Lindsey Graham promises 'full scale' probe into Democrats' handling of Ford-Kavanaugh allegation

Hat tip to Tom Keevers at Moretti Underground

Washington Examiner  "Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed Sunday to launch a thorough inquiry into Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to find out whether there was any wrongdoing in how they managed the sexual misconduct allegation Christine Blasey Ford leveled at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

" 'We're going to do a wholesale, full scale investigation of what I think was a despicable process to deter it from happening again," Graham said during an interview on ABC News' "This Week."

" 'The FBI will do a supplemental background investigation, then I'm going to call for an investigation of what happened in this committee. Who betrayed Dr. Ford's trust? Who in Feinstein's office recommended Katz as a lawyer? Why did Ms. Ford not know that the committee was willing to go to California?" Graham continued, referring to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Debra Katz, one of Ford's attorneys who has been involved in Democratic politics in the past.

"President Trump mocked Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, at a rally in West Virginia on Saturday for saying last week her staff did not leak a confidential letter Ford sent her local congresswoman, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in July accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault in the 1980s when they were in high school.

"Ryan Grim, the journalist from the Intercept who first reported on the letter, said on Twitter last week that he did not receive it from Feinstein's staff.

"Trump also said he hoped an FBI probe into Ford's claims, which will delay the Senate's consideration of Kavanaugh's confirmation by a week, uncovers who leaked the letter to the press." . . .

Cotton: Feinstein to be investigated over leaked letter from Ford

We must NOT allow these people to govern this nation!

Kavanaugh’s hearings are a national disaster — and the worst is yet to come

NY Post  "This is a golden age for cynics. You will rarely go wrong in assuming an absence of decency and courage in the political class. However low the bar is set, it will not be low enough.

"Witness how the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh started as cheap theater and ended in bloodsport. The process by which we elevate someone to the highest court in the land sunk to the lowest common denominator — and didn’t stop.

"And now the national disaster will be aided by more time and a fresh supply of dynamite.

"Friday’s agreement to give the FBI a week to supplement its background check by looking into existing misconduct allegations against Kavanaughguarantees the nightmare will continue, especially for him and his battered family. You don’t have to be a cynic to assume the rabid left will come up with more outlandish accusations in an effort to make up in quantity what it lacks in quality.

"The extension is the devil’s bargain Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake struck with his conscience. First he said he would vote to move Kavanaugh out of committee, then was shouted at in an elevator by leftists and cornered by Senate Democrats. Naturally, he caved in to their demands for the extension while supporting Kavanaugh, pending the outcome of the probe." . . .

Post-Kavanaugh midterms update

Don Surber  "Democratic voters woke up today with a victory snatched away once again. They came so close to destroying Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday morning, only to have him successfully defend himself.
"Democrats failed. Again. Failure has consequences. I am a Cleveland sports fan. There are decades when I don't follow a team or two that closely.
"The empty seat syndrome may hit Marxist Democrats at the polls.
"But Republicans are up against it. They have to defend just eight seats in the Senate. Four are listed as tossups at Real Clear Politics.
"The House is a bigger mess with Real Clear Politics giving Democrats a 206-189 lead with 40 tossups. Republicans hold 38 of those tossups.
"However, the DNC has $8,214,021 cash on hand, while the RNC has $41,754,556.
"Democrats hope the Kavanaugh confirmation will ignite their base, which is a mob of self-entitled people who wear pink knitted caps in the middle of summer.
"I don't know about that.
"Former Bush 43 administrator James S. Robbins laid out the Democratic plan in a USA Today column." . . .

The Truly Terrible Damage Wrought by Jeff Flake

Bob Barr  

"Any member of Congress is capable at any time of doing harm to his or her political party or even the country itself.

"Casting a vote undermining a carefully crafted piece of legislation after committing to colleagues not to do so. Making a public statement clearly at odds with universally accepted norms. Engaging in conduct that is unlawful, unethical, or both. Refusing to apologize when such an act clearly is necessary and appropriate. These are but a few actions in which a senator or member of Congress can engage that can hurt their party colleagues or, in extreme cases, the country.

"Rarely, however, can someone in as important a position as a sitting United States senator do such great harm as that by Arizona’s Sen. Jeff Flake in telling his Republican Party, and indeed the entire country, that he would refuse to vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the floor of the Senate — even after voting to have the nomination reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee on which he serves — unless the FBI conducts another investigation; this one focused on the allegations leveled against Kavanaugh after the week-long hearings conducted by the committee earlier this month." . . .

