# 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:** 201
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4001 "2018-09-27T13:11:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Rape culture is powerful and insidious and can even alter the decisions for the worse of intelligent boys and girls. If you had to go to these parties to be cool, then the kids who really want to be cool are going to go to these parties, even if they might be dangerous. She thought she would be cool if she went to parties where women were drugged and gang-raped at least ten times in two years? As the grizzly bear said to the hunter in the old joke, “You aren’t in this for the hunting, are you?” Regards, Shodan ---
**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 27, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4002 "2018-09-27T13:25:33Z")
On the politics (arguably not the most important thing here, but the thing easiest to make predictions about): GOP will take the risk of rushing a vote in the next few days, which they will lose, hoping to harm Heitkamp (and others). Then they will nominate and confirm ACB, before or after the midterm. I’d give that basic scenario a 50% chance. 30% chance they confirm Kavanaugh before Tuesday. 10% they confirm him later than that. 10% they fail to confirm, Dems take Senate, and one or more GOP Senators refuses to confirm someone in lame duck. ---
**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 27, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4003 "2018-09-27T13:27:54Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t think this an accurate read of what she said. She said she saw guys lined up outside of closed doors, waiting for their turn with girls. You’re right. I screwed up that quote. She didn’t say in her sworn statement that she saw girls being raped. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4004 "2018-09-27T14:48:52Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > I have to admit, I’m not sure Swetnick’s story is true. I completely believe Ford, but this other story of gang rape seems so outrageous… Alexandra Lescaze reported in [Slate](https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/09/kavanaugh-judge-prep-school-parties.html) that when she attended private school in the DC area that what were referred to as “line-ups” occurred often at parties. ---
**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 27, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4005 "2018-09-27T14:50:34Z")
Anyone watching the hearing? I’m just following liveblogs/livetweets, since I’m in the office. From these, Ford is presenting herself very well and appearing very genuine. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4006 "2018-09-27T14:51:54Z")
There is no amount of “Soros money” or personal desire to falsely disrupt a Supreme Court nominee that could drive me to go through this. I can’t even imagine what motivation people ascribe to her to make her lie. ---
**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 27, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4007 "2018-09-27T14:53:38Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Anyone watching the hearing? I’m just following liveblogs/livetweets, since I’m in the office. From these, Ford is presenting herself very well and appearing very genuine. I’m watching, but all that has transpired so far is reading prepared, opening statements. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4008 "2018-09-27T14:58:33Z")
If the Democrats successfully block Kavanaugh, all that’s likely to happen is that he’ll be replaced by a nominee who is equally right-wing or even more right-wing but doesn’t have the same personal baggage. The judiciary implications for Roe, Obergefell, etc. remain the same. ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4009 "2018-09-27T15:04:43Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > She thought she would be cool if she went to parties where women were drugged and gang-raped at least ten times in two years? … Boys of the time, like Judge, were not alone in the belief that a girl who was not literally unconscious from alcohol and was not fighting people off was not being raped. Girls believed that too. What was happening to that girl was of her doing … until you had become one of those girls that had it happen to you. Livestreaming the hearing for as longas I can before going to work … this is going to be an odd event with Mitchell stopping every 5 … Yes, odds are great that the GOP will get a judge in the seat as conservative or more. ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4010 "2018-09-27T15:04:43Z")
Watch her testimony if you did not see it live. It is gutting. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4011 "2018-09-27T15:05:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If the Democrats successfully block Kavanaugh, all that’s likely to happen is that he’ll be replaced by a nominee who is equally right-wing or even more right-wing but doesn’t have the same personal baggage. The judiciary implications for Roe, Obergefell, etc. remain the same. This is almost certainly the case. But right now, the nominee before us is Brett Kavanaugh. And there’s a pretty large pile of reasons he doesn’t belong on the Supreme Court, or any court really. If he was ideologically the second coming of the Notorious RBG, and if he’d never assaulted anyone, he still wouldn’t belong on the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4012 "2018-09-27T15:08:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If the Democrats successfully block Kavanaugh, all that’s likely to happen is that he’ll be replaced by a nominee who is equally right-wing or even more right-wing but doesn’t have the same personal baggage. The judiciary implications for Roe, Obergefell, etc. remain the same. Probably. But that doesn’t mean he should be confirmed. I would rather have a conservative that doesn’t behave like this. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4013 "2018-09-27T15:09:20Z")
She sounds credible but I think this would be a slam dunk for a skilled orator. In addition, she could easily shut down questions of why she didn’t come forward by pointing to the silence of victims of Weinstein and Cosby. She could also point out that if they found it hard to believe that a person of Kavanaugh’s reputation could do something like this, just ask them if anyone would have thought Bill Cosby, America’s Dad, could be capable of rape. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4014 "2018-09-27T15:11:41Z")
(Whoops tried to edit above but somehow replied) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4015 "2018-09-27T15:15:33Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > She thought she would be cool if she went to parties where women were drugged and gang-raped at least ten times in two years? As the grizzly bear said to the hunter in the old joke, “You aren’t in this for the hunting, are you?” > > Regards, > Shodan Funny. Before you post again, try to imagine, not that you are that girl – don’t think you can rise to this – but that you _ **don’t know what it is like.** _ I’ve never met a man who had an inkling of what it is like. And explaining doesn’t seem to sink in, ever. Rarely met a woman who didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4016 "2018-09-27T15:18:27Z")
these old white men are afraid to question her? Not sure if that is funny or sad. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4017 "2018-09-27T15:19:21Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > GOP will take the risk of rushing a vote in the next few days, which they will lose, hoping to harm Heitkamp (and others). Then they will nominate and confirm ACB, before or after the midterm. Even in that best-case scenario for them, they take a serious political hit for looking weak and feckless. If they go with ACB, they take another hit by pissing off the especially misogynistic elements of the Talibornagain base. ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4018 "2018-09-27T15:21:55Z")
Regarding a lack of confirmation will not lead to any better outcome for Democrats or moderates and liberals - yes that is the case. The disagreement over how conservative and what sort of conservative should get this SCOTUS seat is one thing and a valid thing. GOP majority GOP president, some red state Democrats? Yes it will be a conservative and quite a conservative. Having a conservative as SCOTUS who we can _confidently_ believe has some minimal amount of basic integrity and decency? That is beyond conservative vs moderate and not a matter of partisanship. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4019 "2018-09-27T15:22:13Z")
Theory - What is the possibility that at this point McConnell knows he doesn’t have the votes? That the committee knows he doesn’t have the votes? Under normal circumstances they would have Kavanaugh withdraw, and move on to another candidate. But, because this is not normal circumstances, their political calculation tells them that THE BEST path forward is to go through with this hearing, because this satisfies the constituencies demanding a hearing. Based on the hearings, the public will lean more toward not confirming Kavanaugh. They will vote and this will provide political cover for the NO votes on the GOP side. For GOP candidates up for re-election, they can claim that their noses are clean because “they did the right thing” by holding the hearings. So it can still be spun as a win, even though they throw Kavanaugh under the bus. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4020 "2018-09-27T15:23:23Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’ve never met a man who had an inkling of what it is like. I’d be astonished if you’ve never met a man who’s been sexually abused. It’s not exactly rare. We’ve just been trained not to talk about it, especially if it occurs as an adult. But then, men being raped is still treated as a joke on this board, as well as much of the world. There’s been a lot of progress on how assault of women hass been treated, but using false accusations as political ammunition is going to set that back a long way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=200) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=202)