Ignoring the he-said-she-said aspect of this currently, I’m simply stunned at how ridiculously partisan Kavanaugh sounded during the hearing.
I would expect anyone being considered for the Supreme Court to be a little less partisan.
I agree. As others have noted, most justices have political leanings in terms of liberal/conservative, as most people do, but what is surprising (though I guess shouldn’t be these days) is how openly opinionated he is in terms of party politics, which the position is supposed to be divorced from.
Beyond that, what struck me most was his demeanor. Maybe I have a high bar, but I don’t think someone who can’t conduct themselves in a hearing without being overly emotional and confrontational in this way should be on the Supreme Court. I don’t buy that “if he’s innocent he’s emotional because his life is at stake” excuse either. Perhaps if this was the first time he had heard the accusations it’d be excusable. But at this point, none of the questions in the hearing should have been a surprise. If he’s not guilty as he says he is, but he can’t give a straight answer to a very simple question about whether he’d support an FBI investigation without becoming histrionic, then that’s a problem. Whether he’s just overacting or easily flustered, it’s not a good look for him or the Republicans supporting him.
Pretending we know how people should behave under stress is a bit silly. I see cops do this same thing when they question suspects; they insist someone is acting atypically when there really is no “typical”, then they hammer them until they’re exasperated and suggest maybe they’re exasperated because they’re hiding something. I’d like to see the average American throwing shade at this guy deal with this kind of scrutiny and pressure and stay cool.
The accusations have gotten steadily more severe over the last week, with Kavanaugh heading into the hearing with the most recent accusation of gang rape hanging over his head, knowing that Democrats are openly hostile to his nomination and already assume he’s guilty. I don’t find his demeanor questionable at all.
Also odd is this game of pretend we play when we say that judges shouldn’t have politics. Everybody has politics, even if they don’t discuss them openly. There’s a reason why we can often predict quite reliably how Supreme Court justices are going to vote.