Frenzied Left stooping to homophobia to bash Kavanaugh supporter Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham, who is unmarried, has occasionally been derisively accused of being gay by critics and pundits who engage in homophobia by using homosexuality as an implicit insult.

. . . Kimmel then engaged in gay-bashing, comparing Graham to Liberace, a famous gay performer.
“And once he got some camera time–somebody must have told Lindsey Graham that Donald Trump was watching because he lit up like someone left a thumbtack on Liberace’s piano bench,” Kimmel said.
On Friday, HBO host Bill Maher went even lower, not only joking about Graham being gay, but poking at the late John McCain as well.
Maher joked that Graham needed the “stabilizing influence of his dead boyfriend.”
Finally, CNN hosts Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon yukked it up Friday, mocking Lindsey Graham for having “the vapors.”
“First he’s got the vapors!” Don Lemon said in a mock Southern accent, referring to a joke where women who were said to have the “vapors” if they were acting hysterical or irrational.

Thomas Lifson: Frenzied Left stooping to homophobia to bash Kavanaugh supporter Lindsey Graham  "Remember when making fun of people because you thought they might be secretly homosexual was considered a bad thing by leftists?  That was back when a “right of privacy” was imputed to the Constitution (right there in the penumbra, a previously unknown codicil invented to justify abortion.) It suggests that there is something wrong about homosexuality, which is about as politically incorrect as you can get. Just ask the Human Rights Campaign (HRC.org), one of the richest and most influential lobbying organizations. (Except that the HRC is silent so far on what follows.)

"No fewer than 3 prominent Trump-hating celebrities have turned to mockery of Senator Lindsey Graham as a potential homosexual, something that he has never, to my knowledge, commented upon. He is an aging bachelor, and that’s all they know. But that’s enough if the issue if torpedoing the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh.*

"If vulgar and distasteful graphic language disturbs you, read no further, for the slurs directed at Senator Graham are hideous and disturbing." . . .

. . . "Nobody walked off the set in outrage, and no booing from the audience. Roseanne Barr lost her hit TV show over less. If the hypocrites at the HRC were to make an issue of this, Maher might be in danger. But the HRC is more dedicated to advancing leftist causes than to fighting homophobia, it is quite clear to me." . . .

A Hollywood liberal... (just what is she anyway?) ...speaks out:

Kathy Griffin

✔@kathygriffin

Oh lookee lookee here. Miss Lindsey Graham doesn’t have the balls to speak up today does she? #KavanaughHearings
10:16 AM - Sep 27, 2018

Video here, if you can stand it

"Watch the sorry spectacle for yourself, and judge the reactions:
*Emphasis mine; TD

Many Women Line Up In Support Of Kavanaugh Pick; "Ignored by the alphabet networks."

Weasel Zippers

“If you’re going to use sexual assault to slow somebody down, it had better be the truth,” Scott said. “Even if Brett Kavanaugh is innocent, he is still going to live with this the rest of his life.”

Well, there go your chances of eating out.

AP   . . . "Female voices have echoed throughout the U.S. Senate this week demanding male senators justify their support for Brett Kavanaugh’s U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite an allegation of high school sexual assault.

"But other women have spent hours calling Senate offices in support of Kavanaugh, condemning what they saw as an anti-Republican ploy that’s damaged not only Kavanaugh’s reputation and livelihood but also his accuser’s.

"To Hannah King, a college senior from Bristol, Tennessee, Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of a drunken attack by Kavanaugh at a 1982 party when both were in high school were jarring and scary. But while King expressed empathy for Ford, she also said she’s concerned about the timing of Ford’s allegations, which surfaced publicly only after Kavanaugh — already a federal judge — was nominated to the Supreme Court.

“ 'It was too timely and strategic,” said King, 21. “Anything like that makes you question how true it is.”

"King spoke Friday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate. Hours later, Trump ordered an FBI investigation of Kavanaugh upon Republican Sen. Jeff Flake’s insistence. Flake’s demand came after two women who said they had experienced sexual assault confronted him on an elevator at the Senate and demanded he take action against Kavanaugh. Two other women besides Ford have also lodged public sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh.

