The Senate faces a difficult and damaging situation; there is no doubt. However, it's only be made worse by the Senate itself. And it all goes back to the biggest wretch in what has been called, "the world's most deliberative body," and that would be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He, above anyone else, has poisoned the nomination process of the Supreme Court and it all started with refusing to give former Supreme candidate Merrick Garland a hearing when Barack Obama was president. Then he changed the rules for a 60-vote benchmark to confirm a Justice, going with a simple majority once Donald Trump won the presidency. Now he's trying to ram through the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the midterm elections, anticipating the possibility that Republicans may lose control of the Senate in November.
Mitch McConnell has single-handedly politicized and poisoned the Supreme Court beyond repair, and as long as he is the leader of the Republican caucus in the Senate, it should be given no quarter, ever.
This brings us to the Senate's performance with regard to the sexual assault allegation brought forth by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Judge Kavanaugh, which in agreement with Chris Matthews she had the duty as a citizen to come forward. To be clear, Senators on both sides have done a disservice to the American people, but considering that Republicans are in control and chair the Judiciary Committee, they shoulder much more of the blame.
Not to leave out the fact that Senate Republicans have made the following statements:
Senator Dean Heller (NV) - "This is a hiccup." Really? Sexual Assault is a hiccup?
Senator Orrin Hatch (UT) - "This woman who ever she is, is mixed up." He's had a misogynistic attitude his entire Senate career.
And last but not least, Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), "We're going to plow right through it, and do our job." What a tool. It? There is a person involved and her name is Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
In Chuck Todd's interview with Senator David Perdue (R-GA), he stated the Judge Kavanaugh has been vetted six times by the FBI. Well, there should be a seventh time because as Mr. Todd pointed out he has not been vetted about this incident, which Mr. Perdue thinks unnecessary. Then Mr. Todd posed the question of what Mr. Perdue did in these types of situations when he was in the private sector, to which he answered that he would seek to be thorough and get all the information in determining the truthfulness of the allegation. But do you see the contradiction here? Now that he's a senator, he finds it unnecessary to use all of the resources available, namely the FBI looking into it, to get to the truth of the matter.
As Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) pointed out, the Republicans have predetermined this to be a he said/ she said because they have not called for the FBI to look into it. She also said that Republicans failed the test in 1991 with Anita Hill and they are doing no better in 2018; no doubt.
With all that said, it's easy to see that the Democrats are playing politics here as well in there attempts to delay the vote on Judge Kavanaugh or scuttle it altogether, retribution for Merrick Garland. Though after watching the hearings, the real issue is that Judge Kavanaugh lied to the Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) about not knowing that he received stolen confidential emails while Mr. Kavanaugh worked in the Bush White House. That should have already been a disqualifying instance.
As Helene Cooper of The New York Times pointed out, it's incredibly difficult for a woman to come forward to report a sexual assault. This is backed up by the point that Senator Murray made that there was a time when young women were told by their parents not to say anything. One could accept that that still happens. When young boys are sexually assaulted by the clergy, they may not report it for decades out of shame, just one of many reasons. It's a similar situation in both cases.
On Thursday, the American people will hear from Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey Ford, and they'll make the determination of which person is more credible, but if you've been paying attention Mr. Kavanaugh's credibility is already suspect and he's undeserving of a lifetime appointment to the United States' highest court.
Panel: Chris Matthews, MSNBC; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Jonah Goldberg, The National Review; Helene Cooper, The New York Times
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