Pirate's Cove

In Ruth Marcus’ World, Democrats did pretty much nothing wrong during the Kavanaugh hearing Wednesday, and the whole thing was the fault of Republicans. If you watched or listened to any of it, you’ll look like Captain Jack, especially at the McCain reference

McCain’s death didn’t teach Republicans anything. The Kavanaugh hearing proves it.

So much for the new era of comity, the appeal to better angels over partisanship, ushered in by the death of Arizona Sen. John McCain. If you had any delirious hopes of fever-breaking, they should have been thoroughly dashed by the first day of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. They should have been dashed, in particular, by the refusal of the panel’s Republican majority to allow adequate and timely access to documents from Kavanaugh’s White House service.

It was a poisonous session, as acrimonious as I have witnessed since sitting in the committee’s hearing room for the grilling of Anita Hill during the second round of the Clarence Thomas hearings. And while no dispute over documents, however impassioned, can rival the Hill-Thomas encounter, the Republican majority’s handling of this issue will be even more dangerous for the future of the Senate’s ability to conduct its constitutional duty of advice and consent.

There is always some tension, when the Senate majority is of the same party as the president, between exercising independent judgment and acting like a cheerleader for the nominee. But Senate Republicans, in particular Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), would do well to reflect about what goes around. A majority that denies the minority’s reasonable requests today is apt to find itself on the losing end of its own reasonable requests down the road.

If you’re thinking Ruth is finding the vast majority of fault with Republicans, you’d be right. The closest she gets for Democrats is

At the same time, Senate Democrats arguing for access to Kavanaugh’s White House documents would have a more compelling case if they had not already made clear their opposition to his nomination.

Even uber-Lefty Dana Milbank, in the same Washington Post for today, writes

There has never been a disruptive spectacle like this at a Supreme Court confirmation hearing. But then there has never been a Supreme Court nomination like this.

Did Ruth even watch it, or did she get talking points from the DNC? Because it was interruption after interruption from Democrats, both those sitting on the Senate panel and private citizens screeching. The hearing was barely in session when

Judge Kavanaugh’s children just left the hearing room with escorts.

— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) September 4, 2018

That’s because there was no reason for children to hear the slurs and disgusting language towards their day, plus there were security concerns. Blumenthal, Booker, Harris, and the other Dems were constantly interrupting. They wanted more time to review the documents, and were asking for holding off on the hearings

(1) Booker at the Kavanaugh hearing: We just need more time to carefully consider this nomination. What’s the Rush?

(2) Inbox, moments ago: pic.twitter.com/GUj7NIyf9B

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 4, 2018

Pretty much all the Dems sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee have stated that they are “no” votes, and did so as soon as Kavanaugh was announced. Most have not even met with Judge Kavanaugh. As Ted Cruz stated, what they’re trying to do is re-litigate the 2016 election. He noted Obama’s quote of “elections matter”, and that the American citizenry chose Donald Trump as president.

Furthermore, he noted that, ala the documents, the number released for Kavanaugh is more than for the last 5 people confirmed to the Supreme Court. Let that sink in. And

“We know that every Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to vote no…Doesn’t depend on what they read in documents, doesn’t depend on what Judge Kavanaugh says at this hearing—they’ve announced ahead of time they’re voting no, and most of the Democrats in the Senate have announced that in the full Senate.”

It’s worth taking the 14 minutes to listen to Cruz. I’m usually no fan of opening statements, I say just get on with the questions and answers, but this was needed. Cruz utterly flays the Democrats.

But, the Democrats will certainly still be their same unhinged barking moonbat selves during the rest of the hearings.