Here is a video of the complete exchange.
I thought this guy might be OK. I mean the GOP is going to get a right-leaning judge in there no matter what, so I figured this one may not be worse than any other they would put forward. It seems I may have been wrong. This evasiveness has me worried. Obviously, the answer seems to be “yes,” because if it was “no” he would have just said so proudly.
But to be fair, he did eventually give a reasonable answer. He said (paraphrase) “I don’t know where everyone that I talk to works. Give me a list of people who work at that law firm and I’ll tell you if I spoke to any of them.” Sen Harris did not seem to understand his answer and kept repeating the question he already answered instead of simply saying, “OK. We’ll get you that list.”
On the other hand, a study of his e-mails makes it appear that he did more than evade, but outright lied under oath in some of his prior Congressional testimony.
For some reason I have never understood, these guys never seem to understand that dodging the question or saying “I won’t dignify that with an answer” is exactly the same as giving the answer they don’t want to give, minus only the liability for perjury if they are under oath.
“I don’t remember” is pretty much in the same category, although it’s only 90% certain instead of 100%. There’s always the remote possibility that they really don’t remember well enough to answer definitively. Unless they are claiming that they can’t remember whether they got a blowjob in the Oval Office. Such a claim is, to make the obvious joke, a little hard to swallow.
Anyway, I’m sort of changing my mind on being resigned to this guy. Yes, I’m resigned to a conservative judge on the court, but I’d rather not have a weasel sitting on the highest court of the land, and he seems like a weasel. I don’t believe that he never discussed the Mueller investigation with anyone but fellow judges. Everyone in the USA is discussing that matter with everyone else, including the night clerk at 7-Eleven.
I suppose it really doesn’t matter. Kavanaugh is betting that he can just dodge every difficult question because the GOP has enough votes to confirm. That means the hearing is just perfunctory from his perspective. He may be right.
Scoop, I think you’re missing a possible ‘gotcha’ moment by Harris. What if she has evidence that Kavanaugh had discussed the case with one of the partners? How could he deny knowing that either Kasowitz, Benson, or Torres was a part of the firm?
Well, maybe. But as I said, she appears to be grandstanding. If she wants to ask about Joe Blow, ask about him and don’t play games. He gave a fair answer: “Tell me who’s in that firm and I’ll tell you whether I talked to them.” She chose to ignore that reasonable answer and made a snotty comment instead of saying, “I really want to know if you talked to Joe Blow, John Doe or Jane Doe” or alternatively “We’ll get that list together and come back to it.” He did come off as a weasel, but she came off as a total dick.
I like how he talked about being from the mean streets of Bethesda.
But he did say “YES”. Right at the start. Said he’d discussed the Mueller inquiry. The only ‘evasiveness’ was when Sen. Harris asked him if he had discussed it with a lawyer from the Kasowitz law firm. That’s where he reasonably says, ‘Gee, I don’t know; how are the lawyers that work at that firm?’ That’s what anyone would say under the circumstances. He didn’t seem to have any hesitancy in admitting that like everyone else in America he’s discussed the Mueller inquiry. Big deal.
Yes. I noted that. I thought that his ultimate answer was reasonable enough – “give me the list and I’ll tell you.”
Sen Harris was posturing. If you want to know whether he talked to Joe Blow, just ask him that question directly and stop playing games.
But he was evasive. At that point he led the panel to believe that he had only discussed the investigation with fellow judges. Gimme a friggin’ break! He has undoubtedly discussed it with every single person he has met, including Uber drivers and bartenders, just like the rest of us. Why not just admit that upfront instead of weaseling around?
The other thing I took away from that C-Span clip is that Judge Kavanaugh, for better or worse, is Fredo, not Michael. He didn’t convey gravitas, control and confidence, but rather hesitation and uncertainty. I’m not sure Fredo belongs on the Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh is a political hack, period.