myocardial infarction:

“The goal is to depoliticize the process and get to the truth instead of grandstanding.”

REALLY?  Could have fooled me, Chuckie, old boy!

Cutting out all the fulsome codswallop let serious observers agree that the aged imp had to know the design of this “hearing’ was specifically to accomplish what he didn’t want: politicization AND grandstanding.  That occurred the second he and his Reepo swine decided to forgo an FBI investigation focused on Dr. Ford's further claims – and instead offer up a “he said, she said” circus.

We also know this is true because generally an FBI first pass investigation NEVER delves into a
candidate's high school years - unless red alarm bells go off as they did here. But those alarms delivered the justification for Grassley, Hatch and Co. to obfuscate and spin using their predominant numbers on the Committee. 

But. Whoa,  Nellie! The afternoon scene  devolved into a full -on partisan knife fight,  even eclipsing Lindsey Graham's drama queen displays.  This as the 11 Reeps - unable to tolerate any further pussy footing -  finally took the reins from Rachel Mitchell's hands, leaving her to sit and stew. Predictably,  they literally went ape shit barking in rage at the Dems for their unseemly efforts to tear "a good man" (actually, Bill Clinton's chief inquisitor)  down. Meanwhile, their boy toy Brett didn't help the situation by alternately going "livid and tearful" according to a Financial Times observer.  Brett bawled and howled at various points how he'd never be able to coach his daughter's team again and his family had been dragged through the mud.   Oh, and he might never be able to teach at Hah-vahd again, poor thing. Well, shoulda thought about that when you were a young, entitled punk at Georgetown Prep, mate. 

The spectacle was the most maudlin and sickening since Edward Muskie was reduced to tears in a presidential campaign decades ago (he was the  Dem VP pick at the time). By any standard, the unhinged drama on display this afternoon ought to sink Kavanaugh's chances -  but don't bet on it. The Repukes lost all sense of shame as  well as irony long ago when they opted to get into bed with Donnie Dotard - aka the pussy- grabber- in- chief.

 The American people deserved much better than what they got today, but like the Warren Commission 54  years earlier, the powers- that- be believe the people must be treated as fragile infants for their own good.  Thus, like the WC we got another fraud and farce, only this time for thankfully less money wasted in the end!  That's a 'W' considering Kavanaugh's checkered past, as more voices have made his impacts on them known.

 Yes, the Reeptards may ram this tainted, tear jerking scumball through tomorrow, but in the court of public opinion it will be a fail - and they will pay even more heavily in November. 

See also:
Voting Matters, But Staying Engaged Matters More
--------------------------------

Update - Sept. 29th:

It now appears GOP  Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake has balked at being the 11th vote for the general Senate confirmation to go forward. Flake, after being confronted by two female activists in an elevator, has now requested that the FBI extend an investigation into Kavanaugh's HS background.  Trump, incredibly, has likewise approved the move, giving the FBI a week to complete the investigation. 

Why Dems May Need To Go "Nuclear" To Stop The Repuke Tax Bill

"Hey, , the longer we can bamboozle the base, the better!"

"We got to get this thing passed. Otherwise, our base will fracture, people will stop writin' checks, and the party will crumble under its own weight." Lindsey Graham yesterday.

Let's not mince words: the GOP tax "reform" bill on offer is an unmitigated atrocity. For starters:

- The corporate tax cut is intended to be made permanent, and going from 35% to 20%

- The tax cut for average citizens has been designed to "sunset" in 10 years, so taxes will then increase.

- The tax cut benefit overall for those earning less than $75,000 a year, is $100. That benefit may well come at the cost of cutting Medicaid, Medicare benefits later.

- The overall tax benefit is allotted so that 62 percent of the takings go to the top 1 percent.

- Allows drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.(ANWR)

- As reported by the NY Times there is also a plan to change from the Consumer Price Index to the Chained CPI, which move would essentially negate any future Social Security cost of living increases - certainly in a low inflation environment such as we have.

Last night this perfidy was at least temporarily stopped in its tracks,  even after the GOOPs grew giddy after John McCain reverted to sock puppet to back it.  However, a nonpartisan analysis released hours ahead of a planned vote projected the Republican tax plan would add $1 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.  Process that! ONE Trillion bucks! That's more than $200 b beyond the cost of the entire Obama stimulus package in 2009, which at least spared this nation from another Great Depression.

The other hit to the Reeps last night came by way of the nonpartisan Senate Parliamentarian who ruled they could not use the "trigger" sunset mechanism to try to contain the deficit explosion. This sent them right back to 'square one' scrambling for other ways to raise revenue,  including reinstating the AMT or Alternative Minimum Tax, and (GASP!) reducing the corporate tax cuts.

Recall the Republicans had contended the vast tax cuts enclosed in their plan would in effect pay for themselves through economic growth. But the analysis, released by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, forecasted the tax bill would balloon the deficit even after factoring in the economic growth the bill is expected to generate.  Of course, through U.S. economic history no tax cuts have come close to paying for themselves.

