President Trump mocked former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) at a campaign rally in Minnesota for resigning following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “That guy was wacky. Boy did he fold up like a wet rag, huh? He was gone so fast, I don’t want to mention Al Franken’s name, he was gone so fast.”
Charles Ludington, Lynne Brookes and Elizabeth Swisher write in the Washington Post:
We were college classmates and drinking buddies with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. In the past week, all three of us decided separately to respond to questions from the media regarding Brett’s honesty, or lack thereof…
We each asserted that Brett lied to the Senate by stating, under oath, that he never drank to the point of forgetting what he was doing. We said, unequivocally, that each of us, on numerous occasions, had seen Brett stumbling drunk to the point that it would be impossible for him to state with any degree of certainty that he remembered everything that he did when drunk.
None of this is what we wanted, but we felt it our civic duty to speak the truth and say that Brett lied under oath while seeking to become a Supreme Court justice. That is our one and only message, but it is a significant one. For we each believe that telling the truth, no matter how difficult, is a moral obligation for our nation’s leaders. No one should be able to lie their way onto the Supreme Court.
Brett Kavanaugh walks back his testimony in last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed:
I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said. I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters.
Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good. As a judge, I have always treated colleagues and litigants with the utmost respect. I have been known for my courtesy on and off the bench. I have not changed. I will continue to be the same kind of judge I have been for the last 12 years. And I will continue to contribute to our country as a coach, volunteer, and teacher. Every day I will try to be the best husband, dad, and friend I can be. I will remain optimistic, on the sunrise side of the mountain. I will continue to see the day that is coming, not the day that is gone.
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The Washington Post editorial board, for the first time since 1987, urges senators to vote against a Supreme Court nominee:
As senators prepare to vote this week on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, they, and the rest of the country, must wonder: Which Brett M. Kavanaugh are they evaluating? Is it the steady, conservative jurist he was reputed to be before his confirmation saga? Or is it a partisan operative harboring suspicions and resentments about Democrats, with possible misdeeds in his past?
Unfortunately — and unnecessarily; it didn’t have to be this way — too many questions remain about his history for senators to responsibly vote “yes.” At the same time, enough has been learned about his partisan instincts that we believe senators must vote “no.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) “says he’s going to attend his daughter’s wedding back home in Montana on Saturday regardless of a possible weekend Senate vote on embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh,” the Billings Gazette reports.
KTVQ: “Republicans could potentially be in a bind to confirm Kavanaugh if Daines is a no-show. With a 51-49 majority, the GOP can only afford to lose one vote, assuming all Democrats vote no. Vice President Mike Pence would cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie.”
“President Trump and his conservative allies now see their effort to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as central to salvaging the Republican Party’s fortunes in the midterm elections, and hope to use the fervent liberal opposition to his nomination to the Supreme Court as a graphic example of the threat posed by a Democratic return to power in Congress,” the New York Times reports.
“The increasingly aggressive attacks on Judge Kavanaugh’s main accuser and the dark warnings about Democrats from his supporters are part of an effort to harness Republicans’ outrage over what they see as a Democratic scheme to steal a pivotal Supreme Court seat.”
“But even as Senate Republican leaders are increasingly confident that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed, other party leaders fear his confirmation could dissipate some of the anger and sap the party of a powerful source of energy.”
Constituents in Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) district “may find a curious campaign mailer on their doorsteps or in their mailboxes this week,” the Visalia Times-Delta reports.
“That mailer isn’t attacking his opponent in the November election or promoting the eight-term congressman’s accomplishments.”
“The glossy 38-page, full-color magazine titled The Fresno Bees: The dirty little secrets of the Valley’s propaganda machine contains criticisms of the McClatchy-owned newspaper’s coverage of the congressman in office since 2003.”
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said that Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who Stevens once lauded in one of his books, does not belong on the Supreme Court, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Said Stevens: “At that time, I thought he had the qualifications for the Supreme Court should he be selected. I’ve changed my views for reasons that have no relationship to his intellectual ability … I feel his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind.”
Washington Post: “The story of President Trump’s embattled choice for the Supreme Court is a classic Washington tale of a young man who grew up surrounded by people in high places, keenly aware of protecting his image. He told a girlfriend in college that he didn’t plan to buy stocks as an adult because he had to avoid conflicts if he wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps as a judge.”
“Kavanaugh’s story is also one of the power and insularity of wealth. He grew up in an idyll of country clubs and beach retreats, private schools and public prominence. The only child of a lobbyist and a judge, he had parents who pushed him hard, teachers who assured him that he faced no limits, and friends whose families knew the art of making problems go away quietly.”
Former President Obama “has endorsed 11 Texas Democrats leading up to next month’s midterm elections. But none go by the popular four-letter moniker Beto,” the Texas Tribune reports.
Said U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke (D): “I don’t think we’re interested. I am so grateful to him for his service, he’s going to go down as one of the greatest presidents. And yet, this election is on Texas.”
“Sixty House Democratic candidates broke the $1 million mark in fundraising from July through September, a whopping total fueling the party’s campaign to retake the House in November,” Politico reports.
“Thirty of those candidates exceeded $2 million raised last quarter, while eight of them brought in more than $3 million over that period.”
“These are people — I’m not gonna name names — but I’m not sure they have a soul. I don’t think their mother breast-fed them. I think they went right to raw meat.”
— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), quoted by the Washington Post, about his Democratic colleagues.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) told WDAY that she will vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
From her statement: “I voted for Justice Gorsuch because I felt his legal ability and temperament qualified him to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh is different. When considering a lifetime appointment to Supreme Court, we must evaluate the totality of the circumstances and record before us. In addition to the concerns about his past conduct, last Thursday’s hearing called into question Judge Kavanaugh’s current temperament, honesty, and impartiality. These are critical traits for any nominee to serve on the highest court in our country.”
“Congressional Republicans have tentatively agreed to a 1.9 percent pay raise for the nation’s 2 million civilian federal workers, overruling President Trump who sought to freeze their pay,” the Washington Post reports.
“The preliminary deal between House and Senate Republicans is also likely to lift a salary freeze affecting hundreds of executive-level employees and appointees including Vice President Pence and members of the Trump Cabinet, according to lawmakers and aides.”
“You’ve humiliated this guy enough and there seems to be no bottom for some of you. Why don’t we dunk him in water and see if he floats?”
—Sen. Lindsey Graham, quoted by The Hill, responding to a protester saying Brett Kavanaugh should take a polygraph test.
Politico: “Democrats are quietly preparing to launch a slew of investigations into the Trump administration’s health care moves if they retake the House in November.”
“The wide-ranging inquiries, coordinated across multiple committees, would focus on the administration’s most controversial actions on health care, which include chipping away at the Affordable Care Act, urging the courts to gut the health law’s protections for pre-existing conditions, and separating migrant families at the border.l
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “has described holding up President Obama’s Supreme Court pick for a year as one of his proudest achievements, ‘the most consequential decision I’ve ever made in my entire public career,’” the Washington Post reports.
“It looks likely he will soon get another big Supreme Court win to put up next to that: Confirming Brett M. Kavanaugh after the judge was accused by three women of sexual misconduct, a scandal that has pitched the Senate and the country into a divisive and partisan debate over gender and power.”
Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun (R) “is running his U.S. Senate campaign on borrowed funds. More than three of every four dollars in his war chest was loaned to the campaign, and the bulk of it has come from banks with executives who are Braun’s friends, professional acquaintances, or campaign donors,” the Daily Beast reports.
“At the same time, Braun has used a legal but controversial accounting maneuver to circumvent donation limits by re-routing nearly $100,000 in money earmarked for a prior election through funds that he himself has lent to the campaign, and into his general-election account.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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