“A lot of times, you cope by suppressing and forgetting,” said King, who leads the King University College Republicans. “But someone’s promotion isn’t something that should prompt someone to come forward.”

. . . .

“I’m very empathetic to women who’ve been through this type of situation,” said Mace, 40. “But on the other side, we have laws in this country that protect individuals from being wrongfully accused.” . . .

Monica Showalter: Even the AP notices a lot of women are supporting Kavanaugh

What it signals is that Republicans should recognize they’ve been rolled enough by Democrats and make no further concessions to their demands for additional delay, The facts from the weeklong FBI investigation will fall where they will, and the women’s vote as an emotional grounds driver of votes is not what the Democrat narrative says it is. Republicans are never going to get the votes of the hard left, whose main priority is abortion, so they need to stand up to the Democrat games-playing. This AP story shows that the much-feared women’s vote is not going to be as decisive as doing the right thing.

What the Democrats Have Done

Stacey Lennox

And we should never, never forget.

. . . "This newest delay is an opportunity for Democrats to complain about the limited scope of the new investigation, find new "victims" with anonymous claims and endlessly delay this process. The FBI will not provide any conclusions. Just more information.

Then the Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee will take that information and say they need to question witnesses. Investigate new claims. They need more information. More, more, more.....

"This shameless delay tactic that reaches out and touches people who have already given their sworn statements is just despicable. Especially people with admitted psychological and health issues like Judge, Keyser and even Dr. Ford herself. They will not be satisfied until someone is ruined the way they ruined Miguel Estrada and his family. And that type of ruthless win at all costs philosophy should never be forgotten.

Democrats' OUTRAGEOUS CONDUCT Toward Kavanaugh Victimized Him, Ford and ALL Americans

Gregg Jarrett at Socio-Political Journal

The plain truth is that it didn’t matter who President Trump nominated to fill the existing vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. The president could have nominated a saint and Democrats would have done everything humanly possible to stop the nominee from being confirmed. No shameful tactic would have been spared. Both Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are the victims of the outrageous conduct by Senate Democrats. And so are the American people.

. . . "Kavanaugh justifiably heaped scorn on Senate Democrats for what was he described as a “smear” and “character assassination,” pointing out correctly that they revealed the allegations against him by Ford only when his confirmation seemed assured.

"Kavanaugh laid bare the partisan motivations of Democrats for ruining his reputation and destroying his family. He condemned their actions for transforming the Senate confirmation process into “a national disgrace” and “replacing advise and consent with search and destroy.” 

"At times, questioning resembled a theater of the absurd as some clueless Democratic senators like Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut implied that cryptic references to drinking in Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook were somehow incriminating evidence of attempted rape. That’s so ridiculous as to be laughable.  

"More than anyone, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is responsible for this abomination." . . .

Jeff Flake and the Republicans hoodwinked and trapped by leftist "feminazis"

Obama bowed and repented before America's international enemies; the Republicans bow in the presence of our own citizens who hate them and this nation. TD

Sen Flake Caved to Woman Who Runs Soros Backed Organization
. . . "As you would expect, the “great investigative journalist” Anderson Cooper didn’t even bring Archila’s affiliation with Soros up in this interview, no no it’s all about pushing feelings and agenda. The left is absolutely obsessed with women’s “rights” and “healthcare” (aka abortion), which is all these attacks against Kavanaugh and the GOP are about… abortion." . . 

Are we learning yet America? This is why you do not stand down to these radical leftists when confronted out of the left field. You have no idea who that person is getting in your face, be it a professional activist to someone who lies really good to get you to bend to their will, or a good old fashion con-artist hustling for a dollar or two. NO, not saying these women are liars or con-artists, but activists with an agenda to screw you!

Only the naïve would have no suspicions that a trap lies behind the demand for a renewed FBI investigation of the charges against Kavanaugh

. . . "To my mind, the Dems would not have launched their coordinated effort to demand an [FBI] investigation and bully or bribe or just convince Jeff Flake to go along with their demand. At a minimum, they have more claims to surface, resulting in more delay. But with all the delays they already have [imposed], they have had time to be creative and manufacture traps."

