Ford became Democrats’ pawn
Whaaat? The lawyers for Mrs. Ford, recommended to her by Dianne Feinstein, never told her that she could have had a private, confidential hearing with Senate staffers at her place of choice, as expressly offered in writing to her counsel by the Senate Committee Republican leadership.
Mrs. Ford initially requested anonymity (breached by her so-called advocates) and certainly would have chosen to avoid the media circus her testimony became had she been so informed (which she testified she was not).
But nooooo. This would not have aligned with the take-no-prisoners, bold-faced strategy of derailing the Kavanaugh nomination by the minority at any and all costs. Mrs. Ford became a unwitting pawn of the Democrat’s strategy: Delay, undermine, and derail the nomination beyond the mid-term elections.
Judge Kavanaugh is perceived as an existential threat to the liberal agenda and any and all tactics are on the table to try and stop him. But elections have consequences, and right now it looks like Judge K will remain a thorn in the sides of the far left for generations to come.
To paraphrase Sen. Graham, looking directly at Diane Feinstein, You want power? I hope to God you never get it! My feelings, exactly.
John Bingham
Kailua-Kona
Survior says it’s time to move on
I am not one to get involved in politics, but I must say that this circus with Kavanaugh is getting pretty dirty. I, being one who was molested, knows what it’s like to remember the bad stuff, but this is reaching far to blacken the name of both of these people.
Put politics aside and let’s confirm Kavanaugh. I pray God forgives the actions that the politicians are doing today. Ford needs to move on. I’m sure she will make a lot of money when she has a movie or a book. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. There are too many holes in her story.
Marsha Vance
Kailua-Kona
Republican hands far from clean
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s accusation that Democrats are just delaying the process to fill the current Supreme Court vacancy would have more traction if Republicans had not refused even to hold hearings for President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland for the same position for more than a year. On the face of it, using political tactics to put off considering a presidential nomination seems petty and duplicitous. Then, when one realizes that Sen. McConnell openly admitted that Garland was qualified but that Republicans were refusing to consider him solely for the purpose of holding the seat available for the next Republican president to fill, the case takes on a different complexion. Just who has “sown the wind,” Mr. Kavanagh?
Sen. Graham is in no position to issue a self-righteous crie de guerre. In essence, by complaining that Democrats are just trying to keep the Supreme Court vacancy open until a Democrat is elected president, Graham is admitting that the tactic of his own party was despicable. One can roar on about how partisan and self-centered politics has become in the US, but appeals to fair play and ethical standards unfortunately will always fall on deaf ears when they come from someone with such dirty hands.
What can be done to reverse this downward spiral we all lament? In my opinion, only self-sacrifice has a chance of doing so. Those in power cannot validly demand such a thing of the minority. Instead, to be effective, it must come from the majority. Just as when Republicans went to the White House to tell President Nixon that the Watergate scandal had ended his presidency, it is once more up to Republicans to lead by example. They are in power. To change this ugly situation of stalemate, revenge and “what-about-ism,” they must show by a significant, gratuitous action that they are committed to ending the quagmire.
Playing the victim can no longer work. After all that has gone down, it will have to be more than a mere olive branch. If they cannot muster the will to do this to save the republic, do they really deserve the name Republican?
John Sucke
Waimea