6 FBI background checks over preceding or during Kavanaugh's government career. As a former DOJ employee I can speak to the thoroughness of these checks after undergoing 2 in my career.
They contact, and interview, any and everyone available from current friends and business associates, all the way back to high school friends and acquaintances. How does all this alleged vile behavior get overlooked only to surface just before a SCOTUS confirmation hearing?
I'm still waiting for verifiable evidence of any of the allegations.
Ford testifies tomorrow. We'll see if she can clear up the hazy details of her allegations. Ramirez has already been discredited by those people contacted by NBC including her best friend at the time she claims the incidents occurred. Swetnick claims only that she witnessed a number of incidents of sexual assault involving Kavanaugh. She doesn't claim she was assaulted. Does she have creditable, corroborating witnesses who will back her story? And, it should be noted that hiring Avenatti certainly doesn't do anything for the creditability of her story.
Would any of you who have already decided Kavanaugh is guilty without any verifiable facts being presented want to be treated the same in a court of law? Guilty until proven innocent???
Show us the facts. IF Kavanaugh is guilty of any of these vile acts I'll be the first to call for his resignation. But, he, and g=his accusers get the benefit of the doubt until such a time.
4
Frank, every woman in the world knows men lie.
5
Deception is in play. Honesty is not an option. What others think is a vision that is being manipulated for a purpose. First, not enough background history to make a good faith judgment. Second, because mother nature abhors a vacuum, independent voices have filled in that void. If the powers to be had allowed access to Kavanaugh's actions and efforts during his employment with the government, these personal interest addendum's would be moot and of no apparent value to the conversation.
The picture I get of Kavanaugh is an entitled, arrogant, misogynist willing to lie and bully his way into power. He and Trump certainly have that in common, or Trump wouldn't have picked him. But they aren't the only such jerks in this movie--I'd say the Republican senators who support them are all cut from the same cloth.
13
Assuming Democrats will get a majority in the mid term elections, can Congress pass a law to designed Kavanaugh as a sex offender (regardless if he will be a judge on the supreme court or not)?
1
My opinion of Brett Kavanaugh is that he is a total, bald-faced liar. How fitting that Trump wants him on the Court.
6
A Supreme Court Justice, as is any judge, is supposed to be impartial and fair to both sides, weighing the evidence equally and objectively in search of the truth.
His behavior during the initial phase of questioning was evasive and manipulative, like a campaign strategy designed to steamroll through to a vote as fast as possible.
And it has been no different in this phase. Any concerns brought forward about his suitability for this lifetime appointment are brushed aside as a needless impediment to their plans.
They have all made foregone conclusions before even hearing the evidence. And Kavanaugh's exaggerated bragging about himself is sickening. He is not a good candidate for a justice of the country and the momentous decisions the court must consider.
10
Kavanaugh is obviously not SCOTUS material, but if he needs a new job now, perhaps our dotty, senatorial cheerleaders could find something for him in a local traffic court as long as he promises not to go too easy on drunk drivers.
3
Applying the idea of "the fruit of a poisoned tree", after what was done with the Garland nomination as well as how the current occupant of the Oval Office was "helped" into that location, for me the first character disqualification comes when a candidate accepts a nomination from Trump.
8
I don't think Kavanaugh is all that complicated. He's lived all his life in an oddly insular world. A hothouse flower. DC with an intermission for Yale. The deal was great things and a great life would be his IF he lived life within a carefully proscribed set of lines and expectations. To all appearances, he did that. But at the same time, the effort for a smart and impulsive kid creates an emotional and behavioral pressure cooker. Drinking to excess, fits of anger, even rage, sexual explosiveness are all eruptions to be contained, denied, somehow smoothed over, buried under the "What happens at (blank), stays at (blank) contract. For some victims though, the contract wasn't binding under any and all circumstances.
9
Excellent piece. I think that there are many sides to any person, but seldom so incredibly different. Was alcohol the differentiating force or was it simply that he sees himself as free at certain times to simply act above the rules? Whichever, this would be a troubling person to have on the Court and all the more so that he doesn't seem to be aware that these questions of character matter.
3
That letter with the signatures of 65 women -- not men -- but women that magically appeared in Grassley's hands the day after Ford came forward should send up red flags. My contention is that the FBI DID uncover some unsavory stories about Kavanaugh during their vetting process and that info prompted finding a group of women to sign a letter which the GOP held in their back pocket in the event something happened == a woman coming forward with a sexual assault charge. I have yet to see anyone in the media investigate the magical appearance of that letter.
9
Through every phase of Kavanaugh's life, it seems, is his eagerness to please people who can help him get what he wants. In high school and college, he wanted to be popular, so he did what it took--he allegedly drank to excess and behaved in a way that made him seem manly. Afterward, he wanted to be successful, so he became a diligent scholar, always with an eye to pleasing his superiors.
In short, he is a follower, not a leader. This is not a person who belongs on the Supreme Court, who will follow whomever he wants to please next.
He needs to withdraw his nomination and go away for a while, to find out who he really is, and how best to live out the rest of his life as an authentic human being.
9
He needs to apologize for what he did and to take responsibility. The reality is that he is a changed man, but those horrible things happened. First, a man willing to do those things, even when drunk, is obviously not fit for the Supreme Court. There are plenty of other men who get drunk who don't do those things. Second, since he denies the claims against him, he is likely lying, and thus he should not be on the Court. A man willing to lie for personal benefit is not fit for the Court.
12
I just hope that a few pubs stand up for the country and vote no on kavanaugh. His presence on the Court would be a big mistake.
3
Whether he is a sexual predator or not, he lied repeatedly under oath. That itself should be enough to disqualify him.
8
Thank you, Mr. Bruni. This is an insightful and well-articulated column. Human beings only show partial selves in each of their roles in life. Just wanted to add that NPR reported yesterday that the Yale professor who wrote in praise of him also now believes that an official FBI investigation should be conducted into Kavanaugh's past behavior, given the accusations that have been brought forth against him.
4
Yet another liberal “maybe” story about pathetic (unverified) sins of a conservative. The ol’ NYT just ain’t what it used to be.
Why not post a real, verifiable news piece that doesn’t rely on anonymous source, officials that choose not to be named, or unverifiable information.
3
Democrats have hit the very bottom of the barrel. Non of these accusations has a shred of truth. It's all politics and the most simplistic and vulgar politics. Democrats have absolutely no idea how much anger they are creating among the conservatives and they will pay a heavy price for this blatantly corrupt behavior. None of these blatantly false accusations has done anything but made more conservatives and normal Americans more anxious to vote against the Democrats and for the Republicans in November.
3
Now a second woman accuses Republican Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
8/17/98 Democrat President Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting president to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct. After the questioning at the White House is finished, Clinton goes on national TV to admit he had an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
How can we keep our country moral, decent and honest? How can we protect our little children? How can we stop promoting indecent and immoral lifestyles to the rest of the world? Simply put God back into the equation.
Whether republican or democrat, Christian or atheists, if what we think, say, or do is decent, moral and right...then it comes from God. If what we think, say, or do is indecent, immoral and wrong then it does not come from God. You can only lie to yourself and others, but not to God. This may be why separation of church and state exists. Blessed be those that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
While we may possibly agree that Kavanaugh was both a young gentleman and a drunk predator, the problem is that he himself is incapable of acknowledging this.
This makes him a hypocrite of the greatest magnitude and should disqualify him from any position that requires any honesty and integrity.
9
Kavanaugh is willing to lie for a lifetime Supreme Court Appointment. He wants the job and feels entitled to the job way too much. It’s actually scary what a liar he is.
5
The entire Brett Kavanough confirmation process by Mr Grasseley, the chairman of the Senate Judicial Committe with the Republican majority is ludicrously flawed.Republicans do not want to know the veracity of Kavanough predatory habits ,his lying,he being incredulous drunk while at the School at 17, when drinking legal age prescribed had been 21.
Judge Kavanough is hiding the truth and only he knows the truth.It is being confirmed instance by instance.Any rational person watching the unfolding efforts to place the truth under rug and pretend that Republicans are verifying the facts , can not be persuaded that it is a fair fact finding trajectory.
On the very face of it Dr Ford has turned out to be a most honest person ,a believable saga of Kavanough attempt to rape her when she was mere 15 is being placed before the Americans.Furthermore, Dr Ford has submitted four affidavits to Mr Grasseley, including one from her husband that she narrated attempted rape by Kavanough to each much before Kavanough was nominated to the Supreme court.
How ridiculous it looks that the Mr Grasseley does not give any credence to these legal issues and refuse to budge when Kavanaugh character is questioned that he is unfit to sit for life at the US Supreme Court. It is sheer brazen arrogance componded by his loyality to a President who himself is a confirmed sexual predator.
Dr Ford is not alone, Debbie Ramirez ,4 others are on line to testify that each were object of Kavanough sexual lust.
4
Granted that human’s are complicated and capably of many things (even if only in thought – thank you Sigmund F.). What Frank leaves out is that more mature humans admit this complexity and integrate the various sides of themselves as best they can over time. What this takes is relentless self-scrutiny, honesty, and compassion. Kavanagh appears to lack these qualities. He only can live with the boy scout version of himself. It’s this immaturity and lack of compassion that make him a poor candidate for a life time appointment where he will be asked to rule about complex issues regarding complex human beings.
5
He's an opportunist, conformist, and coward without any true core. Everything mentioned in this column adds up to that. He is unqualified by character to be the judge of others, whether on the Supreme Court, the DC Circuit, or in any other context.
4
"I don’t believe that anyone persuasively accused of what Christine Blasey Ford says that Kavanaugh did to her has any business on the Supreme Court. So we must try our hardest to come to a best guess.."
Absolutely no guessing!
The country needs a Supreme Court nominee with support from both sides of the aisle. A person who has an exemplary record as a scholar and a personal history of steadfast respect for the rights of others. A candidate with strong personal ethics, who can be trusted to render unbiased and sound legal judgments for a nation torn by partisanship. A job which will perhaps extend over the next 30 years.
2
surprise surprise he assaulted Dr Ford and is a fine family man. surprise surprise Dr. Ford had to live with that assault in her life- she had to move on or live with it or get over it or what ever- and she probably has except for one thing her assailant is on the front page of all the newspapers and the media and web and he is going to be come a justice of the US Supreme court- you can bet on that one-- just ask Mitch. So adding insult to injury- she has put this assault in some sort of safe place but every so often it comes back in some way to haunt her- we all know that feeling- "hello darkness my old friend i have come to be with you again." If the assailant had just stayed off the front page- just stayed on the lower court- just left her alone in her pain- we would not be here- but adding insult to injury here he comes with his story of virtue. And he is not running for office- he is getting a lifetime appointment to the most influential body in our democracy- oh he deserves it- but what about her and her pain?
11
Character assassination with uncorroborated accusations and innuendos is unbecoming of a respected news organization such as The Times.
Bruni, most other regular Times Opinion columnists, and the Editorial Board have dedicated their efforts to blocking his confirmation by any means necessary.
The smearing of Kavanaugh or anyone else based on allegations unsupported by facts violates our principles of justice.
3
kavanaugh is distinctly UNQUALIFIED to be a judge. He’s a liar. He has seriously questionable finances. What does he actually know about the law?
4
We've all seen what happens when a man in charge who himself has been credibly accused of assault or sexual coercion does when others that work for him are accused: minimize it, deny it, blame the accuser, or attack someone else they've convinced themselves is worse. Notable examples: our current prez, Roger Ailes, Leslie Moonves, and Kavanaugh when he went after Bill Clinton. Does any rational (emphasis on that word) person still believe this guy would be an impartial arbiter of precedent-setting cases that will affect Americans for generations?
3
This column adds an additional layer to why girls and women don't report. We know we won't be believed because we have friends whose interactions and experiences with the person who raped us never included anything other than respect, apparent kindness and genuine friendship. Some women are elevated to that desired status while other of us, for whatever reason, are designated targets. I fell into the second category due to, I can now guess, had to do with my own insecurity, inexperience with boys and men, inability to assert myself and lack of sophistication. It sounds like Ms. Ramirez fit that description too to some degree. I do believe her and Ms. Ford, not because I reflexively believe all accusers, but because it all sounds so familiar and because this behavior was accommodated as somehow normal. If its victims didn't exactly have it coming to them, they were foolish and naive, and really should have known better, and so-in-so really is a good guy. Based on what I see from the WH and Congress right now, it seems little has changed.
4
I don’t know how much I can add to the thousands of comments about Kavanaugh from the multiple articles and Op-Ed’s, but I thought I’d share this. I wanted to better understand the Garza v. Hargan case (the Jane Doe abortion case). I’ve seen quotes attributed to Kavanaugh saying to a 17-year old something like, you have to bear the consequences of your actions and was thinking wow, the karma! But sort of supspected he never really said that.
Of course, he never actually met Jane Doe and was sitting on a 3-judge panel. But I watched part of it and what I saw was Kavanaugh asking hypotheticals—he asked 3 questions and you could hear the lawyer (probably Garza) trying to respond and he talked right over her each time, not allowing her to answer. It was annoying and pompous and I suppose what federal judges feel entitled to do.
Even before the Blasey-Ford allegations, I considered him a bad choice with some seriously questionable things in his background, both personal and judicial. The dichotomy of the two images, the squeaky clean Boy Scout and debt-ridden drinker bothered me right away. And when I saw his typical entitled, talk-right-over her manner in the courtroom, it just confirmed it for me.
11
We have known this guy all our lives, Frank. White women my age--I'm 60--have always known the Brett Kavanaughs of the world. We know that all men don't try to assault us, even if the Bretts of the world gave it a go when they were kids. We know they grew up to deny it.
3
I’m guessing that every priest who raped children could easily find 65 people who would attest to their character and kindness. It is possible to be a monster to some while appearing to be a saint to others. In fact, it is this duality that often makes it possible for predators to go undetected for years. It also makes their behavior that much more egregious - they have shown that they have the capacity for and understanding of decent, kind and ethical behavior but instead choose to prey on the most vulnerable.
9
Have to get the Catholic religion thing out of the way first before making other comments. So, if Kavanaugh did attempt rape of a 15 year girl, do you think he went to confession and told his priest? Just asking!
Beyond that hypothetical, seems like a need to zero in on POWER and the addiction of power. Would someone who is addicted to power be a serial lyer to maintain their addiction. I think so.
The position Kavanaugh is seeking is about power but it is also ironically about a blindfolded lady with scales. It is about the truth.
Kavanaugh can be a sinner like the rest of us, but lying and justice are not compatible. He should just withdraw and salvage his life. We will all foregive him if he tells the truth.
6
Maybe he WAS both, as many 17-year-old males are - at least to some degree. Destroying the life and career of an accomplished jurist for supposed actions taken while a juvenile is nothing more than a cheap political trick. The diabolic and calculated nature of the Dems sneak attack makes me sick.
1
Fine column, Mr. Bruni. If anyone doubts the existence of very dark and ugly traits in the personality, a brief survey of the history of some godly priests in the Catholic Church would erase all doubt. Strangely, girls and women show far less propensity for decidedly ungodly behavior but are far too often the victims of it.
What is shocking about Messrs. Trump and Kavanaugh (and many others) is that Republicans are so willing to ignore their heinous behaviors in the rush to pack the Supreme Court with "pro-life" men.
Anyone else see the utter stupidity of such an goal?
6
Any person who cannot and will not own their behavior at various points in their life is deceitful, at best. At worst, they are Trump redux. His performance (and it was a performance) on FOX showed me what I needed to know - that here is a man willing to say anything to secure his place on the Supreme Court.
Most of us would, when confronted with poor behavior at a young age, say that yes, we maybe drank too much and did stupid stuff. If, during those moments, we did something that was hurtful, we apologize. Most of us would not categorically deny we ever did anything wrong.
Kav was no choir boy, yet he is desperate for us to believe that he was. He is willing to lie to make us believers. Smart Americans know a con job when they see one. He is one big con.
If he is confirmed, without a full investigation, he will forever be under a cloud, and rightfully so.
6
@Dixie Same. Once I saw him vehemently deny EVER having been black out drunk I knew he was lying.
2
That a guy is an alcoholic in high school and college somehow eschewed his behavior pattern simply is not believable. Surely Brett still is a drinker. I also hope his daughters never meet a guy like their father. An investigation of all witnesses under oath is invaluable. We are not hiring the town crier for goodness sake, we are talking about a position that can have a lasting effect on millions of people. That job should not be given to a pickled brain.
4
I hate that we have to talk about this as part of a Supreme Court nomination process. But I do like where at least comments are trending - that the real problem with Kavanaugh is his lack of introspection and humility and his overall entitlement.
So many of our leaders also possess these traits. And the people who vote for them either do as well, or wish they could. This is what's wrong with America today.
4
It's only now, and much too late, that the "locker room" behavior of straight white men in power is getting its proper come-uppance. For another demonstration of the evil of the whole mindset, which is utterly incapable of critical self-awareness, watch again the movie "Philadelphia." May Kavanaugh not escape the mounting wave of resistance to and disgust over it.
2
It's very late in this game to cry foul, in my opinion. The #MeToo phenomenon is completely justified and long, long overdue; but as someone who finds feminism the most powerful framework through which to view politics and economic philosophy, I think that Kavanaugh's future shouldn't rest on his behaviors during the drunken debaucherous days of school in the 1970's and 80's. It seems he couldn't "handle his liquor". Neither could Ted Kennedy, at an older age, and he was forgiven enough to pursue a powerful career. The standards are different today. These are far more sober times, literally and figuratively. Kavanaugh has made up for his sins, in my mind.
I'm sorry, and I'm sure Brett Kavanaugh is sorry, for the women's suffering in this case, and I wish them future peace in their journey for healing; but nothing good will come to the individuals involved, from picking apart the behavior of a good man in a perverse culture during his youth. The larger #MeToo struggle will undoubtably benefit from these discussions, however.
By the way, I do disagree with his politics in this high stakes arena, but this is a political process and the chips will fall where they may. Activism is the only thing that can fight activism, so lets get busy fighting for greater justice, especially when the forces of regression are so strong in these times.
Deborah Ramirez’s allegation is similar to Christine Blasey Ford’s in that all of the witnesses they name say they have no recollection of the events described. According to the New Yorker article the author references, “One of the male classmates who Ramirez said egged on Kavanaugh denied any memory of the party. ‘I don’t think Brett would flash himself to Debbie, or anyone, for that matter,’ he said. Asked why he thought Ramirez was making the allegation, he responded, ‘I have no idea.’ The other male classmate who Ramirez said was involved in the incident commented, ‘I have zero recollection.’” The author present hearsay allegations that Kavanaugh was once a heavy drinker, but the only irrefutable evidence is Ramirez’s confession that she was drunk and slurring her words at the time. According to the New Yorker, Ramirez initially “was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party.” No prosecutor would present such allegations to a grand jury.
There will not likely be any conclusive determination of the truth in the accusations against Kavanaugh. However, its probably safe to say he is no longer the type of person described in the sexual assault allegations and related accounts. On the other hand, there are certainly vestiges of his high school and college experience that still inform his personal views and his views from the bench. Do we need the views of another white male raised in privilege to make judgements on our law? Simply. No.
To reject Judge Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme court is not about fairness. We don't need to be fair to the Brett Kavanaugh.
Life has been more than fair to him already. We need to have a justice who will be fair.
The cases that reach the court are sometimes strictly about the law but more often come down to judgements on moral issues, about what is right and JUST. Men of privilege often have the law on their side- or at least they have lawyers and byzantine contracts on their side - but that does not always result in a just outcome.
For the supreme court we would be better served by someone with life experience that goes beyond the worlds of privilege who can distinguish between the dictates of the law and the dictates of justice and knows who when to prioritize justice
2
Another thoughtful analysis Mr. Bruni! Your words have exquisitely framed the puzzle that is Brett Kavanaugh. In regards to his interview of Fox News, there is only one man who I'm aware of that walked on water.
1
The most important reason to vote for or against a Supreme Court nominee is that persons character.
We all have a good side and a dark side. The question is do we admit to the dark side?
Most people of character will admit it to a priest or to a partner or close friends.
People who want to be one of the highest judges in the land have to admit it in public. That very act is the definition of high character in a person.
The fact that Kavanaugh denies the accusations in and of themselves would not have me vote him down. What does have me voting him down is that against the evidence written in his own hand he was a drunk often in High School and at Yale.
The fact that he publicly has not admitted to drink more then most and that he may well have done things, and going into detail, that were wrong tells me he has no real sense of what is write and what is wrong.
Science tells us that the brain does not fully develop until the late 20's. Particularly in regards to long term consequences of ones actions. I can forgive some of his actions of his youth, but I cannot forgive his actions in the last few weeks.
Since he refuses to admit to his drunkenness, I do not want him passing judgment on the most important issues of the day. It is all about character.
4
Kavanaugh's nomination should have been withdrawn when he blatantly lied in his acceptance speech, "No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination."
It is horrifyingly clear that Kavanaugh fits right in with the rest of the Republicans: Win at any cost.
6
This is a fair and sober analysis of the situation. But it misses (or at least under-emphasizes) one key point: Judge Kavanaugh did not say "Yes, I drank a lot in high school and college. Yes, I had an unhealthy teenage boy perspective about women and sex, partly a product of my cultural touchpoints at the time. But that was then and I am a different person now." None of that would excuse any of his alleged behavior - but at least it would have demonstrated some personal integrity. No, instead, he is denying any of this is possible-- that he was not the person portrayed by any of these stories. Even if we can never really be sure about Dr. Ford's or Ms. Ramirez's allegations as none of us were there. BUT, we can get to the bottom of whether any of this caricature of Judge Kavanaugh from high school and college are truthful. And if it is, and if he did not come out and disclose all of that in connection with this confirmation process when originally approached or later when it started to come out in the press -- well that seems disqualifying. How can we allow a Justice to the Supreme Court fail to meet such a low bar-- regarding personal integrity (and not at 17, but now at 53). The Senate can not "advise and consent" to put someone on the Supreme Court that can not meet a minimal standard of honesty in describing his own character, talents and weaknesses alike. But instead goes on national news to insist that he has ALWAYS shown women respect.
8
Right you are the Kavanaugh, perhaps any of us, are multi-faceted, different people to different people depending on the relationship.
However, such multi-faceted-ness is commonplace in the upbringing of privileged white suburbanites raised to a sense of entitlement. Having taught at preparatory schools, I am aware of their assumed distinction between themselves, the privileged few, and others, including classmates from families not in the social register.
The only escape early in life is parental moral guidance. I am not sure what to expect of that in Catholic families, especially in light of recent disclosures about the moral guidance provided by the Church and its clerisy.
2
Thank you, Frank. Knowing very well that you're capable of mordant wit makes this quietly thoughtful piece all the more impressive. It sets an example of intellectual and moral honesty, as well as a certain kind of modesty.
All that remains to be said is that the senators have an obligation to weigh the different parts of this man's character as revealed to different people, and then to weigh one more factor: the apparent honesty or lack thereof with which he has publicly judged himself. Honest judging is, after all, what we require of a Supreme Court justice.
2
Wander into a few AA meetings and listen carefully, then decide if any of this sounds familiar.
5
“So we must try our hardest to come to a best guess about what happened more than 35 years ago”
No. I think we can form a judgement based on how he has reacted to the issues raised at his confirmation. I think he is a ‘win at any cost partisan’ and not suited to the court. I would ask him:
1. Did Trump really talk to more candidates for the SC than any previous president? Or was that what Trump calls useful hyperbole?
2. Is it appropriate for public officials to lie? How many lies are too many? 1000? 5000? If Trump’s tax audit is finished, should he release his tax returns as he promised during the campaign?
3. If a politician breaks the law to get elected, does that invalidate the election? How big does the crime have to be? Campaign finance violations? Conspiracy with a foreign power?
4. Is the FBI conflicted and politically motivated, or are they capable of an objective investigation? Would you support the FBI reopening your background check? Would you believe the FBI if it presented evidence of Trump’s campaign conspiring with a foreign power?
I think he would evade the answers to all these questions, so as not to anger Trump. I think that proves he is not independent enough to be any type of judge, much less one on the SC.
9
Agreed, but what strikes me about K. Is that nearly all the allegations against him are from high school or college. If the worst you can say is that someone was a jerk in college, that's probably pretty good.
1
I have 2 sons in their 30s. I would be beyond disgusted if either had done what K is accused of. I don't buy the " boys will be boys " excuse. I also condone lying .
4
There needs to be a confidential psych exam for men, maybe directed to the lovely denizens of the red states first. One two-part question: How long would you wait, and under what circumstances would you cease waiting, to reveal your own male rape victimization to the entire world? I'm sure most men would answer (a) "Forever" (b) "None." If so, wouldn't that make men the cowards?
2
He’s dirty,I know he is.There’s no way he deserves a seat on the Supreme Court . This is so outrageous on the part of the Republicans and the moron that all I feel is sickened, unbelievable what they’ve done to my country.
4
"Maybe" he was both.
But maybe is not very reliable.
Maybe Frank Bruni steals paragraphs of his writing from other writers. Maybe.
Maybe Frank Bruni didn't share his toys in the playground and is therefore not a considerate person. Maybe.
Maybe Frank Bruni harbors resentment toward other successful people instead of being happy for them. Maybe.
Maybe Frank Bruni's editor fell asleep instead of being more careful with this headline. Maybe.
1
@Maurice Gatien
Maybe you are correct in your characterization of Mr Bruni. But what we know for certain is that Mr Bruni is not seeking a lifetime appointment to the US Supreme Court. Mr Kavanaugh is. And that's where the "maybe" become relevant.
3
The name Brett Kavanaugh reminds me that he could be a child of a Stepford Wife. However, he is a Stepford Man and represents everything that the male white patriarchal establishment society demands in their power structure. He has ingratiated himself into that priesthood of white Republican male dominated political creatures beckoning for a return to Alexander Hamilton’s call for an aristocracy to rule the US as he envisioned with the Federalist Party. Don’t let his smirking grin fool anyone. He has been groomed for this job by those in dark rooms controlling the power structure. His pedagogy his pure Yale corporate authoritarianism. For him to deny the actions of Federal judge Alex Kosinski tells me he lacks honesty and objectivity to sit in the Supreme Court. He will do the bidding of the Federaist Society which is means corporate fealty and anti-democratic principles.
5
@jeff bunkers There are many people like me in America that would really like to get to the truth in this situation, but both sides are more interested in using this to further their political position. I have heard troubling statements from both side, but insinuating that he must be guilty because of his name takes the cake.
1
There is zero evidence Kavanaugh was a “drunken sexual predator”. Zero.
There is a ton of evidence the institutional left is out to destroy this man because he is a conservative.
2
@Cjmesq0
I don’t know about “zero.” You perhaps don’t understand some of the references in his yearbook. Maybe it was just stupid bragging, but it sounds at the least drunken and sex obsessed.
3
@Cjmesq0 Tons of evidence the insitutional left is out to destroy this man? What are you talking about? What is that evidence? Provide it. For example, we knew about Richard Mellen Scaife's "Arkansas Project', which was set up for the sole purpose of finding dirt on Bill Clinton to bring him down, as well as John Whitehead from the Rutherford Iinstitute, along with Lucieanne Goldberg, among others. My guess is that actual evidence of the "institutional right" being out to destroy Bill Clinton didn't sway you in the least. the dishonesty and hypocrisy of the right wing is astounding. But please, do provide this "ton" of evidence you have. My guess: you pretend you didn't see this and don't.
1
He got drunk a lot. While drunk he acted like a pushy jerk. Some men are like that. Want to hear my various stories on sexual predation? I believe these women. Why would they lie? why would Kavanaugh lie? Because he wants to be on the Supreme Court and he doesn’t think his actions should disqualify him. I do. He does not respect women and has no business deciding issues on our rights. Occum’s Razor.
11
Either or, that is the question.
"Kavanaugh is either a wrongly tarnished angel or deceptively phlegmatic devil, pray or predator".
Has anyone ever seen a wrongly tarnished angel proclaim during an interview that he was a virgin not only through high school at "what happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep", but through many, many years at college.
My major concern though is that the Republican old white men on the Senate Judiciary Committee are outsourcing their question to a woman, flown in on tax payer money and paid for her time in the their hallowed hall, because they themselves would start slut-shaming a victim as they did with Anita Hill.
"Advise and Consent" has become a sham par excellence.
3
America will find the interrogation spectacle Thursday compelling, filled with the usual meanness cowards like Messrs. Grassley, Hatch and Graham employ when prompted by the White House. Sen. Graham, a former member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, suddenly defers his constitutional responsibility to a hired gun from Arizona? A coward's escape. Grassley, a withered relic more Judge Roy Bean ("give 'em a fair hearing and hang 'em") and the pathetic Hatch will show the world the depths of decay the Senate has reached.
This is Trump World, something not even George Orwell and Franz Kafka could have imagined.
With Fox News, our modern counterpart to Nazi Germany's broadcast propaganda machine, the Judiciary Committee's tyrants, perjurers, abusers and sycophants have a rock under which to hide. Until November. The Scriptures promise a reckoning.
1
kavanaugh actually looks like and sounds like a mousy sexual miscreant! He's trump's kind of grabbing guy, no question!
If the ‘stoic wife at his side,’ had even a smidgen of self respect, she'd walk
6
If having been a boor and a jerk at age 17 disqualifies someone from the Supreme Court, how was Bill Clinton qualified to be POTUS? After all, he was much older than 17 when most of his bullying and sexual predation took place.
How was trump?
1
@meTo what are you referring? the jones case, which was thrown out by the judge for lacking merit? Or Juanita Broaddrick, who signed an affidavit saying it never happened. And btw, let it be pointed out to you that you DID believe THOSE women, with FAR less evidence, while NOT believing the 19 who accused trump and these now pointing a finger at a man about to become lifetime seat on the USSC. Spare us.
1
Brett Kavanaugh, if he had any insight into what respect and dignity look like, would be using his now-pious self to pray nightly that his daughters never, ever encounter someone like his high-school self. He would also be using his platform to acknowledge the horrifying disrespect contained in his chosen senior-in-high-school profile to tell young men that he now knows what respect and dignity look like--and this is not it.
It is his troubling lack of insight and JUDGMENT that makes him a real danger to the future of women's bodies in this country.
4
Kavanaugh is Leave it to Beaver's Eddie Haskell, publicly displaying all the hallmarks of moral rectitude while secretly subverting them.
7
The President weighed in yesterday on Ms. Ramirez from the Yale years - "she was drunk, what does she know?" I have yet to hear him, or any Republican, level that same observation at Judge Kavanaugh's apparent drunkenness in high school.
6
I'm going to keep beating this drum on the credibility of accusations because it's important.
Let's try a hypothetical example. The following is MADE UP for the sake of argument. It DID NOT happen.
