In a twist so on-the-nose that no self-respecting fiction author would have written it with a straight face, the US Senate and Supreme Court find themselves at the mercy of a single political hack named Flake.
The latest curve ball in a harrowing committee process that has seen Judge Brett Kavanaugh subjected to an ideologically motivated witch hunt fueled by baseless accusations meant only to stall his confirmation to SCOTUS, Republican Senator Jeff Flake has decided to flip his constituents the bird on his way to retirement.
Following a virtuoso performance by Kavanaugh at yesterday’s Judiciary Committee hearings wherein the Judge cleared his name in the face of a concerted political hatchet job, Republicans seemed to have the necessary votes to confirm him in committee and on the Senate floor. But no sooner did Kavanaugh indeed clear the committee than Flake declared his floor vote would be conditional on a week-long FBI investigation of the BS claims against Kavanaugh.
For context, multiple current and former prosecutors, including the outside expert brought in to question Coach K and his accuser, have deemed the allegations against him so flimsy that not even a search warrant, let alone formal charges, could be obtained against him. The alleged misconduct would also have been a misdemeanor well past the statute of limitations, meaning that a Presidential order is required to open an FBI investigation. Add in the fact that making a determination about SCOTUS candidates’ backgrounds is the Judiciary Committee’s job, not the FBI’s.
That alone should tell you what Flake’s gambit really is: A cynical, crass political move meant to provide a fig leaf should he decide to vote no. Two other cowardly Republican Senators, Collins and Murkowski, are also taking cover behind Flake’s stall tactic, subjecting the Senate and SCOTUS to a political shakedown.
Stay tuned.
Flake lives down to his name as Never-Trump Trash. A man to be forgotten by History. You can see his uselessness written in every line on his face. This is his last desperate poke-in-the-eye at the God Emperor.
Murkowski and Collins are reliable RINO traitors as well, with plenty of backstabs to their names.
The real unknowns here are the Red State Democrats up for election this year. Manchin and Heitcamp in particular could be hurt badly by a "No" vote in rocket-hot Trump states.
Twist Endings!
Nobody believes this will only take a week, and won't be drug out until November. This is just Flake acting in spite towards the god emperor.
The GE authorized a limited scope FBI review lasting no more than Friday 5 Oct.
GE still in charge, not the Senate.
Now that Murkowski, Collins, and Manchin have formed a voting bloc behind Flake, he can make any demands he wants until he retires. Look for those demands to become increasingly outlandish.
This is brand management, plain and simple. With this maneuver he gets to pretend to his constituents and the DC elite that he is the conscience on the Senate. But most of us see him for what he really is: a spineless coward.
It's worse than that. Flake is retiring in January. He has no constituents to please. He's stupidly and cravenly standing up to be counted with the most evil people on earth.
As a former Tucsonian and God fearing man…I was absolutely LIVID with Flake. Losing my Religion by REM keeps going through my brain.
Being livid with their supposed representatives' serial betrayals is a Republican hobby. Flake answers to the elite who've ordered him to stall Kavanaugh's confirmation as long as possible on pain of losing the cushy job they'd arranged for him post-retirement.
Too bad no one can deny him that sinecure.
It's exasperating no one who smeared Kavanagh will ever suffer any consequences. No skin in the game
xavier
Flake's grandstanding is even more egregious because he hides behind my own religion in the same way John McCain tried to hide behind his looming death. The very second he spouts his nonsense about humility and making olive branches to the very people that despise the people he represents is the absolute and utter worst. The aggressively passive moderate Mormon are the absolute worst.
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
Don't make peace with those who actively hate you. The Romneys and Flakes of the world can't become a bad memory fast enough.
Brian shared with me a salient point via twitter DM which I believe worth sharing with you all
“The Kavanaugh fiasco is politics as mich as 9/11 was aviation”
That's possible, but it may also have been one last scale of protective cover being hammered on. After Flake, the entire GOP can say with a straight face that they went above and beyond duty and did absolutely everything asked of them, and Kavanaugh *still* cleared the process.
On Thursday night, Flake said he'd be voting yes in committee and on the floor. Then on Friday morning he got ambushed in an elevator by a couple of shrieking harpies. After that, he told the committee he was having trouble with his decision and proposed delaying a week for an FBI investigation, so Grassley rushed the vote. Flake voted yes but took umbrage at Grassley's play and said he'd change his floor vote to no unless he got his FBI investigation.
Now here we are, weeks after Kavanaugh would have been confirmed in a just society, with the Dems still hard at work destroying a good man's name, career, and family–now wielding all the powers of the FBI.
This farce could have ended after the Ford hearing. It was one day away from ending. Jeff Flake, and only Jeff Flake, pushed the madness into overtime.
Ask the people of Arizona, where Flake currently enjoys an 18% approval rating. He is a bag man for the McCain machine who's slipped his chains now that Boss Songbird is dead. Unlike Lindsey Graham, who partially redeemed himself, Flake is using his newfound freedom as a free agent to spew his contempt for the people of AZ and the US by flipping them the bird on his way out the door.
Brian,
And it turns out that they belong to a Soros sponsored group.so what did sayto him?
Also how come they weren't blocked by security?
xavier
Call him Judas Jeff.
Trump should threaten to have the Space Force permanently carve "Jeff Flake Sucks" into the moon's surface with a laser.
Shades of Chairface Chippendale!