The Beatdown Goes On

My hope is that today's tableau in the Senate is a profound and permanent inflection point. Christine Blasey Ford has shared with the world the sexual violence and trauma to which countless women have been subjected -- and the toxic entitlement of so many powerful men.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 27, 2018

Judge Kavanaugh's angry outraged response to Christine Ford is eerily reminiscent of Clarence Thomas's claim that he was a victim of a high tech lynching. The gender gap has never been so clear. Most Republicans will dismiss Ford's testimony. They will pay a price at the polls.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 27, 2018

I never had a moment where I doubted Dr. Blasey was telling the truth. I never had a moment where I felt Judge Kavanaugh wasn’t denying the truth— even if it was because he was so drunk he doesn’t remember.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 27, 2018

When Republicans vote for Kavanaugh today, it won't be because they think she was lying. It will be because they don't care that she was telling the truth.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 28, 2018

It is a fair argument that the Supreme Court going forward will effectively be destroyed as an independent branch of government.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 28, 2018

 The American Bar Association did not recommend Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court (he was ruled "unqualified," if memory serves).  The ABA recommendation was swept aside in determination to seat Thomas on the bench.  This was before Anita Hill came forward, and, according to Matt Lewis on NPR this morning, incurred the everlasting ire of conservatives, who were still stung by the rejection of Robert Bork (hence the "Borking" reference Kavanaugh made yesterday).  Lewis was arguing that everything that has happened to the Supreme Court since Bork is the fault of Democrats (and liberals, by implication), and also implicitly that conservatives bear no responsibility.  Which is an argument for privilege and entitlement and immaturity that were the hallmarks of Brett Kavanaugh's testimony yesterday.  There is, as Thomas Jefferson wrote, "a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."  Not by a king, but by an ideological movement; and it will brook no challenge to its authority, to its hegemony, to its absolute rule.  No more than Brett Kavanaugh will allow his place on the Supreme Court to be challenged.  When Republicans finally vote today, it will be because they don't care about what Dr. Ford said; and because they don't give a wet snap about the integrity of the Supreme Court as an independent branch of government.  All that matters, as Nina Totenberg said this morning, is that Mitch McConnell get the bench he's always wanted.

And then if the Democrats respond in kind, retaliate against Kavanaugh for his numerous lies in these hearings, for his outrageously partisan stance that shocked even Ms. Totenberg, the war will be fully engaged.  If it isn't engaged, however, how long can the republic stand a one-sided assault on all it is supposed to prevent from happening?