On a different view:

Flake said the investigation period also soothed worries from both Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, two Republicans who have not announced if they will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

How Sen. Flake brought the Senate back from the brink  Bringing this nation back from a brink that Democrats have created. This all implies the issue is between different well-intentioned factions, but I cannot give the left this kind of credit. The liberals have shown us a despicable side repeatedly, from the likes of Maxine Waters demagoguery and her calls for attacks on Republicans, Kamala Harris and her support for the police murdering Black Lives Matter, the scowling Chuck Schumer, and his predecessor the contemptible Harry Reid. Topping the list is Hillary Clinton with her throngs of adoring, clueless press and leftist women's groups who sing songs of praise to her.
If these people are the best liberals have to offer what trust and respect can we possibly have for them?  The Tunnel Dweller

The Democrats' FBI sham  " 'All the world's a stage," wrote Shakespeare. The Democrats staged an event to gut the judge of his honor.  May God help us when people with dishonor gainsay the honorable."

Jeff Flake and Kavanaugh Brutally Summed Up by a Single Cartoon

Andrew C. McCarthy: Republicans Should Not Have Delayed the Kavanaugh Vote

They gave Democrats exactly what they wanted.

. . . "It doesn’t matter what sheep’s clothing the wolf comes in; the wolf is always delay. When they say, “We’re protecting survivors,” they mean, “We want delay.” When they posture that “women must be believed,” their aim is more delay. When they say, “The FBI must investigate to remove any cloud over the nominee,” the translation is: “Give us a delay so we can come up with new reasons for delay.' ” . . .

. . . "The Constitution assigns the advice-and-consent function to the legislative branch. The FBI is a component of the executive branch. The constitutional powers of the legislature are not contingent on the cooperation of the executive. Moreover, the FBI did not exist until it was created by statute at the start of the 20th century, meaning the Senate was quite capably vetting judicial nominations for over a century before there was an FBI.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is charged with assessing judicial nominees, has one of the largest professional staffs of any committee on Capitol Hill. The staff includes many former federal prosecutors and investigators. The committee never needs to wait for the FBI; it can conduct its own, very thorough investigation of any judicial nominee.

The Democrats Have Always Wanted to Destroy Kavanaugh

Their latest effort to do so cannot be allowed to succeed.

In fact, several Democrats promised earlier this summer to tank anyone President Trump nominated. “Americans should make it clear that they will not tolerate a nominee chosen from President Trump’s pre-ordained list,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said on the Senate floor in late June. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut swore the Democrats would “use every tool available” to stop any Supreme Court nominee. 

Women Screaming At Flake In Elevator Were Soros-Funded Astroturfed Activist Leaders!—Not Victims

The Gateway Pundit

"About an hour later and after several private talks with Democrats Jeff Flake came out and announced he would only vote for Brett Kavanaugh if an investigation continued on the man for another week.

This was exactly what Democrats were hoping for!

Now this…

The women who were screaming at Senator Jeff Flake in the elevator are Soros-funded astroturfed activists.

There names are Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila.

Flake and Republicans got played.

They celebrated after Flake caved.!

Despicable USA Today slurs Kavanaugh as possible pedophile

I hope the parents of these girls will stand by Judge Kavanaugh!

Thomas Lifson  "The campaign of personal destruction unleashed on Judge Brett Kavanaugh is revealing the depths to which the Democrats and their journalistic handmaidens have fallen.

"Wait a minute! They haven’t fallen, they have leaped… into an abyss of lies, innuendo, and outright cruelty. An operation undertaken against a man admired by virtually everyone who has professionally or socially known and associated with him for decades.

"This tweet on the official USA Today Twitter feed (@USATODAY) and the article it links to are despicable:

USA TODAY

✔@USATODAY

From @usatodaysports: "The U.S. Senate may yet confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, but he should stay off basketball courts for now when kids are around," writes @ByErikBrady . https://usat.ly/2N9qDiL

Why the Brett Kavanaugh Smear?

"This is the message they are trying to send: If we can do this to the Boy Scout Brett Kavanaugh, we can do it to anyone. Are you thinking of serving in a Republican administration? Or accepting an appointment to the federal judiciary from a Republican president? Think twice, and then think again."

PowerLine  "One question I have pondered over the last few weeks is, why are the Democrats so determined to block Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court? Realistically, he is the most moderate nominee they are likely to see from the Trump administration. If his nomination fails, the president will most likely appoint Amy Barrett, who is secure against #MeToo allegations and is both more conservative and younger than Kavanaugh. So what is the point?

"To some extent, the Democrats’ bizarre smear campaign against Kavanaugh is explicable on short-term political grounds. The Democrats’ crazed base demands that they #Resist, so resist they will, whether it does any good or not. But I think there is something deeper and more sinister at work.

"Brett Kavanaugh enjoys one of the most spotless reputations of anyone in American public life. He has been enthusiastically endorsed by those who have known him all his life–by girls he knew in high school and college, by judges he has served with, by professors and students and Harvard and Yale law schools, by judges who have worked with him, by his judicial clerks–most of whom have been women–by the American Bar Association, by sitting Supreme Court justices. In short, everyone who has ever known or dealt with Brett Kavanaugh endorses him.

"I think that Judge Kavanaugh’s pristine reputation is one reason why the Democrats have unleashed against him a smear campaign unparalleled in American history. This is the message they are trying to send: If we can do this to the Boy Scout Brett Kavanaugh, we can do it to anyone. Are you thinking of serving in a Republican administration? Or accepting an appointment to the federal judiciary from a Republican president? Think twice, and then think again." . . .

Alyssa Milano's 'Death Stare at Judge Kavanaugh

Her icy glare aside, Milano also attracted considerable attention on social media due to the outfit she wore while attending the hearing.

"Her icy glare aside, Milano also attracted considerable attention on social media due to the outfit she wore while attending the hearing.  

"Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano took social media by storm after she attended the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday.

"As Kavanaugh was giving his testimony during the hearing, many Twitter users took note of Milano seated behind him, and of her facial expression as the actress focused her "death stare," as some people put it, on the man.

She apparently loves the camera as much as any other liberal, maybe almost as much as Obama. TD

Twitter Blasts Alyssa Milano's 'Revealing Dress' at Kavanaugh Hearing

"Despite the fact that taking videos and photos were prohibited during the hearing, Milano continued taking pictures and tweeting during the proceedings, prompting guards to confiscate her phone.

"Alyssa Milano, an American actress and #MeToo activist, drew attention on social media after she attended the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday.

"Milano attended the hearing as a guest of Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, wearing a black pinstriped dress, which, as USA Today noted, “some deemed ‘disrespectful’ and ‘revealing.’”

"A number of Twitter users concurred with this assessment, blasting the actress for her choice of clothes and her conduct." . . .

She can bask in adoration at the next Hollywood self-praise gala.

Empathy, Accuracy, and Credibility

Victor Davis Hanson

"It is considered taboo even to suggest that an emphatic Professor Ford at times was inexact and inconsistent in her prior written and current Senate testimonies.

"But the result of her sometimes-moving account still remains that she seems to have little recollection of how her still-private therapist’s notes or versions of notes ended up in the hands of the Washington Post and were to be used as corroborating evidence — even though they at times seem to have contradicted elements of versions of her allegations.

"Ford, unfortunately, seems to have little memory of how her original letter requesting anonymity surfaced in the media. Nor does anyone else in the small number who had access to it. Ford, apparently, has little recollection of an offer — widely reported in the media — from Senate members to fly out to California to alleviate her anxieties about flying. Strangely, she did not explain how such a fear of flying contradicted her own record of relatively recent and extensive flying both for business and leisure.

"One wished that Ford could at last have named one witness who could corroborate her allegations that the 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her 36 years ago in a place where witnesses were apparently present, or at least produced convincing evidence that the testimonies of those alleged to be at the party who had no memory of her narratives were sorely mistaken.

"Ford might have been deemed more credible had she just been able to locate the scene of the alleged assault, or to explain how and why the alleged gender and number of those at the scene of the alleged assault were not reported by her consistently, or to remember how she arrived and left the scene." . . .

Some Democrats are pledging to investigate Judge Kavanaugh if they retake Congress and are floating the possibility of impeachment.

Get out and vote for Republicans!

Daily Caller  "Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh might keep facing political attacks from the left if he is confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

"Kavanaugh faced an onslaught of attacks from Democrats and liberal activists even before Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of drunkenly trying to force himself on her while the two were in high school. Kavanaugh denied Ford’s accusation once again in an emotional testimony Thursday.

"Brian Fallon, former press secretary on Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, predicted Kavanaugh “will not serve for life” if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

"Fallon leads Demand Justice, a Democratic dark money group dedicated to opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and previously called for Kavanaugh to be impeached from his current position on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals." . . .

Illustration from Ian Macfarlane: