Democrats, harness your rage at Kavanaugh hearings to get out the vote
Eugene Robinson Washington Post/Chicago Tribune Oct 6, 2018
Pay attention, Democrats. Watch what Republicans are doing. You'll see what raw power looks like — and understand why winning in November is so vital for the nation's future.
President Trump, aware that the country is passionately divided on many critical issues, could have nominated a moderate jurist to replace retiring Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been the swing vote between the court's conservative and liberal wings. Instead, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, a darling of far-right pressure groups that want to topple the remaining pillars of progressive jurisprudence, including Roe v. Wade.
The administration withheld reams of relevant documents from Kavanaugh's service in the White House during the George W. Bush years. Democrats squawked. The Republicans who control the Senate just smiled.
Christine Blasey Ford, a respected psychologist with no known ulterior motive, tried to anonymously report that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school. When Ford's name was made public, Senate Republicans summoned her to a kangaroo-court hearing. First, they had a hired-gun prosecutor try — unsuccessfully — to poke holes in Ford's story. Then, after Kavanaugh's red-faced denial, they cheered him on rather than interrogate his version of events.
That's what you can do if you have power — and what you cannot prevent if you are powerless.
Get mad about Kavanaugh, and then get even. What "comes around" must be a Democratic wave.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-robinson-column-st-100-story.html
