# Can Democrats actually stop the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733 "2018-09-04T12:49:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 145
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2881 "2018-09-24T01:58:46Z")
Maybe take a break and do some breathing exercises? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2882 "2018-09-24T01:59:06Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > All we need to restore sanity in this process is to have two of three of Collins, Murkowski, and Flake to hold serve and say that this is disgusting and unacceptable. I hope they urge an FBI investigation before they start saying anything is “disgusting and unacceptable”. Lawyers who represent porn stars deserve the benefit the doubt just as much as rich elitist Supreme Court nominees do. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2883 "2018-09-24T02:00:42Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Don’t that have to rape someone first? Wait… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2884 "2018-09-24T02:03:05Z")
> [@WreckingCrew](#): > > Avenatti claims to have multiple witnesses of Judge and Kavanaugh being involved in gang rapes. > > [https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044032678951960576](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044032678951960576) The only reason Ford wasn’t raped is that she was able to get away… I suspect there will be a lot more information coming out. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2885 "2018-09-24T02:03:22Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Giuliani told us that we couldn’t believe Stormy Daniels because she was a woman of low virtue, being a stripper and all. What’s he going to say about these accusers’ “virtues”. I can’t wait to hear what he says, since he’s the expert on morals and virtues nowadays. Our resident rape expert, \*\* Starving Artist\*\*, has already given us the definitive opinion on this. Girls who drink and party with boys can be assumed to be sneaky and misbehaving, and they shouldn’t be surprised when they end up being raped. Even if the person doing the raping has aspirations of being a SCOTUS Justice one day. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2886 "2018-09-24T02:05:11Z")
#methree. Not looking too good for Kav, but let’s see how the details play out tomorrow. If these allegstions stand up to the light of day, the Republicans are more toasted than toast. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2887 "2018-09-24T02:05:55Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Our resident rape expert, \*\* Starving Artist\*\*, has already given us the definitive opinion on this. Girls who drink and party with boys can be assumed to be sneaky and misbehaving, and they shouldn’t be surprised when they end up being raped. Even if the person doing the raping has aspirations of being a SCOTUS Justice one day. And if they wear white at any point following the assault it’s proof that they’re deviously claiming to be virginal, and are therefore a liar. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2888 "2018-09-24T02:08:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is the first SC nominee who has ever been accused of sexual assault. > > Since rape has always been a hard-to-disprove, career-ending, life-ruining accusation, sure seems to me that it would have been used as a political weapon way before now. Shouldn’t the Dems have played that card with Gorsuch, if their aim is to be disruptive to the conservative agenda as much as possible? > > Not to mention, why would the slut whore liar not go balls-out with her lie? Why concoct a story about assault, when rape would be so much more disqualifying? > > Giuliani told us that we couldn’t believe Stormy Daniels because she was a woman of low virtue, being a stripper and all. What’s he going to say about these accusers’ “virtues”. I can’t wait to hear what he says, since he’s the expert on morals and virtues nowadays. Well, you can’t literally play the card all the time or it loses its effectiveness. Gorsuch was a replacement for Scalia, so that was a wash, and the nuclear bomb was not deployed. When there is a sea change, like Kavanaugh replacing a moderate to liberal Kennedy the left is scared. Also, and let’s see when this happened before, when you have Thomas replacing an ultra liberal in Thurgood Marshall, the left is scared and used the nuclear option. Plus, there has to be plausibility with the allegations. Gorsuch, for example, was not known to be a partier. The fact that Kavanaugh was known to be a partier allows people to believe that the allegation may have happened. Likewise with Thomas. Plenty of people said he liked his pornography and went to adult theaters. Who better to pin the Long Dong Silver and the pubic hair on the coke lines on? I mean, if I’m trying to smear Dianne Feinstein, an allegation that she tied me up and shoved a dildo in me might fall upon deaf ears. As to your second point of why not just accuse rape? That’s the beauty of it, right? It allows you to make the argument you just did. Further, that is a detail which may be proven false. Perhaps, and not to get too specific, when her husband or boyfriend was with her when she did actually lose her virginity, he could come forward and say that he remembered a lot of blood and her requests to go slowly because it was her first time. See, that’s part of the playbook as well: Do not provide details which can be proven false. Don’t name a particular house because the owners could come forward and say that they were never not home during the entire summer of 1982 because a nearby relative was sick and they had to cancel any vacation. Don’t say that you remember your friend Stacey drove you home that night because Stacey might say that she never got her driver’s license until a couple of years later and her parents may verify that. She remembers no details, but did remember that she only had one beer. See that detail will never be proven false and paints her in a positive light. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2889 "2018-09-24T02:10:00Z")
Jfc. #whyididntreport. This thread is a beautiful example of the reasons why not. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2890 "2018-09-24T02:11:04Z")
…Never mind. I see it has already hit here. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2891 "2018-09-24T02:11:16Z")
