# 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:** 267
**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 30, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5321 "2018-09-30T05:36:51Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > He didn’t “lie” about Maryland’s drinking age. He said some unspecified “seniors” could drink, which was accurate. He did not say he was of legal drinking age. It was more lawerly parsing, which confused you with it’s precision. His specific quote (at least one of them)was ([source](http://dcist.com/2018/09/local_laws_kavanaugh_hearing.php)): > [@](#): > > “The drinking age as I noted was 18, so the seniors were legal,” he said. “Senior year in high school, people were legal to drink.” He didn’t say that “(some unspecified) seniors” could drink. He said, “_the_ seniors were legal,” which is, of course, very different from “_some_ seniors were legal” (which was, of course, what was actually the case, and was, IMO, meant to be as deceptive as it could be, without him flat-out lying and stating that he was of legal drinking age during his senior year. I’m six weeks younger than Kavanaugh; like him, I graduated from high school in 1983. At that time, the legal drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 (it didn’t go up to 19 until 1984, and then to 21 in 1986). At the start of our senior year, probably only a few of my classmates were 18 – anyone who was that old would have, in fact, almost undoubtedly been in the previous class, unless they had been held back for some reason (for example, one of my classmates, who was also in my grade school class, was a year behind where he should have been, due to his parents deciding he wasn’t ready for kindergarten when he was five). By the end of our senior year, most of us had had our 18th birthdays. The article then notes: > [@](#): > > In fact, the legal drinking age in Maryland, where he lived, went up while he was in high school, and he was outside its boundaries. The state’s drinking age rose to 21 on July 1, 1982, seven months before his 18th birthday. Unless the rules for minimum age / birthday for entering kindergarten or 1st grade were different in Maryland than they were in Wisconsin, I’m going to make an educated guess that relatively few members of Kavanaugh’s class were, in fact, legal drinkers during their senior year. If they’d already been age 18 by July 1, 1982, it seems to me that they would likely have been in the class of 1982, not Kavanaugh’s class of 1983. Thus, by the time that he started his senior year of high school, in August or September of 1982, the drinking age was not, in fact, 18; it was 21. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5322 "2018-09-30T05:42:00Z")
Wow — so when I listened (radio) last Thursday to Kavanaugh’s opening delivery to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was very impressed. His points were strong. Wow. I did not have time to hear the committee’s questioning. Tonight, back from out of town, I watched the recorded questioning. I recorded both CNN and Fox. I watched only the questioning. I FF’d thru the commentaries. Wow, he was terrible. I think Trump will pull his endorsement of Kavenaugh. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5323 "2018-09-30T05:55:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [SNL presents Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHPqhhayCEI) in what might be the longest-running sketch they’ve ever done, clocking in at nearly 12 minutes. That was great! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5324 "2018-09-30T05:56:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [SNL presents Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHPqhhayCEI) in what might be the longest-running sketch they’ve ever done, clocking in at nearly 12 minutes. OMG!! Thank you for sharing that. I’m in tears from laughing so hard. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5325 "2018-09-30T06:03:56Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > What do you think? Is categorically denying under oath that you have ever had blackouts when you have frequently had blackouts perjury? This is such bullshit. Your “evidence” that he had blackouts is “everyone who drinks heavily has blackouts” which is, itself, bullshit. Congrats, you’re piling bullshit on top of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5326 "2018-09-30T06:06:33Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This is such bullshit. Your “evidence” that he had blackouts is “everyone who drinks heavily has blackouts” which is, itself, bullshit. Congrats, you’re piling bullshit on top of bullshit. My evidence that he had blackouts is that _his drinking buddies that he knew at the time unanimously agree that he had blackouts._ ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5327 "2018-09-30T06:31:16Z")
I highly doubt you could get someone for purjury on their interpretation of slang, code words or inside jokes. I think you’d need evidence they contradicted theirself, not urban dictionary or friends. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5328 "2018-09-30T06:37:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My evidence that he had blackouts is that _his drinking buddies that he knew at the time unanimously agree that he had blackouts._ Unanimously? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5329 "2018-09-30T06:47:46Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Unanimously? Cite? If you’d like to provide a character witness who says “Brett couldn’t possibly have been blackout drunk because he was too busy lifting weights and reading the Bible every night”, then please do. _He_ certainly hasn’t bothered to do so yet. