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On October 05 2018 09:18 Danglars wrote:Show nested quote +On October 05 2018 01:06 xDaunt wrote:On October 05 2018 00:46 Danglars wrote:
It looks like McConnell is sticking to cloture vote Friday, and final vote on the weekend or Monday. I pray his spine does not weaken in the next 72 hours, and that Flake, Collins, Murkowski, Donnely, and Manchin make the right choice when the vote comes. I've basically given up on Heitkamp. She can die on this hill and get her just desserts from the voters for all I care. I think that the 51 republicans, plus Manchin and Heitkamp, will vote for Kavanaugh. Heitkamp is officially a no on Kavanaugh. She's now basically a lame duck Senator. She was already trailing, and her state supports Kavanaugh.
Yeah she seems to be trying to save face since her race is already lost. Doesn't look like she would have won regardless of Kavanaugh but this will make her lose by more, as it's certainly ginned up the base.
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Republicans on Capitol Hill are speculating about the new letter released by Grassley's office. He sent it to Dr. Ford's lawyers, issuing the same verbal thrashings and requests for evidence turnover as before.
Now for the speculation. That last paragraph notes "in light of recently uncovered information, please turn over records and descriptions of direct or indirect communications between Dr. Ford or her representatives" and Feinstein, Hirono, Keyser, Judge, PJ Smyth, Ramirez, Swetnick. This is Chuck Grassley. He's not captain bluster. He might have something on Hirono & Feinstein to call them out by name and request records not yet turned over.
A friend of Christine Blasey Ford told FBI investigators that she felt pressured by Dr. Ford’s allies to revisit her initial statement that she knew nothing about an alleged sexual assault by a teenage Brett Kavanaugh, which she later updated to say that she believed but couldn’t corroborate Dr. Ford’s account, according to people familiar with the matter.
Leland Keyser, who Dr. Ford has said was present at the gathering where she was allegedly assaulted in the 1980s, told investigators that Monica McLean, a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and a friend of Dr. Ford’s, had urged her to clarify her statement, the people said.
WSJ
Leland Keyser was pressured to change her testimony by a former FBI agent who's friends with Dr Ford, and the Senate has copies of the private messages between them. What? The week isn't even over yet.
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Yeah, my guess is that there is something in that FBI report that is going to result in some people burning. Witness tampering and collusion/coordination of the Kavanaugh hit are both on the table.
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If Manchin ends up being the deciding vote for Kavanaugh they better never let GH back into the Mega-Thread
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On October 06 2018 00:08 Nebuchad wrote:
If Manchin ends up being the deciding vote for Kavanaugh they better never let GH back into the Mega-Thread
He will finally get his wish and Manchin will be ejected from the party as Joe Lieberman 2.0.
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Democrats should be aching to get this confirmation done and over with. Worst case scenario for them would be for Kavanaugh's confirmation to fail at this point.
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Short term maybe. For those of us who rely on things like protections for pre-existing conditions, he is far worse long term.
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On October 06 2018 01:10 Plansix wrote:
Short term maybe. For those of us who rely on things like protections for pre-existing conditions, he is far worse long term.
If Kavanaugh goes down, he will either be renominated after the election, or Trump will nominate someone else who will be effectively the same. The Democrats have badly miscalculated.
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On October 06 2018 01:15 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:10 Plansix wrote:
Short term maybe. For those of us who rely on things like protections for pre-existing conditions, he is far worse long term. If Kavanaugh goes down, he will either be renominated after the election, or Trump will nominate someone else who will be effectively the same. The Democrats have badly miscalculated.
Likely true, but that only shows that conservative politics effectively bad for me. But the new nominee might not be a feckless politics operative.
Also, the Democrats didn’t really do that much. It’s been Republicans uncomfortable with the rush to vote with outstanding allegations that caused this. The democrats just existed and didn’t vote for the most unpopular nominee in modern history.
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On October 06 2018 01:23 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:15 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:10 Plansix wrote:
Short term maybe. For those of us who rely on things like protections for pre-existing conditions, he is far worse long term. If Kavanaugh goes down, he will either be renominated after the election, or Trump will nominate someone else who will be effectively the same. The Democrats have badly miscalculated. Likely true, but that only shows that conservative politics effectively bad for me. But the new nominee might not be a feckless politics operative. Also, the Democrats didn’t really do that much. It’s been Republicans uncomfortable with the rush to vote with outstanding allegations that caused this. The democrats just existed and didn’t vote for the most unpopular nominee in modern history.