The one thing Republicans who were holding their nose and pretending that Trump isn’t the idiot that we know him to be were holding on to was Supreme Court justices. And he fucked that up to. It was literally unfuckupable, and he fucked it up. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2892 "2018-09-24T02:12:38Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Avenatti is a greaseball lawyer who represents a porn star. This is the third prong in this attack. Make some over the top allegations that can be used as left wing fodder while investigating the real ones. The next step is to have the modern equivalent of James Carville to bring forth witnesses that in 1988, Kavanaugh had women tied up in his basement as sex slaves. > > All we need to restore sanity in this process is to have two of three of Collins, Murkowski, and Flake to hold serve and say that this is disgusting and unacceptable. Show me where Avenatti has lied before. You may not like his methods, nor his clients, but he has yet to be proven a liar . ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2893 "2018-09-24T02:13:22Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > And if they wear white at any point following the assault it’s proof that they’re deviously claiming to be virginal, and are therefore a liar. Again, and in fairness to SA, he was citing the story from the Washington Post. These were not his own thoughts. If you think such a statement is silly, and I join you in that thought, then blame the Washington Post, not SA. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2894 "2018-09-24T02:16:41Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Again, and in fairness to SA, he was citing the story from the Washington Post. These were not his own thoughts. If you think such a statement is silly, and I join you in that thought, then blame the Washington Post, not SA. The Washington Post mentioned only what she (presumably with every single other member of her graduating year) wore to graduation. The “virginal” insanity didn’t appear anywhere in the Washington Post article. So let’s stop blaming the Washington Post, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2895 "2018-09-24T02:18:36Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Well, you can’t literally play the card all the time or it loses its effectiveness. Gorsuch was a replacement for Scalia, so that was a wash, and the nuclear bomb was not deployed. > > When there is a sea change, like Kavanaugh replacing a moderate to liberal Kennedy the left is scared. Also, and let’s see when this happened before, when you have Thomas replacing an ultra liberal in Thurgood Marshall, the left is scared and used the nuclear option. > > Plus, there has to be plausibility with the allegations. Gorsuch, for example, was not known to be a partier. The fact that Kavanaugh was known to be a partier allows people to believe that the allegation may have happened. Likewise with Thomas. Plenty of people said he liked his pornography and went to adult theaters. Who better to pin the Long Dong Silver and the pubic hair on the coke lines on? I mean, if I’m trying to smear Dianne Feinstein, an allegation that she tied me up and shoved a dildo in me might fall upon deaf ears. > > As to your second point of why not just accuse rape? That’s the beauty of it, right? It allows you to make the argument you just did. Further, that is a detail which may be proven false. Perhaps, and not to get too specific, when her husband or boyfriend was with her when she did actually lose her virginity, he could come forward and say that he remembered a lot of blood and her requests to go slowly because it was her first time. > > See, that’s part of the playbook as well: Do not provide details which can be proven false. Don’t name a particular house because the owners could come forward and say that they were never not home during the entire summer of 1982 because a nearby relative was sick and they had to cancel any vacation. Don’t say that you remember your friend Stacey drove you home that night because Stacey might say that she never got her driver’s license until a couple of years later and her parents may verify that. > > She remembers no details, but did remember that she only had one beer. See that detail will never be proven false and paints her in a positive light. Or…and hear me out here…Kavanaugh actually did it. To multiple women, over multiple years. Maybe that’s why these accusations are coming up in the case of Kavanaugh, and not Gorsuch. Crazy talk, I know… ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2896 "2018-09-24T02:19:29Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Jfc. #whyididntreport. > > This thread is a beautiful example of the reasons why not. What is your proposal? That if someone comes forward and says that John Smith raped me he should just report to prison? Because in any society that values fairness, John Smith gets a chance to defend himself. He gets to explore the accuser’s story and ask probing questions on cross examination. Surely #metoo is not trying to eliminate that, yet the rhetoric on your side and the tone of your post seems to imply that nobody should ask any type of probing questions and just unflinchingly believe an accuser. If we do that, we do not have justice, but the Star Chamber. > [@WreckingCrew](#): > > Show me where Avenatti has lied before. You may not like his methods, nor his clients, but he has yet to be proven a liar . Avenatti does not have to be a liar. He can represent his lying clients so long as he does not affirmatively know they are lying. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2897 "2018-09-24T02:22:32Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > What is your proposal? That if someone comes forward and says that John Smith raped me he should just report to prison? Provide evidence that anyone here has said any such thing. Let me help you out–they haven’t. What they have said, and I repeat not only myself, but dozens of other people, is that credible felony sexual assault claims should be investigated. If you have to distort people’s opinions to argue against them, that’s pretty much proof that you don’t have a good argument against what they’re actually saying, hmmmm…? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2898 "2018-09-24T02:25:11Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > My concern with this process is that any nominee can be derailed by false allegations. Again, maybe Ford or Ramirez are indeed telling the truth. There is no substantiation of that, but the playbook is out there and any nomination in the future can be derailed by simple false allegations. This is not good for the country. If only our nation had a system for investigating allegations and reviewing the evidence to determine which allegations are true and which are false. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2899 "2018-09-24T02:26:00Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Again, and in fairness to SA, he was citing the story from the Washington Post. These were not his own thoughts. If you think such a statement is silly, and I join you in that thought, then blame the Washington Post, not SA. Of course they were his thoughts. Here is what he said about her wearing white at her graduation : > [@](#): > > And yet here we have young Christine Blasey, a member of this group of sneaky, misbehaving party girls, not only stone sober and behaving innocently at a party of teenagers involving swimming, swim suits and alcohol, and aware of the boys’ history of trying for what they could get from the girls, so traumatized by this one event that her entire life has been altered forevermore (despite the fact she bravely held her head high, wore white and carried red roses at her high school graduation,\*\* thereby professing the fact, presumedly, that she still qualified as virginal despite the groping she allegedly suffered two or three years before\*\*). This was purely his interpretation, not WaPo’s. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/2900 "2018-09-24T02:26:08Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Avenatti is a greaseball lawyer who represents a porn star. So? Being a porn star isn’t illegal. Didn’t you mention earlier in this thread you’ve defended people accused of “worse than attempted rape”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=144) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=146)