# 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:** 193
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3841 "2018-09-26T18:51:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You are making the common laypersons mistake of ascribing to statements what they do not say and mixing up fact with inferences. What you say is an inference. Its very expressly not stated as a fact. > Read the statement again, [particularly para 12](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor). > She says she saw boys outside a room. That they were waiting for a girl inside the room, waiting for their “turn”. It does _not_ state how she knew there was any sexual activity going on and why she knew it was non-consensual, and crucially she does not say she saw Kavanaugh or Judge actually rape (or have any penetrative sexual contact) at all. > > Its an inference that can be drawn, but don’tmix that up with fact. And that’s likely why the word “rape” is always in quotes. ---
**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, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3842 "2018-09-26T18:52:31Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > I’m really happy that the Republicans are taking this opportunity to position themselves going into the midterms as the party of “She didn’t actually say she _saw_ him rape anybody!”. > > Any normal President at this point just withdraws the nomination and calls whoever the Federalist Society’ second choice was. _ **But they have a President who believes a real man should never have to withdraw just because some woman tells him to.** _ Protecting a sexual abuser from consequences is a matter of the highest principle to him. So he won’t back down, even if it means both the nomination and his party’s Senate majority go up in flames over it. Good times. 😃 More truth in this than in a thousand posts. It is a very primitive phenomenon. ---
**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 26, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3843 "2018-09-26T18:53:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can you quote where she said she saw that? The reports I’ve seen aren’t clear if she was a witness or heard it from others. > > Also, since you seem to insist that there was a line, can you quote how she knew that the girl was being raped and that the guys outside were “waiting in line”? I mean, were they seen going in, one after another, to rape the girl? > > It seems like this is sill rather vague to be making such clear-cut claims. I’m just trying to understand what the facts are now, as we know them. I assume this will get clearer as time goes on. “I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh” ---
**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, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3844 "2018-09-26T18:57:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You are making the common laypersons mistake of ascribing to statements what they do not say and mixing up fact with inferences. What you say is an inference. Its very expressly not stated as a fact. > Read the statement again, [particularly para 12](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor). > She says she saw boys outside a room. That they were waiting for a girl inside the room, waiting for their “turn”. It does _not_ state how she knew there was any sexual activity going on and why she knew it was non-consensual, and crucially she does not say she saw Kavanaugh or Judge actually rape (or have any penetrative sexual contact) at all. > > Its an inference that can be drawn, but don’tmix that up with fact. What she _ **saw** _ and what she experienced are different things. Experience covers all 5 senses, plus common sense. 6 senses is a lot. Sounds, are very important, to a persons orientation, but also the “context”, events around it, would be other sense indicators. It isn’t just visual evidence that you are trying to respond to. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3845 "2018-09-26T19:00:31Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You are making the common laypersons mistake of ascribing to statements what they do not say and mixing up fact with inferences. What you say is an inference. Its very expressly not stated as a fact. > Read the statement again, [particularly para 12](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor). > She says she saw boys outside a room. That they were waiting for a girl inside the room, waiting for their “turn”. It does _not_ state how she knew there was any sexual activity going on and why she knew it was non-consensual, and crucially she does not say she saw Kavanaugh or Judge actually rape (or have any penetrative sexual contact) at all. > > Its an inference that can be drawn, but don’tmix that up with fact. Right, it’s entirely possible they thought it was the bagel line. So, sure, “rape” is an inference. And the fact that there was a drunk girl inside the room is just a strange coincidence. But you characterized her statement as “She saw him outside a room.” In fact, she characterized him as standing in a line outside a room waiting to do “something” inside (where there was a drunk girl). Not randomly standing, but waiting in line. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3846 "2018-09-26T19:04:29Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You are making the common laypersons mistake of ascribing to statements what they do not say and mixing up fact with inferences. What you say is an inference. Its very expressly not stated as a fact. > Read the statement again, [particularly para 12](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor). > She says she saw boys outside a room. That they were waiting for a girl inside the room, waiting for their “turn”. It does _not_ state how she knew there was any sexual activity going on and why she knew it was non-consensual, and crucially she does not say she saw Kavanaugh or Judge actually rape (or have any penetrative sexual contact) at all. > > Its an inference that can be drawn, but don’tmix that up with fact. