Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Vulnerable Democrats face Kavanaugh crisis: Vote for decency or smears

When President Trump nominated D.C. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, red-state Democrats up for re-election knew they faced a difficult choice: betray either liberal party leaders or the conservative voters who could end their political career.

Kavanaugh's solid performance during Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings eliminated the possibility of a misstep that Democrats hoped for, leaving Sens.

For a week, it looked like the last-minute referral from Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to the FBI of Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh would stall the vote until after the November midterms.

Now that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has vowed a floor vote on Kavanaugh's nomination "In the near future," red-state Democrats face an impossible choice.

The choice awaiting Democrats is now between confirming Kavanaugh or endorsing a "Grotesque and obvious character assassination" of public servants to achieve political ends.

Before Senate Democrats could reclaim the narrative, Stormy Daniels' gadfly attorney Michael Avenatti cemented the public's disgust over the treatment of Kavanaugh, with Avenatti claiming he has evidence that Kavanaugh promoted and participated in gang rape.

It is a much different one than they faced just a month ago: A "No" vote on Kavanaugh now is not merely bucking the desires of their conservative electorate, but it is a "Yes" vote on vile character assassination.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/vulnerable-democrats-face-kavanaugh-crisis-vote-for-decency-or-smears

No comments: