On Friday, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate, but the final vote was delayed pending an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. He earned the ire of the party, the base and gave novel confidence to his name. This is your typical moderate Republican trying to appease Democrats because that way we can somehow reach these people. No – he just ignited another weeklong attack on Kavanaugh. Even after the FBI report is submitted, Democrats will ask for more time. Flake must know that Democrats don’t want Kavanaugh on the court. The fact that he doesn’t and that Democrats allowed him to be bullied into accepting this bogus deal is truly remarkable.
But he wasn’t the only Republican to ask for a delay. Overall, while it is true that moderates rarely lack backbone in these fights, we must give some leeway to our blue state brethren who are often deep in enemy territory.
Three Republican Party governors also called for a postponement of the final vote, one of which should not come as a shock to you, and the other should be treated delicately due to a very sensitive topic (via Time):
Three Republican governors have called for a delay in the vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh so that a more thorough investigation into sexual assault allegations can be conducted.
When California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford testified on Capitol Hill that Kavanaugh held her down, put his hands over her mouth and tried to remove her clothes, the governors. John Kasich of Ohio, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland said the Senate should not rush to a vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh on Friday morning to determine within days whether the full Senate will vote.
On Tuesday, Hogan, who is running for re-election in a blue state, said Ford’s allegations require thorough investigation.
Kasich is no surprise. He is against Trump. He’s just leaving the governor’s mansion; may be a bull in the china closet. Hogan and Baker are from blue states and must tread carefully. Both are expected to win re-election with immense majorities, despite their party affiliation. Both men have some of the highest approval ratings in the country. However, Baker’s son was accused of sexual abuse, and perhaps that is why he also took the lead on this issue (via WGBH):
On the evening of June 20, in a broadcast captured by LiveATC.net, JetBlue flight 1354 approached Logan Airport and reported a problem on board.
“Boston Police, we are waiting for you at Gate C-34,” an unidentified crew member said. “We have a client who groped one of the passengers, so we are asking the police to meet the plane at the gate.”
Two days later, WBZ-TV reported that the alleged groper was Andrew “AJ” Baker – the son of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. The huge question since then has been whether AJ Baker, who remains uncharged, is treated impartially by the criminal justice system.
We still don’t know the situation in this case (via Boston Globe):
More than three months after a woman accused Andrew “AJ” Baker of groping her on a plane, federal officials declined to say this week whether they were still investigating Gov. Charlie Baker’s adult son.
The governor said in June that U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling’s office was reviewing assault charges against his 24-year-old son, who told police he was asleep “the entire time” on a June 20 flight from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
No charges were brought. But authorities have released little information since then, and Lelling’s office this week did not confirm or deny the existence of the investigation, repeating its previous public statements. However, Lelling’s spokeswoman noted that she would not provide updates to the public in any investigation if she chose not to file charges.
Well, we’ll see how this plays out, but even without these allegations to look into, we shouldn’t be shocked that blue state GOP governors were calling for this. Now, when Flake, who said on Friday morning that he would support this nomination, and then stabs us in the back – that’s a completely different matter.