How in the world can you say that the Democrats did not do much? Have you not been paying attention to what has happened over the past couple weeks? Did you forget that Feinstein sat on the Ford accusation for 6 weeks and released it at the last minute? And that her office almost certainly leaked it to the press at the last minute "precipitating" the need to make it all public (not to mention that Ford was clearly planning for it to go public for weeks by lawyering up and doing the polygraph)? That's all before we get to the Democrats' public smearing of Kavanaugh. It simply beggars belief that anyone could think that the Democrats haven't done much. Given the abrupt swing towards the GOP in election polls, it seems quite clear that the American public very much believes that the Democrats have done quite a bit.
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But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling.
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On October 06 2018 00:08 Nebuchad wrote:
If Manchin ends up being the deciding vote for Kavanaugh they better never let GH back into the Mega-Thread
Well.
Though I suppose 51-49 isn't technically "deciding."
On October 06 2018 01:15 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:10 Plansix wrote:
Short term maybe. For those of us who rely on things like protections for pre-existing conditions, he is far worse long term. If Kavanaugh goes down, he will either be renominated after the election, or Trump will nominate someone else who will be effectively the same. The Democrats have badly miscalculated.
I'm not a fan of his. I'm not disingenuous enough to think of a reason to disqualify someone who for all intents and purposes looks fully qualified to hold the position (and who, on the issues, seems perfectly aligned with what Trump would pick), but I would choose someone very different myself. But... Democrats don't have the votes to do squat about this, and by golly is this farcical claim of sexual misconduct disingenuous. I am sympathetic to opposing him on political grounds, but the votes simply aren't there. This is kind of disgusting politicking.
I have to hand it to Trump though, he rediscovered the time-honored secret of court-packing: offer opposing judges a very cushy retirement. That's some really smart dealing on his part.
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On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling.
Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks.
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On October 06 2018 01:53 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling. Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks.
Eh, not much worse that letter from the FBI that said they were looking at some emails that turned out to be nothing right before a presidential election. But that wasn’t even a leak, they just ran out and told everyone about that. Or leaking information from an ongoing investigation so often that the Justice Department stopped turning over requested documents.
Again, I cannot feel bad for Republicans getting a taste of their favorite tactic. It’s not the way things should be, but no one is putting their knife back on the table at this point.
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On October 06 2018 01:59 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:53 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling. Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks. Eh, not much worse that letter from the FBI that said they were looking at some emails that turned out to be nothing right before a presidential election. But that wasn’t even a leak, they just ran out and told everyone about that. Or leaking information from an ongoing investigation so often that the Justice Department stopped turning over requested documents. Again, I cannot feel bad for Republicans getting a taste of their favorite tactic. It’s not the way things should be, but no one is putting their knife back on the table at this point.
I said at the time that Comey had some explaining to do when he reopened the investigation. I still think that he has a lot of explaining to do about what happened, and I also think that we're going to learn more about what happened in the coming months as the investigations into the FBI/DOJ continue. And that leak didn't coming from the GOP anyway. It came from the NYPD if I recall correctly.
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On October 06 2018 01:52 LegalLord wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 00:08 Nebuchad wrote:
If Manchin ends up being the deciding vote for Kavanaugh they better never let GH back into the Mega-Thread Well. Though I suppose 51-49 isn't technically "deciding."
Apparently the senator from Montana is attending his daughters wedding and won’t be at the vote. He was pretty firm about it and said “the voters of Montana will understand that family comes first” when pressed on the issue. I don’t know how that is going to work out, but it looks like McConnel forgot to check the Senate Republican conflict calendar.
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On October 06 2018 02:01 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 01:59 Plansix wrote:On October 06 2018 01:53 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling. Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks. Eh, not much worse that letter from the FBI that said they were looking at some emails that turned out to be nothing right before a presidential election. But that wasn’t even a leak, they just ran out and told everyone about that. Or leaking information from an ongoing investigation so often that the Justice Department stopped turning over requested documents. Again, I cannot feel bad for Republicans getting a taste of their favorite tactic. It’s not the way things should be, but no one is putting their knife back on the table at this point. I said at the time that Comey had some explaining to do when he reopened the investigation. I still think that he has a lot of explaining to do about what happened, and I also think that we're going to learn more about what happened in the coming months as the investigations into the FBI/DOJ continue. And that leak didn't coming from the GOP anyway. It came from the NYPD if I recall correctly.
I just looked it up. Comey’s letter to the Senate leadership was leaked almost immediately after it was received by government sources. That was either the FBI or senate staff. Or both. But the GOP was happy to pounce on it. We are far away from the days when the Gore campaign received Bush’s debate prep book and instantly turned it over to the FBI.
