Senate advances Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination to final vote

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators voted 51-49 Friday morning to end debate on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. But it wasn't certain whether Republicans had the votes they needed to get Kavanaugh over the finish line when the final vote is held, probably Saturday.

Amid allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh and questions over his demeanor and truthfulness at a hearing last week, key Republican senators had not publicly declared how they would ultimately vote on his confirmation. GOP Sen. Susan Collins said right before Friday's vote that she would vote to advance the Kavanaugh nomination Friday but would announce her decision on his confirmation Friday afternoon.

Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also Republicans, hadn't publicly announced which way they would ultimately vote as of Friday morning.

The Senate had gaveled open Friday with the GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, lauding the appellate court judge's deep credentials and lashing out at the "left wing" groups he said have tried to take down President Donald Trump's nominee as "nothing short of monstrous."

Read more: https://www.omaha.com/news/politics/senate-advances-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-nomination-to-final-vote/article_6f47b0b9-74ef-50ac-96ec-f14430e66cd5.html

[barbtries]

1. i'm absolutely sick about this.

just sick. tomorrow will probably be even worse.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I listened to Feinstein and had to choke back tears

hearing all the horrible things Kavanaugh will do to so many people and and tons of other things that will be effected by his far right opinions.

[barbtries]

20. interesting about Feinstein.

As I headed to work, NPR was about to play her speech. I'm pretty sure they must have played Grassley's all the way through. But, no, she was just wrapping up. So they didn't play one syllable of Feinstein. not one.

[BigmanPigman]

23. I hope someone posts it.

I heard NPR was conservative, I guess it is.

[barbtries]

25. national public republican radio.

stalwarts of the false equivalency approach.

[BigmanPigman]

26. Sounds appropriate.

[at140]

5. Please cheer up...life must go on

Everyone give their best shot, that is all that matters. We can not always control the results.

Above is the exact advice I always preached to my kids when they were in college, and it seems to have worked good.

[barbtries]

18. what kind of life

will my granddaughter and her children have? but i do have some best possible outcomes in mind.

1. he loses the vote.
2. November comes and Democrats take the house and the senate.
3. Kavanaugh and Thomas are both impeached.
4. The size of the Court is increased with a Democratic Congress in charge.
5. I can't write or say this one out loud. it's not temperate to let such thoughts free into the universe.

unfortunately, worst case keeps falling like dominoes and i do not, at all, feel optimistic about the future of our country right now.

[at140]

35. All true what you said, but you must choose between

getting depressed over results which you could not control,
or keep a positive attitude and try to achieve more in future.

If you feel you gave it your best shot, you have nothing to regret about.

[barbtries]

39. right you are

and i do my best. however i am hamstrung because i work. days like this i don't get much work done and feel both helpless and despair. nothing will stop me from voting and doing what i am able to do to get out the vote and make sure it's a blue win in November. it's that important.

[Bengus81]

24. Hard to "cheer up". This isn't a politician that can be voted out in a few years....

This ANGRY DRUNK will be on the SC until around 2050 unless he drops dead sooner. I won't live to see all the DAMAGE him and his psycho Republican party can do with a person like this on the Court but I know it will start very soon.


Birth control pills legally defined as abortion
Legal abortion overturned
ACA unconstitutionally illegal and gone for good
Unions made illegal
Minimum wage made illegal
Equal pay made illegal
Social Security and Medicare gutted to the point of being worthless
EPA deemed as illegal to business


On and on and on and on until were right back to the early days of the roaring 20's.

[barbtries]

40. exactly.

the republicans are destroying the country. they never sleep in this endeavor.

[Silver1]

3. Anyone know how the numbers or odds look for tomorrow's vote?

I've been so riveted by what would happen today I haven't paid attention to what may happen tomorrow.

[Omaha Steve]

8. Looks like Sunday is the vote

No firm tally yet.

[Silver1]

13. If the vote is Sunday

and not tomorrow, it probably means they're not so secure about it.

[Omaha Steve]

15. A Senator has to leave DC for his daughter's wedding

And returns Sunday.

[Silver1]

21. Collins is wavering, or pretending to be.

Collins statement this morning: "I will be voting yes on proceeding to the final confirmation vote and I will announce my intentions on how to vote later today," she told reporters just now.

CNN Note: We expected the earlier vote would be the key one to watch, as we assumed senators would be unlikely to vote one way today and then another way tomorrow. We'll have to wait for Collins' 3 p.m. announcement to find out if that's still true.

[aggiesal]

36. Translation ...

"... and I will announce my intentions on how to vote later today, ..."

means

"... after I squeeze some concessions for my bills, out of a few senators, I will announce
later today, that I will be voting for Kavenaughty confirmation, because Dr. Ford was a willing participant.
She should be responsible for her actions. ..."

[Baclava]

34. Sen Daines tells Kavanaugh "he has made arrangements to be there to get him across the finish line"

https://twitter.com/SteveDaines?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[barbtries]

19. they need that vote

from the senator who's daughter is getting married tomorrow. can't recall the name.

