S05.E24: Brett Kavanaugh

[Athena]

Quote

Other segments: Donald Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly, new Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty

 

[Annber03]

Okay, that's a brilliant ending. 

Fantastic episode. SO many great moments in the analysis of those hearings tonight. I freaking lost it at the "Mambo No. 5" comparison. That is PERFECT :D. And I loved this line, too: "And not like one of those Puerto Rico disasters. One that the Republicans would actually care about."

Something that's not good, however? "Attractive" and "pleasing"? Fuck you, Hatch. As for Graham, I realized, during his rant, that he sounds like Beverley Leslie from "Will & Grace". 

(Also, I hate to break it to that little prick who was eager to get Kavanaugh in 'cause he'd "stop abortion", but newsflash, genius: even if abortion were made illegal again, women would still have them. It'd just be, y'know, done in a significantly less safe manner. The GOP's obsession with this issue is just...so infuriating. On a whole host of levels.) 

The thing that kills me the most about these hearings is how people are so quick to dismiss Ford, because they say her memories are fuzzy and the whole thing happened 36 years ago, so how on earth can she possibly remember stuff from that far back? Okay, well, going by that logic, shouldn't that apply to Kavanaugh's memories, too, and the fact that he seemed to be rather fuzzy on some details regarding his past? It's the typical scenario when it comes to sexual assault cases: a woman's past and actions are dragged out into the open and scrutinized and judged all over the place, but the men's past and actions don't ever have to be taken into account whatsoever. 

Also, when he was getting all "emotional" during his testimony, you know what it reminded me of? All the "Dateline"/"48 Hours" type shows I've seen, where somebody's accused of killing their spouse, and they're being interviewed about it, and they're trying so hard to force out some tears and look like they're grieving and weeping about how innocent they are...but it all just comes off so phony. I got a real strong whiff of that here. I also remember rolling my eyes while watching his testimony on Thursday when he was going on about how one of his daughters told the other that they "should pray for the woman" when they were doing their nightly prayers. It just sounded too precious. You don't need to lay it on that thick, bud.   

Anywho, yeah. Excellent show. Would that we could force everybody who's still on Kavanaugh's side to watch it over and over until it sinks in. I'm so nervous about how this week will play out. 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Annber03

[wendyg]

I still don't think Oliver came up with an answer to the real question: why *this* abortion-opposing, conservative justice? And the only answer I've been able to come up with revolves around the Clinton-Starr and Nixon-pardon axis. Also, I didn't believe the Federalist guy who said he didn't care which nominee. While all are I'm sure acceptable to him, he *has* to have had his preferences...but didn't want to share them, understandably.

[Lantern7]

Watched it. Hearing Kavanaugh run through women’s names, I swear that I was thinking “Mambo No. 5.” And then John actually used that reference. Now I’m thinking of Lou Bega kicking back and collecting the royalties.

I didn’t get to watch the chaos, so seeing the highlights was jarring. Really not far removed from the SNL cold open. This is our reality.

In regard to the Philadelphia Flyers’ horrific mascot . . . wouldn’t John have said the same thing about the Philly Phanatic when he came out? But yeah, Sketti (?) does look like the product of Muppet incest fucking.

[snowwhyte]

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

 

Anywho, yeah. Excellent show. Would that we could force everybody who's still on Kavanaugh's side to watch it over and over until it sinks in. I'm so nervous about how this week will play out. 

It's astonishing to me that people can watch the exact same video and see completely different things. I saw a man who is in no way fit to be on the highest court in the land. If you read some of the comments on the Fox news YouTube video of his testimony he is apparently a fine man and judge who is justifiably angry at being falsely accused. He is the real victim. They won't change their minds no matter how many times they see the video. It does occasionally make me wonder how warped my own sense of reality is.

[attica]

2 hours ago, wendyg said:

I still don't think Oliver came up with an answer to the real question: why *this* abortion-opposing, conservative justice?

I certainly agree with John that it's a strident reassertion of white-male dominance, but it's also that BK is the only one on that list who will give 46-1 legal cover for his crimes, or at least has gone on record with that position.