Suppose you had an unsavory character who wanted to ruin the reputation of a noted editorial writer at a major liberal newspaper he/she's not very fond of. According to the rules of the #MeToo movement, which has shifted the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused (as of the Ford contra Kavanaugh allegations, formerly pertinent details of date, time, and location are no longer necessary for establishing the credibility of the account) it would be as easy concocting a cockamamie yarn about having toured the newspaper's headquarters in a major city when all of the sudden said reader was separated from the tour group--so the account alleges--and cornered in a conference room or an office, whereupon the writer (also the target of the fabricated account) is alleged to have groped the visitor.
Presto. An innocent man is now maligned and ruined. I refuse to speculate on who's telling the truth because the only people who with absolute certainty are Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford. However, it's not hard to see, given the foregoing example, how diabolically easy it would be to make a deliberately false accusation. That alone should start setting off alarm bells in the minds of freedom loving republican citizens in view of the coming tyranny.
1
@Erlend Nikulaussøn
With your use of “cockamamie yarn,” it’s pretty obvious where you stand. But when you add Ramirez and his yearbook into the mix, presto, Blasey-Ford’s story seems very plausible. And SHE is the one who asked for an investigation.
A consistency with Kavanaugh is his apparent willingness to lie to achieve his goals, and like Trump, he seems to skate right through his even criminal lying and moves onward and upward. As far as his fitness for the Supreme Court goes, it is his likely current lying about his youthful sexual predation, as well as his hiding behind the skirts of a partisan, all-male committee which has been brutal to a female American citizen they are also supposed to be representing, as US Senators. Why have Democrats and the media not been reminding us daily of his lying to Congress, at least twice, and his lying to prior committees who've questioned him for his judgeships? And then there is his past unethical, at best partisan behavior involving stolen emails and his calling Hillary Clinton "the B Word". We don't need to make this a he said/she said matter, because Kavanaugh has a pattern of lying and mistreatment of women beyond just Dr. Ford and Ms. Ramirez. And need we mention the incredible hypocrisy of Trump and the GOP? Imagine being Bill Clinton right now. Recall Trump parading Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey (since tossed away like trash by him. Surprise, surprise, ladies!) out on stage during the campaign; the same base calling Clinton a rapist with NO evidence....there is SO much disease to this story, but the press, as usual, gets caught in a black hole of narrow thinking.
1
Is he still a problem drinker? Apparently he denies having alcohol blackouts, but I wonder if he really did and is in denial.
1
Power for power's sake, nothing for the greater good: that's how I see this man, the man who nominated him and the Republicans.
For supposedly being so qualified, not demanding the president order the FBI investigate these specific claims, shows his true colors. Not demanding Mark Judge by required to testify reveals himself to us. Sitting down on Trump TV to recite talking points and 'I couldn't do this as I was a virgin' shows his desperation and stupidity for a supposedly brilliant judge. For what? For power to rule over women. For a lifetime. The ultimate rush.
From Renate Alumnius, and all that symbolizes, to the Supreme Court? Somehow, it must not happen. It's 2:18 AM, I cannot sleep. I so fear for my country.
2
When weaponized, the metoo movement becomes quite an effective tactic, doesn’t it?
Frank, you’re right that human beings have many sides, but your article is uncharistcally mild. Without the FBI to investigate and corroborating witnesses allowed or forced to speak, how can the US public arrive at any trustworthy conclusion? We are being abused by the US Senate egged on by our philandering sex abuser of a President.
What does Yale say about these accusations and the number of women who have signed onto "believing"?
It must be astonishing for such a lauded institution to hear that the culture at such a school was and potentially is considered morally bankrupt by its student body and alumni.
Let me translate that Latin: 'at no time in my illustrious and privileged future will I be embarrassed to admit that I was part of the serial rape of Renate'. I could be missing a word of two. Church Latin, particularly at a place like Georgetown Prep, can be hard to read. But that is the gist of it.
His instance on humiliating Bill Clinton with the most salacious details of his encounters with ML and his aggressive pursuit of wing nut right wing conspiracy theories about the Clintons supposed murder of Vincent Foster, both while working for the Starr investigation (I think), reveal a man who lacks the character and judgment to sit on the Supreme Court.
2
"Or he’s a primly religious, utterly devoted family man whose blemishes are the inventions and exaggerations of political foes.".
That is the part that is disturbing-the "primly religious and utterly devoted family man". That in itself reminds me of another primly religious and devoted family man who believed he was the smartest person in the room when in fact he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. That man now resides in a federal prison.
No, there is no correlation here, only pointing out that if one perceives himself to be infallible due to his religion and family, he will insure his beliefs are propagated in his professional life-and we will suffer for it.
Many women married to serial killers have been astonished to find out that the man they have "known for many years" could do what he did when he was not home. I'm not saying Kavanaugh is a serial killer, but as Bill Cosby so dramatically proved, one can be America's Dad to some people and a sexual predator to others.
2
trump and the GOP railing against the Dems for delving into Kavanaugh’s salacious past history seem oblivious to the plain fact that he wanted Bill Clinton to field extremely intimate questions in his impeachment proceedings -- well, what's good for the D is good for the R.
1
A modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
I see your point, but he appears to be pretty constantly lying now. Does that make him a villain or does he stay the darling of the pro pollution, anti labor, anti choice, gold-facet bathroom set.
One could say he is an overall qualified man and these are almost white lies in the scheme of grander things.
But quite a few of the courts opinions appear to be written by slick deceivers already , such as Citizens United. We need to set the bar higher now.
1
I'd be curious to see a NYT staff analysis of the responses to this column. It seemed to me to be exceedingly thoughtful and well balanced. Yet it appears that the Times' readership, based on the 900 or so comments that have appeared, believes that there is no place for balance. Interesting.
What about Kavanaugh's current drinking?
From all accounts, he was well on his way to being an alcoholic in Prep school and made it in college.
He drank to excess and had blackouts. Of course he has no recollection of his actions. Most drunks don't.
Did Kavanaugh go to AA? Get therapy or treatment?
He didn't complete any 12 step program, as he ignores at least 6 of them. And Kavanaugh certainly didn't make any direct amends to Ms. Ford.
These are questions that need to asked and answered. Most likely they won't be.
3
Former federal judge Edward Nottingham was a big customer of prostitutes. According to 9 News, a NBC affiliate in Denver, Nottingham had prostitutes delivered to his son's condo, kissed them in public, and told them that he was a judge on big cases. He was a regular at a strip club, the staff knew him. He was married at the time. Yet, the 10th Circuit took a long time to kick him off the bench and he was allowed to keep his law license and continue to practice as a lawyer. In fact, his website claims that he is familiar with other judges. Nottingham was also a heavy drinker who claimed to be unable to remember what happened at a strip club late the night before court. https://www.summitdaily.com/news/judge-issues-statement-on-strip-club-vi...
https://www.nottinghamlaw-mediation.com
2
Gentleman ? No.
Predator ? Yes.
Us women may not be silenced by predators, like trump and Kavanaugh , they have no right to meddle in our lives and affairs anymore .
Their times`s up !
Just look at Bill Cosby.
What is wrong with these Republican men in their senior years, don`t they have women in their lives who could steer them in the right direction ?
Or they are muzzled by power and money and remain mute.
1
This article and the media in general is not giving enough attention
to the fact that his record is being withheld from us. He is a liar and right wing idealogue. He is unfit for a lifetime appointment to SCOTUS.
3
I don't think he is particularly complicated, but I agree he certainly doesn't see himself as others do. I'll even give him a pass on being ignorant about women; my experience with an all boys school graduate 50 years later: he still says 'tampoon' and 'ministration'. But seriously, no, we cant change the past, but we sure can control the present and future. If he did these things, he has lied and is unfit to serve as a judge, period. If he didnt, his lack of sensitivity, holier than thou attitude, plus his obsession with Bill and Monica's relationship and his questions - (yes, I read the memo and his desire to ask who did what to who, in what room and who put what , where.. what a sexually frustrated, emotionally childish rant THAT is) should at least raise some eyebrows. If he doesn't remember, which is most likely, just SAY SO. He could have ended all this with a simple apology, using some version, 'I am so sorry this happened to you, but I really don't remember that at all.' Instead, he has been insensitive, defensive and arrogant, as a kid (see the yearbook stuff) AND now. He needs to withdraw.
3
You had to write this article to make a trivial point? He is probably lying, and doing it under the oath. Focus on that, rather than writing a long piece about ambiguity of a character. Lying under oath is not ambiguous, it is criminal!
Frank is accurate in that we are all human, and so behave differently in different situations; we all are complex and contain multitudes.
Still, there has to be some overall standard beyond which we say that a person, by dint of the mix of his/her behaviors, is too big a risk to trust in some category of situations.
And, given the mix we're finding out about Kavanaugh, I don't think we should have him on SCOTUS, though I'm sure there are good sides to him, as there are to all of us.
To those who argue that we are then setting an impossible standard, that if disqualify large swaths of disagreeable behavior, we are setting ourselves such a high bar that no one will be able to meet it--well, don't we want a high bar? I mean, this IS the highest court in our land, and we certainly have set a high bar for legal scholarship as a qualification. Why not also have a high bar for character, compassion, empathy?
One other thing. We all have aspects of our past that we are not proud of, behaviors we were wrong in and wish to take back. I certainly do (though drunken assault is not among these). But I will generally fess up to my bads. The fact the Kavanaugh will not say something to the effect of "I was young, stupid, drunk a lot, so while I do not remember any of these alleged incidents I cannot categorically say they didn't occur, and I am truly sorry to anyone who feels l hurt them and will try to make amends in whatever way I can" is troubling.
4
How smart is Frat Boy Kav? How many lies can he keep aloft before they come crashing to the ground?
The ability to levitate large volumes of mistruths is what separates the truly gifted from the mere grifter.
Perhaps the MeToo movement will be the beginning of the end for men of privilege - men who do what they want, when they want to whom they want and there is never an encumbrance to there career paths.
Maybe this will mark the beginning of the NotMe movement.
1
The republican spineless cowards who sit on the judiciary committee, and lead it, have opted to have a female prosecutor quiz both parties. What are they so afraid of? Perhaps they're reminded of their disgraceful performance in the Anita Hill episode where they showed they had no ethics, morals, or souls. One of those old senators even admitted to being afraid that he and his repugnant colleagues would make the same mistake again.
1
This is only about power. Republicans have it and could care less about fairness, due process, or for that matter, Brett Kavanaugh.
My only hope through this mess is for John Roberts to become the moderating swing vote on the court. He’s the one in charge, and accordingly, needs to be the one to ensure “settled law” remains settled.
1
Kavanaugh has a very selective memory. He is a master at evasive answers. But remembers an alleged assault in detail that didn't happen 36 years ago. Interesting.
It doesn't matter what Kavanaugh was or whether he did what these women claim or what his friends from the past claim he didn't.
What matters is what he does today.
That he did not demand an FBI investigation to get at the facts - as someone with the judicial temperament and integrity I expect of a judge - any judge much less the Supreme Court would - is sufficient to disqualify him.
We are chimera. We are amalgamations of disparate parts knit together into a semi-coherent hole. As a result, we have underlying traits and capacities that are sometimes expressed sometimes and sometimes not. This is true of all of us. With luck and determination, we can override or tame undesirable traits. But, to do so, we have to recognize them as undesirable and work assiduously to mold them into something better. Has Kavanaugh done this? I simply don't know. It would be nice, but perhaps folly, to think that the hearings will be informative on this point.
Among the details of what kind of a person Kavanaugh is, I think that his repeated drunken behavior qualifies him as an alcoholic. As such, I would like to know in a hearing for Supreme Court justice if he is a member of AA, goes to regular meetings, and if his drinking problem may interfere with his judicial ability and instincts. I have not read the transcripts of the hearings, but I doubt those questions were asked. One possible reason is that periodically getting wasted by drinking is condoned. It shouldn't. It reminds me that it was the same with sexual harassment before the "metoo" movement)
2
There's no need to analyze this man. In fact, there's no need to hear from his accusers, or even from him, about allegations of misconduct years ago. All the evidence we need about this man's character is from the present moment, under our noses.
A person with genuine respect for our institutions and for the Supreme Court would protect that Court from scandal. He would understand that scandal -- even if utterly baseless and unwarranted -- attaching to his name would follow him to the Court and undermine the Court's standing and reputation. Humbly acknowledging that the Court's reputation is vastly more important than his own, he would withdraw. That's what an honorable man would do. That is what Bret Kavanaugh is not doing. Any questions?
1
This is a beautiful column that should cause everyone to reflect on their lives, and the lives of those who want to serve us in public life. When I was a very young man, and considering becoming a police officer in a large midwestern city, the police officer doing the recruiting sagely said as far as our backgrounds that "nobody leads a lily white life." So true. But, what Kavanaugh is accused of is so outside the bounds of acceptable behavior, even when viewed through the lens of that time, that if we have probable cause to believe his accusers, he may not be confirmed to lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. I believe that his lifelong privilege and entitlement inform his harsh conservative views. There is no way this gentlemen can empathize with the average American any more than he had empathy for Dr. Ford, Ms. Ramirez, or Ms. Dolphin. The defense of the Kavanaugh also tells us all we need to know about the man who appointed him and the modern GOP.
Enabler. That is her role and the basis of her marriage. She is willing to throw other women under the bus no matter how accurate their experience. I feel sorry for her daughters.
3
@poslug Sorry to tell you, but some people love their spouses. His wife has a right to her own loyalties, and neither she nor their daughters look especially miserable to me.
Call Sens Flake, Collins, Murkowski and Corker ((202) 224-3121- Senate switch-board) and urge them to oppose Kavanaugh because he isn't entitled to a seat on the Supreme Court and he isn't worthy of it either.
1
What appears to be emerging now is a picture of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with alcohol as a transformative agent. Both Blasey Ford and Ramirez’ allegations presumably happened when he was inebriated. His Yale freshman roommate, James Roche’s statement : “although Brett was normally reserved, he was a notably heavy drinker, even by the standards of the time, and that he became belligerent and aggressive when he was very drunk,” and he remembers Kavanaugh “frequently drinking excessively and becoming incoherently drunk.”
2
Mostly, he's a judge that lies under oath. How can he be believed.
5
after a murder, how many neighbors responded that they only knew the great guy who helped around the neighborhood, organized activities for adults and kids but then murdered his wife in his house. incredible that they lived next door to a murderer.
2
It no longer matters what they say, or what he was. It's a done deal. As Saudi Arabia struggles to emerge into the 21st century, the new Supreme Court will seek to return us to the Dark Ages. We won't be governed by logic or reason, but by religious doctrine. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer, and this program will be based on a "survival" algorithm. Then we will see how we have confused our survival program with our ridiculous beliefs, causing no end of harm. When we see this, we can begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
FBI Director Wray is responsible for FBI background checks . It is quite obvious his agents failed in their mission . Director Wray promised he would have a backbone of steel and would uphold justice . Director Wray does not require anyone's permission to continue and complete the background check of Judge Kavanaugh . Director Wray do your job or resign... the women and men of the country have faith in you.
1
I realize that it is preordained that this "hearing" take place, that Dr. Ford step back out of the limelight, and that Bret Kavanaugh be confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States with 100% Republican and 0% Democratic support.
Potential GOP holdouts are being told the many ways rich donors will punish their defection, and Mitch and Chuck chuckle with the knowledge that the two or three wavering Senators will be terrorized into casting a yea vote because "Judge Kavanaugh's record has not, in their opinion, been fundamentally challenged" by the testimony of this woman.
Our puppet masters will not have it any other way
2
I would have thought more highly of Kavanagh if he had admitted that he had often been a thoughtless drunken lout in his youth and that he had matured enough to be sorry to anyone he had possibly hurt in his past due to his lack of maturity and good judgment on those days. But that's not what we get. I don't want him on the Court, but wait a minute: don't think the next candidate will be any better.
2
"A person’s experience of Kavanaugh likely hinged on the circumstances. Perhaps it was the luck — or curse — of the draw."
Does this not make him unsuitable for our highest court?
1
Each of us is both a saint and a sinner. I believe it equally possible Pope Francis stole a cookie from a jar in his mother's kitchen and justly rose to his current station in life.
The classic movie Roshamon and the more modern crime drama Vantage Point tell the same story although the Kurosawa masterpiece is more enigmatic in its conclusions.
As other commenters have pointed out, the common thread connecting each version of the truth surrounding Judge Kavanaugh is his acceptance of privilege in navigating the course of his life and career.
I believe the most powerful person is not the President but the person who edits the news he receives in his views of the world. In just such a manner, Brett Kavanaugh got where he is by the selective editing of his life and work. We all deserve a Senate which sees the entire picture, warts and all, before making a monumental decision whether good or bad on membership to the Court.
1
No one can reasonably remember what happened 36 years ago. Nor should conduct that allegedly happened 36 years ago be considered relevant to the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice unless there is an actual conviction or public record proving the facts. This is simply a political battle masked by a so-called investigation of the truth tainted by political bias.
5
You write that you don't believe anyone persuasively accused of what Kavanagh is said to have done has any businesses on the Supreme Court. That's not how the Republicans seem to view it. Only if it will cost them politically will they deem it seriously enough to deny confirmation
He is unfit to serve in his current position on the US Court of Appeals for DC and should be removed by none other than Merrick Garland, the Chief Justice.
1
What happens when accuser #3 and 4 makes the news? The carefully scripted profile in courage that Sen. Jon Kyl shepards thru the process unravels?
Will the nominees withdrawal in light of multiple parties claims lead to soul searching amongst the “white mans” tribunal?
Is prevarication in the interest of a higher goal ever considered unseemly? Do the Federalist Societies bylaws provide a primer for threading the needle of history thru the eye of a judgeship.
There is a Judge Learned Hand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Benjamin Cardosa metaphor to describe this predicament. Judge Kavanaugh, do the right thing.
We know how this plays out. Absent a thoroguh investigation, deliberately blocked by Republicans as they deliberately hid Kavanaugh's record, he will be confirmed. As with Clarence Thomas, the allegations against him will be proven to be true. Republicans and conservatives will shrug. Democrats, who have a responsibility to act, will not.
And we will all watch as women's rights, voting rights, labor rights, civil rights and human rights will be restricted or outlawed at the hands of a Court with two sexual predators in the majority.
2
It’s like when a killer in the neighborhood is described “ but he was always such a nice boy “ or when a wife finds out her wonderful loyal husband has been messing around with his aide. Many people can turn on the charm and hide the evil as needed. It shouldn’t surprise anyone.
3
Looking beyond Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's alleged transgressions, is it right to have two Supreme Court justices that went to the same elite prep school? Is it right that Catholics and a former Catholic (Gorsuch grew up Catholic but is now Episcopal) make up 6 of the 9 justices (67%) when only 20% of the US population is Catholic?
One might think that Supreme Court justices would represent varying parts of the country, different high schools, colleges, and law schools, and have a religious make-up that roughly reflects the proportionate religious beliefs of the population. Hard to imagine there is "separation of church and state" when those judging our laws are primarily of one religion.
6
As I read this and all the other articles, as well as the comments, one question keeps arising:
Where were the Democrats?
Even before sexual assault allegations broke, there were a large number of plainly relevant questions about Kavanaugh, professional and personal
Professionally, his obsessively lewd and lascivious pursuit of Bill Clinton -- AND his role in enabling the Bush regime to evade an explicit ban on torture as a "tool" in the so-called "war on terror"
Personally -- again, long before any allegation of sexual assault -- there WERE questions about a visible history of problem drinking -- as well as apparent difficulties living within his means, ie, some $60-200,000 in credit card debt -- obligations that magically disappeared last year
For someone who wants a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, these issues would seem worthy of sustained inquiry
Yet, somehow, the Dems on the Judiciary Committee never were able to develop a line of questioning about ANY of these matters sufficient to cause the slightest doubt about his confirmation
Why were the Democrats unable, on their own, to manage to insist on a minimal investigation into an obviously flawed candidate?
Have the Democrats STILL not figured out a way to mount a politically effective inquiry into the parade of right-wing hacks with which Trump and his allies want to pack the Federal judiciary?
We are inundated with exhortations to VOTE VOTE VOTE
But doesn't that imply there's something to vote FOR?
8
Excellent piece that gets away from the stereotypes that some opportunists have been using to promote their own cause(s).
1
I have two thoughts about Kavanaugh and his life story and arc, though they are not deep. One is the Buddhist parable of the blind men and the elephant:
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, "elephant is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear. In some versions, the blind men then discover their disagreements, suspect the others to be not telling the truth and come to blows.
The other is current: Bill Cosby. No not applying Kavanaugh is in the same league, but Cosby presented different faces all these years
1
Surely in cases of this nature there is no clear black or white view. We will never know exactly what happened. The main thing is that someone was hurt and still feels hurt. Whether the reasons for the hurt are true or false she is entitled to be heard and to express her pain.
The interviews that she is about to endure will either reinforce or destroy her credibility. Its an ugly business for all concerned.
Kavanaugh's character and behaviour doesn't strike me as being particularly unusual for a boy of his age and background.
One would like to think that if he behaved this way at that time in his life, he has since felt ashamed and seen that this kind of behaviour is wrong and completely unacceptable.
I am aware of times when I have behaved shamefully towards other people. I remember occasions when other people have behaved shamefully towards me. Fortunately for me my past behaviour has no real effect on my present or future life
There are moments when I feel a pang of guilt or acute embarrassment when a bad memory pops into my head.
However thats as far as it goes. I am not in the public eye.
Kavanaugh chose his path and will have to deal with the consequences.
The author would maintain a higher level of credibility if he were to be equally critical of the horrible behavior exhibited on the other side of the political aisle. In the interest of fairness, does the candidate for Attorney General in Minnesota have any business as the state's top law enforcement officer after two girlfriends have charged that he physically and psychologically abused them, not 35 years ago but contemporaneously, with real corroborative evidence like 911 calls and signs of physical bruising? This is Keith Ellison, and there has been little criticism and no calls for an investigation. This man should also step down.
he has been vetted by the oligarchs behind the front that is GOP. He will deliver a lot for them in the coming 30 or so years. At times when Democrats seem to be in the ascendancy, he will block any attempt by the left to bring back decency to the way the USA is governed, just as Scalia did for many, many decades.
He will get the job, I have zero doubt.
3
You can see that Kavanaugh is a man that expects to get what he wants and will do anything to get it. I have come to this conclusion just by watching him the last week or so. He has written letters to the Senate and then his interview on Fox news, practiced in the white house most days for the hearing.
2
I had the same point of view until the most recent interview. God help us if we insist on purity in our candidates, for we will only get hypocrites. We have a juvenile justice system because we understand that high school students are not yet mature enough to make good decisions and we are glad we survived our own mistakes and pray our children do. But I threw up in my mouth a little when Kavanaugh said straight faced--after all the evidence to the contrary--that he was too busy being perfect to have possibly done such a thing (captain of my team! service projects! being #1 in my class! going to church!).
I get all Mr. Bruni's argument about differing perspectives and we're all potentially saints and we're all sinners. But the only way he can be telling the truth is if Professor Ford, his friends from college and high school, and our own common sense are lying. I am not much of a believer in "white privilege" or at least I can see why people for whom life has always been a struggle have a difficult time with academics telling them that the game has been tilted in their favor. But in this case, we are looking at someone for whom this is true and he cannot seem to imagine why this could be a problem. Like the man who nominated him, he has the self-awareness of a stump and he has shown that he will tell bald-faced lies and bear false witness against any of his neighbors if they get in the way of his ambition.
Thank you, a fine perspective of a not so complicated man. However one who has not matured a stable personality ready to judge fairly. Nothing in his background convinces that he has any knowledge or understanding of the common lives of ordinary,people. He is still a FRAT boy at heart.
1
One possible answer to this riddle is that authoritarians have two different codes of behavior—one for "us" and another for "them," for outsiders.
The identity of "them" can shift in different situations, but authoritarians are highly conscious of insider/outsider status and don't see outsiders as deserving of the same rights, respect, and treatment as insiders.
We've already seen this with kids separated from their parents, in cages, with "grab them by the pxxxx," with the "law and order" talk for thee but not me.
2
Alll of this discussion about Kavanaugh misses the point.
The issue is not Kavanaugh, but the Supreme Court. The Senate is the gatekeeper. It doesn't have to let anyone in who isn't above reproach and whether Dr. Ford's story is true or not, Kavanaugh is tainted by the documented lies that he has told regarding other matters.
In a sane world that, alone, would have been enough to show him the door.
But we don't live in a sane world, it appears.
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter that much whether he did or did not do precisely what he's accused of. He should not be confirmed. I make this claim for two reasons:
1) a judge is supposed to listen to evidence and weigh it carefully, whether or not it aligns with his own ideological convictions and his view of the world. A Supreme Court justice all the more so. Calling witnesses, or even accusers, liars and smearing them as immoral is inappropriate. It is more than likely that cases will come before the Court in the foreseeable future having to do with women's reproductive rights, the right to physical inviolability and other, related issues. Unless he recuses himself, any decision made by the Court on such an issue will be irrevocably tainted.
2) he presumably did something inappropriate in that room back then, whether or not the details are precisely right. Well, adolescents do behave inappropriately, in ways they would not do as adults (which is why life sentences for young offenders are wrong). If he had now admitted this, confronted the truth and perhaps apologized to the victim, he could have put if behind him. But he didn't; he doubled down, without any credibility, on his denial.
For both these reasons, I consider it would be wrong to confirm his appointment to the Court.
1
Mr. Bruni's words are both true and wise.
Regardless of whether Mr. Kavanaugh is a complicated individual whose parents and other teachers may or may not have equipped him with proper regard and decency for women, and who may or may not have grown in those areas as he aged, there are several reasons to fervently hope he doesn't sit on the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, Trump can almost certainly find someone with even worse and crazier ideas on his Federalist Society wish list, but who would slide through the ripped, useless net that is the Senate confirmation process.
Either way the damage will last a long, long time.
1
Pretty much on the mark. The Senate process is a political procedure, not a judicial one. It is unlikely to determine the truth or falsity of the allegations. Without contesting the allegations, I would say that they are probably not provable. And the GOP, not being bound by truth anyway (my opinion) will use every uncertainty to attempt to fragment the opposition.
But to the question of whether something like the Blasey episode is *likely* to have happened, I would say, well, yeah, much more likely that behavior like this occurred than not.
1
Some years ago, a friend (We were both then teachers at what I suppose would be called "privileged independent schools") pointed me to a story about a teacher who had been accused of sexual abuse. The comment thread below the story was mostly populated by assertions from former students, and for some time the comments alternated between testimony about what a brilliant and helpful teacher this man had been and contrasting insistence from others that he had always been "too touchy." Finally, someone wrote the obvious: that it was possible to be both.
It's entirely possible that Brett Kavanaugh was a fine student, talented athlete and frequent attender of church --- and also sometimes drunk and predatory. No one who has taught for even a short period of time (I'm on year 43) sees a necessary contradiction, even if the reality, when it appears in either teachers or students, always saddens us.
2
Probably not many of our kids will ever try to be a Supreme Court justice, and their past spread on every news station, every newspaper, but let this be a lesson anyhow.
Have we as parents, who also were teenagers once, had the conversation - how do you want to be remembered?
How do we want to be remembered by any of our behavior, no matter when or where? Even now, as parents, too. Perhaps this might be the lesson here.
2
If anyone can produce one other example of shared camaraderie of a group of teens, via something like Renate Alumni, to mean simply dating, I could cut some slack. Until then, it's hard to believe that interpretation.
9
"Renate Alumnius": that expression in and of itself tells us that he was either lying at the time he took credit for being a "player" (in the way that our Kitty-Grabber-in-Chief did when he described his boasting of sexual conquests as mere "locker room talk") or he's lying now, when he asserts that he remained a virgin during and long after his student days. Which of these constitutes the truth, Judge Kavanaugh? We already know how you feel on the issue of women's reproductive rights. What are your thoughts on perjury?
20
When a Supreme Court nominee stoops to being interviewed on Fox in an effort to win a seat on the bench, I know enough to state he wouldn't get my vote. We already have too many reality TV shows in Washington, D.C. We don't need one for the highest court in the land.
28
I’m sure that someday, heaven forbid, if a drunk 17 year old boy puts his hand over one Mr. Kavanaugh daughter’s mouth and sexually assaults her, that he’ll just shrug his shoulders like the rest of the Republicans and say... well young boys will be boys.
They were drunk, so who cares...
5
People are complex, a truism, not all of one thing, also a truism, that one part of Kavanaugh is most probably a liar (regarding Kosinski, torture, roe V wade) and a sexual assaulter is disqualifying for almost any job, let alone a high court judge. This is not about legal proof, but about character. He's an entitled lab grown cynical right wing tool with a deficient character.
13
Questions the Senate should pose:
Judge Kavanaugh, at what age did you have your first beer? Did you have a drinking problem in high school? In college?
Did you ever do things while extremely intoxicated that you'd regret later? While drunk did you ever do things you'd forget?
Are you ashamed of any actions you've taken while drunk, and if so what were they?
Are you ashamed of anything you've done in your life, and what is it?
Have you done the 12-step program, do you consider yourself a recovering alcoholic, like your best friend Mark Judge?
Did you and the other "Renate Alumni" conspire to get Renate Schroeder so drunk and drugged up that you could all have sex with her one after another, while she was unable to properly consent?
5
“Are you going to vote for a rapist?”
1
Everything single point raised by Bruni regarding the 'two faces of Brett' could with equal validity apply to his accusers. Every. one. Except neither of them has been through 5 background checks. Neither of them has put their backside on the line, giving testimony under penalty of perjury. Instead, what we have are ambush accusations coming out after official hearings were complete and directly before a vote.
This is a smear campaign, pure and simple. The timing stinks, the ambush, secrecy, outlandish conditions for testimony (Defendant speaks, then Accuser? Are we Stalinists?) are dispositive of that.
This is naked power politics, tarted up with #MeToo drapings to cover an ugly truth - 'By Any Means Necessary'.
You'd think you progressives would learn from the filibuster fiasco. But no, even with the The Marquis of Queensbury conservatives depowered, the GOP establishment on the run, you can't help yourselves. If you 'win' this battle, you'll have guaranteed you'll lose the war, Because victory over Kavanaugh will be the final nail in the coffin of any reach across the aise Republicans. What you're creating in their place is a permanent Trumpian, "punch back twice as hard / fairness is irrelevant / truth is irrelevant" mentality as controlling among your political opponents.
And there are many, many more of them, then you.
1
Load of hooey. The women coming forward are willing to testify, under oath - to no personal gain. They are also willing to have the FBI investigate their claims.
Everything Judge Kavanaugh is doing IS for personal gain - he wants a seat on the Supreme Court, he believes he is ENTITLED to a seat on the Supreme Court. But he isn’t calling for the FBI to investigate THESE claims. Wonder why?
