# 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:** 182
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3621 "2018-09-26T02:08:39Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Good heavens. Is there anyone who drank (or otherwise imbibed) heavily at some period in their lives who would NOT agree that they “lost” various parts of their time while drunk? :smack: As Dave Edmunds said, “What did I get into? Tell me who should I apologize to?” > > ([What Did I Do Last Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDJAfnGpE6o) - great song on a great album!) Well, I can think of at least one person who would NOT agree. ---
**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 26, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3622 "2018-09-26T02:20:07Z")
[Spartacus](https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/1044740038989418498) > [@](#): > > By scheduling a vote on Judge Kavanaugh before Dr. Ford has even testified, Senate Republican leaders are saying loud and clear: they don’t care what she says. #BelieveSurvivors ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3623 "2018-09-26T02:20:27Z")
We know he’s blacked out. His leaked emails had him talking about a game of dice he had to apologize for getting to aggressive which he admits he doesn’t recall. So a blackout drunk with a history of gambling and assaulting women who had a huge debt mysteriously wiped out recently. I wonder if he could be unduly influenced by blackmail. > **[Here's Another Brett Kavanaugh Email Republicans Didn't Want You To See](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kavanaugh-emails_n_5b917067e4b0162f472b242e/amp)** > > Kavanaugh and his bros were planning a sailing weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3624 "2018-09-26T02:56:58Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > He was definitely in that 40%. …no you definitely can’t assert that as fact. Absolutely not. I’m most definitely not on Kavanaugh’s side. But we can’t assert things as fact when in reality we don’t really know. He may well be in the 40%. You could even assert pretty confidently that he was probably in that 40%. But you have no basis to be able to state that he most definitely was in that 40%. There are plenty of things we can say about Kavanaugh that aren’t good. We don’t have to hang-our-hat on something that we cannot prove. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3625 "2018-09-26T03:04:02Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > The thing about getting black out drunk is that by the very nature of “blacking out” I would think there are at least another 10-20% who simply don’t realize they blacked out. I know this is purely anecdotal but I’ve worked in the service industry for 25+ years and I’ve encountered a lot of people who have made total fools of themselves while drunk and later had no memory of it. Most of them are highly successful types who would never consider themselves to be black out drunks. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, as the saying goes. …I’ve had plenty of experience in the hospitality at every single level from washing dishes to managing the State Dinner for the Queen of England. Can you guess where I got the name “Banquet Bear” from? That doesn’t make me an expert on binge drinking and blackouts, and my anecdotal experience of people making total fools of them while drunk isn’t representative of every single binge drinker in existence. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3626 "2018-09-26T03:11:57Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Yes. If you drink enough, you will black out. No one is immune. Not if you go to mass every week, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3627 "2018-09-26T03:12:14Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > We know he’s blacked out. His leaked emails had him talking about a game of dice he had to apologize for getting to aggressive which he admits he doesn’t recall. … No, we don’t “know” that. Some posters have speculated that “(don’t recall)” was because he was blackout drunk, but he certainly didn’t SAY that in the email. It’s speculation, not something we “know”. ---
**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 26, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3628 "2018-09-26T03:36:59Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …no you definitely can’t assert that as fact. Absolutely not. I’m most definitely not on Kavanaugh’s side. But we can’t assert things as fact when in reality we don’t really know. He may well be in the 40%. You could even assert pretty confidently that he was probably in that 40%. But you have no basis to be able to state that he most definitely was in that 40%. There are plenty of things we can say about Kavanaugh that aren’t good. We don’t have to hang-our-hat on something that we cannot prove. We certainly can say that. Because in addition to his history of heavy drinking. We have other evidence that he was a black out drunk. He apologized for getting aggressive with someone even though he couldn’t recall doing it. He multiple times made jokes about attending/watching sporting events and later having to ask who won. There