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can you quote where she said she saw that? The reports I’ve seen aren’t clear if she was a witness or heard it from others. > > Also, since you seem to insist that there was a line, can you quote how she knew that the girl was being raped and that the guys outside were “waiting in line”? I mean, were they seen going in, one after another, to rape the girl? > > It seems like this is sill rather vague to be making such clear-cut claims. I’m just trying to understand what the facts are now, as we know them. I assume this will get clearer as time goes on. OK, I see now that **AK’s** link provides the cite that she says she saw it herself. But we’re still left wondering how show knows, 36 years later, that the guys were standing in a line in order to rape the girl. It’s certainly possible they were, but how certain is it? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3847 "2018-09-26T19:05:55Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Right, it’s entirely possible they thought it was the bagel line. So, sure, “rape” is an inference. And the fact that there was a drunk girl inside the room is just a strange coincidence. > > But you characterized her statement as “She saw him outside a room.” In fact, she characterized him as standing in a line outside a room waiting to do “something” inside (where there was a drunk girl). Not randomly standing, but waiting in line. She didn’t actually see the drunk girl though…or any girl. Your bagel reference discounts other, more likely possibilities. Sex workers spring to mind. I have serious doubts that Kavanaugh et al could rape multiple women (girls really…we are talking highschool here) at multiple parties (which she claims) over the course of a year without a whiff of this ever getting out. Sure, some girls are going to be intimidated enough not to ever want to come forward, but all of them? For over a year? Not one of them came forward…or was battered enough by a freaking line of boys that their parents didn’t notice or take them to the doctor to get checked out? None of them became pregnant or caught something nasty from being gang raped by a line of boys? ---
**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, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3848 "2018-09-26T19:08:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, I see now that **AK’s** link provides the cite that she says she saw it herself. But we’re still left wondering how show knows, 36 years later, that the guys were standing in a line in order to rape the girl. It’s certainly possible they were, but how certain is it? Maybe try occams razor on it? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3849 "2018-09-26T19:08:51Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yes. Like Donald Trumps Presidential Campaign crashed when the Access Hollywood tape came out… wait! > Don’t count your election victories before they are won. I was not counting on Avenatti and I do think Kabanaugh is likely to become a supreme court judge, but there is something to say about the ‘victory’ the Republicans will get. > **[Republicans fear reversals in November due to accusation against Supreme...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-fear-reversals-in-november-due-to-new-accusation-against-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh/2018/09/17/cd115b9c-ba93-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html?utm_term=.2791a288b393)** > > They had hoped that Kavanaugh’s appointment would excite Republicans; now it may by Democrats who are energized instead. > [@](#): > > Republicans are bracing for political aftershocks from the sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, with some expressing fear that the coming investigation will refocus the nation’s attention on an issue that could drive up the Democratic vote in the midterm elections. > > The initial hope that the conservative Kavanaugh’s appointment would encourage turnout by grateful GOP voters this fall has been tempered by new fears that more voters, especially independent women, might head to the polls with fresh anger about Republican handling of sexual impropriety after a new round of public hearings. > > “It’s not just about Kavanaugh but more about the midterms,” Rick Hohlt, a Republican lobbyist and veteran strategist, said of the party’s concerns. “With more women running for public office than ever before and the majority of them being Democrats, we could have a 1992 situation.” [https://itk.thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/408469-poll-dems-lead-gop-by-14-points-on-generic-house-ballot](https://itk.thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/408469-poll-dems-lead-gop-by-14-points-on-generic-house-ballot) > [@](#): > > Democrats have a 14-point advantage in the generic congressional ballot heading into the final month of the midterm campaign, according to a poll released Wednesday. > > A USC Dornslife/Los Angeles Times poll found 55 percent of likely voters would back the Democratic candidate in their House district if the election were held today, while 41 percent said they would support the Republican. > > The poll showed that roughly 75 percent of respondents view November’s election as a chance to express their opinion of President Trump. > > Forty-five percent of those surveyed said they planned to vote to express a negative opinion of the president, while 29 percent said their vote would be in support of Trump. > > Democrats lead Republicans among women who were polled by a margin of 62-37. Democrats are also preferred among suburban women by a tally of 61-35. