As many of you may be painfully or happily aware as the case may be, Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed and sworn in as an associate justice to the Supreme Court. I don't feel pain or happiness with those events, I am just an observer. After reviewing the hearings, the punditry and analysis, I noticed some interesting timing of the events leading up to the confirmation of Mr. Kavanaugh.
What follows is purely subjective speculation, a sort of "food for thought" article. The summary of this article, to put it simply, is that the allegations of sexual assault are a distraction from other allegations that are far more worrisome to someone like Kavanaugh and his allies. It seems to me that Kavanaugh is an inconvenient pawn in a much bigger game, the scope of which, I cannot claim to know. I can only say at this point, that an incredible sleight of hand has just occurred.
Here is a list of 31 lies or at least, misleading statements, that have been observed to have been made by Mr. Kavanaugh. As I read the list, I noticed that quite a few had nothing to do with allegations of sexual misconduct. Most in fact, were observed before any allegations of sexual misconduct became public.
Note also how this article delineates the credit card and other debts of Mr. Kavanaugh and how they were conveniently and somewhat mysteriously paid off, sometime in 2017. After reading that article, and several other corroborating accounts in the press, it seems reasonable to ask, "Who owns Judge Kavanaugh?"
I have watched all of Mrs. Ford's testimony and most of Mr. Kavanaugh's testimony. To compare the two, I found that Mrs. Ford was direct and candid. Yes, there were lapses of memory, but she was willing to admit to them. I found Mr. Kavanaugh tended to be indirect, evasive and combative at times. I find it hard to believe that someone who "likes to drink beer" would have zero memory lapses since alcohol kills brain cells.
Yes, Kavanaugh is the one in the hot seat, but if he really believes his innocence, and he has so many friends in high places, he might comport himself as more relaxed. What I saw in Mr. Kavanaugh was a resentful and indignant teenager in an adult body.
Now take note of The Hill's timeline of the events leading up to the confirmation of Mr. Kavanaugh to take the empty seat on the Supreme Court. Notice how Christine Blasey Ford's letter was leaked a mere 5 days after the original confirmation hearings were complete.
That looks to me like someone on Kavanaugh's side did some fact checking and went, "Hmmm. Somebody just perjured himself and he won't be confirmed without some enormous distraction."
I note also that Ford's letter was leaked from Senator Diane Feinstein's office. So they say. Why would Diane Feinstein intentionally leak the letter when she has a reputation and a promise of confidentiality to maintain? Yes, she could be politically motivated to leak the document. But notice that in Lie #4 in that list, documents were stolen from a Democrat, current Senator Patrick Leahy, and came into Kavanaugh's possession. Notice also that in the last election, the Democrats were hacked. I don't know, but now I'm thinking of Watergate.
I also note that Mitch McConnell has called for an investigation into the leak of the letter. The timing of the leak, the sensationalism around it and the intense focus of the media and other observers on the sexual misconduct allegations on their own, suggest to me, that this is a ruse. I've even mentioned this idea in passing in another debate on the allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh. My suggestion that the leak of Ford's letter was intended to distract us from other problems with Kavanaugh's testimony and statements on other matters, well, that was ignored or not seen as relevant. I don't know for sure. But I don't think enough people are paying attention to all of the other problems with Kavanaugh.
I agree that it's important to investigate the allegations of sexual misconduct, don't get me wrong. But given the way Mr. Kavanaugh's debts were paid off, and the odd nature of the source of those debts, and that the source of the funds to pay off those debts was not revealed, along with the numerous misleading statements made by Mr. Kavanaugh, in contradiction with well established facts reported by newspapers of record, I'd say that we're all supposed to have our eyes trained on Mrs. Ford, not Mr. Kavanaugh.
Given the long list of misleading or even knowingly incorrect statements, I'd say that the odds are good that Mr. Kavanaugh was in some very warm water already. Even without Mrs. Ford in the mix, it would seem that someone would very much like to protect Mr. Kavanaugh, a great Republican warrior and ally, with a long history of loyal support to the party. Elevating Kavanaugh to Supreme Court Justice would provide him with at least some cloak of judicial immunity.
Take for example, Lie #4 from that list where Kavanaugh denied receiving documents stolen from Senator Patrick Leahy back in 2004, and denied the same again in 2006. Yet, email evidence showed that Kavanaugh knew the documents were stolen. That seems like a good case of perjury to me, yet it has never been taken up. It was mentioned once during the Ford/Kavanaugh hearings, but never seriously pursued.
Mrs. Ford's letter was made public against her wishes and, I suspect, that it wasn't Mrs. Feinstein or any of her subordinates who leaked the document. I think there is good reason to believe that it was acquired and leaked by a Republican ally for the purpose of creating a distraction.
I also think it's highly probable that nothing will ever come of the investigation of the leak, because, we're not supposed to consider the idea that some Republican allies decided that a distraction would be necessary to get Kavanaugh confirmed, lest a full investigation of previous lies be used to prevent confirmation.
About half of the lies in that list I referenced earlier have nothing to do with the current allegations of sexual misconduct from 3 women. If it can be proven that Mr. Kavanaugh spoke even 1 of 15 provable lies, that would increase the probability that he's lying when he denies having anything to do with Mrs. Ford as a teenager. And there is still the question of how his credit card debts were paid off. And why would a judge even need to make misleading statements at all?
Things might seem settled for now. But there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that Democrats will regain a majority in the House of Representatives come this November. Both sides seem to be energized for this election. I know that I am. I will be voting.
FiveThirtyEight is projecting that there is a 7 in 9 chance that the Democrats will gain a majority in the House. They also forecast a gain of about 35 seats.
After this election, it is likely that the Democrats could find enough votes to submit articles of impeachment against Kavanaugh. It could also put the Senate in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why there should be no impeachment trial when there is clearly evidence that undermines Kavanaugh's character as a judge. That is evidence that would also bring into question his motivation and temperament for pursuing a seat on the highest court in the nation.
Democrats would only need to prevail on just one lie, one impeachable offense, to get an impeachment trial going. That would put the Republicans in a very defensive and untenable position for the foreseeable future because there is no way they can maintain a majority in both houses of Congress for the rest of Kavanaugh's life. That might make impeachment of Kavanaugh a near certainty.
Write on.