Most of us want young women to be safe and young men to behave properly. Most of us do not want a person on the Supreme Court who doesn’t.
3
@Mark6:4
Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Republicans in the Senate. Merrick Garland should be the one occupying that seat. It's that simple to me. Nothing about Kavanaugh's past would be considered if I were a Senate Democrat. His nomination is illegitimate, thanks to Mitch McConnell. I take issue with the "many more of them than you" remark. How many Democratic votes were there for Senate seats in 2016? How many Republican votes for Senate seats in 2016? Look it up and you will be surprised.
2
@Mark6:4 Some facts for you to consider: Dr. Blasey Ford requested to testify and she will be doing so, under penalty of perjury, on Thursday. She has requested an FBI investigation, and it is Republicans who have refused to allow one.
1
Calling Kavanaugh a depraved pig would not pass the civility test from the so very high standards of the NYTs, so I’ll refrain from stating that. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.
3
Bruni has this exactly right. As a precise contemporary of Brett Kavanugh, another male who, at the same time, went to an all-boys Catholic school, I have been recollecting. I remember several times when I had opportunity to deny a girl or woman her right to say no. I did I not. Am I an angel? In fact, I am and was then (sorry, father), an atheist. I somehow, though, knew better than this self-righteous Christian Kavanaugh.
If I were asked whether I attended a drunken party and tried to rape a girl, I would respond that I may been at a drunken party, but I I have no memory of attempted rape. I hope I did not do anything that would have hurt a young girl or made her feel violated.
That’s how decent people react. Indecent people say, “I catatgorically deny this event happened.”
They strip the woman of her right to feel violated before they know what is behind it. They cannot imagine themselves in her place. They cannot separate her accusations from their ambitions. They have no empathy, no decently, no introspection, even. They are, in short, sociopaths.
Welcome to the wild, self-serving, relativistic rollercoaster ride that is Brett Kavanaugh. I wish I believed in hell so that I could imagine where Kavanaugh and his enablers, like Mitch McConnell would reside forever.
Alas, their demise, like all of ours, offers nothing but the solace of oblivion. Cheers!
13
I dated a guy in college very similar to Kavanaugh: elite DC boys' school grad, top athlete, elite private college, wealthy father, good family connections. When sober, he was unassuming, hardly spoke, almost bookish. But when the college parties started and the alcohol began to flow, he would drink to oblivion. He became loud, cracked jokes, prowled for women, got into fights, punched holes in walls. The next morning---or more accurately two mornings later, once he'd recovered from the tortuous hangover---when someone would mention the antics or "crimes" of that evening, he'd respond as if he were listening to a story about someone else. He didn't "remember". True blacking out or embarrassed to admit? Or plausible deniability? He's a top executive at a Fortune 500 company now.
13
If he appeared to some women to be both, chances are that one persona was deliberately cultivated in service of the other. Whatever good Mr. Hyde could generate will never come close to the destruction Dr. Jekyll unleashes.
3
You have Jekyll and Hyde backwards.
If I were the wife the very credible allegations and yearbook entries would be sobering and disturbing. She is clearly motivated to deny that any of this is true for whatever reasons. I wonder about her reality. I bet the kids are alot more aware and realistic but of course they like the girls he presumably assaulted have no power.
3
I found the whole interview icky - the entitled ‘powerful’ man bringing his wife to dutifully stand up for him.
I understand Trump wasn’t pleased with Kavanah’s ‘performance’ on Fox but pronounced that he was telling the ‘truth’. As if Trump knows what truth is.
1
Bruni asks us to reject dichotomies but then refers to human beings as genuinely saints and sinners. Let's leave that to the theologians, perhaps the Jesuits at Georgetown Preparatory which Kavanaugh attended.
1
Mr. Bruni is exactly right. There can be many sides to the same person. A close family member was an accomplished, successful professional who was promoted rapidly to the top of his profession and voted by employees to be the best boss in the office. Neighbors knew him as a great guy who would grab his tools and come fix that leaky pipe under your sink at the drop of a hat and for free.The man his family knew was sometimes loving but other times abusive, emotionally, physically, and in one sordid event, sexually, toward his wife and children. His children were all afraid of him, because they never knew which side of him they were going to get on any given day.
2
Richard, Kavanaugh wrote publicly that he was an alumnus of a TEENAGED GIRL. He never retracted it. Do you understand that depraved level of entitlement to say that he occupied her? That he could dishonor somebody so completely? The different instances of abuse may have happened when he was still a teenager, but the dishonor he wrote about himself, and never retracted, never apologized for - that makes him unfit to represent women and men of this country-that's what continues.
6
anyone who's spent time with or been in relationships with alcoholics will recognize the total destructive forces it will unleash in some people, it can be jeckle and hyde. the amount of drinking that has been going on on college campuses has been totally out of control for quite sometime. I don't really know why, but it's a disease afflicting our youth, hope they can grow out of it for their sake
3
Read Leon Uris QB7 and you’ll understand what Bruni is saying. Great perspective.
3
Imagine a world leader who in the face of unequivocal DNA evidence and confession by another man exonerating 5 imprisoned teenage boys of a horrendous rape in Central Park (1989) continues to say the boys did it.
The boys - 4 African Americans, 1 Hispanic, two 14 year olds, two 15 year olds and one 16.
Now imagine a world leader who claims it’s impossible for a white privileged teenager to sexually assault girls because the white teenager denies the accusations.
Oh, no need to imagine anything - that’s our president of many faces - Trump.
The 10/17/16 NYT article perfectly described the thinking of this world leader:
From the relative comfort of the jury box or Trump Tower, it may be hard to imagine why anyone would admit to a crime he didn’t commit. The power imbalance in an interrogation room is extreme, especially when the suspects are young teenagers, afraid of the police and unfamiliar with the justice system or their rights.
14
This reminds me of something in a far lighter vein I read in Esquire over 40 years ago, a Helen Lawrenson article about Clare Boothe Luce. There had been an article about her entitled, "The Many Faces of Clare Boothe Luce." Said a wag, "I thought there were only two."
Hardly a compliment, like the Roman wit who said Julius Caesar was a husband to every wife and a wife to every husband.
1
I honestly don't think what Brett Kavanaugh did as a teenage is all that important. I do think that the ethic of deny, deny, deny is relevant. Someone who cannot admit to wrong-doing, who, basically, lies without remorse, is someone who should not hold any appointment in the US judiciary. Forget the Supreme Court, he should be impeached and removed from the Appellate Court.
5
@chairmanj
According to Kavanaugh, he is a saint.
The behavior of the privileged young "fratboy" in the 1980s, corroborated by several sources and confirmed by his own yearbook entry, is indeed disturbing (and I'm not even necessarily alluding to the alleged sexual improprieties which remain inadequately substantiated as of now).
The obviously untruthful denials and the absurd alternative claims of a pious, angelic adolescence by the mature supreme court nominee is even more disturbing. But, it is the attitude of the Republican senators, committed to ramming through a froundly flawed candidate lacking in honesty and integrity that really sickens me.
As for trump, nothing that he does or says can disgust me more than I already am by him
9
@D. Ben Moshe
"As for trump, nothing that he does or says can disgust me more than I already am by him."
That will prove to be the untrue part of your comment. Probably by tomorrow.
Appearing on Fox clearly shows that he doesn't care about what the rest of the nation thinks about his character. Being appointed to SCOTUS appears to be strictly a personal goal of his. I don't get the sense that this guy really cares about this country. Like Trump he is placing his interest over that of the nation.
15
As wise as anything Mr. Bruni has written, but it leaves me wondering: where are we, then? The truth about this man is undoubtedly more complicated than either of the two extremes, but his fate must rest on one of two other extremes: either appointment to the Supreme Court, or the disgraced denial of a goal he has sought for his entire career. One of those truths about Kavanaugh, then--the saintly model of chivalry or the debauched, bullying frat boy--must, in the end, convince more senators.
And in the end, isn't the absence of a crime (or not) what decides it?
No, it is the absence of honesty that should rule the day
2
@Opinionated Pedant Or Occam's razor. He simply is as he appears - an innocent man who has become the focus of a late hit, ambush smear campaign. A judge who Senate Democrats state must have a decision deferred upon, until unprecedented FBI investigations occur, and until the 'accusers' are happy with the color of the seat cushions and height of the chairs for their Senate testimony - because, otherwise, those Senate Demcrats would have to declare their predecided "NO" votes now, instead of a week from now.
This is a joke. But its one that is about to backfire - hard - on the progressive elites in this country. We're 7 weeks out from the midterms. The polls looked great for Hillary 7 weeks out in 2016. Then, the nation decided to pants y'all. he NYT should send reporters out to middle America and see how this is playing, or risk looking very foolish again.
@Mark6:4, a few things:
1. How he "appears" may be in the eye of the beholder. It "appears" to me that he is lying about his past (as he already has about two items in his judicial and employment history), and that he is the one who has motive to mislead here.
2. There are numbers on "how this is playing." The majority of the country, in polls, is against this nomination.
3. The involvement of the FBI in a matter like this is not, in fact, "unprecedented."
This is a very important matter. Rushing it through is the suspect move in this case.
(I suppose I've tipped my hand about where I stand here.)
Brett Kavanaugh's accusers should not have made these allegations without evidence.If someone would decide this impartially with the facts we have now,Mr Kavanaugh would not be guilty.It's sad that people are willing to bring tales of this nature with so little basis in facts.
5
@AW Wanna get even?
1) Lie to any pollsters. Make sure they believe you're part of the 'blue wave'. Then
2) Get yourself, and every reliable vote for the Republicans you can round up, to the polls.
1
The ‘facts’ are their OWN experience. And they are entitled to speak to those facts AND have asked for an FBI investigation. It’s Judge Kavanaugh and the Republicans who are afraid of an investigation and more facts coming out.
@AW I would remind you that the experience of the assault is evidence.
About dealing with Kavanaugh, there is NO complex uncertainty. We know NOW that he LIES NOW.
He CANNOT KNOW that he didn't do it, because he was often too drunk to remember. His testimony that he did not do it is KAVANAUGH LYING NOW.
That is violation of the Rules, calling for his disbarment, prohibiting him to be a judge or lawyer anywhere.
17
Mean drunks are mean people.
They might hide behind a pleasant façade when they're sober, but loosen them up with a few rounds and the brakes are released.
Then the "I didn't mean it, I was drunk" excuses begin.
14
This is the most intelligent article I have yet read about Kavanaugh.
15
One aspect of this whole debacle that I have not seen addressed is the simple fact that, sexually predatory behavior aside, what America does not need is another rich, white, man on the Supreme Court. We don't need another Yale or Harvard graduate. We need the human wisdom of people who family farm for generations, we need educated grandmothers, we definitely need another Thurgood Marshall (I hope I spelled that correctly), in essence we need non-elite women and men who live within the confines of the laws we have, perhaps have suffered the abuse of the laws, and not those who frankly live above the law - the very wealthy white folks. More women! People of Color! Common, every day people with wisdom. And we sure don't need this man Kavanaugh who has shown us he is a prevaricator and a lout.
31
@Mark Schlemmer: Merrick Garland is an old, white rich guy who went to Harvard (undergrad AND law school).
The left was delighted and thrilled with him, and still begs for his confirmation.
Why was it OK for Garland to be old, rich and white and an Ivy Leaguer -- but awful and evil for Kavanaugh?
1
Renate is more generous than anyone has to be in her position. She might have said "I hope his daughters ARE treated that way." Only then might he understand.
7
I think the FBI hsd already reported Kavanaugh's misdeeds to the GOP/White House and they just didn't care. There's too much out there for the FBI to miss it. And Grassley had that letter with 65 signatures in his back pocket.
20
One aspect of Kavanaugh’s personality which I find striking and which in fact may be an Achilles heel is his absolute certainty in the correctness of his version of events. And the best example I can give is around his alcohol consumption.
His high school year book is replete with references to kegs, drinking, parties etc. His friends’ yearbook pages are similarly filled with references to alcohol consumption and one friend, Mark Judge, wrote a book about being a wastrel. His Yale experience includes DKE and a secret society, both of which are known for prolific alcohol consumption. Yale classmates have characterized him as a heavy drinker. The WaPo reported that he became flustered and refused to answer questions around his alcohol consumption while he was being prepped for his upcoming hearing.
All of these, tied together, suggest someone, who at least at one point in his life, struggled with alcohol. Nevertheless, he goes on Fox News and denies that he has ever blacked out and will only own up to a “few beers”. Brett had a lot more than a few beers if his contemporaries are to be believed and if his own discomfort is any indication.
It suggests to me that Brett fails to reconcile who is he actually with who he purports to be. Maybe he doesn’t drink that way anymore. Many of us drank more in our youth than we do as we get older. But you admit it. The point is, he is lying about his past. Big lies, little lies.
40
Frank, a Supreme Court nomination process deserves more than a "best guess" about the nominee. The FBI has solved cases that are over 30 years old. Surely if the Republican-led Senate as well as Judge Kavanaugh believe in the rule of law, due process, and the professionalism and track record of the FBI--they should support an FBI investigation. That they do not speaks volumes.
19
"That’s the task before all of us now." No it's not.
There appears to be a contemporary assumption, particularly in the media, that we are all obligated to have an opinion on every issue. And for many, it must be so strong a conviction that we are prepared to go into combat with others who differ.
Some, including US senators, are obliged to arrive at a conclusion about Kavanaugh and his purported offenses. Most of us are not, and it doesn't make any practical difference what we think. And since we probably will never be sure, it may be most sensible to utter those words that are so rare in today's political climate:
I don't know.
8
@ERP
Usually "I don't know" is the right and appropriate stance. I agree that it is woefully underused (especially in comments).
However, we DO know a lot in this case, and it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise. There are facts, in this case, having nothing to do with the sexual aggressions of a loutish young wealth-entitled drunkard but related to lying under oath, hiding political activities and records, highly-suspect gambling debts and mysterious payoffs, extremist judicial dissents, views on unaccountable executive power, etc. Those are things we DO know much about and in a democracy where the individual citizen has the responsibility to know the issues and vote his conscience, "I don't know" is the lazy, at best, and cowardly, at worst, way to avoid responsibility. And it's what evil doers count on.
This is really getting out of hand. If the number of new articles about Kavanaugh increases as fast as it did during the last two weeks, then it will soon overtake the number of articles related to Trump and Mueller.
Moreover, when reading the articles and related reader comments, it seems to me that people mix up conservative ideology, feminist ideology, metoo, Christianity, in particular the scandals with the catholic priests, politics, Trump, Fox News, school parties, drinking games as a teenager, and in the end rape. Its really messy.
All I know is that
1. someone is considered to be not guilty as long as he/she was not be found to be guilty.
2. the accusations started 36 years after the alleged incident, exactly when Kavanaugh had his career jump
Definitely, Democrats aren't missing this opportunity to get dirty on him. For me, as a foreigner, it seems just as if the NYTimes is obsessed with Kavanaugh and #metoo. Finally, I am happy that I do not have to conform with the concomitant political correctness in this ideologically polarized topic.
5
And here you continue the confusion by quoting the standard for criminal conviction with the applicable standard for confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice by the Senate. The Constitution doesn't specify a standard. Presumably a scrupulously decent character might be a reasonable requirement. Scrupulousness avoids even the appearance of impropriety, and in an earlier time his behavior towards alcohol and women would likely be described as scandalous. He certainly is in no danger of a criminal conviction, but it is very reasonable indeed to question whether he merits confirmation.
13
@ChrisQ
This is not a trial. This is a job interview.
I suppose that just about anything is possible – human beings are very complex. However, a person who does not suffer from aggravated Dissociative Identity Disorder usually is pretty consistent in how he presents himself or herself to the world. The exception being a temporary state unduly influenced by excessive alcohol or other drugs – which most of us avoid as we leave adolescence and enter adulthood, often in fear of legal implications. This is why we pay more attention to how a person builds his or life AFTER adolescence than s(he) does DURING it.
Unless one is made vulnerable to evidence-free allegations from the shadows of decades-old partial-memories that MAY have political motivations, sponsored by those who DEFINITELY have political motivations, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Frankly, I think we need to better understand (as does his wife, Ashley) Brett Kavanaugh’s behavior at twelve years of age. But, if ever a Democrat should inhabit the White House again and be blessed with a Democratic Senate, then we can feel safe again at being less microscopic in our consideration of decades-old pubescent behavior in a Supreme Court candidate.
Maybe he was BOTH an adolescent drunken philanderer, even a sometimes-predator, as WELL as an adult who built a life over thirty years of probity, sobriety, distinction and respect for women. If so, does one invalidate the other, and which is the MAN we may confirm as a Supreme Court associate justice?
…
2
…
I see that Padma Lakshmi was raped at 16, a dreadful, monumental outrage as it is for any girl (or woman) who undergoes such violence. But she doesn’t claim that the crime was committed by an adolescent but by a man of 23, who had his chance to emerge from a state that we hold less responsible for predations to one we regard as FULLY responsible for his actions; and who failed at that challenge.
I’m not convinced that Brett Kavanaugh did ANYTHING he is charged by these two women of doing – lacking ANY corroborative evidence and given the possible political motivations. And I’m a little outraged at the prospect of over thirty years of effort to build a solid, productive and distinguished life rendered meaningless by unsubstantiated claims based on partial-memories – lodged decades after the charges can be proved OR disproved. But I look at what Brett Kavanaugh has done with his ADULT life for over thirty years, and I regard him as qualified to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
7
One doesn’t negate the other unless you lie about it.
4
@Ann Priester
I'd approach Sen. Dianne Feinstein on her motivations for starting this whole Hail Mary mess before I'd approach Kavanaugh over "lying" about adolescent behavior.
It appears that that is why trump chose him. Cheat, steal, lie and play part time sexual predator. It definitely fits.
11
I am an X-Gen'er as X-Gen'er as they come.
We used to call people that acted sober one way and drunk another way a "transformer".
It's the same person, but as the transformer characters from 1980's cartoons (and later full-lenght movies), the idea was that there were people that when inebriated changed a lot. Just to be sorry next day, just to repeat it the following weekend. Until they grew out of it. Some of them leaving scars on somebody else or in themselves.
Transformer. Cavanaugh could be the first Transformer at the Supreme Court.
6
Dear Gitti,
Well, in reply to yours, I might choose Balzac as an author to describe this latest uproar on what is happening on the social and political front, and although the sun will rise, at the moment this autumn is soggy, and we are carrying on under a toxic cloud of allegations, while pretending that all is well.
A long line at our post office earlier, where a highly professional postmistress was managing the fort. A gift is being forwarded your way, and she had trouble with my handwriting, 'MiddleSob'?, she asked, 'MiddleSex', I replied in a whisper feeling singularly awkward.
Mr. Potter, a decent man and staunch Republican, says he's planning to go all the way with Kavanaugh, and that he's a good Irishman, with a wry note in his voice. It's O'Bourke for me, I answered, and wait until you have to divulge to the Nation when you lost your virginity.
While it is tempting to feel the mood of the Country is becoming more barbaric by the day, we are not a Nation of thugs and louts, and there are plenty of good people walking in our midst. As for the T.V., it remains firmly monitored, while the children are watching 'My Dog Skip', and probably the President and his supporters will get their way, and another tragic figure will be nominated to the Supreme Court...'.
5
Perhaps God wants the Republicans to get Kavanaugh on the court so that he can be an instrument to unleash wrath on all the sinners who are not properly seeking redemption.
If he did manhandle some girls, in that setting he would surely have taken care of it in confession -- or something like that. So big deal about his character. Sinners will not understand this, which proves that his critics are heathens at heart.
2
If it's fairness Kavanaugh wants then say unequivocally that he supports the reopening of the FBI investigation to include all the new allegations by Blasey Ford and Ramirez and if Avenati brings forth a new allegation, that also. When that investigation is completed and if he is not found culpable in anyway, then that will be the fairness he deserves, if not, then not.
20
Far more important is the curtain being drawn exposing the entitlement and incestuousness of the political and social elite and far America has drifted from the promise of equal justice for all.
Professor Chua meet markets for Federal Judicial Law Clerks tells me how badly America is broken. It tells me that social mobility in America is the lowest in any liberal democracy by design not by chance.
It is time to acknowledge that American Justice is neither blindfolded or carrying a balance scale.
13
Mr. Bruni's piece is the first I've read that posits the complexity of Judge Kavanaugh as a man capable of a range of motivations and behaviors, who acts--and has acted--in very different ways at different times and with different people. Both Christina Ford's allegations of his assault on her when he was 17 and Deborah Ramirez's recollection of his sexual misconduct toward her at Yale seem credible if yet unproven. And yet there is a mountain of evidence of Kavanaugh's right-wing partisanship, revealed in his ideology-driven work as a lawyer working on the Ken Starr investigation and his years in George W. Bush's White House. Kavanaugh's numerous articles and hundreds of appellate court opinions and dissents place him at the extreme right among U.S. jurists. Today, our democracy is in crisis: our judiciary, law enforcement, and national security--indeed our very constitution!--are under attack by the president and by Republican legislators who care more about retaining the power of their offices than the well-being of the majority of Americans. At this time, the United States desperately needs a Supreme Court justice of integrity and wisdom, free of ideology and partisanship--qualities that Judge Kavanaugh does not appear to have. May the Judiciary Committee members act with courage and integrity and reject this judge's nomination to our highest court!
18
@Rachel B Just think on this:
Would you find them credible, if they were from a Republican public intellectual working at the Heritage think tank; and from a conservative activist (the analogs of Ford and Ramirez) and they were accusing Barack Obama of this, right before the election in October 2008? If they claimed that yeah, "Barry" was fine unless he was using cocaine, at which point he became aggressive and assaulted them? If all his contemporaries denied this, he denied this, and their recollections where either inconsistent (Ford) or incomplete (Ramirez)
Because if you wouldn't - then this isn't about #MeToo. Its about win, #ByAnyMeansNecessary
When I first saw the movie, "The Forty Year-Old Virgin," years ago, I thought it was a goofy comedy. Now I realize it was based on the exemplary life of Brett Kavanaugh!
Another patently false claim he makes is that he has a calendar from when he was in high school in 1982 that proves he wasn't at the party with Ms. Ford. Who keeps a calendar from 35 years ago!
If Kavanaugh has a shred of integrity, he should withdraw his nomination and resign from the federal appeals court he now sits on.
12
I realize that I am a dimbulb when compared to Bro Kavanaugh's illustrious resume, but even I would have known at 16 or 17 not to write House Party in a diary that it was highly likely that my parents could find and ready. Unless, of course, Kavanaugh kept two deak diaries.
2
What finally matters are legal positions court judgments and a record of action that is partisan or open minded, loyal to precedent or part of a ideology. Late night behavior or weekend escapes count but not as much as judicial belief. Mr. Kavanaugh has a history of loyalty to wealth, business and conservative beliefs. It is a reasonable question since he might be a swing vote does he finally recognize progress and the way America his heading or is he a revanchist and dogmatist?
4
This is a job interview, not a criminal proceding. It is not "innocent until proven guilty" as much as "is this the best candidate for the position".
23
@steveyo. Exactly.
No one ever knows anyone else completely.
6
I told very few people about the colleague I had considered a close friend until he forced himself on me after I had repeatedly said, "no." He also had multiple faces. We all do.
We worked in the same field and had many of the same friends. He wore the face of a sensitive, guitar-playing guy who wore sandals and was devoted to his dog. I had considered him a mentor and one of the few people who didn't underestimate me in our male-dominated field.
After the bad night with him, I saw glimmers of another face. He was also the guy who made an intern pick up his dog's excrement from the office carpet. The guy who didn't do much work in his huge, glass-walled office.
Meanwhile, people saw me as hard-working, ambitious, and passionate. I kept my mouth shut to make sure everyone kept seeing that face.
I knew that if I "made a stink" about this man who was above me in the office hierarchy and what he had done outside of office hours, people would see my face as that of the "inconvenient troublemaker." I would most certainly be exiled. I had a good job in my chosen field. I did not want to wear that face.
I felt guilty when I learned sandal-man went on to have a "relationship" with a subordinate who was only barely of age after she had leaned on him during a vulnerable period. (In our field, this was akin to a teacher dating a young student.) I don't know if anything would have been different for her if I'd spoken up, or if she wanted it to be. I remain haunted, wondering.
14
@AE As per your story, and as per the Weinstein Moonves Lauer et al stories show = women are in far more danger from woke soy boys reciting progressive shibboleths and declaring themselves 3rd wave feminists, then the standard issue loud frat boy. Not that any male type has a monopoly on violence towards women; but the latter you see coming a mile away. The former make you doubt yourself, your judgement - they steal souls when they assault women.
2
@AE: as long as women refuse to speak up and make excuses for NOT speaking up…nothing will ever change, and in 50 years, we'll be hearing from ANOTHER woman claiming "some did this or that to her….5 decades in the past"….long beyond any point where justice could be served.
When we do not tell --- do not go to the police -- we leave OTHER WOMEN vulnerable to the very predators who hurt US.
1
Brett Kavanaugh's freshman roommate at Yale painted a picture all too familiar of men who when sober appear to be a picture of rectitude or as his statement says, "normally reserved," but when drunk, and claims Judge Kavanaugh was a "notably heavy drinker" and who then "became aggressive and "belligerent". It's a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story that many women have to their misfortune encountered. That seems to be the case for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and yet another woman who her attorney, Michael Avenatti, says will come forward tomorrow. The Republicans rush to put an alcoholic abusive man on the Supreme Court is the real "con" that's totally "messed up." It's time for a thorough F.B.I. background investigation to get at the truth and not the political trench warfare the Republicans, especially Donald Trump, are waging. There can be no justice/Justice without truth. And truth demands evidence not denigrating and degrading smears.
20
no surprise here, the lack of empathy, or absence thereof, shown from hatch, mcconnel and other, coincidentally?, white republican men is commensurate with that they show toward those who struggle for basic rights, health insurance, voting rights, immigration rights, civil rights...etc.
term limits now, for congress and s. court
14
The yearbook entries are illuminating. I would like to see “Rehoboth Police Fan Club (with Shorty)” investigated.
If anyone has documentation it would be the police.
I hope the NYT is investigating.
8
The thing is, we know that Brett Kavanaugh does not respect women. We knew it before the accusations of sexual assault. We knew it because denying women choice about whether to terminate a pregnancy denies them their full humanity. It denies them the right to moral autonomy, and freedom of conscience. It means that no matter how many other responsibilities a woman may have, to other people, parents, other children, all the people who have invested in her as a fully developed human being, the decision about her responsibility to them, versus a partially developed fetus, is to be made not by the woman herself, but by a paternalistic state.
No man in America would accept that sort of control, in violation of First Ammendment implications of freedom of conscience, which follows fromits guarantees of freedom of religion.
21
What seems to be the takeaway here is that no one can know the totality of the nominee - a “best guess” based on the “best available evidence” is all that can be hoped for.
I’ve seen very good compromises be reached where the two sides agree to have the choice determined by a coin toss: each side gets to advance the name of a single nominee but they also get to discuss names with the other side. So, you could have the Republicans make a “Republican” nominee and the Democrats make a “Democrat” nominee with each side then having a 50% chance of a “win”. Or they could agree to advance two names, mutually acceptable (and more likely to be neutral in their political views than not), and have a 100% chance of having an appropriate nominee being named.
Not sure which approach your two political parties might choose but I’d like to think reason might win out.
No charge.
Once again, Mr. Bruni has written an excellent, thought provoking, and convincing opinion piece.
Yet while I agree with his point that there's probably a bit of us all in Kavanaugh and vice-versa, I think there's another aspect of this story that bears at least equal evaluation, namely the comparison between presumptive Justice Kavanaugh's alleged behavior and that of sitting Justice Clarence Thomas, whose alleged behavior caused the same reaction a generation ago and was managed by many of the very same people who are charged with that same responsibility today.
Had Clarence Thomas simply admitted that perhaps, just perhaps, he bore some responsibility for his accuser's charges, then apologized for his actions and asked for
the understanding and forgiveness of his accuser and the American people, perhaps, just perhaps, he, Brett Kavanaugh and this country would not be where we are today.
Now, with the distinct possibility that two members of the highest court in the land will forever have clouded asterisks after their names, there's still a chance to lessen the incalculable damage that can be done.
It's too late for Thomas, but not for Kavanaugh.
Two must always be one more than enough when the stakes are so high for the future.
4
Stalin was sweet to his daughter. Some famous Nazis treated their children the same way. The number of people who like you is not the test of whether you are trustworthy. 40% of voters like a president who has lied 5,000 times since taking office less than two years ago.
23
@CitizenJ, Only 5,000?
kavanaugh
won’t withdraw
he’s above the law
loves rush limbaugh
that’s... the last straw
8
Thank you for helping me see humanity where previously i only saw an unlikeable caricature. Could use some more help in this department these days!
2
So easy to judge situations and people from our comfy chairs and computer screens. Being human involves more than just accusation and belief. It involves the truth which, in cases like this, might never be understood— completely.
3
Whatever one does at 17 (or 20), 35+ years later IS THAT much time. To what degree are YOU still, say, 20? Not still AND still so? Is this about Kavanaugh or about you (typical reader with animus toward Kanvanaugh)?
If the errors of your ways are not in any way evidenced by your adult life or profession, because—YOU know—you've learned and grown up, how accountable are you to others about your sense of errors decades past, if errored ways are not anyway evident in your life now, nor evidenced in your profession?
Is all of this Kavanaugh stuff a script about not outgrowing one's youth, even though the errors of that youth are in no way evident in recent decades?
There is absolutely no evidence that Kavanaugh did not long ago outgrow his youth. To what degree is it the public's business how he regards that outgrowing, if the errors of decades ago are nowhere, no time evident or demonstrably relevant?
Is all this about the foggy mirror of one's own questions about their relation to their youth? Are YOU still 17? That's your issue, not Kavanaugh's—all of which I say as someone very much against his approach to law.
And HEY, what happened to the relevance of Kavanaugh’s approach to law?
2
Every Supreme Court justice wears the face he or she developed as a high-status, privileged and sheltered lawyer, judge or academic. They succeeded by conforming to those roles.
It is their life experience during the period before they graduated from Yale or Harvard that differentiates them. This has a direct bearing on their ability to understand the issues before them, and to empathize with the lives of the individuals who will be affected by their decisions.
Brett Kavanaugh's record of entitled privilege and irresponsible behavior in prep school and college suggests he never related to ordinary people at any point in his life.
Six of today's sitting justices, at some time in their lives, endured hardship or at least shared the experience of the middle class. (I reserve judgment on boarding school alum John Roberts, who seems clueless about race, and Neil Gorsuch, who attended the same prep school as Kavanaugh.)
In an earlier era, justices like Hugo Black, Earl Warren and Sandra Day O'Connor had served in elected office and showed an understanding of the general public, having sought the public's votes and heard their concerns.