is a bunch of evidence that he was a black out drunk and when we put it all together we can say with certainty that he was one. Furthermore, you are misunderstanding that 40%. Those 40% are people who drank excessively. Think of a bell curve where the x-axis is number of drink per day or week or whatever. The 40% who have black outs are on the right side of that bell curve. Kavanaugh was way over in the right tail of that curve. Even without the corroborating evidence we can say with certainty that Kavanaugh was a black out drunk. ---
**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 26, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3629 "2018-09-26T03:38:27Z")
The other thing that he was disingenuous about in his Fox interview was the illegality of his drinking in h.s. > [@Kavanaugh](#): > > ”Yes, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18, and yes, the seniors were legal and had beer there. And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion … The drinking age was 21 effective July 1982, but persons 18 and older were grandfathered in and eligible to legally drink. So he is technically right when he said 18 was legal. But Kavanaugh was only 17; him drinking was illegal as well as anyone else in his class who was also under 18. He is clearly trying to mask this by saying “seniors were legal”. So forget about blackouts; we can’t even trust the man to be straight about something as basic as whether he partook in underage drinking. If this is him showing us how he will interpret the law and decide guilt and innocence, he fails the test. ---
**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 26, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3630 "2018-09-26T03:45:03Z")
“I do remember Brett frequently drinking excessively and becoming incoherently drunk.” 100% of people who behaved in that manner have experienced black outs. Every single one of them. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3631 "2018-09-26T03:51:10Z")
None of this matters. It’s increasingly clear that the Republicans will vote to confirm him into office, no matter the evidence against him, damn the consequences. It’s their Hail Mary pass. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3632 "2018-09-26T03:52:03Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > We certainly can say that. …no we can’t. > [@](#): > > Because in addition to his history of heavy drinking. We have other evidence that he was a black out drunk. He apologized for getting aggressive with someone even though he couldn’t recall doing it. He multiple times made jokes about attending/watching sporting events and later having to ask who won. Ford can’t recall the day, the date, even the year that the incident allegedly occurred. Was that because she was blackout drunk? Maybe he’s just lying about “not recalling” getting aggressive with someone. Maybe he’s just like me and can be watching a TV programme and at the very end of it I’ll say “what was that all about?” Being a binge-drinker with a history of gambling and maybe sexually assaulting women who had a huge debt mysteriously wiped out recently is more than enough information to be able to point to Kavanaugh and say “he shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court.” We don’t need to add “blackouts” to the list. They don’t make or break the case. > [@](#): > > There is a bunch of evidence that he was a black out drunk and when we put it all together we can say with certainty that he was one. No we can’t. > [@](#): > > Furthermore, you are misunderstanding that 40%. No I’m not. > [@](#): > > Those 40% are people who drank excessively. Think of a bell curve where the x-axis is number of drink per day or week or whatever. The 40% who have black outs are on the right side of that bell curve. Kavanaugh was way over in the right tail of that curve. Even without the corroborating evidence we can say with certainty that Kavanaugh was a black out drunk. Perhaps you could clear things up for us. In 1982 how many times per month did Kavanaugh binge drink? Was it a couple of times a month? Once or twice a week? Every single day? You seem certain you know exactly what Kavanaugh’s binge drinking habits are. Well lets figure out the odds. Tell us the number. > [@](#): > > 100% of people who behaved in that manner have experienced black outs. Every single one of them. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3633 "2018-09-26T04:00:02Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …Cite? He doesn’t have one, because it’s an absurd claim at odds with reality, but he’s painted himself into a corner now and can’t back down, so he’ll keep on insisting, despite the absurdity of it all. I admire your patience in dealing with it though. ---
