I’ve been talking for the last few days about how I consider Kavanaugh’s likely history of sexual assault to be disqualifying, but that his perjury potentially foreshadows even greater threats to justice in SCOTUS, and also that it is more likely to cause Senators to vote against his confirmation.
Jeff Flake (R-I don’t give a shit) has now affirmed exactly that latter view on 60 Minutes when he and Chris Coons were interviewed together. From RawStory describing and quoting from the interview:
In an interview beside Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the two men also agreed that there’s no way they’ll be comfortable confirming if Kavanaugh was found to have lied.
“Nomination’s over?” they were asked.
“I would think so,” Coons said at the close of their interview.
“Yeah,” Flake agree.
I think it’s pathetic that so many Senators think that credible allegations of rape and sexual assault should not even be investigated, but there you are. The real hope for stopping the nomination is making sure the FBI seriously investigates the accuracy of his testimony.
Don’t stop talking about the sexual assault, but the next time you call your senator, make sure you also mention Kavanaugh’s plentiful perjuries.
John Morales says
Nice read: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/30/kavanaugh-v-ford-us-senate-hearing-exposed-ugly-truth
John Morales says
PS
I think it’s better than that; I think it’s apparent to any non-motivated observer.
(And the world is watching)
lotharloo says
I think you are missing something. If Kavanaugh lies in the hearing and commits perjury, he then loses credibility, which he then loses in the “she said/he said” battle. If we agree that Ford is honest and Kavanaugh is a fucking liar, then guess whose case suddenly got more credible.
Narrativium says
Lurker here…
But flake has only suggested he would vote against if Kavanaugh is proved to have lied by the FBI investigation, which surely will not happen because of the “scope” imposed upon it. So far it looks like the FBI have been given permission to talk to only four people: Judge, the other two Ford named as being at the house party, and Ramerez. All have already been spoken to and are safe bets not to bring any new evidence. The FBI are specifically NOT allowed to talk to anyone about Kavanaugh’s drinking or spread the net to include people he was at school of college with, who might contradict him. Also Swetnick’s allegations have been excluded from the investigation (well almost… they have been gratiously permitted to ask Mark Judge whether he drugged or gang raped anyone in high school. No? Well, thank you for your time…). They haven’t even been permitted to speak to Kavanaugh himself so far as far as I can see. It looks like it is going to be a total white wash, with Trump doing what he likes best, blatently lying about things he is doing in plain sight.
brucegee1962 says
There’s also the fact that he seemed to be ignorant of the fact that it was not legal for him to drink at the time in Maryland. Of course, that would only be disqualifying if he was trying to get a job where he would be expected to possess a thorough knowledge of the law. Oh wait…
Marcus Ranum says
They don’t care about perjury, either. They’d all instantly lie under oath if it gave them some advantage.
This is all about naked power, not truth or ideology.
Owlmirror says
It’s not the perjury per se; it’s the getting caught perjuring.
Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says
@Narrativium:
That gives us reasons to add that information (about the FBI investigation’s inadequacy) to our calls to our senators.
@#s 6 & 7:
Yeah, there are reasons I wish I had been able to italicize “might” in the headline of this post…
One thing I perhaps should have reported in this is that Flake ALSO said that he wouldn’t have called for an investigation if he’d been up for reelection. Gross.
ardipithecus says
FWIW, the FBI are now allowed to question anyone they wish, but they still have the justice obstructing time limit.