The other aspect of why this wouldn't happen is that corporate CEOs are not even on board with any job creation, despite the yammering of the GOP con men.  Most illuminating was White House economic advisor Gary Cohn's meeting with dozens of CEOs, and most of them giving thumbs down when he asked about potential jobs, e.g.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-plan-gary-cohn-bill-2017-11


The moderator (WSJ's John Bussey)  asked those in attendance whether they were planning to increase their business investment if the tax bill became law. The CEOs in attendance didn't seem to be on the same wavelength as Cohn.  While there was a smattering of raised hands in the auditorium, it was clear there were not as many as Cohn would have liked.  You see Cohn asking, almost embarrassed to be caught in the same room with these misfits:

"Why aren't the other hands up?"

Then, realizing he'd get no rational or decent answer, moving on to another question. So there you have it. These CEOs would rather put their tax cut benefit money into stock buybacks and paying out dividends than creating new jobs.

An even more cogent reason not to allow this sham to add to the deficit and destroy lives is that there isn't a scintilla of rational justification for it. At least when other tax cuts were implemented unemployment was high. That isn't the case now as Bruce Bartlett (former economic advisor to G.W. Bush) pointed out last night. We have virtually full employment so the only reason to hang this schlock on citizens is to attempt to spur growth using a ruse that will only be of benefit to corporations and explode the deficit. (The non-partisan CBO forecasts a maximal increase in growth rate of only 0.6%). But as I've noted before, in an environment in which the quality of energy is degraded (lower energy return on energy invested), low economic growth will be the byproduct. Short of creating more efficient energy - say like nuclear fusion - there is no solution for this.


To their credit,  Democrats seized on the report by the Joint Committee on Taxation as proof that the Republican tax is all hot air and flim flam, since it would not do what the Reeps claimed. Hocus Pocus. Voodoo economics, to use George Bush Sr.'s term.  Holding a copy of the report, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said the analysis proved the bill was nothing more than a “holiday bonanza to multinational corporations and special interests."

Fair enough, but if this piece of toxic crap somehow rises from potential ashes today, the Dems need to do more. They need to use their leverage in possibly stopping a government shutdown to extract concessions.  If no concessions are forthcoming, then the Dems refuse to cooperate to avoid a gov't shutdown.   The $64 question: What do the 'pukes want more, their sham tax cuts, OR preventing a government shutdown next week?

Let's first note that the Republicans hold all the power needed to stop a government shutdown on December 8th. They have the numbers, they have control of all branches of government. They do not need the Dems to help them - IF  all their members (mainly in the House) were on board. But, they're not on board. There are just enough rebellious Repukes - mainly Tea Party hard cores / holdouts,  that a shutdown can't be prevented without Democratic votes to stop it.

But should the Dems cooperate? I say NO, unless the 'pukes deliver the following:

-  No spending cuts to try to make up for any unrealized economic growth. That means NO cuts to Medicare, and no cuts to Medicaid.

- NO drilling in the ANWR.

- Revocation of any tax provision to withdraw the ACA mandate  - which would affect 13 million now covered.

- . No use of "Chained CPI" or other means to cut Social Security to lower the deficits because of the tax cuts.

- $100 b allocated for reconstruction in Puerto Rico.

- DACA remains intact and no deportations of the 60,000 Haitians who've arrived since the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Repatriating them would send Haiti into total chaos since there are neither the resources or job opportunities to provide for them.

- Change  all the "permanent" Corporate tax cuts to temporary ones only. And make them fully contingent on the corporations creating jobs.  No jobs, no tax cuts.

Make no mistake that this is a draconian move but the toxic tax plan on offer from the Reptiles  has the potential to hurl this nation into permanent  third world status  - while dramatically increasing economic inequality.

It is also true that people will suffer in a shutdown, but as Lawrence O Donnell put it on his show two nights ago, "Sometimes principles and governance must take precedence."  That is the case now, when we have to look beyond immediate problems incurred with a shutdown  to the need to prevent more radical, widespread destruction and worse suffering in the future.

A Message From Sen. Bernie Sanders concerning this refuse:

The current Republican “tax cut” bill, paid for by the Koch brothers and other billionaire campaign contributors, continues the push to make the rich richer at the expense of everyone else. It would raise taxes on middle class families making $75,000 a year or less and would throw 13 million Americans off of health insurance. And it would do all of these things to provide permanent tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and profitable corporations that ship American jobs to China while moving their American profits to the Cayman Islands.

But let's be clear. This legislation goes well beyond taxes. Its ultimate goal is to radically transform American society and the role that government plays in the lives of the working families of our country. This legislation will increase the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion over ten years. Mark my words. If passed, the Republicans will then rediscover the "deficit crisis," and push aggressively for massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education – higher education in particular – nutrition, affordable housing and more. They will seek to undo every major piece of legislation passed in the last 80 years designed to help working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.

This is the Republican plan. Huge tax breaks for the rich and powerful. Massive cuts to life and death programs for the middle class and working families of our country.

This is not moral. This is not what the American people want. This is not what our country and our pledge for "liberty and justice for all" is supposed to be about.

That is why I am going on the road this week to talk directly to working people in Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania about this disastrous piece of legislation. If we stand together – black, white, Latino, Asian American, Native American, male and female, young and old, gay and straight – we can defeat this horrific bill.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/greg-coleridge/76490/corporations-and-the-super-rich-tax-democracy


And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/p-m-carpenter/76492/the-gops-utterly-uninformed-hasty-tax-bills