Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed by the Senate in a 50-48 vote. Fox News. Kavanaugh was supported by all Republicans except Lisa Murkowski who voted present and Steve Daines, who wasn't present due to his daughters wedding and wasn't needed for the vote. Senator Joe Manchin crossed over to vote with the Republicans, being the only Democrat to do so. Kavanaugh's nomination was almost derailed by sexual assault accusations. The FBI investigated those accusations and found no evidence for them. The nomination turned into a partisan fight, but that fight is over now.
My Comment:
Keep in mind that the actual vote total would have been 51-49 if not for bad scheduling on the part of Steve Daines' daughter. Daines would have made it to vote but President Trump and the GOP said that he should enjoy the day as they had the votes regardless. That's going to be an interesting historical footnote, but it's still important to note.
As for the rest of the votes, I think that both Lisa Murkowski and Joe Manchin will be paying a major political price for what they have done with this vote. There is already talk of Murkowski getting primaried during her next election and if Manchin does manage to get reelected he might be forced out of the Democratic Party. That's a big if though as even though Manchin is popular among his red state voters, they may not forgive him for what the party has done to Kavanaugh. And Murkowski is likely done as well.
As for me, I have been disgusted with this entire process. The entire thing seemed surreal to me and it was very frustrating to see the left give up one of their core values, which is the rights of the accused. It is stunning to me to see the supposed party of science and evidence just abandon all that and demand everyone just believe women without evidence no matter how ludicrous the accusations are.
It's not like the Democrats hadn't tried this before though. They did it with President Trump and Senate candidate Roy Moore. It failed with Trump but it did gain them a senate seat with Roy Moore. One that will likely be taken back in 2020, but still, it worked.
The problem is that in both those cases the accusations were at least somewhat believable, while the accusations against Kavanaugh never were. Trump was and is world famous for being a womanizer who cheated on his multiple wives. And Roy Moore did in fact date teenagers as an adult back when that was more acceptable than it is now.
But Kavanaugh? He was a choirboy. The man had an impeccable record with women, regularly employed them without any issue whatsoever and just didn't seem to have the temperament to attack anyone, let alone a woman. The idea that he groped Dr. Ford was a longshot, but the idea that he was some kind of frat boy gang rapist was so beyond the realm of possibility that it undercut even Ford's accusations. People didn't buy it outside of leftist circle jerks.
I think the accusations against Kavanaugh were an eye opener for a lot of people. The left dropped a lot of masks that the general public weren't aware of at this level. I knew for a long time that the left was going in a super-feminist direction but I think for a lot of people this was the first time they heard something like "believe women" or "listen and believe". And I think people didn't like what they heard at all.
The idea that we should accept all sexual assault accusations, without a consideration of the evidence or possible motives for lying, is un-American to say the least. I think a lot of people think that the accusations against Kavanaugh were supported for political reasons, and I think for the leadership in the Democratic Party, that is true. But what worries me is that the rank and file actually think that a mere accusation of misconduct is enough to kick someone out of society entirely. I think many of us on the right had that realization too.
I knew it a long time ago though. It started with Gamergate of all things, where you had a lot of people saying that we should "listen and believe" to women regardless of what the evidence said. After that there was a spate of sexual assault cases at colleges that turned out to be completely false. There was the Rolling Stone "A Rape on Campus" article and the "Mattress Girl" case with both turned out to be debunked. It opened my eyes for sure but until know I don't think a lot of people out their realized that there were some people so into feminist dogma that even asking for evidence is considered a sexual hate crime. Now everyone knows about these people and will have to look out for them.
I think it's going to change people's behavior. I myself have vowed never to be alone in the same room as a far leftist/sjw activist. I know that some men want to adapt the Mike Pence rule where they aren't alone in a room with any woman that isn't their wife or family member. I don't think men have to go that far to avoid false accusations of sexual misconduct as the vast majority of women aren't like this but avoiding personal contact with someone who believes both that false accusations are not a thing and that all men are rapists is just good common sense. I can't imagine actually dating someone who believes such things and for once I am actually very glad that I am single.
Of course the deranged protesters probably helped things as well. There weren't many reasoned arguments against Brett Kavanaugh or his polices. Instead we had people calling in death threats against him, his family and Senators considering voting for him. We had people yelling and screaming and disrupting the government all for nothing. The protesters weren't even trying to convince anyone, they were just trying to make life harder for everyone who either didn't agree with them or didn't care.
This nomination has united the right in a way that Republicans could only dream of before. We are now in a position in this party where the alt and populist-right is praising people like Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, who used to be condemned as a neo-con and Republican in name only respectively. And there are a lot of never-Trump people saying that they are going to vote for Trump in 2020 largely because of the horrible behavior of the left. Voter enthusiasm is up and a lot of Senate and Congressional races have tightened quite a bit in polling in Republican's favor. Who knew that trying to derail a compromise candidate that was acceptable to almost everyone on the right with unproven and then ludicrous sexual assault accusations would unite them? Apparently not the Democrats.
As for the Democrats, they have made a mistake. I have seen quite a few people on the left say that they have gone too far and that they are either going to stay home in November or are actually crossing over to vote Republican. Sure the feminist base is all riled up, but that was already the case. They were already going to vote Democrat but by pandering to them the Democrats have likely pushed many other supporters away. I think the rumors of a blue wave are not going to come to pass and this behavior is going to be a major reason why. My official prediction is that Republicans maintain control of the house and actually gain a few seats in the Senate.
Lost in all this is the political implications of the Supreme Court having a true 5-4 split. There really isn't a swing vote anymore as Kavanaugh will likely be more conservative than Justice Anthony Kennedy, who he is replacing. This doesn't mean any of the hysteria over abortion will come to pass as Kavanaugh isn't likely to repeal Roe vs Wade, but it is a huge win for things like gun rights. I am actually hoping that some of the first cases taken up by the Kavanaugh court will be 2nd amendment issues.
Finally, I have to say that the past few weeks have been exhausting. While it was a relief to finally see the media leave President Trump alone for awhile, it was disgusting how they were trying to destroy Brett Kavanaugh instead. I know that I could have covered this story more than I did, but the truth was that I was exhausted with it as everyone else is. I hope that after today we can move on and as a nation talk about something else for awhile.
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