Each October, I begin shopping around for next year's calendars and planners, and the process gives me more pleasure than it does the average person, I'm willing to bet. But I don't get teary about them, for fucks sake.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, wendyg said:

I still don't think Oliver came up with an answer to the real question: why *this* abortion-opposing, conservative justice? And the only answer I've been able to come up with revolves around the Clinton-Starr and Nixon-pardon axis. 

One answer I came up with is that Trump simply wants him. Kavanaugh may very well have promised him he would rule against prosecution of a President, but I also think that Trump just doesn't like being denied what he wants, like a toddler. "I WANT HIM! I WANT HIM! I WANT HIM!"

It really is amazing -- if that's the right word -- how some people can watch his testimony and not see all the problems with it. To me reasonable people see his avoidance of directly answering questions as a big red flag, his temperament as a big disqualification for being a judge, his accusals of political smearing by the Democratic Clinton-loving-Trump-hating wing as a big problem being impartial. But that's just me.

I read a fantastic article the other day by a lawyer analyzing the hearing and testimony: Why I find Dr Christine Blasey Ford to be completely credible. The NYT fact-checked his testimony. It's a long article but well worth it, imo.

After reading those, and other, articles, John's coverage seemed superficial, but that's understandable given the format and time constraint. Still, I thought it was well-done and important.

[iMonrey]

Now THIS is the kind of episode I really appreciate. Not some "quick recap" of the week then onto some main topic that isn't even time specific to Last Week. No, I prefer John to apply his special brand of magic to this type of current event.

Truthfully, the SNL skit this weekend was my first exposure to any of the testimony because I've made no effort whatever to catch the real thing. John's coverage of it just proves the real thing was actually in many ways stranger and funnier than the parody.

I think he best summed it up by saying Kavanaugh's testimony amounted to a philosophy of "Fuck the libtard cucks" or however he colorfully phrased it. Now obviously Republicans don't mind but you can't hide behind the pretense of bipartisanship anymore - justices are supposed to be bipartisan. That's disqualifying, right there, to sit there and say Democrats are out to smear you in revenge of the Clintons or whatever.

[ganesh]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Something that's not good, however? "Attractive" and "pleasing"? Fuck you, Hatch.

He's evolved so much since 1991. 

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

All the "Dateline"/"48 Hours" type shows I've seen, where somebody's accused of killing their spouse, and they're being interviewed about it, and they're trying so hard to force out some tears and look like they're grieving and weeping about how innocent they are...but it all just comes off so phony.

I never doubted that this was all an act. I was shocked that people bought it. I'm also glad that John said what I was saying - I don't think anyone doubts that what Ford said actually happened - they don't care. I was going to say that how could no one not call him on lying about the devil's triangle, but that's why. They know. They don't care. 

John also brought up a good point about why they want to die on this hill. Trump appointed him because he would rule that a sitting president can't be indicted, but I'm not so sure that the senators care. Just looking at the clips they showed, you'd think he was the reincarnation of Marshall. 

Hysterics aside, which if that's how you deal with adversity, dude - anyone THAT still into high school is just weird. 

[ganesh]

I think John missed the point about who paid for the polygraph. In the clip they showed, the prosecutor was asking because she was trying to find some partisan link to Ford coming forward. Her lawyer just got fed up and shut it down. 

[Popples]

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Watched it. Hearing Kavanaugh run through women’s names, I swear that I was thinking “Mambo No. 5.” And then John actually used that reference. Now I’m thinking of Lou Bega kicking back and collecting the royalties.

I totally thought Lou Bega was going to show up at the end when he said that, but Gritty turned out to be Chekov's reference.

[Victor the Crab]

I think calling Lindsey Graham "Baby Face Justice", after his insane nonsensical rant on Thursday, is perfect! Better than any homophobic reference thrown his way. He should be called that by all late night political comedians, including Bill Maher on pain of death.

10 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

In regard to the Philadelphia Flyers’ horrific mascot . . . wouldn’t John have said the same thing about the Philly Phanatic when he came out? But yeah, Sketti (?) does look like the product of Muppet incest fucking.

