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On 10/7/18 5:46 PM, John Reimann via Marxism wrote:
POSTING RULES & NOTES
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If somebody on this list subscribes to the Washington Post, would you
please copy and paste this article and either send it to me personally or
post it to the list. Thanks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rock-bottom-supreme-court-fight-reveals-a-country-on-the-brink/2018/10/06/426886e2-c96f-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
John Reimann
The Washington Post, October 6 at 7:01 PM
‘Rock bottom’: Supreme Court fight reveals a country on the brink
Trump: Women ‘extremely happy’ about Kavanaugh confirmation
President Trump on Oct. 6 said he is “100 percent” certain that
Christine Blasey Ford named the wrong person in accusing Brett M.
Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
By Michael Scherer and Robert Costa
When Christine Blasey Ford accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual
assault last month, she did more than open herself up to unwanted
scrutiny. She held up a mirror to a country in crisis, revealing its
political players and embattled institutions not for what they claimed
to be but for what they really are.
The painful 20-day passion play that followed — staged in committee
rooms, Senate floor debates, hallway protests and millions of private
conversations — did little to alter the future makeup of the Supreme
Court. Now-Justice Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed Saturday by the
Senate, 50-48, in a vote that tracked expectations from the summer, with
only one Democrat and one Republican defecting from the party line.
But few of the players emerged from the process unchanged or
unblemished, underscoring the uncharted territory of deepening distrust
and polarization that now defines the American system. The events
further distanced the Senate Judiciary Committee from its nearly
forgotten bipartisan traditions and raised new questions about the
potential for the Supreme Court to maintain an independent authority
outside the maelstrom of politics.
Public denunciations of the continuing slide were frequent and
bipartisan, while political strategists and lawmakers raised new alarms
about the ominous implications. Even top Republicans were downbeat on
Saturday afternoon as the vote neared, cognizant of the cost of the
political and cultural reckoning that had been sparked alongside the
confirmation process.
“There is a split culturally, spiritually and socially,” said Sen. John
Neely Kennedy (R-La.), who served on the Judiciary Committee and
supported Kavanaugh. “It has to do with the pace of change more than
anything else. There are some Americans who would like to see our
country change quickly.”
Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), the second ranking Republican, attributed the
divisions in Washington to wounds inflicted by Trump’s election in 2016,
which he said “half the population can’t seem to get over.”
Should Democrats win the House majority, as now appears likely, there
will be a major push among some members to impeach both Kavanaugh from
the high court and Trump from the presidency, all as special counsel
Robert S. Mueller III is expected to finish parts of his work on the
federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
That whirlwind on the horizon has leaders in both parties anxious about
how bitter national fights could escalate as Trump lashes out at his
opponents and the 2020 presidential race heats up later this year.
“The scar tissue will be thicker, the poison stronger, and the well of
distrust deeper,” said Republican strategist Michael Steel, a former
adviser to Speaker John A. Boehner.
Other Republicans see more fundamental cracks with historic connotations.
“This is the second most divided time in our history, and I’m worried
about the legitimacy of the court,” conservative commentator William J.
Bennett said, comparing the current moment to the breakdowns that
preceded the Civil War.
Protestors chant ‘chug!’ outside McConnell’s home
Protesters gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s
home with cans of beer, chanting, “Chug!” to protest Supreme Court
nominee Brett Kavanaugh. (Blair Guild, Rhonda Colvin/The Washington Post)
“You have a growing number of liberal critics saying that Kavanaugh
would give the court two people credibly accused of sexual harassment,”
he continued, “and they’re now
