screengrab from https://youtu.be/QGyDvk6G02Q

I must admit that the two biggest surprises to me in regards to the disreputable attack on the character of Brett Kavanaugh were that Trump was able to convince a significant number of Chamber of Commerce Republicans who aren’t inclined to fight for much of anything into standing fast and the emergence of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham as a political gladiator.

There is no doubt that Lindsey Graham’s impassioned speech during the Kavanaugh kangaroo court, when combined with Kavanaugh’s own visceral statement, staunched the bleeding caused by Christine Ford’s act. His dismissal of demonstrators in the Senate hallways and his television appearances marked the emergence of a Lindsey Graham who was no longer John McCain’s Mini-Me, but a man with considerable powers of persuasion and a very quick wit.

Today he was on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and he had some choice words for Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats.

One key point is that the Democrats are not interested in a bipartisan process for judicial nominations. They are still pissed off about 2016 and insist that they, not the winners (that would be the GOP), select the nominees. This is how Graham put it:

Here’s my point. This is a list that was compiled in November, but [Trump] actually put it out during the campaign. There are 20-something people on this list. I’m asking [Senator] Chuck Schumer: name five, name three, name one that would be okay with you. Brett Kavanaugh was a mainstream judge; I would have chose him if I’d been president. Bush supported him; everybody running for president on our side believed that Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch were outstanding conservative jurists. The other side wants to cancel the election. So, Chuck, you want somebody new? Look at this list, and see if there’s anybody you agree to – but what you want to do, Senator Schumer, is to overturn the election and you pick the judges. We’re not gonna let you pick the judges. If you wanna pick judges, then you need to win the White House. When Obama won, I voted for two judges that he picked. So, Chuck Schumer, name one person on this list you think’s acceptable.

Let’s face it. Few of us were happy with the Kavanaugh nomination. I think many viewed him, as I did, as a fairly conservative guy but one who could easily become another John Roberts. He was nowhere near the most conservative on the list. He was the Wonder-bread-and-Velveeta candidate who would sail through the Senate on a tsunami of correct pedigree and inoffensive positions. If the Democrats are willing to go to war over Kavanaugh, there is no one on Trump’s list of nominees who will be acceptable.

The second point is the narrative being constructed that by the GOP ignoring Christine Ford’s vicious and unfounded allegations that will create another “Year of the Woman” as it is alleged the confirmation of Clarence Thomas did in 1992. This is Graham:

All I can say is that this is going to the streets at the ballot box. I’ve never campaigned against a colleague in my life. That’s about to change. I’m gonna go throughout this country and let people in these, you know, purple states, red states where Trump won know what I think about this process.

When you’ve radicalized Lindsey Graham and turned him into a partisan warrior, you really need to start rethinking your strategy. If Graham actually goes on the campaign trail, you can be sure he won’t be alone. And guys like Graham, guys who have a reputation as go-along-get-along bipartisan types, start hitting the hustings, it is going to cause a lot of middle of the road voters to sit up and take notice…and maybe hop aboard Flight 93.

It’s like he broke into Mitch’s stash! https://t.co/U1SA1Y8SKD — Steve Berman (@stevengberman) October 7, 2018

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