Do you think people would have been more accepting of Kavanaugh if he apologized from the beginning?

[Renew Deal]

If he came out and said "I did a terrible thing when I was younger and I apologize." Would people be as upset? I know many people would be, but I have to wonder if it would be enough to defeat him or instigate an FBI investigation.

[hlthe2b]

1. I think there is a chance he'd gotten by, but remember, he would have been asked general

questions about his past in both the previous appeals court nomination hearings and on his multiple background clearance forms. So coming clean now would not negate the fact he wasn't honest over many many years.

[Renew Deal]

3. That's a good point

It's all or nothing.

[unblock]

7. He couldn't have admitted committing felonies, but he could have

apologized more generally.

[uponit7771]

28. +1

[marylandblue]

2. I think that would have been better because it isn't perjury

[True Dough]

4. Yes, I have wondered that too

I mean, I vehemently disagree with the man's politics. I don't think he carried himself well at the hearings. But I also know some people from high school who fucked up in the manner that Kavanaugh is accused of doing. These acquaintances of the past, based on what I have learned from "creeping" them on social media, are now seemingly successful in their careers and are raising families.

It's not up to me to forgive them or to seek justice against them for their past sins. But I think about their victims and whether they're still feeling any effects from being taken advantage of, still painfully recalling what happened one drunken night at the hands of a young man with raging hormones and loose morals.

It's a tangled web.

[unblock]

5. I think he would have had an easy time if he seemed to have grown from when he was 17.

He could have easily expressed sympathy and regret for stupid things he did when he was young while still denying the specifics of the accusations.

But ranting and raving and saying it's a conspiracy of the clintons and reverse for his starr inquisition, apologizing for nothing, pretending he was a choir boy when clearly he was not, that made him seriously objectionable.

Had he said, "I didn't do that, but I did do other things I regret. but I've grown and that's not who I am today", he would have been confirmed by now.

Not enough for me, but it would have been enough for the senate.

[Renew Deal]

9. The Clintons thing is what made him sound insane

A lot of Democrats now think Clinton should have been impeached. They don't care about Ken Starr. Half of the Dem's on that committee were in their 20's when the Clinton stuff happened. They don't care about that.

I think the Clinton conspiracy made Kavanaugh sound dangerously deranged.

[unblock]

11. Thing is, it's not insane, because I'm pretty damn sure republicans did that to clinton

I really don't think paula Jones and Linda Tripp acted entirely of their own independent judgement.

I'm fairly convinced jones was paid to turn down any settlement Clinton offered, e.g., and I'm almost positive someone else picked up all her legal bills.

This is the sort of crap they do.

So the idea of the clintons getting soros to pay someone to frame him isn't some random, wacky idea. It's just Kavanaugh thinking, "hey, that's what I'd do if I were them"

(Edited to make it a bit more clear...)

[Renew Deal]

14. I don't get what you're saying

Are you saying you think Christine Ford stepped up because of a Clinton revenge conspiracy?

[unblock]

16. Not me! Kavanaugh thinks that.

Because he knows that's the sort of thing republicans did to Clinton. Not saying jones made it up out of whole cloth, but I am saying that republican operatives and donors funded that whole operation.

So of course he thinks democrats would do the same to him, even if there's not a shred of evidence.

[Renew Deal]

17. That's an interesting point.

[uponit7771]

30. +1

[SharonAnn]

19. Read "The Hunting of the President". It really was a R-W conspiracy.

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[kacekwl]

6. He's still a liar.

[ginnyinWI]

8. Worked for Dubya.

Something like,”when I was young and stupid I was young and stupid “

[RussBLib]

10. for those who saw Kavanaugh's opening statement...

did Kavanaugh ever apologize in any way for all of the sobbing and choking?

If I was speaking in public and was moved to tears, I'm sure I would say an "I'm sorry" or "excuse me" after a crying jag.

I never heard him apologize in any way for all the sobbing, and I find that odd. I could have missed him saying it, however, because I didn't catch every minute.

Or, the sobbing was entirely orchestrated, and he forgot to add some humility.

[Ms. Toad]

31. Why would you apologize for responding in an emotionally appropriate way

to extraordinary stress?

Assuming, for the sake of argument only, that he is innocent and has been through hell for the last couple of weeks - how would you respond - again - if you were truly innocent?

(There are other things that don't fit with a person who is truly innocent - like engaging in blatant lies about stupid stuff that is easily proven false. But I would no more expect an innocent person charged with sexual assault to apologize for sobbing and choking than I would a survivor of sexual assault to apologize for sobbing and coking.)

[ProudLib72]

12. That depends on what you consider "the beginning"

I don't think he would have made it as far as he has if he had just told the truth. But supposing he did make it to this point, the real question would be his sincerity, of which there has been none.

