You may recall that after Christine Ford testified at the Kavanaugh hearing, and before Kavanagh's partisan political rant, the Republicans were in a state of dismay and disarray. Ms. Ford was clearly believable and sympathetic. The Republicans and had to acknowledge that. What were they to do to reconcile the effect of her testimony and demeanor with Kavanaugh's denial? They of course wanted to talk about a conspiracy by the Democrats but there was no way that Ms. Ford fit in with that narrative, particularly given her prior consistent statements. So they came up with a typical criminal defense strategy, positing an unidentified perpetrator as someone responsible for the treatment Ms. Ford described. Now this was completely preposterous but it was the best they could come up with.
Yesterday pres. Donnie had a similar problem to deal with. It appeared that Washington Post columnist Kashoggie had been murdered in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Ankara turkey. But, as Donnie the Daft said, the king" Strongly" denied any knowledge of such a thing. (People talking to Donnie always do so "strongly".) The problem was that there was increasing evidence from Turkish officials that the columnist had in fact been murdered in the consulate. What to do? As Donnie pointed out, there was a buck to be made from the Saudi's. So, perhaps with some help from the Saudi's, Donnie concocted another phantom perpetrator, a" Rogue attack ". Also there was discussion from the administration of the important role Southeast played in the strategic security plans of the United States as a valuable ally. They perhaps a forgotten that al Qaeda came out of the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia and that the 9/11 bombers we're Saudi's. In siding with Saudi Arabia and the Sunnis, they also forget that the terrorist in a Iraq were Sunnis not shia. In fact, the Saudi's are easily as despicable as Iran, witness their bombings of Yemen, and their purges of their own people. Nonetheless, Donnie went with the Rogue actor theory and maintained his support for the Saudi's. After all, they gave him a red carpet ceremony, promised to buy are $125 billion in arms from the US, which of course they haven't, and were really nice to Jared.
Son of a gun, the Saudis are now apparently forced to admit that the columnist was killed in their consulate, but of course the royal family had nothing to do with it. It was a rogue operation. They have no explanation of why two plane loads of 15 operatives, apparently bringing with them a bone saw, flew in and out of Ankara in less than 24 hours. They also wish the world to believe that was done without the blessing of the royal family even though nothing ever is. That is the sad state of affairs. Just one more example of the incompetent liar we have for a president being made a fool of by a foreign autocratic state. The lesson is, if you can't fabricate a conspiracy, use phantoms.
Monday, October 15, 2018
Friday, October 5, 2018
Mini–me
There was a fair amount of speculation that when Bret Kavanagh went off in his rant against left wing conspiracies and revenge for the Clintons he was following instructions from the Trump administration. That is of course just a theory or a storey but it has a great deal of verisimilitude. His Imperial Majesty does not bless those who do not have a fair measure of attack dog in them. It is also instructive that during that rant he was reading from a prepared script. He was not reacting to a hostile question.
It is now clear that the nomination will pass and it is also clear that the nominee would do practically anything in order to secure his position. The clincher was the announce votes of Sen. Susan Collins. Her vote was at the end of a nearly hour-long" speech". I haven't heard her speak before and I must say that didn't sound like something she had written herself. It pretty much looked like a brief prepared by the Federalist Society, Particularly the analysis of judicial opinions either written by the nominee or which he had favorably described.
Be that as it may, it is hard not to believe that Trump now has a mini-me on the Supreme Court. The best we can hope for is that this justice will know he is under closer than usual scrutiny. It appears that he has exhibited wildly different behavior during periods of his life. Perhaps his better angels will reassert themselves. In any event, had this nomination failed the Federalist Society would've produced another clone. Regardless of the midterm elections, the Republicans would've controlled the Senate until January and pushed through their nominee. Our best hope now is justice Roberts who certainly is a conservative but it appears to have a fair amount of integrity.
It is now clear that the nomination will pass and it is also clear that the nominee would do practically anything in order to secure his position. The clincher was the announce votes of Sen. Susan Collins. Her vote was at the end of a nearly hour-long" speech". I haven't heard her speak before and I must say that didn't sound like something she had written herself. It pretty much looked like a brief prepared by the Federalist Society, Particularly the analysis of judicial opinions either written by the nominee or which he had favorably described.
Be that as it may, it is hard not to believe that Trump now has a mini-me on the Supreme Court. The best we can hope for is that this justice will know he is under closer than usual scrutiny. It appears that he has exhibited wildly different behavior during periods of his life. Perhaps his better angels will reassert themselves. In any event, had this nomination failed the Federalist Society would've produced another clone. Regardless of the midterm elections, the Republicans would've controlled the Senate until January and pushed through their nominee. Our best hope now is justice Roberts who certainly is a conservative but it appears to have a fair amount of integrity.