The end is nigh

The FBI has completed its supplemental background investigation on Judge Kavanaugh. Senate Democrats have deployed their final set of talking points intended to protract the proceedings and defeat the nomination. If any Republican has not yet picked up the clues that these talking points have been pursued in transparent bad faith, he should have his mirror and crayons confiscated by the Senate Majority Leader.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley tweeted at 4:07 a.m. this morning: “Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh has been received by @senjudiciary Ranking Member Feinstein & I have agreed to alternating EQUAL access for senators to study content from additional background info gathered by non-partisan FBI agents 1/3 …

— “FBI supplement requested Friday sept 28 by bipartisan group of senators w specific scope of current/credible allegations. Dr Ford & Judge Kavanaugh had opportunity to testify under oath b4 public/cmte to tell senators what they know 2/3 …

— “This FBI material will b handled per 2009 memorandum of understanding/MOU signed btwn Obama WHCounsel & then-SJC Chairman Leahy. Thats latest memorialization of this ‘loan agreement’ of ExecBranch material. Feinstein, Durbin, Schumer, & others were on SJC in 09 & didnt object 3/3.”

Around 10:00 p.m. last night, Senate Majority Leader McConnell set in motion the process to advance the nomination. The key procedural vote Friday should take place tomorrow morning. Politico notes: “IF McConnell can muscle the votes — which will be clear in the next 12 or so hours — that will set up a vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation 30 hours later, which will be sometime around 5 p.m. Saturday evening. (Weekend session! Wahoo!) … BTW: All times are estimates.”

As the end approaches, Judiciary Committee Democrats loosed another false and defamatory innuendo against Judge Kavanaugh. On Tuesday morning the Judiciary Committee Twitter feed observed with respect to the six previous background checks on Judge Kavanaugh: “Nowhere in any of these six FBI reports, which the committee has reviewed on a bipartisan basis, was there ever a whiff of ANY issue – at all – related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse[.]”

That is a powerful point. Regardless of its truth, eight of the 10 committee Democrats signed off on a letter disputing it. Only Senator Amy Klobuchar and Parson Coons abstained. They are resting on their right to remain silent. I infer from the silence of Senator Klobuchar and Parson Coons that they declined to be seen by their colleagues crossing a certain line. Senator Durbin posted a link to the letter via Twitter (I have embedded it at the bottom of this post) and asserted the falsity of the Judiciary Committee tweet. His tweet and letter provoked the following response via Twitter:

Well, we are not in a position to render final judgment by means of our own lyin’ eyes, but we may nevertheless pose the (Groucho) Marxist interrogatory: Who ya gonna believe, Senator Grassley or Spartacus (or any other of the Spartacus eight)?

NOTE: In setting forth the chronology at the top I have drawn from this morning’s edition of the Politico Playbook by Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippmann. i have embedded the letter of the Spartacus eight below.

Letter to Chairman Grassley – October 3, 2018 by Scott Johnson on Scribd

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