Our respect for the court depends on respect for the justices. It is difficult to respect a man who has donned a face of probity but has bragged about his formative years of wealthy entitlement and drunken debauchery.
17
Putin must be thrilled. His goal of weakening American democracy by undermining our belief in it is on a roll. Even better, the stooge he helped put in place as President has done this new damage to save himself from punishment for having accepted Russian help to get elected. Kavanaugh is the only Supreme Court candidate Trump could find who has signaled he will save him from legal consequences for his actions.
20
The people we think we know can also be the person who does something unthinkable. I think Judge Kavanaugh is playing fast and loose with the truth but without any further investigation into a credible accusation of attempted rape we will never know.
The GOP Senate nomination committee has, according to CBS News, scheduled a vote on his nomination for Friday morning after the Thursday hearing. It feels to me like...'well we heard her story, lets vote'.
Maybe it's me but I think that's pretty sudden.
7
@Lalo
All of the Senate Republicans will vote for Kavanaugh to be on the Supreme Court and I hope all of the Senate Democrats will vote no and then say they voted that way because of Merrick Garland.
Hmmmm appears to me that only two women in a severely drunk state have accused the Judge of not being an all around great guy. Dozens more have come quickly to his defense . The charges against him are thin and sketchy at best. We don’t need pseudo scientist journalists to keep looking for reasons to destroy a fine jurist.
4
Blasey Ford was not drunk.
23
@FDB
One of the "dozens" was so clueless about the "all around great guy" that she didn't realize he and 13 classmates had trashed her on their yearbook pages.
17
As I often find from your columns, you are wise and measured in your responses. No, he should not be a Supreme Court Justice. I would probably find him dull and entitled. But he may also be a good husband and father--or not. But as you said, he should not be on the highest court in the country.
11
This is a straw man argument. Everybody acknowledges the funny, avuncular, warm and generous Bill Cosby. It just took us a while to admit that a bunch of women were telling the truth in saying that his psychic Siamese twin was a serial rapist.
That Kavanaugh is a voracious legal scholar, and presumably a good dad to his daughters, tells us nothing about whether he was a regular drunk and serial sexual predator as a young man. You know what tells us something about that? The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, and others who knew him as a young man. We should listen to them.
30
My takeaway from Bruni is that he can be both a sexual assaulter and perceived by others as good person. That doesn’t mean he isn’t guilty of sexual assault and a poor candidate for the court. It’s just that some people only saw one side of him. Think the Nazis who were good to their families and pets.
9
Excellent article. We are lazy - we want the easy way out - to believe that humans are either good or evil, one or the other but not both since 'complex' takes more work to recognize. Yet, most humans I know are very complex, not so easy to figure out.
So, to think that Kavanaugh could be as complex, acting one way with certain groups of people and another with different groups, depending on what he wants from them.......that is not a stretch at all.
8
No matter how many sides he displays, in essence, he is just another rich creep in another tailored suit.
19
Very accurate and thoughtful article. As you said its rare that a person is simply an angel or a devil - they are a little (or a lot) of both.
2
Why has no one from Georgetown Prep’s administration disavowed this kind of behavior? Did they not know?
8
@KLF Like all enabling institutions trying to protect themselves, silence is cover.
9
@KLF
The current boss issued a mealy-mouthed letter the other day.
6
@KLF. The yearbook was public knowledge, and it was even reviewed by a “faculty advisor,” or so I read somewhere in NYT or WaPo. It’s hard to imagine that news of the drunken house parties didn’t reach school faculty and administrators one way or another. Of course they knew.
1
He's a chump .... and an intellectual lightweight. A loyal right wing soldier.
16
Revised Republican RAPE Rules :
HE was young, or drunk. Therefore, NOT his fault.
SHE was drunk. Therefore, Her fault.
Used as needed. And repeated. Seriously.
37
If you don't want to stand up to intense scrutiny, don't apply for the job of SC justice (or president, for that matter).
The guys are stupid in a certain way. Their lives could have been good, even great, had they not had a lust for power.
18
Kav is the gift that keeps on giving. Anyone associated with him is tainted in a way that cannot be washed off. Pity Renate Dolphin who thought he was an OK guy until she found out she is the butt of jokes and rumors. You cannot go back in time and she cannot expunge the fact that the whole world knows that she had a reputation (and not a good one). More injury to innocent women. Sigh!
8
Booze and good old Catholic sexual repression. Not a great combination, folks. Lots of unhealthy things can happen.
Having grown up Catholic and attending Catholic schools (fortunately for only 4 years), I knew some guys like Kavanaugh. Time-bombs.
In my opinion Judge Jekyll and Hyde does not belong on the Supreme Court.
15
@hoconnor
I knew guys like Brett, too, who attended another Jesuit high school. They liked attacking men who went to a certain park to meet other men.
9
Ted Bundy was very charming and well liked, he was also a serial killer. So if that extreme dichotomy can exist so can the lesser one between Kavanaugh the abuser and the girls basketball coach. Add the sense of obnoxious entitlement permitted by wealthy parents and you get this toxic episode.
10
A marvelous piece by Bruni. We are all, with rare exceptions, mixes of good and bad. Gandhi wasn't there for his family. Einstein mistreated his first wife. Martin Luther King was promiscuous. In the life of almost every good, even great, man we could find, if we knew everything about him, some bad deeds.
That doesn't mean that those bad deeds are unredeemable, but in the case of Kavanaugh he has, if the accusations against him are found credible, compounded and renewed the misdeeds by lying about them.
16
Even if he had no sexual assaults in his past, why would anyone believe BK is qualified to adjudicate anything, much less the most serious legal issues facing our nation. He's a child of wealth and privilege whose parents abdicated their responsibility to finish raising him to the Catholic Church when he entered adolescence. We're still learning about the many failings of the church, but Georgetown Prep seems more a Lord of the Flies island where Bret and his buddies became drunken predators not unlike Jack and the hunters.
Still, even if BK is not a sotted sociopath, he, nor anyone like him is really qualified to judge anything or anyone other than legal and political machinations and insiders, because that's all he's known since he was a child. Forget that he obviously doesn't get the female half of our nation, think he can understand or empathize with the struggles and concerns of: working people living check to check; minorities; the folks from any region of the country other than the Northeast.
"But," you say, "he knows the law." Sorry, the law is one tool a nation uses to create a fair and safe society and judges should be knowledgeable and broadly experienced in order help apply it justly across the countless circumstances our courts encounter. BK's sheltered and secluded life alone precludes him from doing that and should disqualify him.
6
Reading these comments makes me suspect that some are starting to understand the issue of sexual violence against women. The old-white-male heavy GOP leadership seems stuck in a time warp with its talk of "plowing through" to Kavanaugh's confirmation. Perhaps after the election of Trump, Republicans believe they can dismiss women's concerns and still get our vote. I hope they are wrong.
12
All sexual assailants, Bill Crosby, et. al., should be worried.
Now that Crosby has been sentenced to 3-10 years in prison, perhaps the #METOO movement will galvanize women who are sexually assaulted to promptly file complaints with the police, as a badge of courage, rather than treating the assaults as a taboo to only be reported decades later, or not at all.
Every time a sexual assault is not promptly reported to the police, the perpetrator will feel vindicated and more confident to continue assaulting other women.
5
Legalistic decisions are about politics. We ought not portray our judges as
not human beings. Imho, of course, BK and the huge SOCUS issues are
about subjectivity, interpretation, and political dynamics. Do "FEDERALISTS"
concede the obvious realities of their legalistic function? My humble interpretation is .... apparently ... they cannot. This cynicism being expressed
by me seemingly applies to all of us. Ideologists can be as foolish as inconsistent practicalists. If I offend nearly everybody, then so be it.
Once again, supremely beside the point. It is not relevant that he is not now the drunken, badly behaving boy he may have been. What IS relevant, if the accusations are true as they increasingly seem to be, is that he is denying that he was EVER the drunken, badly behaving boy. It is, as Dick the Trick famously said, the lie, the cover up that hurts.
18
Frank, this is one of the worst op-eds you have written. Yes, we all know this about human beings: some people see one side of us, while others see another. But, so what? Where does that leave us today? You offer us nothing at all here other than a few hundred words of blather. Tough day, was it?
6
Frank Bruin wrote, “....sifting through (the conflicting statements) is (now) the task before us all.” Everyone has to decide for themselves, not follow pundits’ or presidents’ opinions.
3
When I was 14, an older boy, my "boyfriend"'s best friend attacked me. He didn't try to rape me, but pushed me to the ground and lay on top of me, kissing me. I didn't know how to react, but said my coat was getting dirty and I had to get up. I took it that "boyfriend,"who hadn't spoken to me in awhile, was no longer interested and he was. I let him hold my hand as we walked home. Almost home, he told me his friend still cared! A month later, I approached the two to talk, and he said in public "We're virginal youths and we don't want to be seduced."This is the kind of virgin Kavanaugh was.
And with al the drinking, which he does not deny, it is no wonder he remembers nothing. He had or has a serious alcohol abuse problem which led to attacks on women. I wonder if he still drinks: the Visa debts, gambling suggest he may still have this problem.
18
Elsewhere in the Times, Michelle Goldberg reports:
"From Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh went to Yale. There he joined the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE, which was, according to The Yale Daily News, “notorious for disrespecting women.”
(Long after Kavanaugh graduated, the fraternity, once headed by George W. Bush, was banned from campus after video emerged of pledges chanting, “No Means Yes! Yes Means Anal!”)
Kavanaugh was also a member of an all-male secret society called Truth and Courage, which had an obscene nickname affirming its dedication to womanizing."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/opinion/columnists/kavanaugh-georgeto...
She didn't say it, but the nickname was the offensive "Tit and Clit".
Kavanaugh's membership in such openly misogynistic frats and secret societies is more than enough to disqualify him from serving on the high court, indeed on any court.
Of course, lying under oath about several major issues, denying that his mentor Kozinski ran an openly anti-women, sexual harassment chambers, and wanting to restrict women's rights is more than sufficient to render him unfit for the Supreme Court.
26
Once Kavanaughs nomination goes down in flames, there needs to be an outing of ALL the members of these fraternities and private clubs, wherever their members may be today. And colleges that have allowed their existence at any time in the last twenty years need to be banned from any tax dollars.
8
Excellent piece! At last someone in the media debunks the folly we are unidimensional. Yes, wonderfully kind and respectful people, paragons of virtue if you will, can turn into nasty jerks when they drink, especially if the do it to excess. Don’t believe me? Just ask the pros: alcoholics who have seen this in themselves and others; or ask their spouses, children and friends, who will gladly tell you how terrifying it is to see their loved ones turn into somebody else when they drink.
Kavanaugh appears to have controlled their drinking and has led an exemplary life since his college years, kudos for him. But that does not prove he did not sexually harassed Ms. Blasey Ford or that he would have never done it, especially when highly inebriated as he reportedly tended to be while young.
2
Has anyone tracked down his prom date, if he had one, for his GP prom? And did he escort other young ladies to proms at their schools? I would love to hear what they have to say.
3
How about law clerks and female attorneys who’ve practiced in his courts?
1
I wonder if Kavanaugh would leave either of his daughters alone in the same room with Trump.
12
@whaddoino Or visa versa.
1
I read about St. Augustine. His early sinful life, his confessions and a life rebuilt in service to others. With Kavanaugh where are the confessions? Where is the commitment of “men for others”.
Perhaps he needs to confess before we compare him to a saint.
9
If Kavanaugh wanted to gain the moral high ground, he need only say how sorry he is that Dr. Ford had to have such an awful experience and ask that the FBI investigate to get to the bottom of how it happened.
14
Whether he admits his actions and apologizes or not, he’s not fit to be a government employee in any capacity, as a parking lot attendant or a Supreme Court Justice.
3
Anyone is capable of anything at anytime.
But that does not mean any allegation made against
them must be true.
Mr. Bruni could you defend yourself against an
allegation made from 36 years ago that you took
advantage of someone but that person could not tell
you the year, the place, how they met you and how they
found their way home after the incident.
Should you be fired from the New York Times because
you cannot prove the allegations are false ?
You have a great influence and thus a great responsibility
and so you will have to lose your job because we can't
be sure...
4
Republicans brought this on to themselves. His past should be irrelevant. This is a man who has no problem taking a position that should be occupied by Merrill Garland, let alone that he was appointed by a corrupt, embarrassing and misogynistic president. He has shown that he is unscrupulous.
12
It is likely that Kavanaugh is an alcoholic with serious impulse control problems. He is also sheltered and privileged and was an eager member of the frat jock
culture. I find it very credible that despite his prim
family oriented image that he has many skeletons in his closet that are equally revealing of his character.
He has likely been a sexual assaulter and I feel unqualified to be a Supreme Court Justice for that and many other reasons such as his biased and hard right
ideological views on all legal issues.
3
His sexual misdeeds are certainly disqualifying on their own, but here are a few other questions:
1) Has he dealt with what seems like a serious alcohol issue?
2) How did he get into so much debt? Gambling? Inability to live within his means?
3) How did he get out of debt so quickly? It is not illegal to pay off another person's debts, but is he now beholden to someone who may have interests before the court?
4) He previously lied under oath to Congress. Which is a felony. How can we trust anything he tells the Senate on Thursday.
5) There are no doubt hundreds of lawyers who have superior character, experience, judgement and legal skills. Why should we give a lifetime appointment to someone who would bring so little to the court?
35
When I watch Brett Kavanaugh I am reminded of the bad boy character, Eddie Haskell, on the old Leave it to Beaver sitcom: "That's a lovely dress you're wearing today, Mrs Cleaver." Unless he's schizoid, Brett knows and remembers what he's done and his choir boy demeanor is a performance. Bill Cosby is still denying he gave scores of women roofies and then assaulted them even as he goes to jail.
18
Predatory people are not stupid.
They pick on people who they feel are vulnerable and isolated in some way. People who can't defend themselves. People that no one else will believe.
Why don't people believe these victims? Because predators know how to be charming and helpful to the right people, people who will defend them against "false" accusations--that are actually true.
20
This is so true. It's almost as if they have radar for vulnerable people. Lots of this in the military, with far more male victims than most people would expect. And these aren't incidents of "whoops I drank too much and got frisky." These are planned assaults. People who want to take advantage of those less powerful than themselves rarely change and usually continue the behavior.
7
@Sandie I am waiting for the male hazing rape victims of Yale´s DKE to come forward. The motto after all was "No means yes, yes means anal". I´d bet my left arm that lots of freshmen males were raped during DKE rushes. It weakens us all that men lack courage.
Ms. Renate signed a letter supporting him... Before she found out what implied about her in his high school yearbook.
I used to like Bill Cosby... We had all of his comedy records when I was a kid. But look what he was really like.
17
Wearereminded of Jekyll & Hyde.
3
“Some women saw a young gentleman. Some saw a drunk predator. Maybe he was both.”
The most peculiar moral judgment made by the New York Times in my lifetime. Pathetic. No, everybody does not have this kind of good and evil in them. To suggest that there is anything normal about Brett Kavanaugh is positively sickening. It’s a matter of character. Character doesn’t change.
8
So to you, Bret, the "Renate alumnus" thing in his yearbook is fine because it's not true?
It's still insanely disrespectful at the very least.
And how, exactly do you know that anyway?
9
We need an FBI investigation!
22
To hears Kavanaugh's friends and acquaintances tell it, I'm surprised the guy was admitted to Yale, much less graduated from it.
7
"Sifting" ?
What is there to sift ?
The pattern is obvious, and well-known to all countries, all cultures, all times : sanctimonious conservative on the outside, and, since that role is a bit hard on the pulsions, drunken baboon on the inside.
Nothing new.
18
Republicans are claiming this is all a Democrat stunt. If they can prove that - and that should not be difficult with today’s technology - then more power to them. Otherwise, the accuser has way more to lose than Kavanaugh. He has shown enough gaps in character not to qualify for the country’s highest court. But then again ... look at the White House ...
4
Those prurient queries of Kavanaugh during the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky travesty did not occur in a vacuum; they are very much part of his character.
The yearbook captions alone are quite telling, yet he goes on Fox News declaring his Mr. Clean persona of volunteering and Church activities- yet none appear in the dubious 1982 Calendar-of Events.
Kavanaugh's "Graduation" (alumnus) from the school of "Renate" is base and disgusting:Similar discourse has downed the career and fortune of Congressmen and Captains of Industry.
"11 Angry Men" are once more chomping at the bit in crowning another perverted tongue to a life-time appointment in meting out ultimate justice to American citizens.
3
This is a seat Supreme Court that we are talking about. Even if he is not guilty of sexual assault, he has shown no courage to speak up about, or has at the least turned a blind eye to misdeeds around him. From stolen emails in the Bush admin to sexual harassment in a law office, he knows nothing. This, from a man who has tried so hard to always be on the inside. This is not the character of a man who should serve a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land.
6
According to Professor Ford, Mark Judge was a witness to the events. But Mr. Judge says he has no recollection of the event. For a perspective on the culture of Georgetown Prep, the prestigious boys school in Bethesda, MD, Mr. Judge and Judge Kavanaugh were classmates at the time of the alleged assault, read Judge’s memoir, “Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk.” I imagine Mr. Judge was not alone in his drinking. But I do admire his loyalty to Judge Kavanaugh. He is not a fair-weather friend by any means. Thank you.
The problem at this point is that he has so vehemently denied it that is almost impossible to just bow out gracefully. There was a point where he could have just said that it was becoming too much of a distraction and bowed out gracefully and maintained his dignity. Whether he is confirmed or not confirmed at this point it is always going to be a stain. To this day Thomas is viewed as someone who got away with sexual harassment.
6
There is no justification for sparing a continued FBI investigation into Kavanaugh's background in light of the credible allegations brought by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. The GOP is accountable to all Americans. They owe us ALL an investigation or the withdrawl of their nominee.
4
On religious NYT articles, so many of us are empiricists, and yet, without any evidence and witnesses that cannot corroborate the accuser's claims, so many of us are wanting to believe that this man committed the alleged behavior.
We believe what we want to believe.
@byzantinefaulttolerance. Believe this -- the corroborating witnesses that do exist are not being sought out by the Good Old Boys Club for one reason and one reason only. Sweep the truth under the rug and get on with this travesty of a nomination.
1
Republicans have suggested that maybe Kavanaugh's accuser might have been assaulted, but she is mistaken in identifying Judge Kavanaugh as the attacker. They believe it is ok to question her memory.
It seems strange to me that these Republicans don't seem to consider the possibility that it may be Kavanaugh's memory that is faulty. Considering that one of his best friends was a black-out drunk and that he himself has provided abundant evidence that he drank to excess, it seems a far more believable explanation.
18
The real issue is the risk of placing a liar on the court. If he came out, admitted the possibility, apologized for his teenage behavior then maybe 35 years makes a difference. But he didnt. This is why it needs to be investigated - a judge should not be a liar.
13
Very good piece, Mr. Bruni. It's like the fable from India about the blind men and the elephant. Each man felt a different part of the elephant and thought he was correct in his assessment of what an elephant is. "An elephant is like a wall" says one who feels the animal's flank. "No, an elephant is like a snake," says one feels the elephant's tail. Etcetera.
All of them were right and all of them were wrong. But in Kavanaugh's case, we need to come up with an overall picture of the man. We are all partly good and partly bad, but if you're going to be on the Supreme Court, the good has to outweigh the bad -- and by a big margin, because the stakes are so high.
3
to my fellow commenters: if Kavanaugh was an aggressive drunk when in school, he must know he was. If he woke up the next morning not recalling anything from the night before, he must know he was like that. Obviously his friends knew and have recalled it. Why can’t he say it? It’s not just about sexual attacks, it’s about his denial of who he was. What little insight into himself or just continued obfuscation. Either way, not good news for a Supreme Court judge.
6
Sadly, Dr. Blasey's testimony is merely a formality. If the party of family values and religious piety can support DJT as their President, do you think there is anything that Dr. Blasey could say that would prevent the senate from cementing a conservative right wing supreme court for the next 40 years? Perhaps he should boast like his nominator-in-chief that he could molest a woman on 5th avenue in New York and not lose any of his supporters. Now that I think about it, I suspect he would pick up a few more votes in congress.
4
"A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbor."
Carl Jung 1945
3
I am trying to imagine that Kavanaugh didn't commit those lewd assaults as a young man so as to try to judge him fairly by his actions today. Bottom line: he is bullying his accusers. It will be another very sad day for all of us if he is confirmed.
10
Yes, Mr. Bruni, you said it all: "anyone persuasively accused of what Christine Blasey Ford says that Kavanaugh did to her has any business on the Supreme Court."
God help us if we can't find someone without Kavanaugh's serious flaws to nominate to be a Supreme Court Justice. Is he the best we have? A history of alcohol abuse and frequent public drunkenness should be more than enough to disqualify him. Have we lost all concept of responsible behavior and sound judgment? A large majority of male college students do not behave as he did. We can -- and should -- do much better!
Case closed!
7
McConnell, Trump and the GOP struggle to reconcile the dirty underbelly of their party that lies just below the skin-thin facade of elite decorum and prep school virtue they cultivate.
When drunk, Kavanaugh's true impulses come forth and wipe away the veneer of respectability and the idealized vision of life the GOP and religious right want us to think that they are the sole champions of.
GOP talk belies the beast within.
3
To those who want to dismiss Dr. Ford's allegation as mere "cringeworthy" adolescent excess, can we please remember that she alleges he covered her mouth and she thought he might inadvertently kill her? I find myself recalling the famous "preppy murder" case from NY in the eighties....privileged private school students engage in underage drinking and head to Central Park after hours for a sexual assignation. Jennifer Dawn Levin lost her life with a drunken young man with entitlement and alcohol issues likely not unlike those of a young Brett Kavanaugh.
9
Great article! Many are shocked when a Catholic priest or a coach is accused of sex abuse, because they have seen the good that these men have done. All the good these people do can easily be outweighed by the times when there dark side comes out. We certainly don't need someone on the Supreme Court who is sympathetic to predators, rather than their victims.
2
Isn't the point that Kavanaugh seems to have a history of lying? Shouldn't that be the criteria for blocking his way to the Supreme Court? The current charges are indeed serious -- I certainly have no intention of dismissing them, or trivializing them -- but they take the focus off Kavanuagh and put it on his accusers, who don't deserve to be abused again. "His ethics are elastic and his lies abundant," Bruni writes. That should be the focus here. Put the burden of proof back on Kavanaugh where it belongs. A liar with elastic ethics has no place on the Supreme Court.
3
I was worried I was jumping to conclusions because I believed the ladies who said what they said about what Kavanaugh did.
Then I saw the interview on FOX.
Now I know he did those things, without a shadow of doubt. Why? He used a whole bunch of arguments that are completely in-admissable in court. I.e., that he was a virgin (when the crime is of violence), that he went to church (when no correlation between church going and law breaking exists), he was a wholesome guy (when evidence to the contrary exists in yearbooks), and when said he did not write down in his diary that he molested someone.
16
Thanks, Frank--one of your best.
2
Great article. I would add that POTUS Trump's comment about SCOTUS nominee Kavanaugh's "unblemished record" is faint praise from an executive who has bragged openly about grabbing women's crotches and his personal Vietnam - avoiding STDs. And, I will add my own personal experience: when I was 11, and undergoing some trial that I didn't understand because I did not know what sex was, our Catholic pastor told me that sometimes girls have to suffer like Christ so boys can keep "clean records" because boys have to support families. So, an "unblemished record" for a male, might mean there is some female out there suffering like Christ for the good of some other woman's family economics. "Unblemished records" don't necessarily correlate with moral, respectful behavior.
7
A mixed bag, okay. Aren't we all. However, he is part and parcel of the Republican partisan machine, up to and including the stupid Fox interview. Not the behavior, aside from all the rest, of a man with a solid legal mind and great integrity. Certainly doesn't inspire belief in fair attention to all sides of the cases that will come before him. His work history, if we can call it that, is awash with party politics and loyalties. And we can't know the extent of it because of all the unreleased documents about key periods.
So, all the high school stuff aside, this man is in no way principled and honest enough to be chosen and seated on the highest court of the land, such an overused phrase, but that's the truth of it. And SCOTUS should demand and get the finest of us, not one with so many unanswered questions about his youthful drunkenness, but also about his worldview and record of behavior as a privileged white male.
Like Mark Judge, is he a recovering alcoholic? That's usually private information, but if the accusations about his aggressive drunken acts are true, is the drinking problem still a serious risk? And what about those earlier news stories about his huge debts? How acquired? How and if paid off?
He stands before us as a far right Republican loyalist. What are the rest of us to believe about his ability to judge in a fair and unbiased way?
We can and should do better. Sad times, indeed for our nation.
7
We have a cultural stereotype that men who assault women are 'thugs.' That they walk around in tank tops, are unattractive, uneducated, dark skinned and uncouth. If a woman reports this type of man for assault, it's more likely to be taken seriously. If her abuser is white, educated, successful, has a family, dresses nicely, then she's more likely to be seen as a trouble-maker looking to gain something. This is the intersection of racism and sexism.
And most women are assaulted by men they know and trust. Not scary strangers lurking in the alleys. Assault by someone you knew and trusted can be incredibly surreal and as equally traumatizing as that by a stranger.
21
I watched his unhappy and fearful Fox News interview. Seems to me even Brett Kavanaugh now wishes we had Merrick Garland.
7
We do know that he has not insisted on an FBI investigation despite his claims on the FOX interview with his wife that he wants fairness and to be heard. He prevented his wife from answering a question on whether an FBI investigation should be done. That demonstrates his disrespect for women generally and his wife specifically. If Ashley Kavanaugh is as decent as she appears to be, she would wonder why her husband does not insist on an FBI investigation and would not take a lie detector test before their testimony on Thursday.
10
Exactly. He could've assaulted one or two or twenty women, and not assaulted every woman he's ever met. It proves nothing that some women see him as a great guy. His wife's testament sure doesn't mean anything. Ms. Dolphin signed the letter, for goodness' sake!! Perfect example of being duped by seeing one side of a person. It's well known that serial sexual abusers are often the most respected people in town. In fact, that's one way they get away with it. And by the way, the guy looks like he's lying every time he speaks. He's as wooden and "deer in the headlights" as a person could be--which is a weird reaction to the questions he got in his hearing and is getting now.
4
No way should Kavanaugh be confirmed!!! His wife only knows him since the year 2000. There is a whole history she knows nothing about. How about the years from age 14 as a freshman until age 18 in high school and then from 1983 - 1987 at Yale to start with. Just read his yearbook...He does not have the right background for a Supreme Court nominee.
1
Does Mr. Kavanuagh still drink? I wonder if he was a binge drinker who was able to stop or an alcoholic. Sounds like he would benefit from 12 step recovery and taking an inventory of the damage he caused with his drinking and immature frat boy behavior. I suspect he is in denial and so projects onto others his shadow parts.
6
Kavanaugh reminds me of that now too familiar Catholic priest, an outwardly shining example of rectitude and grace to the multitude but who led a secret life of wanton degeneracy. To the administrators at Georgetown Prep he probably was their greatly admired “golden-boy”, a star academic but also a very talented athlete, whose ideal profile was to be celebrated within the school community, and also beyond for the school’s public image/promotion. One wonders how much of the high school Kavanaugh’s drunkenness and sexual predation was actually known to the administration but, like the leadership of the Catholic Church, kept well hidden and disregarded.
9
Camille Cosby continues to believe that her husband has done nothing wrong. No one knows another person fully. Excellent article.
12
@Michele P Berdinis Dotty Sandusky denies her predator pedophile husband who raped their adopted son while she was in the house is a criminal. Ashley Kavanaugh is stupid and does not have a clue how bad her future looks if he is forced to withdraw. I wonder what really goes on in that household.
1
The man "doth protest too much". Does he really expect anyone to believe as he claimed that he didn't have sex "for many years" after high school? Really? By taking the stance he has, he is inviting women to publicly call him out. Chickens coming home to roost, anyone?
4
It is disgusting and a sad reflection on the lack of a real, ethical culture here in the United States, that we are debating the binge drinking behaviors and alleged sexual assault committed by a federal judge in this country.
It’s not a bad thing to want the pillars of society to comport themselves with some decorum both in public and in private. Those that lack the self control to do so can choose any one of literally hundreds of other jobs.
4
According to the accusations, Brett Kavanaugh drank heavily in high school and college. And when drunk he said and did the despicable things. If this is true, we see the real Brett Kavanaugh, the one without inhibitions, in this drunken state, and we are seeing an artificial Brett Kavanaugh when he is sober. If the accusations are true, I do not want him to be a judge in any courtroom.
3
As I read James Roche's statement, Brett Kavanaugh's freshman roommate at Yale, I was struck by a particular paragraph:
"I became close friends with Debbie Ramirez shortly after we both arrived at Yale. She stood out as being exceptionally honest, with a trusting manner. As we got to know one another, I discovered that Debbie was very worried about fitting in. She felt that everyone at Yale was very rich, very smart and very sophisticated and that as a Puerto Rican woman from a less privileged background she was an outsider. Her response was to try hard to make friends and get along."
Did you get that? I'll repeat the key phrase that chilled me:
"that as a Puerto Rican woman from a less privileged background she was an outsider."
These rich, privileged White frat boys at Yale, could EASILY have felt entitled to pick out the outsider, the "misfit", the "little Puerto Rican girl" as safe prey, whom nobody would believe, who would have no connections, no one to stand up for her. It's an old, old story.
And the President, who has victimized the entire island and colony of Puerto Rico, who dismissed as "lies" the estimates of nearly 3,000 deaths, as much as the WTC attack, has now totally dissed and dismissed yet another Puerto Rican victim.
What has gone SO wrong in our nation?
7
Kavanaugh's wife stated "she's know him 17 years". Since Kavanaugh is 53, she has only known him since he was 36. A lot of murky, foul water had run under his bridge by then.
I find the women who have come forward believable, and for the life of me, I cannot understand anyone willing to believe the word of Kavanaugh, who apparently lied under oath to Congress in order to obtain his judgeship, over their's. Kavanaugh's apparent lying under oath to Congress, should have sunk his nomination well before now. It also shows his willingness to lie in order to secure a prestigious position of trust. This is deja vu we're experiencing now.
10
Frank, what a great piece as you have hit it correctly.
1
Kavanaugh chose to enforce his misogyny on the refugee who needed an abortion. He tried as hard as he could to keep her from terminating her pregnancy, drawing the process out despite knowing that this endangered her health. He was determined to force her to bear a child against her will for his own sake. The effect on her and the potential child was not his concern.
7
When are people going to finally connect the dots and see that there is something wrong with the Catholic Church ?
It teaches people to live double lives, for one reason or another.
