# 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:** 164
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3261 "2018-09-24T23:17:49Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Well, anyone who watches TV anyway. Haven’t seen it myself, and had no idea who Louisa Garry was until a few hours ago. I watch TV and I had no idea who she was. I think they are vastly overestimating how much attention people pay to political ads. ---
**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, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3262 "2018-09-24T23:25:33Z")
Does anyone think that GOP operatives aren’t combing through the high school and college histories of Kagan and Sotomayor? Maybe even RBG, but I doubt anyone remembers her at any keggers back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3263 "2018-09-24T23:33:12Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Why is it always “hate” with you people? I dunno, nobody every tells ME how hateful I am. Maybe it’s the stuff you say. ---
**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, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3264 "2018-09-24T23:33:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Does anyone think that GOP operatives aren’t combing through the high school and college histories of Kagan and Sotomayor? Maybe even RBG… Or Thomas. That guy seems creepy. ---
**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, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3265 "2018-09-24T23:41:46Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Or Thomas. That guy seems creepy. Finding something on him would be a long shot. > [@davidm](#): > > I’ve seen what I assume is the ad they’re talking about but I couldn’t have told you the woman’s name. I’ve had no reason to pay much attention to it. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3266 "2018-09-24T23:41:49Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > I watch TV and I had no idea who she was. I think they are vastly overestimating how much attention people pay to political ads. I’ve seen what I assume is the ad they’re talking about but I couldn’t have told you the woman’s name. I’ve had no reason to pay much attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3267 "2018-09-24T23:44:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Does anyone think that GOP operatives aren’t combing through the high school and college histories of Kagan and Sotomayor? Maybe even RBG, but I doubt anyone remembers her at any keggers back in the day. I think they already did and came up pretty much empty. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3268 "2018-09-25T00:09:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Does anyone think that GOP operatives aren’t combing through the high school and college histories of Kagan and Sotomayor? Maybe even RBG, but I doubt anyone remembers her at any keggers back in the day. They’re gonna come up with Sotomayor pulling her senior quote from some guy whose uncle beat his wife and say, “SEE DEMOCRATS DO IT TOO” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3269 "2018-09-25T00:12:05Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Right. In 1982, that was called “trying to get laid.” In 2018 it is sexual assault. I’m not endorsing it, but in the interests of having an open conversation on a message board, let’s not just attack people and debate the merits. Oh, wow; no, it would have been sexual assault in 1982, too. ---
**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 25, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3270 "2018-09-25T00:16:11Z")
One of the 65 women who signed that letter did not realize that Kavanaugh the Virgin had boasted of her as a conquest. > **[Kavanaugh’s Yearbook Page Is ‘Horrible, Hurtful’ to a Woman It Named...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html)** > > The Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and some high school friends described themselves in a yearbook as “Renate” alumni. The woman they were referring to is furious. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3271 "2018-09-25T00:16:36Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I’m being reserved and withholding judgment. And I’m not willing to dive into this witchcraft hysteria without some sort of independent corroboration of her story. That’s an interesting choice of word, there: “witchcraft”. What can we reasonably infer from the use of a fictitious female character trait, usually displayed by evil characters, being used as an analogy for “rape”, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3272 "2018-09-25T00:35:12Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > One of the 65 women who signed that letter did not realize that Kavanaugh the Virgin had boasted of her as a conquest. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html) I feel bad for that poor woman. All this time she didn’t know she’d be made into an inside joke for an entire school. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3273 "2018-09-25T00:42:18Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I feel bad for that poor woman. All this time she didn’t know she’d be made into an inside joke for an entire school. And now it’s national. Imagine how shitty that feels. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3274 "2018-09-25T00:46:36Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > And now it’s national. Imagine how shitty that feels. And if he gets confirmed, then we’ll have a bully and a suspected rapist in the SC. How wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3275 "2018-09-25T00:59:09Z")
I think the real moral of this story so far is that no employer should ever hire a graduate of Georgetown Prep ever again. ---
**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 25, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3276 "2018-09-25T01:03:16Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > One of the 65 women who signed that letter did not realize that Kavanaugh the Virgin had boasted of her as a conquest. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-renate.html) Can someone post the relevant part? I’m past my limit on NYT and now get a paywall. Google isn’t helping me find a source elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3277 "2018-09-25T01:04:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can someone post the relevant part? I’m past my limit on NYT and now get a paywall. Google isn’t helping me find a source elsewhere. Here’s the first four paragraphs, which is probably enough to get the gist. > [@NY Times](#): > > Brett Kavanaugh’s page in his high school yearbook offers a glimpse of the teenage years of the man who is now President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee: lots of football, plenty of drinking, parties at the beach. Among the reminiscences about sports and booze is a mysterious entry: “Renate Alumnius.” > > The word “Renate” appears at least 14 times in Georgetown Preparatory School’s 1983 yearbook, on individuals’ pages and in a group photo of nine football players, including Judge Kavanaugh, who were described as the “Renate Alumni.” It is a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls’ school. > > Two of Judge Kavanaugh’s classmates say the mentions of Renate were part of the football players’ unsubstantiated boasting about their conquests. > > “They were very disrespectful, at least verbally, with Renate,” said Sean Hagan, a Georgetown Prep student at the time, referring to Judge Kavanaugh and his teammates. “I can’t express how disgusted I am with them, then and now.” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3278 "2018-09-25T01:09:03Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Right. In 1982, that was called “trying to get laid.” In 2018 it is sexual assault. I’m not endorsing it, but in the interests of having an open conversation on a message board, let’s not just attack people and debate the merits. Just one more person who was a teen even before 1982 chiming in here, even in 1977 that would not have fallen under anything other than sexual assault. Who among us did not do something like any of what is alleged back in High School or college? THE VAST MAJORITY OF US that’s who. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3279 "2018-09-25T01:44:01Z")
Kavanaugh is going to get nominated. There could be 5 or 10 more women coming out, and they’ll just claim that it’s politics. Once he’s nominated to the Court, he’s there for life, and he’ll vindictively side with whatever authoritarian bullshit they sign into law. Kavanaugh’s in. Comey’s out of the way. McCabe’s out of the way. Rosenstein will be out of the way. Sessions will be out of the way (and is impotent now). And soon, Mueller will also be out of the way. It doesn’t end there. The Justice Department will become rigged with Trump/GOP loyalists, who will then end investigations in the Southern District of New York, and Trump can just pardon anyone he damn well pleases anyway. Sure, state AGs could go after Trump, but Trump could use federal power and corrupt loyalists to cook up charges on blue state “traitors.” It’s coming, folks. The Constitutional crisis is coming. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3280 "2018-09-25T01:44:18Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Or, be overpowered and raped. Fun times, fun times. My mistake, meant to say probably, not possibly. And the probably was in reference to how she would regard him after the fact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=163) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=165)