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3850 "2018-09-26T19:09:29Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > A lot of us are junior lawyers working on our degree from Internet U, so take this with a grain of salt. From what I’ve learned about evidence in my Saturday night “Dateline 301” class, this bit of evidence would not be sufficient on it’s own. Even if there was video of him waiting outside the room, going in, and coming out 2.5 minutes later, you could not say for certainty what happened in that room. A DA likely would not go forward with a case if that’s all they had. > > However, the investigators would continue to gather additional evidence that would help their case. Even if all their evidence was circumstantial, they can eventually gather enough circumstantial evidence to make their case and get a conviction. It will be harder to do, but often that’s all they have. Well I am a no longer that junior lawyer(:() with a real law degree.:D;) > [@](#): > > What we’re seeing in K’s case is that each piece of evidence is flimsy and circumstantial on its own. There is no video or forensic evidence. It depends on the 30 year old foggy memories of teens, some of whom were drinking. Each piece can be torn apart. Absolutely. > [@](#): > > But combined together it’s making a pretty solid case against him. No. None of the claims is connected, they are not mutually supporting. Frankly, the best you can say about all of them taken at their highest is that maybe they prove he drank and partied too much when in High School. Of the three allegations, only Ford’s seems to suggest actual specific wrongdoing by Kavanaugh. The other two, Ramirez draws inferences that it was Kavanaugh who exposed himself but is unable to state that with any certainty and Swetnick simply connects him with some wrong doings which she either did not witness or the one she experienced he did not have any participation. For all we know, he might be a sexual predator. But the allegations proffered thus far are not sufficient to make that determination. ---
**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, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3851 "2018-09-26T19:10:46Z")
> [@XT](#): > > She didn’t actually see the drunk girl though…or any girl. Your bagel reference discounts other, more likely possibilities. Sex workers spring to mind. I have serious doubts that Kavanaugh et al could rape multiple women (girls really…we are talking highschool here) at multiple parties (which she claims) over the course of a year without a whiff of this ever getting out. Sure, some girls are going to be intimidated enough not to ever want to come forward, but all of them? For over a year? Not one of them came forward…or was battered enough by a freaking line of boys that their parents didn’t notice or take them to the doctor to get checked out? None of them became pregnant or caught something nasty from being gang raped by a line of boys? That’s all covered in “Why they have investigations.” You got to get down to serious work if you want to make a case on “Why they don’t have investigations” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3852 "2018-09-26T19:10:53Z")
> [@XT](#): > > She didn’t actually see the drunk girl though…or any girl. Your bagel reference discounts other, more likely possibilities. Sex workers spring to mind. I have serious doubts that Kavanaugh et al could rape multiple women (girls really…we are talking highschool here) at multiple parties (which she claims) over the course of a year without a whiff of this ever getting out. Sure, some girls are going to be intimidated enough not to ever want to come forward, but all of them? For over a year? Not one of them came forward…or was battered enough by a freaking line of boys that their parents didn’t notice or take them to the doctor to get checked out? None of them became pregnant or caught something nasty from being gang raped by a line of boys? Weinstein was able to systematically victimize dozens of women over several decades without being punished. Same with Cosby. We shouldn’t be surprised any more that these kind of terrible things could happen without sanction. They could and did. Our society is supremely fucked up. You shouldn’t be surprised by this stuff anymore. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3853 "2018-09-26T19:12:05Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, I see now that **AK’s** link provides the cite that she says she saw it herself. But we’re still left wondering how show knows, 36 years later, that the guys were standing in a line in order to rape the girl. It’s certainly possible they were, but how certain is it? Certain enough that you probably wouldn’t want any of the guys in that line to be alone with your daughter. Or sitting on the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3854 "2018-09-26T19:12:30Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > That’s all covered in “Why they have investigations.” You got to get down to serious work if you want to make a case on “Why they don’t have investigations” Could you translate this to english? Or spanish? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3855 "2018-09-26T19:15:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Weinstein was able to systematically victimize dozens of women over several decades without being punished. Same with Cosby. > > We shouldn’t be surprised any more that these kind of terrible things could happen without sanction. They could and did. Our society is supremely fucked up. You shouldn’t be surprised by this stuff anymore. Yeah, I get that. But here we are talking about purported gang rape happening frequently to high school girls…rich or at least solidly middle class white high school girls. And we are talking about the 80’s…not exactly the dark ages here. Sure, things are different today and all, but they aren’t that much different. I can see this happening once, but repeatedly (presumably with different girls) and not a whiff of it in 36 years? :dubious: A hell of a lot of people knew Weinstein was using his position to get sex, and a lot of people knew Cosby was using drugs and coercion to force sex and rape women. And a lot of people have talked about the Hollywood casting couch…hell, there have been movies about it. It certainly happens, and I wouldn’t be surprised by any rich or powerful person using their position to force or coerce sex in the past and even today. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3856 "2018-09-26T19:17:01Z")