5
Catholic here. No double life here. Never participated in a drunken orgy; never took advantage of anyone because they were drunk or weaker than me. Stop generalizing.
6
It's possible that Brett Kavanaugh is both people. But there's one thing wrong with that statement. Assuming the accusations are true, Brett Kavanaugh WAS both people when he was 17/18 (and one of them was stinking drunk). Then he grew up. Is he still both people? Is the person he is now culpable for the misdeeds of the person who he was 35 years ago when drunk, if the 35 years since then have been uninterrupted proper behavior and high achievement? Are teenagers today going to take it as license to do what he did in today's world in which there is a long string of Weinsteins, Roses, Cosbys, etc. losing their jobs and freedom for doing this kind of thing?
3
"He’s “an avid consumer of legal scholarship,” according to what a former professor of his ....." said in Kavanaugh's praise. There have also been criminals who avidly read legal scholarship. A scholarly bent / academic excellence does not imply integrity, just intelligence (as measured by IQ tests). And intelligence, as far as I know is not positively correlated with morality / honesty.
6
We all did stupid and or shameful things growing up. Some worse than others. Some of us confronted it and apologized. Some of ran away from it, letting others provide cover. Some continue to deny, deny, deny.
Hopefully, we’ve matured into demonstrably better people.
I see folks, perhaps mostly on the conservative side, suggest allowing Kavanaugh to achieve an even more lofty position than he already enjoys because they believe he has effectively atoned for his prior actions with his life since undergraduate school.
Let me ask this; would these same people allow a non-white kid to similarly have an opportunity to demonstrate a similar redemption? Or do they still want to be law-and-order types and levy heavy punishments for something like having a joint (as long as it wasn’t their kid)?
You can’t have it both ways and not be a raging hypocrite.
Kavanaugh May have positively evolved, but it doesn’t mean he is appropriate for the Supreme Court. He hasn’t shown the judgement in responding to the allegations that demonstrates any real empathy towards what the accusers are saying (at least not until it is required). Ironically, it was one of Kavanaugh’s legal pursuits in Bill Clinton that demonstrated the same behavior.
3
Can we please just find another nominee. Everyone, and I mean everyone knows it shouldn't be him.
13
Before this recent stuff about sexual assault surfaced, I felt that Kavanaugh's suggestions about what questions should be asked of Monica Lewinsky regarding her relationship with Bill Clinton, indicated profound inhumanity and cruelty. What kind of a man would want to further humiliate a young intern caught up in a national story that had gone out of control. Maybe the kind of guy who would put his hand over a girl's mouth to prevent her from crying out.
4
One thing we know for sure about Brett Kavanaugh is, he will not withdraw from consideration and instead will subject his wife and his children to the horror of the revelation of his other faces.
6
"We are genuinely saints and we are genuinely sinners. We are pieces that add up to an incoherent whole."
The problem, Frank, is not really ours. Yeah, we do realize that no one is perfect. But Kavanaugh is attempting to portray himself as perfect. Of course, to be fair, he has Donald Trump as an example. An example of a deeply flawed man pretending he's perfect. Kavanaugh is simply following the Trump playbook. Deny, deny, deny.
I'm not questioning Kavanaugh's legal scholarship. I'm questioning his ethics. I'm questioning his honesty. There are all kinds of smoke here and yet he claims there's no fire and there's never been a fire. Blasey Ford and Ramirez are providing that fire at the moment, but the more we dig, the more the fire will grow.
Brett Kavanaugh has an unsavory past, up and down the line...from high school, through college and on to the special consul with Starr, and under the Bush administration where most of his paperwork is being hidden.
Talk about getting a pig in a poke. Maybe Webster's should just put Kavanaugh's picture next to the definition.
And the republicans on the senate judiciary committee were really, really hoping none of this got out. The truth would disinfect their germ laden hands...can't have that. And if anyone believes the republican men on the committee care one whit about Christine Blasey Ford, have I got a bridge to sell you!
Do yourself and the country a favor and
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
19
Hi Frank,
What year was the drinking age in Maryland raised to 21? How could he be drinking in high school ? Could you clarify that timeline.
Thank you.
2
Perhaps Judge Kavanaugh believes he did not assault anyone. Perhaps he was so drunk at the time that he actually does not remember. Not sure he wants to use this as a defense.
6
For Heaven's sake, put an end to this dirty affair by letting the Democrats "invent evidence" of Kavanaugh the lawyer smoking marijuana. This will open a straight path to his disbarment and an appointment of another arch-conservative by the current inhabitant of the White House.
2
This should not be just about whether Kavanaugh attempted to rape Dr. Ford. If you believe Dr. Ford--and I do--then Kavanaugh should not be on the Supreme Court, because he's a liar.
And in this case, Ford had zero incentive to come forward, given all the grief she's been getting about it, having to leave her home because of death, and other threats.
Conversely, Kavanaugh had every incentive to lie about the attempted rape, in order to get this lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.
Kavanaugh had already shown he's a liar, having lied during his confirmation hearings for the court he's now on.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/five-times-brett-kavanaugh-...
Liars don't belong on the Supreme Court.
5
Great, great, piece Frank... BRAVO!
2
"Time is the universal solvent." - Tolstoy
"Time is the universal thickener." - Lincoln
I can't vote for Republicans because of gun control and now I can't vote for Democrats because of this circus. Green Party here I come.
Here's a test to apply to Frank Bruni's column, but also to all of the New York Times' Kavanaugh coverage:
Imagine that Hillary Clinton had won. And she had named the first openly Gay judge to serve on the Supreme Court -- a stalwart progressive pioneer seemingly destined to change the course of American jurisprudence.
But then, just before the vote on his confirmation, GOP senators rolled out an anti-abortion activist with an uncorroborated story from 36 years earlier that the nominee tried to force him to have sex at a high school party. Then a second strident activist also came forward with a story that even the Times couldn't corroborate in any way.
Do you think Kavanaugh has been treated the way the Times would have treated the pioneering Gay progressive jurist, in terms of applying strict journalistic standards and keeping an eye to the principle that a decades-old unsubstantiated charge is almost impossible to defend against?
The distance between how the Times has treated Kavanaugh, and how it would have treated someone in complete accord with its politics and principles is the measure of the paper's character -- and Frank Bruni's.
3
@Philboyd
Excellent comment
2
Yes, we all have our good and bad sides. My problem with Judge Kavanaugh is his DENIAL of his drunken behaviors when confronted by his victims. He probably does not remember the stupid things he did when he was drunk. However, he must know that he abused alcohol when he was in high school and college. If he would just come out and said that he drank too much and he might have behaved badly but does not remember and that he would apologize to his potential victims and that he did not mean to hurt them, I would have supported his confirmation. Unfortunately, after his Fox News interview, I have completely lost my respect for this man.
8
Want to know what false accusations can do to a life? Look up Brian Banks, he gave up 6 years of freedom for something he didn't do. I know most people have already made up their minds but I'll wait until the hearing Thursday to make up my mind. Look up Brian Banks.
1
Great op ed. What is so disappointing is the fact that Republicans just view this as a smear job and don’t seem to care. They have 30 conservative nominees they could put in Kavanaugh’s place - and their refusal to do so despite the continued disclosures should be a slap in the face to every woman out there. The frat boy culture that Kavanaugh is a product of - and which he perpetuates - will will continue to rule all of our lives for another few decades.
2
Those of us who have worked therapeutically with offenders call the type of behavior apparently exhibited by BK as " fragmented personality" These people view themselves as good people.They pay attention to all of their"goodness" and minimize or "forget" the bad stuff. Normal integrated adults do not do that. Yes we all have negative traits, but sexual assault is not one of them for responsible people with empathy. Empathy can be seen and should be seen in children by the age of 6 or 7 at the latest. Teenagers already at theri core know it is wrong to terrify and use others, drunk or nott. Offenders don't have the quality of empathy, whether because of indulgence, entitlement or other factors. But they know how to look good and get away with horrible acts. If this is BK we have to do better on the SCOTUS
10
In a few short weeks we will see how the voters feel about the confirmation of Kavanaugh and the Senators who vote to confirm him. It may be that Mitch McConnell will be rethinking how much he and his party should have sacrificed just to seat one more anti-choice, pro-corporate, entitled white guy with a suspect sexual, financial, and professional history, on the Supreme Court.
3
Of course his wife thinks she "knows" him after 17 years. People who possess psychopathic tendencies can be many people, depending on the time, place and company they are keeping. It's the same with an addict not yet pushed to the edge of their compulsion.
Kavanaugh's alleged behaviour while a young man is of a piece with his adult behaviour: wild spending driving him into mountains of debt is as irrational act as jumping on a clothed woman and trying to force himself on her. In both instances the actions of the moment show the true colours of the man.
1
Well, appearances can be deceiving. Exhibit A: Cosby. But anyone who has been around awhile and knows what has gone on, and what goes on, in high schools (elite preps in particular), in Universities (law colleges in particular) knows in their bones that Kavanaugh is lying, which is the immediate sin that should bar him from any judgeship. Even those supporting him, like Trump, know he's lying. But when stakes are so high for the oligarchs, lying is just part of the game. We know, all of us.
13
It is not all inconsistency and contradiction. There is a common thread which runs through the Jekyll-and-Hyde persona of Brett Kavanaugh.
The common thread is an eagerness of Kavanaugh to cheat and to seize an unfair advantage.
Brett Kavanaugh accepted the decision of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch and Charles Grassley to withhold documents, set an unrealistic timetable for a decision by the Judiciary Committee and, then, by the entire Senate.
Christine Blasey Ford asked for an F.B.I. investigation, and Kavanaugh joined the chorus saying such a thing is impossible, knowing that it is very possible.
Kavanaugh benefited from the Committee decision not to subpoena his best friend and partner in crime, Mark Judge.
Dr. Ford insisted that Kavanaugh testify first, he and his supporters declined, wanting to get her on the record first.
Dr. Ford wanted questioning by the all-male committee members, and they insisted on avoiding the bad political optics of having a female staffer ask the questions, Kavanaugh readily agreed.
Brett Kavanaugh could not resist his impulse to cheat more, and he and his wife gave an interview to Fox News, so he could testify first and last.
Cheating occurred in Kavanaugh’s bogus answers about his political role was on the torture issue in the Bush administration.
So, beyond the drunken debauchery of a prep school teenager and even the Yale show-all performance with another accuser, Brett Kavanaugh is a dedicated cheater.
792
@sdw Clearly, Brett Kavanaugh does not have a judicial temperament. He does not show respect for due process or for the dignity of the Court. A Justice should avoid even the appearance of impropriety. He fails that test.
6
@sdw-Agreed. It's fascinating to read body language expert's analysis of Judge Kavanaugh and his "many faces"; bogus answers (et al) in full view.
1
Yes, Kavanaugh's reactions in this matter confirm that his worldview is disqualifying for the position he seeks.
2
People believe what they want to believe. My roommate in college was a good looking frat guy and got away with a lot of bad behavior because of it. If I reported all the weird stuff he did or said back in our college days I know some women from that time couldn't/wouldn't believe it. Still I know for a fact it happened.
2
Not qualified for the Supreme Court. I really don't understand why we should care that he isn't all bad and maybe even hasn't done anything worse that lie to Congress recently. Why even consider this guy? Damaged goods.
7
As always Mr Bruni, a very insightful piece. Kavanaugh's problems are the Republican Party's problems, an old boy frat club whose head is an admitted abuser of women. It is the party of Jason Millers, whose present accuser he met at the gentlemans (strip) club where the Republican ad firm he worked for entertained clients. It is the party of Roger Stones and Paul Manaforts self dealing manipulators. It is the party of an anti-abortion congressman who urges his pregnant mistress to have one performed; the party of Roy Moore. Guilty or not, he has aligned himself and thus become a personification of the Republican zeitgeist that has embraced hypocrisy in the pursuit of absolute power, that degrades and demoralize others while minimizing, excusing, and normalizing their own moral failings. He "pledged" Republican for the simple reason that it aligned with his view of how the world should organize itself around his personal desires, actions, and ambitions. A world that dissociates ideology from personal behavior and is being challenged by the Me Too movement, that is, the women who will be the victims of this institutional duplicity. Kavanaugh is by ideology a liar. He claims objectivity regarding a woman's right to choose while accepting a nomination from a president who swore he would only appoint anti Roe judges. He cannot have it both ways. And if he is lying about this...
3
The problem is not with what he did as a teenager.
The problem is that he is apparently lying about it now.
7
"He’s either a wrongly tarnished angel or deceptively phlegmatic devil, prey or predator..."
Bruni is on to something. There does indeed seem to be an element of split personality at work with Kavanaugh. His claims to youthful innocence are just a little too pure and pristine to ring completely true and are frequently contradicted by both the recollections of his contemporaries and elements of his own earlier self-characterizations.
But that of course does not mean that Kavanaugh himself is deliberately lying. He may sincerely believe the perfect angelic persona to represent his true self. If so, what would that mean?
One must be very careful when entering into certain realms of speculation, but there is a possibility here that demands to be considered. Kavanaugh is the product of an Irish Catholic educational system that has been exposed, both in North America and Europe, as a frequent haven for sexually abusive priests. If a young Catholic boy had been abused by a priest and was struggling as an adolescent to reclaim some sense of his manhood while desperately holding on to his faith, would you not likely see the kind of personality split being evinced by Kavanaugh? We seem to be witnessing overtly pious public behavior combined with a covert and impulsive lashing out at manifestations of feminine weakness, all hidden from the perpetrator's own awareness by copious quantities of alcohol.
1
This is another oustanding example of Frank Bruni's sobering, thought-provoking writing. None of the serious, and often contradictory, perspectives that Bruni has highlighted in any way will be clarified by the sham hearing which currently is scheduled for Thursday.
It is ludicrous to believe that, after the appearance of at least two questionable charges over the weekend, one involving alleged drunken exposure and possible sexual assault, the other an apparently inappropriate reference on Judge Kavanaugh's yearbook page to a student at an associated Catholic girls' prep school, plus additional presumed witnesses, that any part of this explosion of controversies can be clarified before a complete halt of the proceedings until an exhaustive, impartial, and unbiased FBI investigation of all concerned parties can be completed.
At best we only should expect an inconclusive result. With Kavanaugh's murky past, his lack of complete honesty and open transparency at his hearings, Mitch McConnell's shameless track record of open hostility to our democratic values and processes, and Chuck Grassley's blatant intent to short-circuit due process and pack the Court to a makeup of his and McConnell's choosing, not that of the people, how can we put our faith and confidence in any candidate which has been vetted and approved by the current Republican substitution for a duly constituted legislative body in which all sides carry an equal voice in its determinations? We cannot and should not.
386
@Peter G Brabeck I wish everyone would just admit that deep down, this isn’t really about whether Ford is telling the truth. Not at this point. We're never going to know what happened. This is payback for how the GOP treated Garland. We were destined to end up here one way or another. The real goal or the hidden objective was always to find a way to stall Trump's judicial picks. Blocking Kavanaugh is the 1st step. The only way to accomplish that is to burn the clock on this nomination by any means necessary in hopes that they win the majority in the Senate and deny President Trump an appointment for the next two years. Right? Even if Kavanaugh is completely vindicated, Democrats will oppose him. Democrats were never going to give him a fair hearing before they metaphorically hung him. We knew that. Anyway Avenatti is putting something together. Thankfully, he’s a balanced, nonpartisan guy with no personal agenda. The coming testimony is lurid political theater. These allegations could have been investigated months ago. Not leaked for maximum political effect a few days before the confirmation vote. I believe we will regret how we let this spiral out of control. One day the shoe is going to be on the other foot. Count on it. It will be a Democrat nominee for SCOTUS or maybe even President. A 40 year old sexual allegation will resurface at the 11 hour that will be hard to prove either way. Then what? How are we going to react? What a terrible nightmare for this country.
2
@Peter G At this point if he has a shred of integrity he’ll call on it to resign and spare his family any further grief.
I am just four years older that Kavanaugh. I went to a lot of parties during my college years, and I drank plenty of alcohol at them -- sometimes, enough that I had little or no memory the next day of what had happened the night before. I remember many of those parties, but I could certainly not say with any certainty, nearly four decades later, which parties I did NOT attend!
If one of my college classmates were to accuse me of anything like what Kavanaugh has been accused of, there is really only one HONEST response I could make. It would go something like this:
" If someone from my college class accused me of doing something like this at a party and while in a very drunken state, the only honest response I could make would be something like this: "I have no memory of such an event. But I certainly attended many parties while in college, and it is certainly a possibility that I attended a party at which [my accuser] was also present, and there certainly were occasions when I drank enough alcohol that I didn't have a clear memory of what happened the night before when I woke up, All I can say is that IF I conducted myself toward [my accuser] or anyone else in any manner that was even remotely like the behavior that has been alleged, then I am deeply ashamed and offer my most sincere apologies to [my accuser]. It is behavior I do not in any way condone in myself or others."
But Kavanaugh's absolute, categorical denials are part of what convinces me he's lying.
1024
@Mark Kessinger
You are stating the obvious.
It is a sign of how low America has sunk that the obvious needs to be stated.
2
@Mark Kessinger
...also is Trump's tall tale that if Dr. Ford is truthful she should have reported Kavanaugh's attempted rape to the FBI when she was 15. This an obvious lie because in the 110 years of FBI's existence it has not investigated a single attempted rape of a minor, unless it involved an interstate crime or a threat to the US Government.
Theodore Roosevelt formed the FBI in 1908 because of the perceived threat from anarchists not from attempted rapists.
Trump was lying when he alleged that if Dr. Ford was truthful she would have demanded an FBI investigation when she was 15. The FBI investigation is warranted now ONLY because Kavanaugh is nominated to the Supreme Court.
2
@Mark Kessinger Well articulated! You nailed it!
1
Kavanaugh gave himself away during the Fox interview by his blanket denials to have ever being incoherently drunk, and, more laughable, asserting that he was a virgin for many years after high school. Thy judge doth protest too much. Far more plausible, considering the revelations by his Yale roommate that Kavanaugh was an aggressive and incoherent drunk, would have been along the order of, yes, there were instances that I drank too much but never to the point of incoherence. And, by the way, in his opening remarks at his hearing Kavanaugh said the Supreme Court must never be viewed as political. If that's so, what was he doing on the "fair and balanced" Fox News?
3
Note to hippies and others from the 1960s: American Puritanism has revived itself.
1
Would someone please note that what Judge Kavanaugh actually and clearly tried to do to the 17-year old, pregnant girl seeking asylum and an abortion is worse for women from sea to shining sea than what he is alleged to have done to Christine Blasey Ford when she was 15 and he 17?? Worse that what he is alleged to have done to Deborah Ramirez. Also worse than his and others' yearbook postings about Renate Schroeder Dolphin. Read his dissent in Garza v Hargan, 874 F.3d 735 (D.C. Circ 2017) en banc. In the Garza case, Kavanaugh refused to the accept the fact found by the Texas judge in judicial bypass proceedings, accepted by the federal district judge - that the teenage girl had made a knowing and informed decision to terminate her pregnancy. Kavanaugh's dissent ignores that crucial fact and meanders through inapplicable and immaterial "parental consent" case law to argue that the government can block her access to an abortion or make her wait until the government can find a guardian for her. The danger Judge Kavanaugh poses to the women of America extends way beyond his alleged drunken and inappropriate behavior as a teenager and young adult. His published dissent in Garza less than a year ago shows unequivocally that Judge Kavanaugh cannot accept the factual findings of a trial judge and correctly apply the law. While his behavior as a teen and young adult may disqualify him from serving on the Supreme Court, his dissent in Garza is clearly disqualifying.
7
I don't know Brett Kavanaugh, but I believe these things are clear :
1. Whatever a person does in high school and college are less important than what they do when they are adults, because everyone makes many mistakes and does many stupid things between the ages of 16 - 25.
2. If Kavanaugh was a decent and innocent man today, in the past 2 weeks, he would have publicly stated "Though I do not recall this specific incident(s), I did drink and party more than I should have when young, I often behaved like a jerk with friends, and this might have occurred. If it did, I am deeply sorry for pain I caused and I sincerely apologize.
3. If Kavanaugh was a decent and innocent man today, he would have insisted that ALL his records and documents from his complete career, including time in the Bush White House, were released, so there were no mysterious and suspicious gaps in his record.
4. If Kavanaugh was a decent and innocent man today, he would vigorously and publicly castigate the Right Wing media for their abuse and character assassination of his childhood friend, Dr. Blasey Ford.
5. If Kavanaugh was a decent and innocent man today, he would insist on adequate investigation time for these allegations so all questions were thoroughly addressed transparently.
6. If Kavanaugh was a decent and innocent man today, he would not be acting as he is about the current situation.
Therefore, logic leads me to conclude that Kavanaugh is not a decent and innocent man today.
8
From day one Kavanaugh had the brains, the body (for sports) and mental toughness to go far. He was a child of privilege.But he made the most of that.
The problem at high school was that he could and did become a mean and nasty drunk.
Then at university where he knew what he did could kill his hopes,he still kept getting drunk and was a mean drunk.
His inability, not to stop drinking, but to stop being a mean drunk and hurting people disqualifies from and judicial appointment beyond traffic court judge.
4
Predators can choose to "show different colors at different times in different situations." The victims of those predators are too often paralyzed by the trauma of what happened to them against their will.
And yes, that lovely phrase from Martin Luther seems so broad-minded. But predators don't seem to suffer so much for being sinners - in fact, many seem entirely comfortable with their acts. The victims of those predators too often never forgive themselves for having been victimized. I know I never have.
Nice try, Mr. Bruni. But sometimes the "gentlest" man is just a well-camouflaged psychopath.
2
As to the women all signing for Kavanaugh. I doubt they even gave it a second thought before signing. Now that someone awakens them, they may have second thoughts about signing. Also, by signing, they keep themselves off the radar. No one wants to be spotted in a crowd.
4
Thank you Frank. This is the best synopsis of the conflicted and messy Kavanaugh persona I've read to date in the NYT's or any other publication.
No one knows all of any one. Bruni states this truth clearly. If it could be accepted civility might be possible and truth found when we need it so much.
1
Great points on all fronts. People are many things and sometimes we do not integrate ourselves fully and lead compartmentalized existences. It is true 65 women can say good things and other women negative, it can be all be true. The salient point is that we cannot have a man like Brett Kavanaugh on the supreme court.
1
@peggy2
For any rapist, there's far more women he didn't rape than women he did rape.
1
Kavanaugh is being asked to prove a negative. That is simply impossible. As long as he denies and there is no evidence to the contrary he should be confirmed. The problem is the evidence to the contrary part. Republicans clearly have no interest in digging deeper, and keeping this a he said she said affair just plays into that plan. So, barring an admission by Mark Judge, which seems unlikely, he is going to anointed Clarence Thomas II.
4
@Groovygeek
I think we should be clear. He's not afraid that Blasey Ford will be proved right - it's doubtful there's specific evidence on that (possible, but unlikely). He's afraid OTHER stuff will come out. The more of his high school and college classmates speak on the record, the more the true portrait of Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed.
I'm not trying to be cryptic, or suggest something worse than what we already know. But it will not help him for numerous other classmates to confirm, "Yup, he drank excessively, yup, he hassled women, yup, he did obscene things, yup, he was out of control a lot." That's why he needs a lid to be put on it, he's not going to be enthusiastic about further investigation.
4
@Groovygeek
Agree.
So why did he needs hours and hours of coaching at the White House on how to answer questions? Just tell the same lie over and over. Didn't happen. Wasn't there. Hypothetical. Fair.
2
I see Kavanaugh as a powder keg. His history of heavy drinking, money and debt issues, expectations about women, evasiveness, tendency toward 'convenient forgets' and need to run in a male pack are all disturbing. If life takes a bad turn, who's to say he won't fall back on destructive habits, assuming he's left them behind?
Sure the guy is bright, well-educated, clean cut, a doting father ….. but the list of negatives is just too long.
Supreme Court justices are a rare and elevated species, and they have a very long shelf life. Kavanaugh has too much baggage and comes with too many 'ifs' to meet the standards to join their ranks. He may be perfect for Trump, but he's not good enough for America.
13
The impression Kavanaugh has given so far is that he is quite capable of showing just the side he wants you to see ; in his youth, with hormones raging,
he attempted to repress his urges - but the need for sexual domination is so strong that he fights his self-control with a compulsion to drink and lose his inhibitions.
In middle age, hiring women - who, by the way, must look like models - doesn’t mean his underlying misogyny has changed; he has learned to subsume his urges into a power he has over his clerks.
His obvious evasiveness and deceit during the hearings also point to an underlying will to do whatever it takes to attain power- even for a position that should require the highest moral rectitude. All the GOP complaints appear to arise from Kavanaugh somehow being born to be a Justice, and that it’s being taken away from him - no, he, like any other candidate, should deserve it.
So no, he hasn’t really changed; only transformed his need for power into something more acceptable, less visible.
6
I wonder what we might find if we examined the high school and college years of ALL the sitting Supreme Court Justices, and hey, for good measure, let's throw in those who were on the bench in the past.
There is not way to prove or disprove these allegations. There is many a man today who binge drank very heavily when in college, but have not done this since they became an adult. They accuse, he denies. If he was drunk, he may well not remember what he did. We probably will never know.
But we DO know what he's done since and that he is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. No one seemed to think that Bill Clinton's escapades in Arkansas, as both an adult and the Governor of the state, were an impediment to him being President of the US. People still revere JFK even though we have first hand knowledge of his philandering while in the White House. And yes, there is Trump - about as far from being an alter boy as one can get.
So why the double standard? Could it possibly be political? Surely not! We all know that Democrats are pure as the driven snow and would never stoop to such. Well, they have, and it's ruined the life of a man who has led a very honorable life as an adult, and who is qualified for the job for which he was nominated.
Drinking in college - drinking to excess - has been rampant the past 30 years. There are behaviors that go along with excess drinking, both for men and women. Will all these people be disqualified and pilloried?
4
Those were officials elected by the public. With term limits. Kavanaugh is not up for election. He is up for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. His character IS supposed to be higher than that of elected officials.
4
Republicans are trying to reduce this hearing to a he said/she said confrontation. The committee is denying Dr. Ford a fair hearing.
With no explanation, Grassley has denied the accuser the right to subpoena a witness - Mark Judge. Without his testimony, Thursday's hearing is a farce and a miscarriage of justice.
4
When you’re nominated for a life position that puts you in a place to sit in judgement of other human beings there should be no question whatsoever that you are of pure character and moral goodness. Kavanaugh should ask to be given a lie detector test by the FBI and welcome an open examination of all of his records and history to prove his pristine ethical goodness.
5
There may in fact be an even bigger issue here than whether or not we put a sexual predator on the Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker and undoubtedly had periods of memory lose. He was also a privileged jock so forcing himself on women is not that hard to believe. If his accusers are credible (and so far they seem to be), then
confirming him to the Supreme Court sends a message to every high school and college man that you can assault women (as long as you don't get caught) and it will have NO repercussions on your future. If he is denied confirmation we send the opposite message. If you mistreat women, even in high school, it may well damage your career even years later. That is the right message.
9
Even before these allegations surfaced, I was shocked by Kavanaugh's memo regarding the questions he wanted the Starr team to pose to Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky testimony. They went beyond prurient to downright creepy. They were too anatomical. They made me queasy.
I don't want a person like that on the Supreme Court. Sadly, we already have someone with an unhealthy interest in the "anatomical" on that bench.
23
Absolutely, right.
However, as a MD native of his age, I was shocked at his discussion of drinking as a high school student. We knew two laws when we were teens: driving age and drinking age. The drinking age in MD for us was never 18. It changed while we were 16 or 17, depending on exact birthday. Sure, older students might have been legal. But we weren't.
So just say that. Did many of my classmates talk about kegs? Yes. I assume they would admit their drinking as high school students if asked. It's when you try to put the lie out there, either that it was legal or something everyone did (I sure as heck didn't), that warning flags go up.
Why lie about something relatively trivial and easily disproven? Why lie about inauguration crowd sizes or make absurd boasts? Because no one has ever denied these always entitled brats anything. Regardless of the exact truth of his teenage sexual assaults, it is his willingness to assault the truth in broad terms that certainly makes him unfit for the Supreme Court. Hell, he's lucky to have a job.
15
Recall after most horrific murders - think of Las Vegas - those who knew the shooter are usually shocked by his/her actions. People are not one thing. And those things they do or have done in the past which make them look bad are usually hidden from those who know them. This is not to say that Kavanaugh is like the Las Vegas mass murderer. Nor that he sexually abused Dr. Blasey Ford and Ms Ramirez. But I cannot believe either of them would put themselves on center stage unless they were damn sure Kavanaugh did what they accuse him off. I can think of one huge reason and many others why Kavanaugh would deny that he sexually abused them. So at this point it is more likely than not that he is lying. And to those who say he was just a kid then & kids make mistakes there are 2 rebuttals. 1-He took that argument off the table by “categorically” denying the allegations & 2-that kind of behavior lands kids in juvenile court if they are not of Kavanaugh’s social class. Being a kid does not excuse such behavior.
2
His categorical denials are what disqualify him. It concerns me that he is apparently only aware of a tiny part of himself that fits the angel narrative. He seems to even be denying he drank to excess.
I was resigned to the idea that we would have a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, but not this level of ambitious lying, not for a judge or justice.
The raw display of power by the Republican senate to just stuff this guy down our throats has no place in a democracy. It has broader implications.
12
At that moment of his public nomination by the president, Kavanaugh lavishly praised the president, for the most comprehensive and responsible search for a SCOTUS nominee in the nation's history.
In doing so he also announced that he is a propagandist. As the hearings went on, and in his canned Fox News interview, he's only made that more obvious.
He is not a jurist, he's a cog in the right wing wheel.
15
The Fox interview was a disastrous choice. I watched a lot of it last night. Why? Because The Truth does not need to be substantiated; it does not need to be corroborated and backed up by a persuasive interview or 65 signatures, a doling wife or a fawning media outlet. The Truth -- the ones that we usually recognize in people -- are so manifestly obvious, so resonant with that person's demeanor and outlook that any single word ultimately harms it.
I could not convince myself Kavanaugh was truly part of these allegations. But after the Fox interview, The Truth seems to be lurking somewhere else...
6
How true; we are different depending on who we are with, and under which circumstances, and at different times, on and off alcohol (just to mention a drug, loosening ethical and moral constraints), at times even 'strangers' to ourselves when trying to please others (or not). Unless we are talking about a 'stiff' like Pence, where uniformity and/or mediocrity makes it impossible to show emotions, and changes according to the need for our social interactions. Yes, we have to assume that Kavanaugh has good and bad attributes, like the rest of us. The bragging, as entitlement, seemed ubiquitous then, even today, when our minds, and bodies, are trying to make sense in the world...though not an excuse for misbehavior and abuse.