**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 26, 2018, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3634 "2018-09-26T04:12:00Z")
[Cite](https://www.self.com/story/5-myths-we-need-to-stop-believing-about-alcohol-blackouts). It’s like the first thing I Googled. > [@](#): > > Dr. White says. “Because memory circuits don’t become very tolerant to alcohol, heavy drinkers who can reach high blood alcohol concentrations and still walk around black out frequently.” The descriptions of Kavanaugh’s drinking supplied by both himself and others sounds a lot like a heavy drinker who can reach high blood alcohol concentrations and still walk around. It’s not absurd or at odds with reality. It’s the simplest explanation that fits the facts. Any other conclusion is harder (in this case much harder) to defend. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3635 "2018-09-26T04:17:19Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [Cite](https://www.self.com/story/5-myths-we-need-to-stop-believing-about-alcohol-blackouts). It’s like the first thing I Googled. > > The descriptions of Kavanaugh’s drinking supplied by both himself and others sounds a lot like a heavy drinker who can reach high blood alcohol concentrations and still walk around. > > It’s not absurd or at odds with reality. It’s the simplest explanation that fits the facts. Any other conclusion is harder (in this case much harder) to defend. Your cite says “frequently”. It does not say “100%”. It may be the “simplest explanation” (there’s a whole other debate that could be had about that, but rather than allowing ourselves to get sidetracked), I’ll note that “simplest” does not mean it’s the only possible explanation, which is what you seem to believe given your various assertions of certitude. ---
**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 26, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3636 "2018-09-26T04:19:08Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Your cite says “frequently”. It does not say “100%”. It may be the “simplest explanation” (there’s a whole other debate that could be had about that, but rather than allowing ourselves to get sidetracked), I’ll note that “simplest” does not mean it’s the only possible explanation, which is what you seem to believe given your various assertions of certitude. Yes it says frequently. It doesn’t say they are more likely to black out, it says they do black out and frequently. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3637 "2018-09-26T04:21:51Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > He doesn’t have one, because it’s an absurd claim at odds with reality, but he’s painted himself into a corner now and can’t back down, so he’ll keep on insisting, despite the absurdity of it all. I admire your patience in dealing with it though. Do you get out much? Virtually every US male has had something like a blackout in their life. ETA: aw your answer to LT is dumb… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3638 "2018-09-26T04:24:45Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Do you get out much? Virtually every US male has had something like a blackout in their life. > > ETA: aw your answer to LT is dumb… Just in case you didn’t notice upthread, HurricaneDitka isn’t a drinker. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3639 "2018-09-26T04:27:30Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Do you get out much? Virtually every US male has had something like a blackout in their life. See Lance Turbo, here’s a poster that understands how to add a little nuance to his posts. Notice the word “virtually”? That’s how it’s done. And to answer the question: if “get out” means something like bar-hopping or getting falling-down drunk, then no, I do not. I’d be one of the tiny sliver of adult American males that has not experienced an alcohol-induced blackout in his lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3640 "2018-09-26T04:39:06Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [Cite](https://www.self.com/story/5-myths-we-need-to-stop-believing-about-alcohol-blackouts). It’s like the first thing I Googled. …oh sorry, my mistake. I had assumed you had some sort of institutional knowledge. That your assertion that you were 100% correct was based on something you already knew, not something that you had to google after the fact. Claire Gillespie writes well. She did graduate with an English degree after all. But the “first thing you googled” isn’t very convincing. I’m sure the facts are correct. But the facts in the article don’t support your assertion. > [@](#): > > The descriptions of Kavanaugh’s drinking supplied by both himself and others sounds a lot like a heavy drinker who can reach high blood alcohol concentrations and still walk around. The descriptions are mere anecdotes. I asked you for the hard data. How many times a week did Kavanaugh binge drink? Can you give me a number? > [@](#): > > It’s not absurd or at odds with reality. It’s the simplest explanation that fits the facts. Occam’s razor doesn’t always get it right. I would reccomend not relying on it as the crux of your argument. > [@](#): > > Any other conclusion is harder (in this case much harder) to defend. We don’t need to come to any other conclusion. I’m fine with sticking with “he probably did have blackouts, but we can’t know for sure.” Now can you stop making me defend HurricaneDitka’s position? I’ve already had to concede to him once in this thread. Any more than that and I loose my Warriors for Social Justice membership privileges. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=181) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=183)