[Girard442]

10. Said it before: trying to make sense of the Trumpie's actions is like...

...studying a bunch of bugs in a box, trying to predict which way they'll crawl next. That said, they're certainly not acting like they have it locked down.

[Silver1]

14. Another day glued to my computer then.

Maybe two.

[Equinox Moon]

4. Manchin (D) voted yes, Murkowski (R) voted no

That makes me really mad

[elmac]

7. Anyone who voted for it

is guaranteed a nice, cushy Koch brothers job when they get the boot.

[Steerpike]

9. Lisa Murkowski

is taking a lot of heat from the R's in Alaska (she always has)...lots of threats

[Fred Sanders]

28. Why? Manchin (D)in a ruby red state is gold. I support his every delicate threading of the political

divide until the final vote.

Then we will see...I think that a better approach...but not on social media, of course.

Don't drop the D when pillaging Manchin for what he has to do to date.

[elmac]

6. The Democracy is broken

and under the fascist capitalistic system it will never be fixed.

[a kennedy]

11. and I thought munchkin, (Manchin) had a pretty good lead in his state polls??

why would he vote yes?? Or are the polls to close to call??

[Omaha Steve]

16. But Trump there won by 30% in 2016

So that is the Trump factor he is thinking about.

[old guy]

12. As an old song lyric said,

"turn out the lights, the party's over.

[Initech]

17. Great, so we're going to have two sexual predators on SCOTUS. Fuck!!!!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

22. The monsters are calling us monsters.

Figures. They are all about projection.

[More_Cowbell]

27. Serious question: Would the nomination of any other conservative judge be any different?

I, too, have felt heartbreak and anger during this process. But I strongly suspect that I would have felt the same for the nomination of *any* conservative judge. But I have to believe that at some point in the not-too-distant future, we'll take back the Senate. And Kavanaugh, at least, has done some demonstrably impeachable things.

It seems to me that an ordinary right-wing jurist would have been on for life. Kavanaugh is the *one* person who might someday be impeached.

I'm so angry about Gorsuch and the whole GOP takeover of the Supreme Court that I'm not sure I'd be feeling better if any other conservative judge had been chosen. I already knew that the GOP doesn't care about women.

On the other hand, a lot of survivors have been irreparably harmed by this process, and that wouldn't have happened with another judge.

[marieo1]

32. disgusted minngal

Last edited Fri Oct 5, 2018, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

There should be a rule when putting someone on SC - half of them should be liberal and half of them conservative. Not one party hogging the SC. With someone as scary as Kavanaugh, there should be 'no vote'. There should be strict rules what kind of person can be on the SC and SC seat held open till the party finds someone that is non-partisan, honest, no written 'n blood' opinions, etc. Very specific qualifications for anyone even to ever be considered suitable for the SC.

[at140]

37. How can be equal with 9 justices?

Although there should be a limit on how many justices any one president can nominate. My preference would be maximum 1 per 4 year term. That would help prevent packing the court of one kind of justices.

If Kavanaugh gets through, Trump should not be able to nominate any more justices even if a vacancy occurs.

[laserhaas]

29. How many votes are needed to confirm?

51 - or is it a harder standard?

[at140]

38. 50 votes does it with the VP breaking the deadlock.

[marieo1]

30. disgusted minngal

I am so disgusted right now........isn't there one decent person in Congress? Are all of them a bunch of self-centered liars and only worried about themselves and their careers? Why can't any of them put themselves on the line for what is right? There are so many things wrong with Kavanaugh. Why would anyone advance him to the SC. He is a self-centered liar, emotional, reactionist, anti women SOB. Why can't everyone see that? Why have we elected such derelicts to congress? These people in congress have a chance to really stand up for our citizens and do the right thing and they just won't do it.

[olegramps]

31. This could be the key to the demise of the Republican Party's dominence.

They have been forced into a position that will eventually be their ultimate undoing.

They are the captive of the extremist factions of our society. These include the diehard racists, homophobes, radical religious factions, second amendment extremists and the ultra-wealthy. They have become solely dependent on them for their very political life.

The inevitable fact is that everyone of these cultural groups existence is in jeopardy as civilization moves forward to a more enlighten perspective. It is a relentless tide slowly, but steadily lifting mankind to greater comprehension of the perfection of their innate nature's quest for truth and justice. The perfection that our founders eloquently called us to pursue. The equality of all mankind to the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Republican Party has made an irreparable statement with their indorsement of a person who personifies the most repulsive attributes of mankind. It is a statement that will be used to discredit them for supporting an immoral man without a shed of character. A pathetic shell of a man who is wholly unworthy to be sitting on a court in which personal integrity is tantamount. We are well aware that his vote will not be decided by total impartiality since he was chosen solely to have prejudged the issue of the a women's right to control of her most intimate self. It should be of little surprise that he would have this determined mind set. He has been exposed as having a history of disregard of women by his flagrant abuse of several young women. It has been a sham that eventually will lead to their total discredit. An indelible footnote in the history of the nation that will be regarded with distain for its sacrifice of justice for unbridled thirst for power at any cost.

[Baclava]

33. I bet it's a 50-50 tie in the final and Pence will ride in on a white horse to cast the tie breaker

It's in the script