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On October 06 2018 01:52 LegalLord wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 00:08 Nebuchad wrote:
If Manchin ends up being the deciding vote for Kavanaugh they better never let GH back into the Mega-Thread Well. Though I suppose 51-49 isn't technically "deciding."
Yeah I was counting the fact that Daines isn't there this week-end, but I would expect they're going to get around that
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On October 06 2018 02:09 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 02:01 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:59 Plansix wrote:On October 06 2018 01:53 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling. Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks. Eh, not much worse that letter from the FBI that said they were looking at some emails that turned out to be nothing right before a presidential election. But that wasn’t even a leak, they just ran out and told everyone about that. Or leaking information from an ongoing investigation so often that the Justice Department stopped turning over requested documents. Again, I cannot feel bad for Republicans getting a taste of their favorite tactic. It’s not the way things should be, but no one is putting their knife back on the table at this point. I said at the time that Comey had some explaining to do when he reopened the investigation. I still think that he has a lot of explaining to do about what happened, and I also think that we're going to learn more about what happened in the coming months as the investigations into the FBI/DOJ continue. And that leak didn't coming from the GOP anyway. It came from the NYPD if I recall correctly. I just looked it up. Comey’s letter to the Senate leadership was leaked almost immediately after it was received by government sources. That was either the FBI or senate staff. Or both. But the GOP was happy to pounce on it. We are far away from the days when the Gore campaign received Bush’s debate prep book and instantly turned it over to the FBI.
It's not the same for multiple reasons. First, it was already public knowledge that Hillary's emails had been found on Weiner's laptop. Second, and let's get real about this, Hillary actually did something that was, in fact, wrong, and probably a crime. We know that she had emails in places where they shouldn't have been. Totally different situation from uncorroborated smears. Why Comey chose not to prosecute is under investigation as we speak. And as I have pointed out previously, we now know that one of his biggest justifications for not prosecuting -- that there was not evidence that her server was compromised by foreign states -- has been proven false.
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On October 06 2018 03:59 xDaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2018 02:09 Plansix wrote:On October 06 2018 02:01 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:59 Plansix wrote:On October 06 2018 01:53 xDaunt wrote:On October 06 2018 01:50 Plansix wrote:
But all the people accusing Kavanaugh came forth on their own or were discovered by reporters due to rumors around his time at Yale. The democrats have used those reports in the opposition to Kavanaugh, but they would be morons not to.
And leaks are part of the political world. You loved every single leak about the Clinton investigation, so excuse me if I don’t find your objections to the same tactics(assuming leaks happened) that compelling. Yes, leaks happen all of the time, but these leaks were particularly egregious. Again, it was the leak of uncorroborated and highly unquestionable allegations at the last minute before a vote when the information (such as it was) had been known for weeks. Eh, not much worse that letter from the FBI that said they were looking at some emails that turned out to be nothing right before a presidential election. But that wasn’t even a leak, they just ran out and told everyone about that. Or leaking information from an ongoing investigation so often that the Justice Department stopped turning over requested documents. Again, I cannot feel bad for Republicans getting a taste of their favorite tactic. It’s not the way things should be, but no one is putting their knife back on the table at this point. I said at the time that Comey had some explaining to do when he reopened the investigation. I still think that he has a lot of explaining to do about what happened, and I also think that we're going to learn more about what happened in the coming months as the investigations into the FBI/DOJ continue. And that leak didn't coming from the GOP anyway. It came from the NYPD if I recall correctly. I just looked it up. Comey’s letter to the Senate leadership was leaked almost immediately after it was received by government sources. That was either the FBI or senate staff. Or both. But the GOP was happy to pounce on it. We are far away from the days when the Gore campaign received Bush’s debate prep book and instantly turned it over to the FBI. It's not the same for multiple reasons. First, it was already public knowledge that Hillary's emails had been found on Weiner's laptop. Second, and let's get real about this, Hillary actually did something that was, in fact, wrong, and probably a crime. We know that she had emails in places where they shouldn't have been. Totally different situation from uncorroborated smears. Why Comey chose not to prosecute is under investigation as we speak. And as I have pointed out previously, we now know that one of his biggest justifications for not prosecuting -- that there was not evidence that her server was compromised by foreign states -- has been proven false.
Yes, but it also does not negate all the other leaks the GOP has been thrilled to send to the press. You folks love leaks and l would love a leak like this about any further democrats nominees or candidates. The “leak” in the Kavanaugh hearing might be one of the more effective leaks, but those are the breaks. As Kavanaugh said “what goes around, comes around.”
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EPT