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5330 "2018-09-30T07:03:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If you’d like to provide a character witness who says “Brett couldn’t possibly have been blackout drunk because he was too busy lifting weights and reading the Bible every night”, then please do. > > _He_ certainly hasn’t bothered to do so yet. You’re the one that made the “unanimously” claim, apparently without a source. Given that, I don’t feel the need to provide anything. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5331 "2018-09-30T07:18:34Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > You’re the one that made the “unanimously” claim, apparently without a source. Given that, I don’t feel the need to provide anything. Neither does Kavanaugh, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5333 "2018-09-30T10:45:33Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I FF’d thru the commentaries. Thanks for using only two F’s there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5334 "2018-09-30T10:56:02Z")
Skipped past this a few pages back: > [@UltraVires](#): > > As has been stated over and over and over and fucking over again, the FBI cannot prove his innocence. Short of testimony from God, there can be no way to prove that he wasn’t at some house on some day between 1981 and 1984. This is a red herring and it always has been. Dude, the only people who can **prove** anything are mathematicians and logicians. Everybody else (including mathematicians and logicians outside their professional context) are dealing with varying degrees of preponderance of the **evidence**. And that’s what an FBI investigation might turn up: more **evidence**. You’re right, they can’t **prove** a damned thing, but they don’t need a letter from God to pile up **evidence** that makes it easier for us mere mortals to reach a conclusion one way or the other. It isn’t a matter of ‘we either prove something, or we know nothing.’ You have a gigantic excluded middle in your bullshit. You can state that excluded middle “over and over and over and fucking over again,” but it’s still a massive excluded middle. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5335 "2018-09-30T11:45:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My evidence that he had blackouts is that _his drinking buddies that he knew at the time unanimously agree that he had blackouts._ You should provide a cite. You do your argument no service by not providing it, you just make it clear that either it is not true or it will likely not hold up to the standard of “unanimous”. Given that we already know that there are “vouchers” published by people who support Kavanaugh, that knew him when he was young, it will be trivial easy to demonstrate that there is no unanimous consensus. You’re better off to bite the bullet and post links to the people who have detailed their accounts of seeing him wasted, and take the hit for hyperbole, than to not post links to the testimony. Ultimately, the fact that people who did support him have flipped, when it came to question of heavy drinking, is good evidence. But that is a limited selection of all people who knew him. And, likely, Hurricane has seen these reports and is aware that it’s silly to think that Kavanaugh wasn’t a hard drinker, but chooses to play politics and attack your word choice, to keep the evidence at bay. You’re just helping him. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5336 "2018-09-30T12:08:51Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Thanks for using only two F’s there. 😛 Unlike Kavanaugh’s friend who apparently uses 7 Fs. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5337 "2018-09-30T12:12:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My evidence that he had blackouts is that _his drinking buddies that he knew at the time unanimously agree that he had blackouts._ I too am wondering how you can state this without a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5338 "2018-09-30T12:14:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [SNL presents Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHPqhhayCEI) in what might be the longest-running sketch they’ve ever done, clocking in at nearly 12 minutes. Is this now blocked? Oh no! Glad I watched it, it really was good! Thanks again, **Smapti**! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5339 "2018-09-30T14:13:28Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This is such bullshit. Your “evidence” that he had blackouts is “everyone who drinks heavily has blackouts” which is, itself, bullshit. Congrats, you’re piling bullshit on top of bullshit. No, the evidence he had blackouts is that he has emails apologizing for his aggressive blackouts. Also, his public comments bragging about his blackouts. As well as the testimony of the people who knew him to be a uncontrollable drunk. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5340 "2018-09-30T14:27:31Z")
While NBC has bent sufficiently to put SNL clips on YouTube, they are still extremely protective of their IP. Here’s the [official link to the sketch.](https://youtu.be/VRJecfRxbr8) ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/5341 "2018-09-30T14:28:07Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > No, the evidence he had blackouts is that he has emails apologizing for his aggressive blackouts. He didn’t use the word “blackout”, and you’re speculating that he was drunk during the dice game. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Also, his public comments bragging about his blackouts. Cite? I don’t know what you’re referring to here. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > As well as the testimony of the people who knew him to be a uncontrollable drunk. Did those people claim to know that he “blacked out”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=266) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=268)