You cannot divorce the character traits from the man regardless of whether or not he apologized. In other words, he could not be the same Kavanaugh if he had apologized in the beginning.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. If I had been hired to write his opening statement it would have been something like this:

"Several women, Dr. Ford and others, have claimed that on occasions during high school and college, while I was intoxicated, I molested or assaulted them sexually. I have no recollection of these incidents, probably because I was drinking heavily during those years. I do not intend my drinking as an excuse; I chose to drink. But the fact that I don't remember doing these things while drunk doesn't mean I didn't do them. In fact, considering the credibility of Dr. Ford's statements and circumstances and the fact that she had nothing to gain by coming forward, I probably did assault her. I am deeply ashamed of this behavior and I am truly sorry for the distress my behavior has caused Dr. Ford and any others toward whom I became sexually aggressive. I was an immature, spoiled kid who didn't have any limits. Since then I have done my best to change my behavior and my drinking habits, and I hope to be able to show that I am not that person any more."

If he'd said something like that maybe he wouldn't be getting his ass flamed all over the internet - but Trump would have thought he was weak because he apologized. And I still wouldn't want him on the Supreme Court, even if I thought he was being sincere, because his judicial philosophy is absolutely medieval.

[sprinkleeninow]

25. He's shown to not possess that level character for him to have had some

compunction in this whole thing.

Never giving him a 'pass' on his behavior back in high school or college. The thing is twofold now after his display yesterday. He should not sit on any judiciary including the one he's on now. Not stable.

That's just my 25¢.

Hi, Velveteen! 😍

[Kajun Gal]

15. No!

[Hekate]

18. My SIL who has two grown sons was adamant about it: "Man up"....

She made my birthday dinner last night and saved me from watching tv 24/7. I love her to bits; she has the biggest heart.

But when this came up while the hot dip was in the oven, she was pretty adamant -- in her mind a lot of boys are wild, that he might have been a wild child, a bad boy who grew up to be a good man.

I raised an eyebrow (realizing silently that in a sense ahe was defending her own sons' travel to adulthood) but she persisted. She insisted that Judge Kav's biggest mistake was to not Man Up and admit he had been stupid and drunk when he was young, and that he did not remember things, but that he was very sorry.

She's right, in a way, and probably speaks for a lot of people in this country. She also does not like Kav, but even so.

PS: for those who don't know me, I despise Kavanaugh without reservation, no excuses

[pnwmom]

22. Hope you had a very happy birthday, Hekate!

[Hekate]

23. Thanks -- it was sweet. I'm just getting old!

[pnwmom]

20. Yes. He could have used the George Bush defense: "When i was young and stupid,

I was young and stupid."

And he could have pointed out that attempted rape was only a misdemeanor in Maryland in those days.

[Quixote1818]

21. That is the ONLY correct way he could have handled this.

If it came across as sincere then of course it would have helped him a lot.

[womanofthehills]

24. He appears to have a personality disorder - a tiny bit of criticism makes him want to attack

I don't think he is the kind of person who ever apologizes.

[Grasswire2]

26. But Trump wanted him to punch back hard, remember.

That's what we have been told by reporters. Trump wanted to see him fight.

[moriah]

27. We saw how far apologizing for taking a tasteless but no-contact photo got Franken.

Only an apology combined with at least an offer of recusal from consideration would be meaningful, and no fucking way would they have the kind of decency Franken did by trying to not allow even the appearance of impropriety cause damage to what he stood for.

As for what an apology might do for Dr. Ford's recovery, I don't know. I've had three different instances where people crossed legal lines, and all three apologized frantically to cover their asses immediately when they realized I might tell. When I was a child, I was more easily manipulated, but as an adult the apology actually pissed me off because I saw right through it.

Through this whole thing, especially since the time I was an adult was an alcohol-facilitated sexual assault, I've said I probably couldn't serve on a jury if this was a real trial. But especially with how many people are speaking out about their own experiences, if we only let people who'd never been sexually victimized in any way to serve in sexual assault trials, we'd have perps being judged by all-male juries -- and not all men could serve either. The reverse of the bias created by "death qualification" in capital murder jury selection.

And yes, all this shit has been horribly triggering. Like the report that the prosecutor who questioned her said she wouldn't take it to trial -- the female DA didn't want to gamble her conviction average on my case either apparently, because there was not enough proof I'd been unconscious absent his admissions immediately after me waking up to penetration and managing to get myself the hell out of his bed -- I asked how I got there, he said he carried me. But that wasn't on tape, even if he never objected to my description of what happened... he wouldn't say the words himself when it mattered in trying to get evidence.

Essentially, I have only been slightly surprised about how this has panned out, and what's surprised me is Flake -- and I am still highly cynical. I don't expect apologies from Republicans or rapists. I don't know if I'd believe them if they *did* apologize.

[Ms. Toad]

32. Yes - with some other conditions.

The apology would need to be sincere. An acknowledgement of what he did and an apology, made in private to Dr. Ford (with anyone she wanted to be present), followed with a public acknowledgement - plus some real evidence of a real change (rather than a politically motivated stunt).

But, rather than that, he not only lied about the assault - but he lied abotut stupid stuff that can easiliy be proven false - which continues the incredible arrogance that was part and parcel of the assault in the first place.

[Raine]

33. I think so

the continual lying is what will do him in. People can't forgive if the person won't admit it and say they're sorry.