All human beings are capable of both good and bad; and alcohol brings out the bad in many.
Alcohol is the most socially destructive drug that is freely available today. Instead of questioning Kavanaugh about his behavior as a teenager and college student, maybe the Senate should see if he still has a drinking problem.
7
Thank you, Frank Bruni for this evaluation of Judge Kavanaugh.
It is enlightening.
4
It's impossible to know anyone completely. Men who are to some 'pillars of the community' - judges, policemen, school principals - can commit domestic violence and even murder, if they stand to lose control of everything,(https://www.thesun.ie/news/1957194/killer-dad-alan-hawe-slaughtered-his-...
And sexual assault is really about control, not sex.
The point is, we really need to change things worldwide to have an environment where women who are dealing with sexual assault and domestic violence are supported and able to seek help. Access to justice for victims, making perpetrators pay costs of court (like Cosby case), sheltered housing, counselling and removing barriers (like statute of limitations) are all necessary.
Brett Kavanaugh may have moved on from high school but he doesn't want to acknowledge anything - the alcoholism, the disrespect to girls (like Renate Schroeder). Even if one has an open mind about the sexual assault allegations awaiting the hearing, it is clear from the autobiographical account of his yearbook that he is dishonest and unfair. That does not bode well for the Supreme Court or lead things in the right direction. He should not have that control.
5
I was emotionally abused -- ghosted-- by a man who was a respected attorney, and later appointed to be a superior court judge.
If you were not within intimate range-- say, a colleague, neighbor, fellow team parent, etc, he would seem to be squeaky clean and normal. At an intimate/ vulnerable range, he got very frightened, power hungry, paranoid, and weird.
He had a mentally ill mother who must have been very erratic and scary when he was small, so he came by those fears honestly in early life, and I had compassion for that-- but it was brutal to feel trust and love for someone who rescinded his regard/care for me, unplugged suddenly, and disappeared in a puff of dust. It felt so dehumanizing, mean, and baffling.
We were introduced by mutual friends who could never fathom it. I finally saw that some people need to reenact the patterns that formed them as "speech" when they have no access to narrative memory.
Abusers are the products of cold and unhappy childhoods. The more physical affection, attachment and trust experienced by a child from 0-5, the less violent and less narcissistic the person will be. Early life experiences, 0-3, are only registered in the right brain in assumptions/ patterns not in memories. But rage against women is baked in.
When power dynamics reign in a family (as they often do in very religious homes) and especially when love is conditional and punitively withheld, you have causes and conditions of narcissism and predation.
3
This sounds like a classic description of an alcoholic...
And one of the first of the "ten steps" is to acknowledge that you have a problem. Another is to make amends to those you have harmed in any way.
Does not sound like Mr Kavanaugh ready for either of these steps.
..on the other hand. I just read that Mark Judge's attorney describes Mr Judge as a "recovering alcoholic". I wonder who he has "made amends" with during his recovery. Perhaps there are a few others on his list.
6
Judge Kavanaugh is reputed to be a zealous arch conservative. He should withdraw his nomination if he truly loves his country. it was heinous that he proposed capping funds for 9/11 families at $500K. He has no place on the highest bench of the Judiciary.
6
This is a case complicated by a man who wants a place on the highest court of the land, pushed by his own ambition and the political ambitions of the GOP. Except for Clarence Thomas. a silent justice during deliberations (keeping his head down, I presume), none of the other gentlemen on the court put the nation through this.
For those us who have raised young men, many of us can rest assured that even under the influence, a sense of boundaries kicked in. There are people who become aggressive when drunk -- we have all known them in high school, college and beyond. Unfortunately for Kavanaugh, his life of 'purity' after some years of apparent bad behavior should be acknowledged by him. His apparent lying about his past suggests a character that succumbs to his trajectory in his profession. He shouldn't be rewarded just because McConnell wants to get his agenda seated.
3
Would today's Kavanaugh be capable of sexual assault? Not likely. But did a younger Kavanaugh, while intoxicated, have an alternate personality? From the sound of things, most likely.
Ultimately, the question now before us is "Do we want this person to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States?" And here the only answer that makes sense regardless of party affiliation is, NO!
This is no longer about whether he did what she says or she is lying or mistaken. It is about honor and most important, the safe harbor of the United States Supreme Court.
Who would want an Associate Justice to carry this much luggage. And why should we as a nation have to be split down the middle on this one person's life-time appointment. It is utter lunacy that in order to be a SCOTUS, you would have to pass this or any other test similar to this. Kavanaugh is not the only person out there with credentials for the High Court. I wonder what the other Justices are thinking right now? I imagine that Thomas is counting his lucky stars.
But you simply can't play down the fact that if Kavanaugh were not a Federal Justice who really enjoys power and supremacy, that he would not have by now withdrawn his name rather than face an accuser who will most likely come off as extremely believable? Unless of course he is innocent which then asks the question, "Why would he not insist on an FBI investigation to clear his good name?"
3
Among the things that "we all know" that are being mixed into this controversy is that alcohol affects different people differently. We all know quiet introverts who become "the life of the party", people who when sober never utter a profane word but when drunk let loose with a torrent of expletives, shy, awkward men who have trouble asking for a date who come on to every woman in the room, etc. And we know mild-mannered men who "wouldn't hurt a fly" beat their wives black-and-blue when they're drunk. Which is the "real" man and why should it matter in this SC confirmation? Presumably, Justice Kavanaugh would not be doing any heavy drinking in the office or in mixed company socially. Maybe senators should ask him about that. Or, "How do you view the culpability of a defendant for actions while under the influence of alcohol and drugs?"
2
I had a similar thought with regards to Kavanaugh's protestations that he was a virgin at the time of these accusations. He is a judge - surely he is aware that one does not need to have had intercourse to have committed a sex crime. How might he approach such an accusation or pattern of behavior in his courtroom? How does he weigh character witnesses versus victim's stories? Perhaps he has learned a grace of character as he has grown older that was evidently not there when he was young - but tired declarations of his purity are not the way to prove that, not to prove his fitness for the SC. It seems worth pountong out that serving on the SC is an enormous privilege and also an act of servitude - I would love to see him acknowledge either of those, rather than just doubling down on his innocent entitlement.
2
Thanks, Mr Bruni, for a nuanced viewpoint on this. I’ve been attempting to discuss Kavanaugh with others along similar lines but am generally received as either slandering him or supporting him (neither of which is true),based on the political predispositions of whoever I’m talking with.
This Kavanaugh confirmation could have been a valuable opportunity for our society to begin to deal with the ramifications of ‘me too’. Kavanuagh may be innocent, or may be lying. Because he has chosen (wisely, from a getting-confirmed standpoint) to deny, we are in he-said-she-said zone, and individual’s judgment will be based primarily on who they believe (though not the votes of most Senators, of course).
(Warning: lots of hypothetical presumptions follow) More interesting and useful would be if a guilty Kavanaugh had acknowledged drunken debauchery in his youth and asked for forgiveness on the basis of a well-lived life that has been devoid of the debauchery for decades. Teasing out the proper response to remorseful contrition for long past sins of a mostly decent man, in the grand stage of a Supreme Court confirmation, might help us deal with the run of the mill men felled in the ‘me too’ movement for negative actions far less than the Cosbys and Weinstein’s, who are seeking redemption. Our society needs to engage with this matter. I had hoped this might’ve been a moment to do so. As long as we’re stuck in black and white, things will continue to be messy.
2
Even when Kavanaugh's not under oath, he lies...
Just consider what he said after Trump introduced him to the country:
"Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh claimed Monday night:
“No president has ever consulted more widely or talked to more people from more backgrounds to seek input for a Supreme Court nomination.”
http://www.accuracy.org/release/kavanaugh-and-the-federalist-society/
No one should ever be appointed to the Court who said something as patently false and self-serving as that.
That article also spells out the machinations of the Federalist Society and their unwarranted influence over judicial selection.
4
To all those saying that Judge Kavanaugh should not be condemned because of his behavior when he was a teenager,I have this to offer:
For the sake of argument let us say that he did exactly what Prof. Ford accuses him of. He was 17 and has lived an exemplary life since then (we will ignore the Yale accusations for now) and some say that is enough.
But if all that is true, then he is lying about it all now by his vehement denials. And will probably lie under oath on Thursday.
If the incident happened and you want to give him credit for his life since then, fine. But that "credit" ends with his lies today. He and his defenders cannot have it both ways.
21
@t. williams Flip it around. What if it is not true? You know, for the sake or argument. Would it matter to those who are opposed?
1
The students at Yale and those of UC Berkeley, where I attended in the early 1950s, seem to be quite different. Perhaps it's the difference between a private and public school.
6
@Herman Krieger It has nothing to do with public vs. private school. Colleges in the early 80's were rife with massive drug (cocaine) and alcohol abuse which were fueled by greek fraternities. Gang rape was common on most college campuses. Back then no one reported it.
1
That Kavanaugh is a mixed bag is obvious from the one face we’ve all seen -- the cheeks are cherubic, but the mouth, when it curls into a grin, promises infinite mischief. Thursday’s hearings are supposed to decide two issues: (1) whether Ms. Ford’s story is to be believed over Kavanaugh’s and (2) assuming Ms. Ford is telling the truth, whether an assault that took place that long ago, given the judge's apparently untainted record since, disqualifies him from serving on the nation’s highest court. Mr. Bruni would have us “try our hardest to come to a best guess about what happened more than 35 years ago,” but we all know that’s not likely to happen. Each side will filter the testimony through its own biases, and in the end Kavanaugh will probably be confirmed by a slim margin. The fundamental issue here for both sides is the prospect of the Supreme Court turning hard right for perhaps a generation. That prospect warms the heart of Mitch McConnell and his allies, even as it gives the rest of us some restless nights. The vote on confirmation needs to be stalled so that more people -- some of whom may undercut the narrative of Kavanaugh's "cherubic" phase --- have a chance to come forward.
2
If the stories are true, Kavanaugh comes off as a Jeckyll and Hyde - Jeckyll while sober, Hyde while deeply under the influence of alcohol. I wonder if his football playing, with inevitable blows to the head, sometimes repeatedly during a single game, might have damaged his brain and made him susceptible to violence under the effects of alcohol poisoning. I am not an expert, but I have read that chronic traumatic encephalopathy can turn reasonable men into unpredictable monsters under stress.
1
@Eric Norstog: The guy thinks nature has a personality. He's not playing with a full deck.
A single experience of concussion by explosion in war can permanently damage the human brain by causing cavitation at flesh and bone interfaces.
1
So, how do we judge the qualifications and suitability of a man for Supreme Court Justice? Based on his decades as an adult, or, on alleged drunken behavior during high school and his first year of college?
Of course, Democrats who don't want him on the bench and are still angry about President Obama's last nomination, are looking for any reason to smear Kavanaugh.
But can anyone seriously claim that want he might have done as a drunken child affects his ability to render sound legal opinions?
Of course, victims of sexual abuse may want revenge. I understand that. But how sound is a policy of ignoring sexual misbehavior of males for decades on the off chance that it can be brought up to ruin their chances to sit on the Supreme Court? Is this really going to cause drunken young men to behave better in the future?
1
@Mac: The kind of judge Kavanaugh is doesn't arrive at opinions. If they did, they'd have to explain them.
3
Yes, we can easily find faults with his legal philosophy and judicial skills.
He was a partisan hack, a key player in the invasive and salacious Starr Inquisition into Vince Foster's suicide and Bill Clinton's consensual relationship, and has lied repeatedly under oath.
His mistreatment of women -- and his heavy drinking and partying -- went on from high school and Yale undergraduate years through Yale Law School! He even admitted to the drinking and partying in a speech just a few years ago to the Federalist Society -- and thought it was humorous.
His assaulting women, exposing himself, and so forth are an integral part of his patriarchal, misogynist view of women -- his rulings are an affront to women's rights and the right of women to have autonomy over their own bodies. There is a bright line connecting them.
The choir boy, angelic face, Boy Scout image is just an act.
410
@Mac
There is already evidence that his ability to render sound legal opinions has been impaired by his character, or lack thereof. In contrast to his colleagues, he chose to deny an abortion to a rape victim. He wrote questions of a highly scurrilous nature to be used in the Monica Lewinsky case that were completely inappropriate and thankfully never used. There's evidence that he lied under oath during his confirmation hearings for judge and justice.
This is a job interview - it is up to Mr. Kavanaugh to prove that he is a candidate worthy of the Supreme Court. So far, I am not impressed. Next!
23
I would add something to this. I remember the first time I ever heard the term "train" to refer to sexual acts by multiple men on one woman. It was a guy talking to a mixed group of men and women, describing something that happened at his fraternity. He was matter of fact and didn't seem the least bit fazed by the fact that the women there were horrified and left speechless by what we were hearing. He thought he was describing good time fun; we thought of ourselves being treated like that. But his attitude was that the woman he described was a "bad" girl and we were "good" girls--the kind he or his frat brothers might marry--so it shouldn't bother us.
16
They say Trump is well behaved among his wealthy peers; that he is a gracious, amusing host. He has famously entertained the Clintons. That portrait may well be true, without the whole man being anything other than the vulgar, vain, unscrupulous bully that we know him to be with adversaries, other races and religions, and generally those beneath him in wealth, status and power, including most women. That's not "many faces" of a multi-faceted personality. That's the nature of bullies, cowed into good behavior by power, vicious when not.
We don't need a Justice on the Supreme Court with the least tinge of arrogance and contempt for others, especially women, anywhere in his past. It's not every boy or man, drunk, who turns belligerent and aggressive, as friends remember of Kavanaugh. It's only some, and it is telling all by itself. In picking a Supreme Court Justice, we are choosing our future and our children's future, not passing judgement or finding excuses for behavior that may have been more common, passed over, in our past or even our present.
16
@RRI
I agree with you. It is not a contradiction, not a Jekyll and Hyde thing. It's all of a piece. He was raised to be a Master of the Universe. Of course they are charming to EACH OTHER.
1
If Kavanaugh were honest, he would ask for the due diligence of
an FBI investigation before the hearing.
If Kavanaugh had nothing to hide, he would demand that Mark Judge - the only witness Ford named - be ordered to testify.
If Kavanaugh wanted to show his concern for convincing ALL Americans of his character and the unfair accusations against him, he never would have chosen the notorious Fox network for an interview. He spoke only to Trump's base.
And if Kavanaugh were a true gentleman (that is, someone who cares about the feelings of others)he never would have brought his wife to the interview.
18
Ervin Goffman wrote a piece that I found one of the best insights I had from grad school in psych social work in the year of our Lord 1969, the Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life. Bruni's article is a perfect illustration of this classic work by Goffman.
It's a treat to read Goffman, with more appreciation than ever.
I'd also like to recommend the character of the Face Dancer from the Dune Trilogy. There are some for whom that role comes especially naturally!
4
The Portrait of Dorian Gray -- and Bill Cosby as America's Dad -- also come to mind.
Sexual predators come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and personas. Even the most cherubic-looking, seemingly reasonable (albeit far right) judges can terrorize, harass, and assault women and underaged girls.
It's a lesson that should have been learned decades ago.
Frank, the key question that Kavanaugh needs to answer is this:
Are you a Judge capable of perjury - and, if so, why do you believe that you deserve a place on the Supreme Court?
At some point, the practice of lying to get on the court has to stop - or else we're just admitting that our legal system is a sham, right up to the Supreme Court.
26
@Matthew Carnicelli
...we're just admitting that our legal system is a sham, right up to the Supreme Court."
Yes, we are. It is. Admitting it is the first step if we hope to ever make it better.
Were Judge Kavanaugh either Ted Kennedy or Bill Clinton and not catholic and pro-life, he'd been approved last Thursday.
2
@Craig Pavlich I think that for cynical reasons, you're choosing to underestimate how much the world is changing. #metoo has been pretty non-partisan and as we've seen, the predators have ranged across the entire political landscape. I voted for Bill Clinton but I wouldn't now.
8
That, sir, is baloney. No Senate would have confirmed Ted Kennedy or Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court of the United States. Besides, this is hardly the time for moral relativism. Just disgusting.
1
@Craig Pavlich
Be serious. If Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy had pulled their antics in 2017, they'd be chased from office, at least in the Democratic Party.
In the Republican Party, anything goes - just so long as you remain sanctimonious on camera, and promise to impose the precepts of a Christian Shariah.
2
Many people saw Bill Cosby as a funny, sweet, charming, endearing, harmless man.
Today Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 yrs and was shipped off to prison.
Bill Cosby is a sexual predator.
Brett Kavanaugh is a sexual predator and abuser of women who may or may not have grown out of it.
May or may not.
What millions of people know right now is that Brett Kavanaugh has told numerous lies about who he really is.
I believe Dr. Blasey and Ms. Ramirez.
32
I also believe James Roche, Kavanaugh's Yale roommate, and the "C.E.O. of a software company in San Francisco".
Of Ms. Ramirez, he said,
“She stood out as being exceptionally honest and gentle. I cannot imagine her making this up.”
Of Kavanaugh, he said,
“Is it believable that she was alone with a wolfy group of guys who thought it was funny to sexually torment a girl like Debbie? Yeah, definitely.
Is it believable that Kavanaugh was one of them? Yes."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-...
4
Thank you, Frank Bruni!
6
I agree, turning this into a judgement of either/or isn’t the test. The real test is one of character, and it seems like we’ve learned far more about Kavanaugh’s questionable character over the course of his public nomination process than the GOP’s rushed and secretive process was designed to avoid. The tales of his adolescent and college behavior does dovetail rather tidily into his lawyering behavior, his work with nutcase Kenneth Starr, and his mild-mannered, calculated approach to the Senate Committee’s scrutiny. We need to know no more to simply judge him not Supreme Court-worthy.
13
It also dovetails perfectly with his far rightwing judicial philosophy that denies women autonomy over their own bodies!
This piece touches on the larger question of trying to take the full measure of someone's character based on the most irrational aspect of human behavior - sexuality, and further, actions taken by adolescents still trying to figure out how to manage alcohol consumption and the consequential lowering of inhibitions.
Please understand, I am NOT saying this behavior should be disregarded and depending upon the degree of injury inflicted on others and the frequency of the conduct. Certainly, in some cases it should disqualify one from future opportunities. The real dilemma is in trying to come up with manageable standards for assessing this behavior, which are fair to all involved.
Humans are complex, yes. But it is worth noting that, if true, the allegations against Kavanaugh suggest that his more vicious side didn't just emerge at haphazard times. In both alleged cases, he gave himself license to be violent or to humiliate someone who was not on par socially.
Ford was younger (we adults can forget that the low status of a freshman is a big deal in high school hierarchies). Ramirez was a vulnerable outsider. And of course, both were women.
If someone is kind and respectful to people they perceive as socially equal, but are happy to humiliate or harm someone of lower status, their two sides may really be all of one piece.
30
Actually, this is quite simple. In his senior year, he wrote a partial autobiography about his time in High School. This is evidence enough that he does not meet the standard to be a Supreme Court Justice. Either explanation disqualifies him
1) If he was of that nature, then he has no business being a Supreme Court Justice
2) If it was bravado and lies, then he can't be trusted.
The yearbook is his words. Those words and phrases are indisputable and self inflicted evidence that he should not be considered for this cherished life appointment.
9
He is Bill Cosby — a man who created two personas. Cosby created a gentle comedian who never swore and through brilliant manipulation of the media became America’s dad. We discovered what he was in reality over the last few years as his victims came forward.
We need to look really closely at the Judge. My opinion is that we have a Cosby mini-me here and we don’t need that on the Supreme Court. Or anywhere near another woman
21
Think of the priests who were dearly loved by their parishioners, but it was then learned that they were sexually molesting children.
Bad guys can be some of the most charming, polite people you will know. That's how they build trust, gain entry into social circles, and gain access to their victims.
26
He could have gone up before the Judiciary Committee when the accusations against him first surfaced and leveled with the American people by saying something honest like:
“I drank way too much in high school.
I got drunk a lot.
I treated some girls badly.
Yes, I roughed up Dr. Ford.
And later when I had daughters of my own I was sorry for how
I acted.
But it was too late then for me to do anything about it.
The truth is I am now a very different man who believes he could still make a very good Supreme Court Justice."
The American people are usually pretty good about recognizing honesty in politicians and a truthful statement from him about how he behaved many years ago might have saved his nomination.
But it wasn’t in him, and he has still not apologized to Dr. Ford.
So it’s time for him now to just move aside.
37
Thoughtful, balanced, nuanced and so true.I think it important to look at the sum total of the man and the way he has conducted himself in the public eye in the last few weeks.
If he wanted to plead his case with his wife at his side why do it in such an obviously partisan manner? Without even knowing where or when “ the party “ happened he categorically denied it. How? What is the relevance of his virginity to his innocence? A failed rape attempt that he can’t remember because he was drunk would leave him technically a virgin.If he had a drinking problem can he ask owledge it? Any humility there?
I am bothered by the gambling debts, the sense of glibness, his prurient interest in Monic Lewinsky’s behavior with Clinton his overall lack of “grace under fire”.
32
For me just conceiving to write publicly "Renate Alumni" implying the horrific thing that they lost their virginity with Renate (because this is how I interpreted it) is enough to disqualify for Supreme Court Justice. Writing such a thing about any woman is below a threshold of human decency. Justice is not mathematics, where, no matter what are your ethics, you may be able to prove a theorem; justice is a concept applied to human relations, and Kavanaugh has failed the test only with that written comment.
22
I agree. Right there--next candidate please.
1
The fault line between good and evil goes straight through every person...
1
Very typical of the Conservatives- dual standards. Anything new? Duh!
5
You know if he would have been honest about the yearbook entry (it is clearly a bunch of young men bragging about sexual conquest), then I would be more likely to believe him on the more serious charges. Bragging about sexual conquest was part of the culture when I was in high school (hopefully it isn't anymore, but I bet it is). It is the ugly side of boys whose brains are bathed in hormones and whose natural instinct is to compete with other boys. I did not hold the yearbook entry against him, until he denied its clear meaning. His denial killed his credibility with me. While you say that he is not the caricature that he has been made out to be; I can tell you unequivocally what he is; a liar.
39
@Typical Ohio Liberal
I couldn't agree more. I watched the interview on Fox. His answers were such transparent lies they made me laugh out loud several times. He'd never been near any such party like those described? That is laugh out loud ridiculous.
1
Bingo. Good column, Frank.
6
Kavanaugh reminds me of what is sometime referred to as the Madonna/ whore complex. He behaves like a gentleman for certain groups of women ( woman he may wants to date or marry) and in a completely different way for women that do not fit that mold. That he may have exposed himself to a student of Puerto Rican descent, and from a most family, or that he and the football team make condescending remarks about Renata S. are examples of such behavior.
28
The scrutiny applied to a Supreme Court nominee is appropriate. Those who talk about a "presumption of innocence" and "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" seem to have forgotten that this is a job interview. My goodness, in my line of work a speeding ticket is disqualifying! There are many candidates who are suited to the job, but Kavanaugh has that certain something that makes him irresistible to the Republicans. It can't just be Kavanaugh's promise to overturn Roe. I just can't put my finger on it.....
22
@Sarah -- not exactly. This is a job interview that he has already passed and the only reason he might not get the accusation is because of an accusation of sexual misbehavior or assault 36 years ago when he was 17. Therefore, while senators can not confirm a nominee because they don't like the cut of their jib, when the reason is because of an accusation -- then that accusation should be proved.
1
Would an accusation of excessive drinking or questionable sexual behavior and the accompanying susceptibility to blackmail keep someone from attaining a high security clearance in our military? We should require the people seeking lifetime appointments to a position making decisions that impact all our lives to at least meet the bar for a high level security clearance.
2
@Ralphie Wouldn't asking for, or allowing an FBI investigation of the accusation(s) be a great step toward accusation proof?
Excellent column pointing out the essential truth that people can be different things at different times of their lives.
I was an active alcoholic on the East Coast until I went into rehab at the age of 31. Now I have been sober almost 35 years and have lived in California since 1991. My friends and colleagues out here can't imagine that I was ever a drunk, and those who knew me on the East Coast probably can't imagine that I'm still alive.
To me, the important question about Kavanaugh is whether or not he is telling the truth. For me, I don't think he is.
43
The most unsettling reality that this case presents is that people are complicated. As an extreme example, how many times do we see TV interviews of the neighbor of a murderer who swears he was the greatest guy, so gentle with children? My goodness, even some serial killers have wives who never knew what their husbands were up to! Those sorts of adoring letters like the one signed by the 65 (minus one, now) are meaningless.
Sadly, the hearing for this Thursday that has been delicately structured by the Republican leadership on the Senate Judiciary Committee is designed with one goal, to get Kavanaugh confirmed. Do not hold your breath with the hope that Dr. Ford will ever have the opportunity to speak clearly, at any length, about what transpired. The hired outside attorney is trained to NOT permit that to happen. One is left with the knowledge that this is all for show, that Kavanaugh will be confirmed probably within a week, and we will have yet another justice on the Supreme Court that will serve a life term under a cloud, pushing us backwards, further right than most conservative Republicans can even imagine. When he votes to overturn Roe v Wade, Senator Collins will shrug her shoulders. When he votes to protect Trump from possible indictment, former Senator Flake will not even notice.
If Kavanaugh cared more about our democracy and the reputation of the judiciary than he does about winning his seat on the Court, he would withdraw.
24
We need a man who has only one persona, one face. He has to be irrevocably honest with unquestionable moral integrity. And that is an absolute requirement to be a Supreme Court Justice. There is no statute of limitations. If the man has multiple facets some even criminal at any stage of his life, then that should be a non-sequitur to even be nominated. But the Republicans have decided that having multiple personas is OK or are to undisclosed or suppressed. Even Sen. Mitch McConnell had misgivings early on and had warned against Kavanaugh. Which is why 100 thousands of Kavanaugh's were withheld from the
Judicial Committee hearings. Honestly forget about Kavanaugh. He is not worth all the time and drama.There are definitely more worthy candidates who have stellar résumé and solid personal integrity without ugly controversy or baggage.
6
@NNI Agreed, but would another nominee promise Trump a get out of jail free card, as K has?
Great column, as usual, Mr. Bruni, and spot on. All of us have an identity that is composed of the many moments, really the myriad choices, of our lives. Each moment, each choice, reveals something about us.
Most of us have an identity, a visage, that is not completely flat but is fairly smooth in its contours, with maybe a few blemishes or faded spots. But some of us have a dark side of our face that we strive to keep hidden, but that nevertheless defines us to a greater degree than we would like to admit.
I am sickened by the people -- mostly men, seemingly mostly older -- who excuse Kavanaugh's behavior. It is some version of Water Under the Bridge + Boys Will Be Boys = Justice Kavanaugh.
I am a man roughly the same age as Brett Kavanaugh. There was absolutely a clear understanding that the behavior he is accused of was NOT remotely acceptable.
15
The graphic questions he wanted to ask or actually asked during Clinton's impeachment trial are a pretty good indication of who he was at the time. Those questions say quite a bit about his character.
42
@jb
Agree. The hatred of women is clear in the list of questions he drew up for Ken Starr. He wanted to drag her through the mud.
He's like Trump in many ways. Trump wants to punish women who have had abortions. Brett wants to keep them from using contraception. What did the mothers of these two men do to them?
3
So for the past week all we’ve been hearing is that we have to believe all women. Now, you have Mrs. Kavanaugh sticking up for her husband, reiterating her absolute belief in him as a man, father and so not a sexual predator. But the tenor of this article, like so many others, cast a shadow of doubt on what she has to say.
Liberal double standard! Disgusting.
2
@Jerry
Odd notion. It was BRETT who silenced "Mrs. Kavanaugh" during the interview. She tried to answer a question that was directed at her, but he talked over her, preventing her from answering.
22
@Jerry. No. She knows the face of the man she has been married to. Not the boy /man of 35 years ago. He can be both 2 sides of the same coin. Not hard to believe that an often incoherent drunk, as his roommate described him, does not remember his most egregious moments.
The point of the column is that there are two Kavanaugh's. One a legal scholar and gentleman who has females clerk for him who are beautiful as well as smart. In this day, that's creepy, but still allowed, by most people.
There is a second Kavanaugh that should have stopped by 16. Ignore concerns of DUI or other harm to himself. When he got drunk, he was a mean and nasty drunk. And he kept being a nasty drunk after being an adult. He couldn't or more accurately wouldn't control his alcohol drinking so that he would be a so-so drunk. This alone disqualifies him and I haven't mentioned the women.
1
Shouldn't that be 'drunken predator' rather than 'drunk predator'?
2
You got it right. Almost no one is always one way. On the other hand, Kavanaugh denies having ever done anything distasteful in high school, college or anywhere else. What seems obvious is that Kavanaugh ran with a bunch of boys who acted like the elite preppies they were...drank too much, took too many liberties and now denies it all. Young girls, young women were just playthings for those boys.
30
@Jim Lewis
They were less than playthings. The men who lined up to rape/torture/destroy them were not playing.
8
Very perceptive, Frank. About a decade ago two psychology professors consolidated experiences from their corporate consulting business into a book for the general public. After countless interviews with staff at troubled companies, they determined that those people later revealed to be major problems received wildly divergent personal reviews from colleagues, subordinates, and superiors. The idiomatic expression would be "he kisses up and kicks down." So, yes, it is possible BK has two different mindsets. But if that's the case, it should be a disqualifier for the SC. The two aforementioned psychologists were often hired to locate what they referred to as sociopaths (or worse). Wouldn't it make some sense to establish if the SC nominee is such a person before bestowing a lifetime appointment?
a predator of women. that is all he is and all he ever will be.
8
Brett Kavanaugh is no better nor worse a powerful privileged sexual assaulting harassing white male misoynist patriarchal predator than Thomas Jefferson, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. They do not have to be two-faced duplicitous since America has always been great and good to and for them. One white male face works best.
Mr. and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton were honored and invited guests at the nuptials of Donald and his third wife the Slovenian model Melania Knavs Trump.
1
@Blackmamba None of whom were appointed for life.
2
@Blackmamba Franklin Roosevelt may have had a long-term affair, and he was certainly a privileged white male, but he was neither a misogynist nor a predator.
4
How right you are Frank. Everyone is capable of both good and bad in a lifetime. Heck, I know people who are religious, respectful, intelligent, hard working, morally incorruptible, empathetic, goodnatured, helpful, charitable, loving, caring human beings. Those people only showed me their other side when they voted for Trump.
21
What about Renate Alumnus? Do we need any nuanced think piece in that? The mans a thug. Period.
36
Most of us have many sides. Few of us are rapists, drunks and flashers...
27
Thank you for the most balanced, insightful article.
May I take the liberty of quoting from Shakespeare's 'As you like it', if only to underscore much of what you've written:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.........