Kavanaugh sure lies a lot, doesn’t he? Jeet Heer: 1. This is something that’s been gnawing at me. Leaving aside the sexual assault allegations against him, Kavanaugh is just a massive, shameless liar, as seen by his Fox interview. > > > The Washington Post @washingtonpost There are multiple witnesses of Kavanaugh’s hard drinking behavior in college and in high school. Yeah, high school. Justice Kavanaugh poses as a choir boy. Details and nuance are provided by Josh Marshall: [https://twitter.com/MeasureMeasure/status/1045025788737740801](https://twitter.com/MeasureMeasure/status/1045025788737740801) The biggest one is this. What’s become clear over the last week is that Kavanaugh was a big drinker in high school and college. He was also a belligerent and aggressive drunk. Yet he has presented himself as a school focused church going kid who was a bit of a choir boy. These differing accounts here are hard to press down to specifics. He doesn’t say he never drank. He doesn’t say he never went to parties. But lots of people who knew him say he was a hard partying kid who frequently drank to excess and was a belligerent drunk. He denies that. He’s lying. That’s not a worse lie than lying about sexual misconduct or assault. But it’s crystal clear. There aren’t three witnesses. There seem to be dozens. It’s okay to be a hard partying kid. It’s certainly not something that precludes you from later government service. But he’s clearly lying about it as part of his defense against these vastly more serious allegations. Actually, it’s not ok to be a hard partying kid in my view: high school binge drinking is not ok. It is, however, forgivable. But lying about it? Bald faced lying in the face of overwhelming evidence? That’s in the present. It’s incredible that folks believe this political operative is an appropriate candidate for the Supreme Court. But not totally incredible. Repeat quote from Paul Krugman: A thought: the Kavanaugh mess has structural roots. Rs needed someone who was both ideologically reliable and at no risk of developing a conscience when it came to defending Trump against rule of law. So it had to be a bad person, which meant good odds of nasty stuff surfacing [https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1043199669688512513](https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1043199669688512513) While I have the mike, I’ll link to a tweet essay by an expert on adolescent sexual assault: [Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1044973884653486080.html) ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3857 "2018-09-26T19:17:38Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Your bagel reference discounts other, more likely possibilities. Sex workers spring to mind. Seeing as how she herself was gang raped at one of these parties, even if it was sex workers at some of them, it clearly wasn’t sex workers at all of them. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3858 "2018-09-26T19:17:41Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Weinstein was able to systematically victimize dozens of women over several decades without being punished. Same with Cosby. > > We shouldn’t be surprised any more that these kind of terrible things could happen without sanction. They could and did. Our society is supremely fucked up. You shouldn’t be surprised by this stuff anymore. Yes and no. Certainly sexual abuse goes unreported a lot and it did with the two celebrities you mention. But the allegations here are that they happened in public, at a party with multiple witnesses. That’s a significant distinction. And the latest allegations don’t include any actual claims of sexual assault by Kavanaugh against the claimant. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3859 "2018-09-26T19:21:11Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Weinstein was able to systematically victimize dozens of women over several decades without being punished. Same with Cosby. > > We shouldn’t be surprised any more that these kind of terrible things could happen without sanction. They could and did. Our society is supremely fucked up. You shouldn’t be surprised by this stuff anymore. Are you fucking kidding me? _Everyone_ and their uncle knew about Weinstein, so much that people actually joked about it. For years. Spacey rumours were around for years, actually fairly detailed ones. Even with Cosby, it was known that he was a skirt chaser despite his fatherly image. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/3860 "2018-09-26T19:22:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And the latest allegations don’t include any actual claims of sexual assault by Kavanaugh against the claimant. Well, Kavanaugh was at the party where she was raped. And she was drugged for the rape, so she doesn’t recollect her attackers. And he had been a participant in rapes\* at earlier parties. So there’s certainly an implication. \*Or bagel orderings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=192) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=194)