Swamp Creatures

Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice perhaps as soon as the end of this week. The Republicans have the votes and it is highly likely that at least two Democratic Senators from Red states will cross the aisle and vote in favor of confirming him. All of the antics we witnessed in Washington D.C. over the past few weeks have been nothing but political mise en scene, the Republicans always had the votes and it should have been evident to everyone that the Democrats were simply delaying the inevitable in an effort to rally their base.

It is quite a shame that the country was torn apart during the process around allegations that happened three decades ago when the nation could have been debating topics of real substance. Topics that actually reflect on how Kavanaugh will perform his duties on the nation’s highest court. Information such as the fact that he leaked information regarding Grand Jury proceedings during the Vince Foster investigation and that he in effect helped cover up Vince Foster’s murder. Leaking information on a secret judicial process or aiding and abetting criminals is infinitely more relevant than his high school drinking habits, yet we heard almost nothing about it over the past few weeks.

Instead of debating these very meaningful topics, society was once again cleaved by wedge issues such as abortion and feminism. Women wearing costumes out of The Handmaids Tale held up signs claiming that women would lose the right to abort pregnancies the minute that Kavanaugh took his seat on the Supreme Court Bench. Others confronted Jeff Flake in an elevator screaming at him that they too were victims and that white men were not respecting their rights and the root cause of all evil. The debate sank so low that a professor at Georgetown University called for the “miserable deaths” and castration of entitled white Republican senators. If that’s not bad enough those statements were made without one ounce of criticism from the administration of what many consider to be such a prestigious institution. In the environment that this “debate” created, Senators had to be escorted through crowds of demonstrators yelling bloody murder. Rather than rationally discussing issues of substance the American people were once again cleaved apart along race and gender lines. One has to wonder whether this is not really the objective of those controlling the debate because certainly it wasn’t about whether or not Kavanaugh would be an effective Supreme Court Justice.

Had we not been forced to deal with the fabricated issues our attention would have been drawn to the fact that Kavanaugh has been neck deep in D.C. politics since graduating from Yale. His first job in DC was to serve as  a clerk to Ken Starr.  He then followed Ken Starr when Starr became head of the White House’s Office of Independent Council. After the 2000 election he joined George Bush Jr’s administration as White House Staff Secretary.  Working in the Bush II administration is when Kavanaugh’s behavior really became concerning. During his time at the White House and prior to being appointed to the US Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh supported and assisted the effort to pass the Patriot Act. His involvement was such that a statement he drafted was incorporated in the bill signed by Bush. Recent documents made public via a FOIA request also show that Kavanaugh supported and played a role in warrantless wiretapping, and the establishment of “Fusion Centers”. Kavanaugh clearly supported the surveillance state and that should be much more concerning to all of us than whether or not he got in bar fights “back in the day”.

The division, anger and hate appears to actually be benefiting those on the right. During his confirmation process Kavanaugh became a rallying cry for Republicans that saw the process as the modern equivalent of dragging him to the town square and locking him in a pillory. The impact has not been insignificant. Incumbent North Dakota Democrat Senator Heidi Heightcamp is now down ten points in the polls. Others running for office in Red States are equally vulnerable. The public humiliation of Kavanaugh has not sat well with many Americans and according to one poll as many as 60% support his confirmation.

One has to ask themselves why the left did not pursue more valid and dignified criticisms of Kavanaugh than to bring up stories that might or might not have ocurred 30 years ago while he was in high school. Is it because the real criticisms might be just a little bit too close to home? Is it possible that those controlling the Democrat agenda did not want to dredge up information about the shady circumstances surrounding Vince Foster’s death? Would the Dems be in a position to criticize his support of the surveillance state when they have been enabling it for decades? Could it be that in this day and age the both left and right are so monolithic that it becomes hard for one to criticize the other for reasons beyond sexual misconduct, fabricated or not. This certainly does appear to be the case for if there were any difference between the two parties there would have been more substance to the debate.

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