I use the quote at length, because Brett Kavanaugh inspires many reactions in me. In particular, I feel sorry for him (as I do for any of his possible victims).
1
I remember John Fedders. He was the perfect gentleman at work. Obviously Charlotte Fedders saw a different side of him.
7
If the allegations against Kavanaugh are true, his fitness for the bench hinges on whether his apparent probity since that time is the result of his coming to terms with his despicable actions as a young man.
You can reform yourself because you're remorseful for the harm you've caused. Or you can reform your behavior, but not your thinking, because it's what you're expected to do if you want the trappings of success.
There are plenty of people who know the law and the Constitution. What we need in a Supreme Court Justice is someone who understands something of humanity and human nature as well. I don't want, and we don't need, a Justice who has merely learned to wear the mask of respectability. We need and deserve a Justice who takes responsibility for what he has done, and thereby has come to a better understanding of how the law and the Constitution intersect with ordinary people.
Maybe Kavanaugh did none of the things he's accused of, in which case his denials are the only sensible response.
But if he did even some of those things, his denials mark him as a man who cannot be entrusted with a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. He's wearing the mask.
20
I accept the possibility that he could have matured, become a better and wiser human being. BUT the problem is that one of the necessary steps in such an evolution would be for him to accept and take responsibility for his past.
One can't be given the benefit of the doubt that one is better than a past version of oneself as long as one won't even acknowledge that person ever existed. He keeps categorically denying anything and everything, including that he could possibly have ever been drunk enough to not remember all his actions, despite a mounting record of documentation and people who can be verifiable placed all around him at this time of his life that say otherwise.
Refusing to acknowledge that part of his past makes his insistence that others are not true ring extremely hollow. THAT is why I can see he has not matured enough to join the Supreme Court -- and this is true even if we never can be absolutely sure of the circumstances of Ford or Ramirez's accusations.
22
The September 14th letter signed by 65 women is a classic argumentum ad populum device. Here's the definition: "In argumentation theory, an argumentum ad populum (Latin for 'argument to the people') is a fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it, often concisely encapsulated as: 'If many believe so, it is so.' " It is an illogical basis, yet has been effective in so many ways, from the courtroom to advertising (along with argumentum ad authoritum, as in: "4 out of 5 doctors recommend Bayer aspirin."
Let's face it, people believe what they want to believe, even in the absense of any evidence. That's what's going on right now... on both sides of the equation.
6
His writings in Facebook is not really the point - it's just one more peek into a man who would like us to see nothing more than an Eagle Scout and a Choirboy. Kavanaugh, like every other one of us, is more complex than the character he is presenting America. Let's be realistic enough to see the man in front of us and not vote for a mirage.
3
Many commenters seek to excuse Bret Kavanaugh's youthful behavior. He's a good man, they say, and we should be focusing on how he's been since his twenties, who he is today. Ignore his past indiscretions, they wink. He's all grown up, and he'll make an excellent justice, they insist.
He won't.
We know this because he hasn't even tried to disguise the kind of man he is today. He is a man who frequently lies -- be it during several confirmation hearings, or when ignoring the law (as in the recent case of the young immigrant, Jane Doe). He is a man who appears incapable of acknowledging the suffering of others, including the lasting pain that sexual assault can inflict. He radiates a sense of entitlement that colors his judgment.
I'd say Bret Kavanaugh has a lot more growing up to do before he could be conceivably be ready for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
30
@Smitaly
Agree. A man who would participate in a gang rape is incapable of acknowledging the suffering of the victim. What did those victims do after the men were finished with them?
2
I am puzzled by the outrage expressed by the supporters of Kavanaugh when the judge's character is questioned. How many times have we heard of neighbors saying how nice of a guy someone was who ended up murdering his family? How many times have we heard of coworkers and friends praise someone's character when he is a wife beater at home? To paint a saintly picture of Kavanaugh is to be so naive to be utterly stupid. Kavanaugh went on national TV to insist that all he was interested in high school was sports, classes and friends and every Sunday, he went to mass. Really. I prefer to have a justice who is a little less perfect and a lot more honest and introspective.
31
Animal House was very fresh in everyone’s mind in those days. I have met many many belligerent nasty drinkers who are the nicest people not drinking. This man is an obvious partisan who has no place in a court of any type.
21
Certainly we are multifaceted individuals who can be happy and sad, boorish and kind and so many other things throughout our lives. The alcohol use and abuse by Judge Kavanaugh seems to have brought out the very worst in him. Should he be judged by Dr. Ford's allegation? Well, I want to hear what she says and how she says it. I want to hear from Mark Judge under oath. I want to hear from the other women. If I believed Judge Kavanaugh did commit sexual assault even in an adolescent drunken stupor, it would disqualify him from serving on the bench at all, let alone the Supreme Court. Yes, I know he was young, but so were the victims. Most teen aged boys do not act that way....they do not force themselves on young girls. They may act stupid and they often take risks but the intimate aggression involved in this case is terribly disturbing.
15
Yes. Where is the empathy for the assaulted? Where was the knowledge of right and wrong leading to the courage and voice to say "Guys, this is not right. Stop!"
1
@Aquestionplse
17 year olds know right from wrong.
Yes, youthful hijinks should be overlooked. Poor decisions made by young people should be forgiven. Problems like addiction or substance abuse that have been overcome should be seen as marks of character - not held against the person.
But attempted rape? That is not youthful hijinks and it is not a poor decision. It's a very serious character defect. If he expressed remorse, I'd like to hear it - I'd consider it. But he hasn't.
1
Republicans know that we can find someone better at this point. He's irrevocably tarnished, as was Clarence Thomas. There are far far better candidates for SCOTUS, but then again, there were far better candidates (on both sides of the aisle) for POTUS and look what we have now.... ugh.
11
The 2 faces are not incompatible, Take for example Dr. David Newman; https://nypost.com/2018/09/17/perv-doctor-claims-he-sexually-abused-pati... who was convicted of sexual assault and an excellent physican. He had a wife and 2 kids who I'm sure did not see the other side of his behaviour. And this was recent, not 35 years ago. He wrote a book on medical ethics...Hipprocates Shadow.
5
"That’s him riding a wave of testosterone and booze, among similarly pumped-up, zonked-out buddies." In the case of Kavanaugh, completely and unfortunately plausible.
Alcohol effects people differently. When I was college (69-73) I saw all manner of alcohol fueled behavior. Many drank, got drunk, partied, went home and went to bed. But, some passed out in their own vomit, while others got loud and obnoxious but were harmless. A smaller group got confrontational, aggressive and verbally and physically abusive. The behavior of the latter group increased it seemed if they were egged on, dared, or aggressively encouraged. This sounds like the behavior Kavanaugh is accused of engaging in with 2 female victims. He, being a blackout drunk probably doesn't have any memory of it or he is flat out lying. But, that's no excuse. The alcohol loosened his inhibitions and he acted on them in his inebriated state. It sounds like peer group , reinforced ritualistic behavior on the weekends. My question is: Where were the adults?
6
The NYT's has terrific columnists and Frank Bruni is among the best. During this nation's crisis of identity and values, these columnists become daily "friends" or companions, if you will. A tremendous emotional and intellectual contribution, is how I view it. Thanks!
Well yeah; and it took a long time to say it. Kavanaugh is all of these things, or was. All of us are composed of such paradoxes and that's why we defend a friend by saying: " "That isn't the Bill or Billie I know." Because it isn't.
And then there is redemption and forgiveness, two grand human achievements that have somehow been given the misnomer of being overtly "religious."
I don't view Kavanaugh's bawdy and exploitive youth as his biggest problem being a Supreme Court Justice, I've know lots of Yo-yos like this that turned into fine people.
It is his lying that disqualifies him. It is the withholding of documents by the Republicans that disqualifies him. It is his absolute deviance in matters like Roe or Citizen's United that make him utterly unfit for the Supreme Court.
Good gracious! We have much better jurors and people than this! Even Republican ones.
19
Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh have two daughters; ages 13 and 10. Will they send their girls to one of the sister-schools of dad's high school alma mater; what will he tell them about "boys like him"?
20
@Candlewick I bet the daughters already know what he is like and despise their mother for her weakness and blinders.
This is the dilemma of predation. You can look like a great guy (or woman). Only the victims--in private--see the predator. In a murder case, would you value the opinion of all the people someone DIDN'T murder? Would it matter?
I don't know who is telling the truth here, though I have an instinct. What we need is an FBI investigation, and a fair hearing for everyone involved. Then we need to remember that Kavanaugh is not on trial. He's not going to do time. He's not going to have his 'life ruined.' He's undergoing a job interview. I understand that his reputation is on the line, but the same is true for the women who've come forward. It's brutal, but here we are.
If Congress refuses to do an investigation and we end up with he said-she said or he said-they said, and we cannot know that Kavanaugh is not a predator, then find someone else. The country and the Supreme Court are more important.
I'm disgusted by the politicians who not only don't value the nation and the institution, they don't even care to know what happened. We should be beyond that. Let's do our best to get to the truth.
16
Because so many of those who knew him as a young man--including his Yale roommate--have characterized his heavy drinking, it's hard to believe there weren't moments when he was so drunk he didn't know what he had done, and didn't remember it afterwards. Mark Judge has documented the "drinking culture" of Georgetown Prep in his many publications. I don't question that Kavanaugh believes he never acted in such a way, but I suspect the truth is he doesn't remember his various drunken episodes.
4
This is exactly the point. Just because someone didn't assault you, doesn't mean they didn't assault someone else. Those lengthy testimonials are worth exactly the information they don't have. Nothing.
13
Excellent critique of who we are as human beings---not black and white---a lot of gray. And this is what troubles me about Judge Kavanaugh---there are no gray's in his narrative. Yet, from what we know is true--or black and white---he did go to a prep school and was in a fraternity where alcohol and parties were a weekly event---so in this situation are we to believe the Judge remained in his dorm room the entire time reading legal journals? I would be a bit more sympathetic to the Judge's defense of himself, if he didn't come across as all white and no black.
6
Obviously the furor regarding Brett Kavanaugh goes well beyond whether he did or he didn't (he did). Merrick Garland, this missing documentation from Kavanaugh's time at the White House and Kavanaugh's fundamental dishonesty have all set the stage for where we're at . If the process isn't being fair to Kavanaugh in this moment, he and his party are largely to blame for not acting in good faith during any part of this process. But forgetting all of the fuel feeding this fire for a moment, I agree with Bruni's thesis. I would also add that in my personal judgement, people deserve second chances, and in this case what we're talking about here is the possibility that Kavanaugh actually outgrew his juvenile and masogynistic behavior that was obviously very much a product of his warped background. Short of a pattern of behavior, it's hard for me not to have mixed feelings about what's going down for Kavanaugh on a personal level. On the one hand, and growing up under similar warped circumstances, I never knew anyone that did anything approaching the violence described by Blasey Ford. On the other hand, as an immature, privileged, drunk --and hurting-- teen, I did many things I was ashamed of and look back on in with guilt and horror. Did he grow up? That's one question. Does he deserve to be any more fairly treated than Merrick Garland was? That's another.
7
What is clear from his own words and those of his classmates and roommates is that he boasted of sexual relations with girls and women. He boasted in the pages of his yearbook and like some of the others, named a girl that they seemed to regard as one they had all had sex with. She said she had no idea about what they were saying and publishing about her. This has happened to a lot of innocent women who don't find out until later that their reputation has been slimed by boys they have barely known or not known at all. When they do find out, their world turns upside down. Based on his boasting alone, clearly evident, he should be rejected for the injuries that it causes. If is not a crime, but it should be considered for the emotional trauma it caused to the victims.
13
I spent my childhood hearing from other people about how wonderful my parents were. Not to me. They hit me, beat me, pulled my hair, screamed at me, and left me feeling like I was the most worthless thing alive. When I was in therapy years later the therapist I saw didn't believe me either. She thought I was exaggerating. I wasn't.
Their abuse made it possible for the family doctor, another nice gentleman, to molest me when I was a young teen. He was kind to me so he could abuse me.
The results of this and other incidents where I wasn't believed or I was lied about are that I've never had any real interest in having an intimate physical relationship with anyone. I don't trust anyone. I act human because it's expected. It's very difficult to trust people when the first people you were supposed to trust hurt you. It's also hard when you realize that if you tell the truth about what happened you will be blamed because the other person(s) are so nice that they'd never ever do that to you.
I didn't like the way Kavanaugh answered the questions during his confirmation hearings to begin with. By reacting the way he has to this, which is similar to how Thomas reacted, I definitely don't want him on this court or any other one.
We've learned nothing since Anita Hill came forward. Pathetic.
27
@hen3ry
I've been following your story as it comes out in these 'outing' times and marvel at your bravery and naked honesty about what was done to you and what that did to you for the rest of your life.
I find myself torn about my own story in which by turns, I am the hero of, the victim of, or the villain of, depending on what lies or truths I tell to myself. Split into three separate beings at a very young age; I, she, and we, made up our own little world where we could be safe. I am now retracing that treacherous path to a murky past to understand why I had to do that.
Some very nice people have some very ugly giants buried in their psyches. Alcohol, power, or impunity wakes them up, cracks the veneer of niceness, lets it all out. and wreaks its evil onto whatever vulnerable target presents itself. No one who has only ever met the nice person will ever believe them capable of doing what they have done.
The most vulnerable and helpless of all are children. For them there is no "Me Too" movement that portends a sea change in how perpetrators are viewed and dealt with. We can only share our stories and feel we are being heard by someone who understands. Thank you for your story. It helps tremendously.
@hen3ry
And it's the same old white guys now who abused Hill 27 years ago. They haven't changed one whit -- why should we accept the suggestion that, sure, Kavanaugh was as boor and and a lout who assaulted girls and was a belligerent, out-of-control drunkard, but has now changed?
We shouldn't. We don't.
1
There's little doubt that Kavanaugh, despite his overly-earnest, pink-faced, choirboy presentation, is a complex human being with different currents (good and bad) surging beneath the surface of his presentation. We're all a mixture of competing drives. But his pious denials are unbelievable. Evidence will surface showing some elements of the truth.
5
I believe the phenomenon was personified in a 1940s "Batman" character named Harvey Dent, a.k.a. "Two-Face." He became a supervillain when forced to wear both sides of his personality openly before the public. The public naturally found the politician grotesque and unacceptable. He was therefore shunned from his former state of prestige despite maintaining half of his former identity. His fall from grace placed him on a trajectory towards evil and crime. He eventually met justice at the hands of the Black Knight.
There's a lesson here for those who are listening. Half-evil is still evil. Evil is simply more uncomfortable when forced to wear evil like a dinner coat. Evil prefers ambiguity.
7
Kavanaugh seems to believe that presenting this false narrative of a saintly youth--when his own words render it a lie--is the way to the Supreme Court. It's such a Republican approach. Claim to be the epitome of virtue, never back down, discredit those who disagree.
To me, this is just the latest reason to disqualify him.
26
I oppose Brett Kavanaugh's nomination. Kavanaugh wrote that "Congress might consider a law exempting a President -- while in office -- from criminal prosecution and investigation" He's demonstrated a deep suspicion of government regulation. In 2011, Kavanaugh dissented from a majority opinion of the DC Circuit that upheld a ban that applied to semiautomatic rifles in the District of Columbia. He's defended his decision to slow an illegal immigrant juvenile’s quest to get an abortion. There are many salient reasons why he should not be granted this lifetime appointment.
It's a shame that we are reaching back to his teenage years. Most of us can be accused of having made at least one fumbling, careless or cruel decision. The teenage brain isn't exactly the most reasonable - and that goes for both genders. "Good" teenagers will take risks and behave badly when in a group. Add alcohol to this, and it's a recipe for bad results. I don't doubt that Professor Blasey Ford is telling the truth. It wouldn't surprise me to learn Kavanaugh acted a certain way, one night, when he was a teenager and that perhaps his uninhibited, drunk self is a complete jerk when he's particularly when amid frat boys.
Both became adults, decided what sorts of people they wanted to be, applied the lessons of their teens and twenties and pursued lives based on the lessons and morals they chose to uphold. Personally, I don't care for the man and the judge Kavanaugh has grown up to be. That should be enough.
7
@Pamela Grimstad
I keep wondering how previous FBI investigations did not unearth some of this information about Kavanaugh with women. I have been asked questions about some of my friends during FBI investigations, and they want to know all about sex and booze etc. Why didn't they find this stuff out earlier?
Every person is a mix of characteristics some good some bad. Among these two facets of Kavanaugh which one is or was dominant? Also, while everyone is a mix of good and bad characteristics, not every young man is violently exploitative of women or grossly inappropriate with them. The bad that he did, since quite serious, is not excusable, whatever characteristics the man may have. And, like any other dominantly defective man, his pluses don't justify what his minuses did. Finally, Kavanaugh's recent behavior unfortunately displays essentially the same characterological defect that led him into trouble with women in the first place: he does not feel bad about what he did, and he lies easily without hesitation because he erroneously believes that his religious piety excuses his misdeeds. Kavanaugh , is effectively a man without a conscience who is under consideration to be society's conscience. Completely unfit for the SC. He is a man remarkably like Trump. Tragic.
9
Every person is a mix of characteristics some good some bad.
Bruni takes us that far and drops us off.
There are other questions. Among these two facets of Kavanaugh which one is or was dominant?
Also, while everyone is a mix of good and bad characteristics, not every young man is violently exploitative of women or grossly inappropriate with them.
The bad that he did, since it is severe, is inexcusable, whatever characteristics the man may have, and, like any other criminal, his pluses do not justice what his minuses did. Herein likes the shortcoming of Bruni's methodology.
Finally, Kavanaugh's recent behavior unfortunately displays essentially the same characterological defect that led him into trouble with women in the first place: he does not feel bad about what he did, and he lies easily without hesitation because he thinks going to Little Flower excuses. He is effectively a man without a conscience under consideration to be society's conscience. He is completely unfit for that task.
9
According to what I have read about Kavanaugh’s legal record, his judgements have frequently aligned with those of others on the bench, and that his overall record is somewhat bland.
Against this, however, we have Mark Judge’s account of egging him on to violate his 15-year old victim. We also have Kavanaugh’s record as a toady to George W. Bush, a history of drinking and gambling, and (most recently) the payment of his gambling debts by well-wishers.
This is a man who goes along to get along, but whose dislike of his own spinelessness drives him to reckless and self-harming behavior as a kind of escape.
There are not “many Brett Kavanaughs”. There is only one Brett Kavanaugh, and this is not a man who should be sitting in judgement of others at any level.
9
Kavanaugh is a idiot. Anybody else would realise that he is now tainted, compromised and his future actions will be questioned and trashed. Yet, it seems, he is taking a page from trump's playbook (SOP) by denying everything and having others question the intentions of the accuser. So go ahead, Brett, have another beer ...trump will take care of you.
8
Actually this is silly stuff. Me. Bruni is swinging wide to the outside to establish himself a thoughtful.
Just replace attempted rape with serial murder. Now try out this "we are all both sinners and saints" routine.
I never treated girls back in school like that. He's a cad, a thug. And he's unfit. Case closed.
18
Both? Perhaps, as people like BK become experts at sucking up and punching down. Rules for The Elites are different from those the rest of us are supposed to follow.
6
"Wrongly tarnished angel or deceptively phlegmatic devil, prey or predator ..." Or more likely some of each, how much depending on whom you choose to believe. Which is why it is absurd to judge his fitness for the Supreme Court on his "character" rather than his track record as a political operative and a judge. Everyone knows Republicans wouldn't give him the time of day if they didn't have pretty strong assurances that he's going to vote the way they want him to on the major cases the Court will hear in the foreseeable future. Outlawing affirmative action in higher education. Giving business owners and corporations the right to discriminate on the basis of "sincerely held religious beliefs." Greenlighting state-level voter suppression tactics. Declaring major environmental legislation null and void. Putting women's reproductive choices in the hands of male state legislators. Take your pick, the list goes on, precedent and judicial restraint be damned. Can we get real about what's at stake here?
3
I am not surprised by Kavanaugh's behavior in high school or college. I'm a child of the 80s, too, and the frat boy behavior I encountered was just what has been described. There are men who put women into two camps: the madonna and the whore. The women you "date" and the women you marry. This is not the kind of mindset we need on the Supreme Court in the 21st century.
17
He could have so easily have said something along the lines of, "Oops, sorry, I was trashed, everybody was doing it, it was a long time ago and I feel really bad about it, sincere apologies all around to all the girls into whose faces I don't even fully recall drunkenly slinging my penis, but I was there, I was drunk, all my friends were there and drunk and doing similarly unseemly things and anyway, you wouldn't go out with me under normal circumstances so I had no choice but to take advantage of you when you were unconscious, so you know, sorry folks." But no, he lied.
Liar.
And we know what happens to Liars in the great USA.
That is, we know what used to happen to Liars in the formerly great USA.
8
So what explanation do the Republicans have for refusing to subpoena Mark Judge and requiring him to testify under oath? What reason is there for not having the FBI undertake an investigation? Being in a hurry does not seem to me to be much of a reason.
7
The most reasonable of the articles on Kavanaugh. Add to what Bruni wrote that Kavanaugh has gaps in his memory due to drink just like the girls he assaulted. I think he assaulted them and created horrible damaging memories because of what he did and because of the shame inflicted on them by the lower status of females that still shamefully lingers. To him it was nothing much and maybe he doesn't remember. Maybe. But he is also accused of perjury in his testimony for his previous appointment and many question his claim that he didn't know about his mentor Koscinski's porn server. Add to that that he thinkd a sitting President cannot be subpoenaed or indicted. A sitting President is above the law? To hell with the constitution.
7
It is ironic that a much more iconic and previously beloved man than Kavanaugh has just been sentenced to prison for terrible crimes.
If Bill Cosby can be that beloved, while containing such a vile side simultaneously, then it is easy to suppose that such could be true of Kavanaugh or any of us.
Being churchy and all doesn't prove a damned thing.
26
Please. Can we (or the Senators on Thursday) just ask Kavanaugh to explain his own yearbook quotes? What does he say he "can't remember" so much? Why does he call himself a member of a club with a young woman's name? What is Boofing? What is Beach Week? What was the 100 Kegs Club and what, pray tell, is a Devils' Triangle?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/brett-kavanaugh-yearbook-ren...
Then, since he related his binge drinking episodes at Law School in a speech in 2014, they should ask when he began binge drinking, and when he stopped.
55
Think of this as a job interview for an important position of trust. Although not quite the same as a teacher or a therpaist, this is a position that has enormous influence on the lives of people, sometimes on their personal intimate lives.
Would you hire this guy, without a more thorough background check?
16
Not only is human nature multi-faceted, as Mr. Bruni wisely observed, but a personality can change over time as one matures and experiences life. Both may be true of Judge Kavanaugh.
The sorry thing here is that, if Kavanaugh did perform the acts of which he is accused as a high school and college undergraduate student, he apparently now has felt it necessary to lie about them with denials. And that is because in the current partisan political atmosphere, he knows that any admission and contrition for his acts as a teenager in a very different time would not be accepted and granted forgiveness, but would be ruthlessly and politically weaponized against him in the current struggle over the Supreme Court.
It is not what he did in the distant past which disqualifies him in my view (that's not to mention his jurisprudence). It's the possibility that in the here and now he is lying to the public and the Senate. But frankly, those lies are understandable (even if unacceptable), given our degraded contemporary politics.
7
These letters of support for Judge Kavanaugh signed by people who knew him back in the day should mean nothing. Expensive prep schools and Ivy League colleges provide more than an outstanding education. They also provide access to a network of individuals who promote one another’s professional opportunities, club memberships and the interests of their children. He comes from a closed world that guards its privilege, status and power and benefits greatly from the privilege, status and power of those in their midst.
28
Very good opinion piece. I am retired now, but in my career as a law enforcement officer I was lied to by many people about many things, but the overwhelming majority of people I interacted with were honest in their conversations with me, but that doesn't mean they never lied at any time in their life. This is why we need a thorough investigation of any credible allegations against Judge Kavanaugh prior to the Dr. Ford hearing.
28
Well said, thanks for writing. As a mental health professional, I'm privy to a lot about the complexity and seeming contradictions of human beings. I've seen many a time that people can be highly functional in one realm (often professionally) and completely the opposite in others. I have no doubt that a man could be do what Kavanaugh is accused of (especially while intoxicated) and, at other times, act in ways that would seem to suggest he wasn't capable of causing enormous harm. And accomplishments (e.g. grades, schools, important jobs) sound good but are in no way a sign that someone is somehow virtuous in all their dealings with people, that's just patently absurd.
29
It's really too bad that there's nobody around who has a cleaner history than Kavanaugh that we can put on the Supreme Court. Has anyone tried calling up Merrick Garland to see if he might be available?
153
The similarities to Heinrich Mann's "The Loyal Subject" (1914) are eerie. The novel portrays the coming of age of a conservative, establishment young man in Wilhelmine Germany, and his subsequent rise in society. Not a flattering comparison.
7
This controversy needs to be seen in the context of a jurist with little understanding or compassion for the common person.
Kavanaugh, I suspect, epitomizes the old saying about the man who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Many self-styled heroes think the girls are part of the reward package.
48
Of course, you're right. We're all slightly different versions of ourselves in different circumstances. Some of us may be radically different versions of ourselves in different circumstances. It seems Kavanaugh may be the latter. But the fact remains that anyone who is a darker version like Kavanaugh's darker version, at any time, under any circumstances, as described not just by Blasey Ford and Ramirez, and not just by his former roommate and other peers, but also in his own yearbook page - in his own words - simply hasn't earned the privilege of being elevated to the SCOTUS, no matter how appropriately behaved he may have been with others. And while, yes, we need to hear the testimony of his alleged victims - and of any witnesses they identify, whether those witnesses have denied recollection of events or not - there's a clear pattern here of recollections of that darker version of Kavanaugh that supports his accusers' claims, even if there may be no direct evidence. There's certainly enough to rebut his own unequivocal denials. Add to that the evidence of his prior perjury about the judicial appointment strategy documents stolen from the Dems and his denial of any involvement in the torture memo, and it is, IMHO, difficult to support confirmation. To do so would require us to turn the other cheek to that darker version, and to all of the victims of that darker version. Why would we do that? Why should we do that? For a place on the highest court in the land?
23
Truth is messy. People make mistakes, some very serious and then hide from their own guilt. Some can even wipe the offending mistake (s) out of their conscious memory as a means of self protection. We want to believe that we are a good person. And then throw in the need to be liked by our peers. We ‘go along to get along’ and are protected by male privilege. All of this has to see the light of day. We must wrestle with these issues as a culture.
4
I believe this to be true. Circumstances, whether alcohol involved, group mentality (egging on) can have serious repercussions. Married with children can appear healthy and stable.
But he has lied and lied about other things than the bad behavior in high school and college. He was involved with the George W. Bush administration as well as the Star/Clinton probe. Who knows how he might have sanctioned the torture memos, the war itself.
He is, after all, a politician first and foremost. Not fit for the Supreme Court with all his baggage, along with the accusations of bad behavior.
54
The bottom line is that as a judge, Kavanaugh should welcome a full FBI investigation into the allegations against him if he's truly innocent.
The fact that Kavanaugh, Trump and the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee refuse to do so proves that they're afraid of what will be discovered.
146
Actually we don’t yet know that anyone credible saw a “drunk predator”.
4
Anyone credible? You mean a man? His frat-boy pals don't want any part of this investigation. Think they are credible? Funny how conservatives despise the elites until they deem to defend one of their own elites, like the compromised Kavanaugh here, the traitor McConnell there, and the lying Trump daily. Kavanaugh's an elite who has lied about his record, his actions while working in the White House, his gambling, his debts, etc, etc. Notice I didn't even have to mention the assault allegations. The man is damaged goods with no right to sit on the high court. Hypocrisy, anyone? Merrick Garland.
3
I appreciate you story here--that there is no single story.
But I'm not crazy about this sentence: "That’s him riding a wave of testosterone and booze, among similarly pumped-up, zonked-out buddies."
Let's call a spade a spade and stop excusing young men from harmful hurtful (or worse) behavior. There's no excuse for this whether testosterone, booze or whatever. These are crude and mean young men. Period.
59
As he shows yet again, Kavanaugh has absolutely no trouble lying to a national audience. Looking back, quiet wife at his side, he painted himself as some sort of celibate choirboy who was friendly with other "boys and girls." His performance is as stomach turning as his yearbook braggadocio about Renate Dolphin, the devil's triangle, and the FFFFFFFourth of July.
70
Frank Bruni has put his finger on the issue. Kavanaugh is incapable of understanding the complexities of human nature. This failure alone disqualifies him to be any kind of judge and certainly renders him unfit for the highest (and final) court in the nation.
Of course he was capable of being an obnoxious, arrogant, predator prep school kid in his youth. The evidence is clear, even from his own words (bragging about underage drinking and hinting at secrets too naughty to reveal, "what happens ... stays..."). Republicans who do not act on their knowledge of this man's double nature and inappropriateness for one of the most important jobs in our country are selling their souls to the devil.
80
@Frances Drake
Just change out Kavanaugh's name with Trump and it sticks like over cooked spaghetti to a wall. You nailed it.
2
@Frances Drake
Too late for that last part
No frat bros on the Supreme Court. I think that’s a good starting standard. Women are over having their rights decided by men who have no respect for them.
282
@Freya Meyers
No frat bros on the Supreme Court should be incorporated into the Constitution of the United States! Now! Thank you Freya.
Bill Cosby, Les Moonves, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Matt Lauer, Tom Brokaw, Ryan Seacrest, Chuck Close, Paul Haggis, Tavis Smiley, Danny Masterson, John Hockenberry, James Levine, Richard Branson, John Conyers.
My God, Garrison Keillor, Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, Louis C.K. and Al Franken. We know who these men are, and we love them for their character and capacity for goodness. Are you trying to tell us that what we see on the outside can be at odds with character flaw on the inside? That duality of character is not a thing?
These are the most celebrated men of our time. Question: If they were lawyers or jurists, would the Senate confirm any of them to the United States Supreme Court?
P.S. For a complete list, go to “Glamour” and the article: “Post-Weinstein, These Are the Powerful Men Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations”
10
“They know Brett,” she said of the couple’s two daughters. “And they know the truth.” They do indeed — part of it. But not all of it. He may be the gentlest man on earth with them.
The New Yorker article states in part:
Quote
A classmate of Ramirez’s,[and also of Kavanaugh, class of 1987] who declined to be identified ... The classmate said that he is “one-hundred-per-cent sure” that he was told at the time that Kavanaugh was the student who exposed himself to Ramirez. He independently recalled many of the same details offered by Ramirez, including that a male student had encouraged Kavanaugh as he exposed himself. The classmate, like Ramirez, recalled that the party took place in a common room on the first floor in Entryway B of Lawrance Hall, during their freshman year. “I’ve known this all along,” he said. “It’s been on my mind all these years when his name came up. It was a big deal.” The story stayed with him, he said, because it was disturbing ... . He recalled Kavanaugh as “relatively shy” until he drank, at which point he said that Kavanaugh could become “aggressive and even belligerent.”
