U.S. senators have the option to “revise and extend” their remarks made on the floor of the Senate when their remarks are printed up in the Congressional Record. Recently, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa) spoke regarding his involvement in the successful effort to prevent President Obama from placing Judge Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court, going on a bit of a detour and frolic to sneer at the way Democrats treated Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing.
“Yes, it’s true I didn’t give Judge Garland a hearing,” Grassley said. “I also didn’t mischaracterize his record. I didn’t attack his character. I didn’t go through his high school yearbook. I didn’t make his wife leave the hearing in tears. I took a position and stuck to it. That’s it.”
Actually, there was a little bit more, which I would like to add on the senator’s behalf.
“Yes, I conspired with my old buddy Mitch McConnell to block Garland’s appointment, so that Republicans who might have felt a little nervous voting for a soulless egomaniac would have a good reason for voting for Donald Trump. I voted for Trump myself, twice, and also voted against his impeachment twice. I mean, I’m sorry about those people that got killed on Jan. 6, but voting to ban Trump from holding office again wouldn’t bring them back, would it? So what’s the point? And, anyway, I really don’t give a damn about anything except wearing a nice suit and sitting in a fancy office and telling young folks what to do. Other than that, everything else is negotiable. And if you’ve got a problem with that, well, I’ve got a corncob you can sit on, as we say back in Iowa.”
Afterwords
For the record, I don’t think Christine Blasey Ford should have come forward with the charges she made against Justice Kavanaugh. No one—not even Sen. Grassley—has accused Ford of making up the charges—not directly, anyway—but without confirmation from other witnesses, there is simply no way to determine the accuracy of her account, no matter how sure she is that her account is accurate. However, Kavanaugh’s behavior at the hearing was disgraceful, and it’s quite easy to believe that he often was quite consciously lying about his youthful conduct. He wildly smeared the Democratic opposition to his nomination in the sort of “fighting language” that he was doubtlessly assured would be music to Donald Trump’s ears:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.
Playing politics with Supreme Court nominees? Heaven forfend!