The Phillie Phanatic is cute and cuddly by anyone, not named Tommy Lasorda, when starkly compared to that nightmare known as Gritty. And as to threaten Iceburgh, the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot, who beat your side up in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last year? How many Cups has your side won when compared to the Penguins, hmmmm?!!! That said, Gritty would be an exceptional choice to represent Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, if God forbid he makes it there. I would have chosen a huge sack of actual bullshit, but hey this works well.

[peeayebee]

Above, I posted a couple of links to articles re the hearing. I had read so many over the past couple of days that I missed linking the best one: How We Know Brett Kavanaugh is Lying. This is long and awesome.

[stillshimpy]

21 hours ago, ganesh said:

I think John missed the point about who paid for the polygraph. In the clip they showed, the prosecutor was asking because she was trying to find some partisan link to Ford coming forward. Her lawyer just got fed up and shut it down. 

I'm pretty sure John got the point, he just thought it was a stupid point, some vast left-wing conspiracy in which the only way this story is told is if it was a financed effort.  It was $200, the price of a lower end designer handbag.  On sale.   Not quite the amount people would find in couches or anything but not quite the "LOOK AT THE CORRUPTION!"    He got the point, it was just a really stupid area to focus on in trying to make that point.  It wasn't, say, 130k or something.  Just as a not at all random number where it might be reasonable to see power exerting influence with money.  $200, also known as the amount that my son gets from his two grandmothers combined, still in his late twenties.  

This episode was my husband's first exposure to the footage from the testimony.   He kept watching it like it was a horror movie, from between his fingers, saying "What?!?" at increasing levels of alarm. 

Good episode, I didn't see the Gritty thing coming and laughed like a loon.  But...Gritty?  Nothing about this creature makes sense.  Gritty for the name of something related to an ice sport?  "Hi, I'm a synonym for dirt and I look like a demonic orangutang's bumhole!"    What the hell is he even supposed to have to do with ice hockey?  That's rhetorical, by the way.  

[monakane]

Gritty will give nightmares to toddlers.

[sacrebleu]

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I still don't think Oliver came up with an answer to the real question: why *this* abortion-opposing, conservative justice? 

The suspected 'why' is Gamble vs United States which is headed to the Supreme Court this term, and if overturned, would allow Trump to pardon co-conspirators at the federal level, and they would be free from prosecution at the state level.

 

Given Kavanaugh's theories on presidential authority-- he could be the deciding vote on a case that would allow Trump collaborators to wait on a pardon at the federal level-- and get off scott-free.

Edited October 2, 2018 by sacrebleu

[ganesh]

That and his writings on not indicting a sitting president, but John missed both those details.

[sacrebleu]

There is also a pretty out-there theory that Kennedy's son-- who works for Deutche Bank-- and is somehow connected to loans made to Trump. If a case involving the bank came before the court-- Kennedy would have to recuse. 

 

Again, it is a little more tin foil hat-ish-- but there is a belief that the timing of Kennedy's retirement was linked to a potential conflict with his son's employer and Kavanaugh got nominated as part of an agreement between Kennedy and Trump.

[jabinlbc]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 3:51 PM, peeayebee said:

Above, I posted a couple of links to articles re the hearing. I had read so many over the past couple of days that I missed linking the best one: How We Know Brett Kavanaugh is Lying. This is long and awesome.

Great article - thank you for sharing the link!

[mojoween]

I didn’t watch the testimony and wish I still hadn’t.  What the hell is wrong with that assholes FACE?  Every time they showed him doing something douchbaggy I became more and more enraged.

If he gets that pissy answering a simple question he has no business serving on the highest court for possibly forty years or more.  Christ.  What a dick.

Every time they showed him naming a litany of people all I could think of was Friends when Monica went out with Chip Mathews from high school and she asked if he still saw people they went to school with, and he said “not really” and then named like fifteen people.

[attica]

John can make fun of Gritty, but the mascot designers clearly understand something about Philly people that may not be discernible to the rest of us. For example: Protesters adopt Gritty as mascot of the Resistance.

