NYT Mentions 4 Takeaways From What We Saw Yesterday on The Confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh

Since the story is on every paper and cable channel I just wanted to give you in condensed way what we can take away from a nice well educated woman who was nearly rape by a someone who thought because of his standing in school and his parents money could get away with even rape.

I went in with my mind open and after Dr. Ford answered all her questions candidadly and even politely we got to Mr. K who los it. He came into the meeting like if Trump had just coached him. This is a Superior Court Judge and he comes in there with no decorum and not answering the question but to arguing with the Democratic Senators.You could see how a drunken K would have no control because  even f he was sober he had no control of himself.He is terrified of an FBI investigation! There is something he is hidding and do not want it to be discovered. 🦊Adam

WASHINGTON — Two weeks of chaos clouding Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation process culminated Thursday in a hearing that was stunning, even in a town notorious for partisan pageantry and intrigue.

Christine Blasey Ford, the first accuser to come forward and accuse Judge Kavanaugh of grave sexual misconduct, says that he assaulted her when they were teenagers, pushing her onto a bed, groping her, grinding his body against hers and covering her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream.

Viewers across the country — including a critical group of undecided senators who will decide the confirmation — were captivated as Dr. Blasey came forward to tell her story and Judge Kavanaugh fought to clear his name and salvage his spot on the nation’s highest court.

Here are the takeaways.

Dr. Blasey delivered raw, gripping testimony to the committee.

Dressed in a navy suit, Dr. Blasey maintained her composure throughout the hearing, though her voice often broke or shook as she detailed in raw testimony how “Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life.” 

 “I struggled with a terrible choice: Do I share the facts with the Senate and put myself and my family in the public spotlight?” she said during her opening statement. “Or do I preserve our privacy and allow the Senate to make its decision without knowing the full truth of his past behaviors?”

Judge Kavanaugh was aggressive, tearful and partisan in his own defense.

Judge Kavanaugh mounted a defiant and tearful defense that stood in stark contrast to the measured and passive interview he gave with his wife to Fox News, denying Dr. Blasey’s accusations forcefully and hitting back at Senate Democrats.“My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional allegations,” he said.He seemed intent on rebutting each point that has been used to cast aspersions on his character. 

The result was wide-ranging, 45-minute remarks that addressed how he spent his summer weekends as a teenager; the encouraging texts his friends sent him in the days preceding the hearing; and that he repeatedly that as a teen he drank beer, but never to the point of blacking out. Before the Senate, his family and God, Judge Kavanaugh said, “I am innocent of this charge.”

Early in his prepared remarks, he went directly at the Democrats, accusing them of inciting a “frenzy” to “come up with something, anything, to block my nomination.”

“Some of you were lying in wait and had it ready,” he said.

He also proved to be a combative witness. Asked by Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, if he had ever blacked out from drinking, he batted the question back: “Have you?”

The committee avoided an Anita Hill moment, but Republicans made their fury known.

Eager to avoid the optics of an all-male Republican panel of senators grilling a sexual assault victim, Senate Republicans chose to employ Rachel Mitchell, a sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona, to question Dr. Blasey.

The result of the format proved jarring at times, as the hearing moved rapidly back and forth between Senate Democrats’ politically freighted questions and Ms. Mitchell’s meticulous, prosecutorial style. But the effect of Ms. Mitchell’s careful, granular questions was limited by her five-minute blocks of time, and Senate Republicans expressed frustration at the impediment, though they defended their choice to retain an outside questioner.

While Dr. Blasey provided some small clarifications, she remained consistent in her testimony and appeared to gain confidence as the hearing went on.

When it came to questioning Judge Kavanaugh, however, Senate Republicans quickly took matters into their own hands — Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina exploded into a tirade directed at his Democratic colleagues.

“Boy, you all want power,” he said. “God, I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham that you knew about it and you held it. You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford. None. She’s as much of a victim as you.”

That outburst changed the tenor of hearings, and one by one, Senate Republicans, dismissing Ms. Mitchell, used their five minutes to apologize to Judge Kavanaugh and denounce their Democratic colleagues.

“You’re the first major target of a new strategy that’s developed here, and I think you’re right,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, told Judge Kavanaugh. “I think it’s just basically attack, attack, attack.”

All eyes will stay on the undecided senators.

Republicans on the committee, including Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, said they expect the committee to vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Friday morning, as scheduled. But while Mr. Kavanaugh’s scorched-earth testimony was well received by his conservative backers, he must also persuade a moderate group of senators known to break from party lines.

One senator who could delay a committee vote is Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, who fought to have the hearing in the first place. Mr. Flake, who is retiring at the end of the year, has offered few hints into his reactions to the testimony, and he declined to ask Judge Kavanaugh any questions during the hearing. But he previously offered his own test to reporters: “If you believe” Dr. Blasey, “you vote no.”

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, both undecided critical votes, also maintained low profiles on Thursday. Both pledged to refrain from making a decision until they heard both Dr. Blasey’s and Judge Kavanaugh’s testimonies.

Undecided Democrats running for re-election in Republican states will also be scrutinized, including Senators Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia.