Post#1723 » by pancakes3 » Mon Oct 8, 2018 8:45 pm
having stances on abortion is one thing, and misdirecting feelings re: abortions to subsequent issues is another.
we can start with the broader premise that conservatives want a more conservative court.
next, we can all agree that justices need to be nominated and confirmed in accordance with the constitution.
this is where steps upon steps of cognitive dissonance starts to divide us. what is or is not acceptable in the confirmation process? mcconnell led the charge in stalling for a year on garland. there has to be comity there - stalling tactics either are or are not acceptable. are we allowing lame duck stalling, but not other forms of stalling?
what about kavanaugh specifically? a referendum on kavanaugh is not a referendum on conservative judges wholesale. the man is being considered for the supreme court, and needs to be vetted as such. the justice in theory should be beyond reproach, not because he is certain to vote a certain way on a certain issue. after all, there's a long list of judges who can and will accordingly on those issues. so, why kavanaugh?
the next step of reconciling the dissonance is to use the midterms as an excuse. kavanaugh must be confirmed because after the midterms, the composition of the senate might change and would affect the confirmation process. this is borne either out of fear of retaliation for garland, or a fear of losing the votes to confirm. both of these are predicated on the assumption that the dems won't play ball. this is despite history telling us that Gorsuch was confirmed 54-45, Alito was confirmed 58-42, and Roberts was confirmed 78-22.
not to mention the personal disqualification of kavanaugh, namely the allegations against him plus his response to these allegations. a friendly reminder that the confirmation hearings are not a trial of fact, but rather a survey of suitability. nominees have been withdrawn for less, notably Douglas Ginsberg (no relation to Ruth) being withdrawn after it was alleged that he had smoked weed some 20-30 years prior.
so that original premise - that conservatives want a conservative justice, which is treated as a given, has followed the narrative, bit by bit, to that kavanaugh must be confirmed, with the corollaries - kavanaugh must be fit, and anyone looking to oppose kavanaugh must be wrong.
the common sense answer to all of this should probably fall somewhere in the middle where kavanaugh does not get confirmed but an alternate conservative judge does, but there has been zero conservative voices that say as such.
that's what's driving discord. politics is being driven out of fear of the other side, fear of retaliation, that somehow this false dichotomy of kavanaugh or nothing, is being presented as the only choice and the third choice - the compromise, the reasoned solution is not being considered.
dems are to blame as well. feinstein absolutely sat on this news as a last-second gamble and shame on her for that. but two wrongs don't make a right here.
clearly there are consequences to having a left/right-leaning court but, but the process matters. there's been a lot of talking about "due process" lately. the senate confirmation hearing process IS the process that is due in this situation. it must be respected. confirmation does not mean a rubber stamp. a thorough investigation is not stalling - it's what should be done.
anyone, be it trump, or graham, or any other bloviator who believes that political control entitles them to political expediency does not have respect for the process, nor the patience or temperance of leadership. and it's this rhetoric, their words, that frame the issues. it's through their insistence that the compromise solution is a non-starter. they won't allow it. and the passion with which they speak is infectious. you can see it being duplicated by pundits, and those who post on this board. there's a breakdown in objectivity as weak arguments are being propped up as gospel truths.
as an example, SD upthread said that kavanaugh's not even his choice, yet he gleefully surmises that Ford is making millions off this incident. someone who has no stakes in the outcome has completely bought into the narrative that if any pushback to the political expediency must be obstruction, and automatically demonizes anyone who is not on his side. it's awful. what's worse is that i don't see any way of reconciliation. even when kavanaugh "wins" dr. ford is still wrong in his eyes.
long winded post just to say, politics in 2018 is depressing. i don't really know what i'm trying to get at with my post.
Bullets -> Wizards