Did Chris Coons Save the Day? Updated: Now With Video
Sure sounds that way. We’ll probably get more details by morning, but Sen. Chris Coons is getting prominent mention across the media for his role in brokering a deal with Arizona’s Jeff Flake to delay a final Kavanaugh vote for a week while the FBI investigates “credible allegations,” which probably means ix-nay on the angrape-gay.
From the Washington Post:
The move by Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring from the Senate after this year, was cheered by several Democrats, including Sen. Chris Coons, a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee who huddled with Flake before he announced his position.
Flake is “someone who is willing to take a real political risk and upset many in his party by asking for a pause,” Coons said. “He and I don’t share a lot of political views but we share a deep concern for the health of this institution and what it means to the rest of the world and the country.”
From Talking Points Memo:
In the hour before the Judiciary Committee was set to vote Friday on advancing Kavanaugh, Flake — who had already announced he was “yes” vote on confirming the judge — engaged in private discussions with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and other Democrats in a backroom next to the hearing room.
“What really I wanted to do is to meet with some of my Democratic colleagues and say, ‘What would cause you to say we have a better process? Not to say that you’ll vote for Judge Kavanaugh,’” Flake recalled to reporters later Friday.
How thorough this investigation will be is anybody’s guess; Flake’s wording makes it sound as if Republicans only want a defined minimum height for Kavanaugh to clear. But if the FBI actually pursues leads, Josh Marshall at TPM, in a subscription-only piece, raises what might be a key point: Kavanaugh almost certainly was involved in hatching the mistaken-identity gambit in a way that shows consciousness of his guilt.
You’ll recall that Ed Whelan, the court activist who took the theory public, identified as the likely doppelganger a Kavanaugh schoolmate named Christ Garrett — who happened to be Blasey Ford’s boyfriend at the time of the alleged attack. Marshall concludes:
Think about this. If you are working from records of where people lived at the time, what are the odds that of all Kavanaugh’s classmates you’d come up with one of Kavanaugh’s friends and the friend who was actually going out with Blasey Ford at the time? Whelan just happened upon the connection which actually brought Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh together? Not likely. I would suggest that there’s virtually no chance that is a coincidence. Of course they’re connected. And the connection almost certainly stems from Kavanaugh’s recollections.
Kavanaugh says not only that he doesn’t remember the alleged attack but that he doesn’t have any recollection of Blasey Ford at all. They weren’t even in the same social circles, he claimed. She went to a school that didn’t have a lot of overlap with his. And yet, when his friend and top nomination advisors came up with an alternative theory of the crime they picked her then boyfriend? That is not an accident. This fact needs to be investigated just as much as the alleged assault because it is highly likely that shows Kavanaugh’s knowledge and I suspect, if looked at closely, will show real evidence of Kavanaugh’s consciousness of guilt.
Update: Here’s Coons with CNN’s Chris Cuomo after his Delaware City town hall:
I’ve been as critical of Chris Coons as anybody. But, in this case, he performed a genuine service to the country, and he deserves a lot of credit for it.
“Kavanaugh almost certainly was involved in hatching the mistaken-identity gambit in a way that shows consciousness of his guilt.”
OMG.
Also .. yeah Coons. Ok.
I’m giving him a reprieve for one day.
He seemed geniunely emotional when he heard Flake was a Committee YES.
Then then spoke at the first break.
It’s a win. Another week to fight this. Fair play to him.
Also heard from the News Journal reporter he was just introduced in Delaware City Fire Hall to a standing ovation.
‘Fair play to him.’
Always love RE’s British references:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1vYs5LBC3c
I am apprehensive about what Coons might have said to Flake.
You and me both.
I had the same thought. Everything has a cost.
Flake-Coons 2020!!
DINO bipartisanship!!!
DINO Reprieve? Hardly. Coons came thru for once, he’ll be back to full on DINO status in short order.
This goes to show how little it takes to be a Dem hero these days. The sad part is that if the shoe was on the other foot (let’s say dems were in the majority) we all know that Coon’s would be on TV being celebrated for voting with the Republicans.
Coons is more style than substance. The right thing happened this time, but by accident.
This may have been the only time that Coons’ ‘reach across the aisle’ philosophy has worked for the public good.
But it did, and I’d shake his hand if he was at my front door right now.
^Yep^
I just watched the Chris Cuomo interview and think I should lay down my cynicism for a little while.
Agreed. He had this by a thread and was masterful. Someone tweeted his recollections and he also relayed it on CNN last night.
https://twitter.com/alanhe/status/1045830251358629888
Accomplished nothing. In 7 or 8 days he’ll be in. These charges are complete BS.
I wasn’t sure, but reading that, I now know that everything has changed.
It’s pretty clear they’re not BS or he would have asked for an investigation himself. In fact, it’s pretty clear that he’s been pretending to be an upstanding citizen for a long time. Glad he’s been busted.
“Accomplished nothing. In 7 or 8 days he’ll be in.”
These two sentences contradict each other.
I mean, where the hell is Tom Carper? Hes partially responsible for Boofy magee even being a federal judge AND he’s up for reelection. Kerri Harris is STILL fighting harder for his constituents than he is.
^word^
Boofy Magee. So that makes Mike Judge’s theme song “Me and Boofy Magee.”
The Samuel Jackson version of Kavanaugh under oath –
https://deadline.com/2018/09/samuel-l-jackson-reacts-to-viral-pulp-fiction-kavanaugh-hearing-video-mashup-1202473631/
Thanks for that, Nancy. QT FTW.