[snowwhyte]

51-49 support for Kavanaugh heading into the final vote tomorrow. It looks like he will be confirmed. I feel so sorry for Dr Ford if after everything she went through Kavanaugh still gets confirmed. 

[Annber03]

Ugh. I may just block out the news tomorrow-it'll be my birthday and I'd like to not ruin the day with this shitty mess. 

@peeayebee, thanks for that article. Dang, they did better investigative work than the FBI investigation apparently did. I wish the Senate could read that article before tomorrow. I found these parts of it particularly interesting:

Quote

Kavanaugh also doesn’t mention another salient fact, which is that his father and Ford’s father were members of the same golf club.

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Now, Kavanaugh was simply wrong about the drinking age: It was raised to 21 in Maryland when he was 17. (Coincidentally, it was raised on July 1, 1982, the very day Kavanaugh was knocking back a few brewskis with P.J., Squi, and Judge.) And since Kavanaugh was 17 rather than 18, what he says doesn’t even matter, because either way he was drinking underage!

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Kavanaugh says that as a federal judge, he has been investigated up and down. You know who else was a federal judge? Alex Kozinski, the judge Kavanaugh himself clerked for, who turned out to have engaged in decades of sexual harassment without consequence and who even assaulted a woman on live television without it impeding his career.

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm....", indeed. 

I also liked their examination of how Kavanaugh's attempts to be so detailed in his evidence from back then actually backfire on him. I mentioned the "Dateline"/"48 Hours" comparisons above-that's another mistake I see a lot of people on those kinds of shows make, too. They think they're helping prove their innocence by recalling every last detail of their activities the night the crime in question happened, and think it counts as proof of an alibi...but really, they wind up coming off suspicious because a) most people do not have THAT perfect a memory recall, and b) it all just tends to read too convenient and well-timed and such. 

I hope to God this whole mess lights a fire under Democrats and independents come November. 

[peeayebee]

Annber03, I hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow.

If, as seems likely, Kavanaugh gets confirmed, the silver lining is that this will rile up the opposition, which will hopefully lead to a bigger turnout at the polls.

Edited October 5, 2018 by peeayebee

[Victor the Crab]

Nobody should hold their breaths hoping for a massive liberal turnout. If that were the case, we wouldn`t have had an orange fuckface in the White House to begin with.

[snowwhyte]

Kavanaugh confirmed 50-48. It'll be interesting to see what John Oliver has to say on Monday. It will be difficult to find any humour in this. 

[walnutqueen]

On 10/2/2018 at 10:45 AM, monakane said:

Gritty will give nightmares to toddlers.

Yes, and Brett Kavanaugh will give nightmares to grownups.

[Lantern7]

That’s not actually Gritty, is it? I don’t think the Flyers would be good with their new mascot being brought in a few times for intense ridicule. Hey, you think John could get Conan O’Brien’s Masturbating Bear?

[b2H]

We didn't get to watch the show, which we recorded, as we were out of town this weekend, but I told my husband the general idea, knowing he would be confirmed before we got to see the episode.  Sadly, I was right.

[monakane]

On 10/7/2018 at 11:30 AM, walnutqueen said:

Yes, and Brett Kavanaugh will give nightmares to grownups.

Mine have already started!

[Notwisconsin]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:11 PM, snowwhyte said:

51-49 support for Kavanaugh heading into the final vote tomorrow. It looks like he will be confirmed. I feel so sorry for Dr Ford if after everything she went through Kavanaugh still gets confirmed. 

Hey, don't blame Kavanaugh or the Republicans. Blame that asshole who leaked Dr. Ford's letter. They should have either leaked it as soon as they got it or not leaked it at all. The outcome might have been slightly different and the Democrats would still be 13% ahead in the generics.

[snowwhyte]

Nearly had a heart attack. Justice O'Connor is retiring from public lifebut has already retired from the bench. I am dreading another Kavanaugh situation. I read a justice is retiring and I panic.

Edited October 24, 2018 by snowwhyte
False alarm

[LBS]

@snowwhyte  SAME! I never have been so relieved that my spotty memory forgot that she had already retired.