End quote
So Kavanaugh can be a pussycat when sober, and an obnoxious animal when drunk.
I hope his daughters never see him boozed up.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-...
39
@Joe From Boston I bet they will emulate the daughter of Manafort and change their names. Emancipation would be a good idea. The stepford wife is a fool. If he is forced to withdraw and trump is impeached she is within smackin distance. Abusers and drunks and compulsive gamblers do not readily stop, especially when they cannot admit their own past actions.
What he is at this point, and with little doubt, is a liar. At the very, very least, his inability to fess up about his drinking problem at the time shows that he is not up to the character standards that should be set for those seated to the SCOTUS.
77
Despite what Republicans say, character matters. Accusations of attempted rape, gang rape, and other types of assault do not make him a good candidate for the Supreme Court.
25
Frank,
I believe America has never moved beyond its Puritan heritage. This is all about sex. Pretty soon they will demand Kavanaugh to wear ‘scarlet letters’ denouncing what he did as a kid. Shame on such culture.
3
No Maria, this is not about sex.It is about truth and lies. Professor Blasey made a very clear and unequivocal accusation. Mr. Kavanaugh left no room for any other possibility than that she is lying. This charge could be investigated, but it is clear that the Judiciary committee does not want to do that. I think they fear what they might find. If they can keep everything contained to his and her versions they can pretend that the truth is unknowable without further corroboration, and without that they must proceed to a vote. They will do everything they can to diminish her without ever addressing where there is truth and where there are lies. If Kavanaugh truly believes in himself, he should want an investigation as much as Dr. Ford does.
15
@Maria Hartmann - You really need to learn the difference between sex and sexual assault.
5
Bret Kavanaugh is Eddie Haskell. He is Uriah Heep. He is a cast member in Porkys. The man is an ambitious sycophant who will do what he has to for social position.
72
Just from his friends, he was incoherently drunk on many occasions, his yearbook says he was in the 100 Keg club, whatever FFFFJuly 4 means, etc etc.
OBVIOUSLY he was not the choir boy he alleges he was and that is a lie. If he is so glib about that lie, then how can we ever know he was telling the truth?
His nomination should be withdrawn.
90
Thanks, Frank. This piece reflects what is known as ---mercy.
11
Excellent, wise column, Frank...
10
Kavanaugh was almost crying during his Fox News defense when spouting rather strangely about his virginity. The reason? Because he has been groomed for this position his whole life. In his words, he was destined for this role. Which is exactly why he shouldn't get it. He's lost all reality.
308
@James Devlin Yes....and who cares if he was a virgin. Sexual repression often accompanies a shame based dirty minded mentality about sex. In strict religious cultures, that bodily shame is projected onto children adults in authority. The scandal of sexual abuse by clerics demonstrates this dynamic pretty well.
11
When did an Ivy League degree and a polished - probably falsified résumé become the moral equivalent of a get-to-commit crimes free card? I've known a lot of Ivy League PhDs, MDs, JDs, MBAs, PEs, MAs who had utterly oiled and refinee exteriors. Just wait til they start drinking. The Gorgon emerges. The Minotaur emerges. I made the mistake of watching the Fox news clip with Kavanaugh's wife. He didn't even let her answer the question addressed to her. Boy, what a powderkeg that Yalie frat boy is sitting on. What will happen when his daughters discover they don't have to continue to be scared rabbits. Unless they do.
19
"Some women saw a young gentleman. Some saw a drunk predator. Maybe he was both." But I know what he is NOT! A supreme court justice!
19
The Fox News interview made me feel uneasy. Kavanaugh seemed emotionally fragile, nervous, and tense. His responses to Martha MacCullum's very specific questions were stilted, inarticulate, and weirdly repetitive. His plea that he is 'a good person and has tried to live a good life' came off as kind of pathetic and servile rather than humble. His wife's comments were even less articulate and more stilted than his.
It feels like he's backing himself into a corner with his face to the wall. I've seen little bunnies do that when they're cornered and frightened to death.
Yes, we all see a different part of the elephant. But we sure have gotten a lot of different views of the elephant these past two weeks, and in the end there's just something about this guy that bothers me even if the sexual allegations aren't true (which I believe they are). There is a dark piece here that scares me. I think it scares him too. He seemed on the cusp of a nervous breakdown in that interview.
I wish he would just withdraw and save himself ( and everyone else) the embarrassment of seeing Senator Harris rip what's left of his self esteem to shreds on Thursday.
154
These guys don't do reasonable or dignified. They go all out all the time, like gangsters. And the Dems are always ready to negotiate the terms of their surrender. That's why the second accuser, the third, and Alumnius Renate are important. Murkowsky and Collinses will be shamed into voting he is thug down.
3
@Gwen Vilen I saw a lot of self-pity in him. The guy who thought he could get away with anything and suddenly finds out he might not.
3
@Gwen Vilen, I completely agree. Judge Kavanaugh seemed scared, near weeping and needing reassurance...And I was not nearly as impressed with his verbal skills as I expected to be with a man of his reputation and legal credentials. The whole situation is awful for everyone involved: the Kavanaugh family, our government, the American people, and most of all, his probable victims. Could it be that he doesn't remember what he likely did, but that he believes -- inside himself -- that he could be guilty? But that his lifetime dream is so very close that he'll do almost anything not to let it slip away?
Trump doesn't release his tax returns. Why? Kavanaugh doesn't want an FBI investigation? Why? Seems like two sides of the same coin, with similar faces on both sides.
We won't have time to adequately sort this out in the limited scope of these Senate hearings. There are many other candidates for a lifetime appointment who don't suffer from Kavanaugh's problems. So what are we doing?
36
That yearbook thing really bothers me. The other charges against him are vile, but hard to pin down in a concrete way after all these years. However, the yearbook indisputably shows Kavanagh and his buddies for what they were. Singling out a young woman for ridicule and humiliation and preserving it for posterity. This is a portrait of privileged bullies in the pre-social media era. It's damningly ugly.
93
You know who else showed not only great accomplishments and talents, but serious character flaws? Bill Clinton, the person Kavanaugh thought should be grilled with extremely hostile and intimate questions. So, what is wrong with Kavanaugh being treated the same way?
77
This man knowingly and willfully ignored a legal precedent in place for more than 40 years and would have compelled an immigrant girl to bear a child, when the law says the choice to be a parent or not was hers.
He doesn't respect women and he would use the law for his own ends. We need not go back 35 years to assess his character & fitness for the SCOTUS, when we can go back just one.
61
Yes testosterone and alcohol are a bad mix with sometimes deadly results. But if the adolescent has a firm positive core, he knows when no means no, where the important boundaries are. Being part of a group of boys putting together a "train" to have access to girls in the most humiliating ways does not indicate a positive core. Judge Kavanaugh can change from there on, but must acknowledge the damage he has done to other human beings. What if those human beings were his wife, his mother, sisters, daughters? I want to hear a sense of guilt, of self recrimination, of the need for forgiveness, humility.
7
Whether or not you believe the women who have accused Kavanaugh - you don't have to take their word for who he is. We know, from Kavanaugh's own yearbook writing - "Renate alumnius", "devil's triangle" and "FFFFFFFourth of July" - that this misogynistic man should never have been allowed to sit in judgment of others. But he should look back at his young adult years and judge himself.
Say NO to misogyny in the highest court in our country.
Because if we allow it to happen Thomas-style again, we'll lose equality for generations.
45
What bothers me most is that he has not acknowledge the possibility that he
made poor choices in high school and college. Who didn't? Most young people made poor choices but
the hope is that they learn from it. Instead he describes himself in those days as a virgin and angel.
The halo is blinding those that stand with him.
17
I'm not a supporter of Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court as his political views and mine are pretty far apart. Having said that, I think that any fair-minded person (which I think I am) would be in favor of an impartial investigation into the claims of Dr. Blasey and Ms. Ramirez. I don't know what happened in that room 36 years ago and neither does Mr. Bruni or any other commentator other than Kavanaugh, Blasey and the mysterious Mark Judge. It's too far in the past for any "CSI type" investigation but lying to the FBI in the course of being interviewed by agents is a crime, so unless all parties are willingly perjuring themselves, having their statements would be important in trying to make some sense of who is right and who isn't.
Further, it is entirely possible that the "frat-boy" Kavanaugh of the 1980's could have grown up into the serious, apparently wholesome Kavanaugh of today. I think it is worth considering the possibility that by denying the accusations so vehemently, the Judge is essentially denying what he know to be true but can't accept. I'm n to a psychologist so I'm not capable of making any claims about his mental state but perhaps over the last 30 years or so, he's invented a "new" Kavanaugh which just can't exist in the same universe as the old one. This doesn't let him off the hook for his behavior which , if true, probably should disqualify him from the Supreme Court. It just explains his behavior and the denials.
2
We do not know what Kavanaugh did 30 odd years ago. We DO know what he has done in the past say 20 years. The GOP has decided it prudent to hide the majority of documents detailing his judicial thought and actions. Why? We know of his treatment of Lewinsky, a 17 year old immigrant female and now his treatment of his accusers. We know that he (and his longtime friend Ed Mehan) decided it was perfectly fine to accuse another man on social media as being the alleged rapist. Really, Brett? After you have been similarly accused and aggrieved, you turn and do the exact same thing?
It has merit that he may have perjured himself in previous confirmation hearings.
We know what Kavanaugh is today. That alone should make him not qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court.
44
It's eerie that your column appears on the day Bill Cosby has been deemed a sexual predator and is awaiting sentencing. That "Dr. Huxtable" and Mr. Hyde have been revealed as one and the same shows that two sides of Brett Kavanaugh are possible. For the judge, it's not the best split screen image to have as the backdrop for these proceedings.
14
I think Neil Gorsuch went to the same prep school and he had not a trace of controversy in his nomination - other than the fact that the seat was stolen from Merrick Garland (and us) by Mitch McConnell (R).
43
@Susan
It really IS disgusting, what McConnell (and his enablers) have done to our Democracy. With every cut, these grifters bleed our Country dry, and they will unlikey even leave enough blood to write our epitaph.
6
@Susan
Exactly, It's my opinion that accepting that nomination under those circumstances spoke volumes about Neil's character, none of it good. I think if I went to that high school I'd be burning my diploma about now.
4
All one has to do is think of the thousands of priests who were revered in their parishes until their dark side was revealed to consider that it's entirely possible for too-good-to-be-true Kavanaugh to be guilty of the accusations.
75
the left is deliberately assuming Kavanaugh is guilty based only on an accusation. One that has no corroboration and is virtually impossible to corroborate. That isn't the American way. But then again, we're talking about the progressive left.
3
@Ralphie - What can be proven is that Kavanaugh has lied multiple times. That should bother you.
3
No, Ralphie, the left is looking at his past record and lack of it, his lies under oath, and his lack of character during his Starr and Bush days. He was compromised long before the sexual assault charges. The GOP needs to withdraw him. He's not worth it to them or the country. Merrick Garland.
3
We could've had Merrick Garland.
31
Lying is a character flaw. Kavanaugh has lied consistently especially when questioned by Senator Kamala Harris on the question of whether he had any contact with the law firm representing Trump administration officials. He denied it even though his best friend is an attorney at that firm.
23
What kind of person brags about having sexual intimacy with a girl and names her in his yearbook? A pig does. Not a gentleman.
Here's what we know for darned sure about Justice Kavanaugh:
He has a storied history of getting hammered in high school. It's illegal to drink before the age of 21. Alas, that didn't stop him. To achieve his objectives of 100 kegs, he had to lie with regularity to his parents and school authorities. He and his friends, unless they walked, probably drove under the influence.
If the guy will write about his drinking and sexual prowess for the permanent record and then act like it never happened, what does it say about him? What does that say about us if he is appointed to the Supreme Court?
People act differently when intoxicated. I have met countless Brett Kavanaughs -- we're the same age. I know the Brett that gets hammered and picks fights. I know the Brett who gets drunk and thinks he's hitting on women when he's abusing them. And painfully I know the Brett who will act unforgivably and deny it to the rafters just to get ahead. Because he's entitled.
My Brett Kavanaugh tried to sexually assault me on the campus of my prestigious small, private liberal arts university. Thanks to 5 older brothers, I pummeled him before running back to my sorority house. His frat brothers told me later that I turned him into a bed wetter.
If Brett has done even some of what they say, I wish I had met him back then.
96
@Sarah
Good for you. Reading about the dynamic of the assaults it appears the frat boys targeted the gentle girls, the most vulnerable ones, for their abuse. They were likely leaving the tough girls alone. This makes their behavior all the more loathsome and cruel.
7
@Sarah
Yay. I wish you had met him, too.
1
That Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez or any other woman would place themselves in the middle of this maelstrom gives me cause to believe them. That Judge Kavanaugh has been caught lying, denying or obfuscating the truth under oath gives me cause to want him disqualified.
Most important to me is that I don't want another justice on the Supreme Court from such an entitled little enclave of very privileged white men pretending to understand how the rest of us may be impacted by their decisions.
29
We all do dumb things that we later regret. You can't change your mistakes but how you respond to them as you mature determines more about you than the actual mistake. If you own up to it, apologize, and use it to make you a better person then people tend to be much more forgiving if it comes to light in later life. If you don't then you never really learned anything from the experience and a person who isn't capable of growth doesn't belong on the supreme court.
Kavenough could have said that he made mistakes when he was younger as a result of the drinking he engaged in but he's not that person anymore. He could have indicated that as a result of that drinking he doesn't remember the encounter with Dr Ford and then expressed remorse for her pain. Insteadership he's chosen to blame the left for the accusations he now faces. Again, this makes him unfit to be on the supreme court.
Those who sit on the supreme court must be above reproach. They make decisions that impact our entire society. We're not looking for perfection but we do expect our justices to be respectful and reflective in the decisions that they make. Someone who is rigid in their beliefs and unwilling to admit to or take responsibility for their mistakes has no business passing judgement on others.
19
Precisely.
Just because Kavanaugh's defenders were never personally assaulted by him, or witnessed him assault other women when he was blackout drunk, does not mean that it never happened. Those coming to his defense know only one truth of this man's life. For them to discount the truths of other's experiences with him is to ignore the truth that they could not possibly know all that there is to know, especially since we now know that many such as Judge have not been honest or forthcoming. A woman that knows him only from church, will likely not comprehend the years that he spent black out drunk. Kavanaugh is currently not facing any legal action, but he is facing a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court. Had Republicans discovered this earlier, he would never have been nominated. Thus far, Kavanaugh has not demonstrated that he deserves this appointment.
16
This case once again highlights the problem of sorting out the evidence when a sexual assault is not reported until decades later, usually after the statute of limitations has expired.
In the past, women had understandable reasons for not reporting sexual assaults: humiliation and shame, and fear of being ridiculed by medical staff during exams and police during the filing of complaints.
This points out a shortcoming of the #METOO movement: failure to clearly advocate that women sexually assaulted today immediate provide police with contemporaneous evidence, such as witnesses, immediate description of the assault to friends, relatives and colleagues, rather than waiting decades to make charges that police and prosecutors are unable to press court-admissible charges.
Thousands of women will be sexually assaulted today - when they report to medical and police staff will determine whether the perpetrators seem vindicated to assault again.
2
"Some women saw a young gentleman. Some saw a drunk predator. Maybe he was both."
Maybe he should withdraw his name because he is a lying misogynistic sexual predator who just can't come clean. Maybe he should withdraw because he has absolutely no business being responsible for decisions about women's health and reproductive rights. And Maybe Trump will find another stooge to exploit in his continuing vain effort to protect himself.
I suspect that neither Kavanaugh nor Trump will be able to figure any of this out for themselves. Hopefully, those with character and backbones who will be making the final decision on this nomination will do it for them.
18
A “golden resume” is not enough; it does not show the true character of a man - it’s just a paper record.
In Kavanaugh’s case, like Trump, hearing him speak for five minutes is enough to make a visceral evaluation that is more valid than his resume. He was the kind of kid from which you would tell your daughter to stay away. And then there is the lying and obfuscation of his record in the Bush administration regarding torture, and the attack of Clinton working for Ken Starr.
Kavanaugh is getting his just rewards.
20
Office politics. We are coming to a world where all professions, fields, the entirety of it, is consumed by office politics. Only the blandest, most popular, safest, smooth, by the book, factory produced humans will be able to hold the highest positions or have the limelight. A perfectly mediocre, passionless. tepid, controlled, stock phrase, predictable action world. No mistakes of any sort permitted, and the morality police, defining every action and thought as they see fit, mainly to suit their own purpose, will be looking over every shoulder.
Ironically in this world we will still have ceremonies, awards, even people recognized as geniuses. As if spontaneity is permitted, accident, risk,--as if the road has actually been improved toward exceptional accomplishment. When in actuality we can already see today that awards largely go to people who are deemed safe and are quite forgettable. But what do you expect from an overpopulated, increasingly bureaucratized world? It's just pettiness, all of it. A world of petty, contemptible people. Instead of reaching for the next to impossible actually great accomplishment, we hold people to a next to impossible standard of pure cardboard cutout.
1
@Daniel12
If the world that you describe truly exists, it does not explain how a self-consumed person like McConnell inhabits the position of self-aggrandisement that he has squatted in, for so long. It doesn't explain how a seedy,
bankruptcy-prone "reality-tv star", like Trump, has become The President of the United States. I see mostly the evidence that ANYONE can hold high office, and continue to disgrace themselves, without any appreciable repercussions.
4
Allegations of sexual assault aside, the hard partying, boorish ways of Judge Kavanaugh during his high school and college days are much more disturbing than the (past) recreational marijuana use that derailed the nomination of Douglas Ginsburg. The abhorrent "Renate Alumnius" (didn't Georgetown Prep have a yearbook faculty advisor?) comment on his yearbook personal page, and his reaffirmation of his "youthful indiscretions" with his filmed "What happens in Georgetown Prep, stays in Georgetown Prep" smirking quip are undisputed, no matter how much Judge Kavanaugh tries to explain them away. And what are we to make of his newly professed "virginity defense"? That teenage male braggadocio is to be excused as "boys will be boys", no matter how hurtful to women? Is this the best that the Republicans can come up with to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court?
28
Ask him to take a lie detector test. Ms. Ford took and passed one.
15
@Jsailor
Unfortunately, some people are able to lie and yet pass a polygraph test due to either training or psychopathic absence of emotion. Based on his public displays of impassivity, Kavanaugh seems he might well be the latter.
And a skilled manipulator could also just lie and obfuscate about the test itself when he failed it ("it's unfair, it's inaccurate, the operator was a Democrat, it's a partisan witch-hunt anyway..."). And Republicans would do the same.
The more we learn, the clearer it seems that Brett Kavanaugh simply does not have the outstanding character necessary to deserve the huge privilege--and responsibility--of being a U.S. Supreme Court judge. He seems way more politician than jurist.
19
In my opinion, Mr. Brett Kavanaough put his foot in his mouth when he stated on Fox news that he did not engage in sexual intercourse in high school and long thereafter. That is irrelevant to the accusations against him, but contracdicts the "portrait" painted in his high school yearbook. He also stated that he went to church on Sundays - that's also irrelevant. We know that as a judge, he tried to deny access to abortion to a young immigrant and an appellate court reinstated the decision of a lower court that he had reversed; this man is not fit to be a judge even on a lower court.
48
Hey, people grow, develop, mature... If he were to open the door just a bit to something like this I would look at his candidacy a bit differently.
But he won't. He categorically denies everything in every way. I was worried when I listened to his acceptance speech and heard him congratulate trump saying, "No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination...” If he will say this, what else will he say!?
The last thing we need is a Supreme Court Justice willing to take the words right out of a pathological liar's mouth. My apologies for my tone.
32
You're absolutely correct, it is possible to be both. The man who sexually assaulted me was known to be a great guy, the life of the party, charming! He was also jealous, a drunk, and controlling. I reported my assault, he confessed to it, pleaded guilty, served time in jail, and I was still treated like a pariah who'd ruined his "good" reputation. I was the one who ultimately moved away to start a new life. When I read comments questioning the legitimacy of women who don't report, I am sickened. If you're a woman who is sexually assaulted, you're in a lose/lose situation. Whatever you do, people will find you at fault.
1714
@Deborah Schmidt If you are a man, it never happened; "boys will be boys" syndrome! If you are a woman, she's lying, she invited it and wants attention. Yep!
4
@Deborah Schmidt This has got to change! I think it's a good time to start work on it. There are many, many women of all ages (including quite a few in their 70s!) chomping at the bit over the lose/lose situation they have been subjected to in their lifetimes. Enough already.
2
I cannot help thinking of St Augustine, who wrote about his debauched and sinful youth before becoming a much better person. His Confessions have inspired many to become better than their past would predict.
This is on no level of comparison of St Augustine and Kavanaugh--simply a recognition that people can and do change, often significantly, as they mature. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
If Kavanaugh has behaved well since his early 20s, maybe that is what we should be focusing on.
80
@Talbot. I disagree strongly. Why settle for this for the Supreme Court? Don't tell me there isn't any other alternative?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11
@Talbot
But here, there are no confessions, only denials.
2
@Talbot Except, if true, he is now lying about his past.
2
It's almost impossible to express the rage I feel. It's obvious the GOP members of the judiciary committee have already made up their minds before any investigation or testimony from Dr. Ford. The self proclaimed sexual predator in the White House doesn't care about the truth. Big shock there. The incompetency of the GOP members of the Senate Judiciary committee is astounding. I am sick and tired of all these old white men who have not one clue of the ramifications on a woman's life due to sexual assault and harassment. Apparently they have learned nothing in 27 years. I stand with Anita Hill and Dr. Ford.
41
There is no permanent, unchanging "self."
1
I read this book years ago--it was called Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde. Brett Kavanaugh has a classic Jeckyll and Hyde personality. In the beginning America was duly impressed by Kavanaugh as Dr Jeckyll--a young kindly jurist who was destined for greatness on the Supreme Court. Unfortunately too many young women from Kavanaugh's past were exposed to his Mr Hyde personality--an evil intoxicated sexual predator.
Kavanaugh has a very creepy dark split personality.
4
The many faces of Brett Kavanaugh, the many faces of Catholic priests who sexually abused young boys, the many faces of sports coaches, the many faces of domestic abuse, ......
But there are always signs for those who can pick up on them.
Do we not have a memo written by Kavanaugh urging Ken Starr to press Monica Lewinsky about every lurid detail of her sexual encounters? Did not Sean Wilentz write a well researched opinion piece in this paper about Kavanaugh's pursuit of the Vince Foster was murdered theory?
What kind of man makes a pregnant teenager seek out a sponsor before she can have an abortion? What kind of man scowls and turn away refusing to shake the hand of a parent who lost a child in the Parkland shooting? And what kind of man is willing to drag the stature of the Supreme Court of the United States through the mud in pursuit of his personal lifelong ambition?
Such a man is Brett Kavanaugh.
99
I have had personal experience where I completely and totally made something up that didn't happen. However, I have yet to have the experience of making up something traumatic that didn't happen.
What is clear from the facts is that Brett Kavanaugh hung around with a hard drinking crowd--a group of supremely entitled, spoiled, and rich boys who partied their way through high school.
Why is someone who is so not-representative of the country allowed to be in such a powerful position?
11
@Dan We could ask the same of POTUS. How he convinced "the uneducated" to vote for him defies comprehension. He represents their worst inclinations but not their interests.
1
Thank you. Many people are wonderful (Dr. Jekyll) when sober and not very nice (Mr. Hyde) when very drunk. Judge Kavanaugh may be one such person.
Judge Kavanaugh says he wants to be evaluated fairly. If Dr. Blasey Ford is interviewed by an outside lawyer, Judge Kavanaugh should be interviewed by the same lawyer. What is sauce for the goose needs to be sauce for the gander.
9
I would hope that one Senator asks Kavanaugh, whether he now understands how hurtful, insulting and demeaning it was to invoke the phrase Renate Alumnius. And if Kavanaugh is incapable of recognizing that, and tries to oil his way out of that corner, then he should be rejected, with out even the slightest further consideration. A person incapable of recognizing past transgressions should never sit in judgement of others.
18
The Republican Party under this President has become the party of 'confused old white men' (COWG's for short). If you doubt this just watch the spectacle unfolding on Thursday when Professor Ford testifies before 11 COWG's on the Republican side. For a similar experience go to almost any country club and walk into the Men's Card Room. Listen to the conversations and look for anyone of color, aside from those serving. This is their version of America.
15
Questioning the veracity of his accusers I look back on my own experiences:
- I went to a Prep school. Did I know guys like this? Absolutely.
- I went to a University that had a Frat-centric culture. Did I know guys like this? Absolutely.
- Did I know about this sort of behavior and refuse to participate?
Absolutely. Oh I partied as hard as anyone but the degradation of women and pledges was something I found abhorrent.
Adding it all up... Kavanaugh?
The phrase "sober as a Judge" does not apply.
At best he is a liar.
61
The truth will out.
2
A wild youth is one thing and can be overlooked in fact should be like Amish do with their young in Rumspringa but a mean and violent youth that rapes is more than just a dark side, to then lie about it as adult to not face your demon is dishonorable and that doesn't meet the standard for a judge much less a Justice of the Supreme Court.
8
When did Kavanaugh and Mark Judge last talk ? When is the last time they drank together or attended a baseball game or gambled ?
4
Let's face it, Kavanaugh was just sewing his "wild oats" like the rest of his friends. Nothing wrong with that, right?
And a letter written and signed by 65 women, who swear Kavanuagh is an upstanding citizen and got it to the Senate immediately when Kavanaugh was accused, had no idea that he was a "Ranate Aluminus". How sure are they about his virtues? Obviously Ms. Renate Shroeder was surprised to find this out.
Two many questions left unanswered. The Senate should have him withdraw his name, as it does not occur to Kavanugh that this is the right thing to do.
At least the VA Administration nominee, Jackson had the decency to withdraw. Does Kavanaugh have no decency.
A for Kavanaugh's wife, she is "standing by her man", just what every wife would do for a while.
6
Then let the judge act judicial about all this: request further investigation if, as he so strongly claims, he is innocent. If he can get on tv with his wife to proclaim his virginity in high school then he can request the FBI clear this all up. If not, then we have our answer.
13
A "hooker with the heart of gold" scenario? Last I looked, even nice criminals are held accountable when caught.
We have too many "clues" to Kavanaugh's behavior to ignore them:
The women who accused him of harm: Christine Blasey Ford (dangerous assault), Deborah Ramirez (aggressive, disgusting touching), Renata Files (organized bullying).
The misogynistic organizations: high school group, college frat, secret society (obscene motto). Comments by his classmates about his extreme drinking, aggressive behavior.
Professional behavior: support of Judge Kozinski, attacks on Monica Lewinsky, etc.
Put them all together and we have a man who clearly doesn't respect all women. Can't we set higher standards for our country than to respect a man who is obviously a misogynist when it suits him? Can't we teach our young people that high school and college matter and that good guys win?
39
Whether or not this person is a sexual predator, there is another, equally alarming (to me, anyway) issue that should disqualify him for the position for which he is applying: the man appears to be a serious alcoholic! Regardless of whether or not his disease is active, he has this disease & it does not go away. In addition, there is evidence that he has a gambling problem. Really....an alcoholic with a gambling addiction who may also be a sexual predator? How can we possibly admit such a person this man to the highest court in the land? For life?
18
Women know this. Anyone who has been abused knows this. People wouldn't get away with abuse if they were universally terrible people. Many rapists are never going to rape their cousins or daughters or sisters-in-law and may even protect them. Many abusers will only abused their spouses or children. So what? They're still rapists and abusers. The good they do to the people they see as people is irrelevant next to the harm they do. Kavanaugh being a nice father isn't important if he sexually harassed his female law clerks or attempted rape in high school or sexually assaulted people in college.
7
Kavanaugh is an abusive predator when it comes to women. He might have been behaving the last several years but anyone who, according to the evidence made public so far, has treated women like he has (Renate Alumni) and has bragged about it obviously has an attitude that does not bode well for women's rights and the protections we have fought so hard for all these decades. Trump discredits the second woman to come forward because she says she was drunk, but believes Kavanaugh, even though he, too was drunk during these incidents. Drunk women--not credible. Drunk men? Always! This man must not get on the court and be in a position to harm women further. I'm sure he would not hesitate to do so.
4
Aren't we all gentlemen and sinners of some sort? It's only the type of sins that divide us: drunkeness, leering, drugging, tempting, lying....why, the list goes on for the likes of us males, gentlemen or not.
What needs to be eschewed by women is the alcohol and drugs at gatherings whereby men no longer have enough good sense to control their lusting after. Women are the wiser sex. Be more wiser.
Remember that old song, ""Have some Madeira my dear...."
2
@Lake Woebegoner - Sexual assault has nothing to do with lust, it's an act of violence. Get a clue.
2
@DR: get your dictionary out, DR. Uncontrolled lust can often result in an act of sexual assault. The clue you're seeking lies in the L section. Look it up.
Much of this is a dog and pony show with both sides immediately retreating to their silos.
Hold the hearings. Listen to the testimony. Vote. On Monday.
No more delays. No more FBI investigations---Kavanaugh has been investigated six, I said six, times by the FBI.
Give both sides their say. Then vote. He is either in or out. On Monday.
3
A very nicely written piece.
I think NY Times readers by now have a pretty good picture of what the toxic private school party male culture was like and how it only makes Mrs. Blasey's accusations more credible. The fact that the Kavanaugh side had 65 (now 64) female testimonies ready for immediate release means they knew all too well there was risk there.
Brett Kavanaugh had no other option than to deny the whole thing. With attempted rape, there is zero room for a defense along the lines of "I don't remember much of that period but if I hurt Mrs. Blasey in any way I truly apologise".
There is no doubt in my mind that McConnell will confirm a Conservative Judge before January, but now at least there will be significant political damage from the rushed Republican process without proper vetting.
6
Frank, it’s the mask. The mask of white, male, privilege. It’s a lifelong, unearned bonus, a get-out-of-Jail FREE Card, in the monopoly game of Life. Even with videotaped evidence of the (alleged) attempted RAPE, there would still be denial, claims of confusion and conspiracy. But rarely any consequences. As for the GOP members still insistent upon HIS confirmation, they are displaying their true allegiance. Party over EVERYONE and Everything. Please proceed, GOP. There will be Blood. Politically speaking. Finally.
32
Maybe more than just politically. How long can the majority who vote Democratic watch as the minority who vote Republican rule without a single consideration for the majority will? How long can they watch as the minority lies and steals its way to power? How long? Merrick Garland.
2