There was a telling moment, only one really, from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
Senator John Cornyn, (R) Texas, asked Coney Barrett what she was referring to while answering the questions. She held up a small white tablet, blank except for the logo of the United States Senate printed across the top.
And the crowd went wild. Several Twitter accounts hailed the move as “Barrett owns the Dems.” “Yes, she is that smart.”
Of course, we all know she is smart, but, it was a Republican who asked what she was referencing. And, the fact that the sheet of paper was blank was hardly surprising given her obstinate refusal to answer any questions regarding anything of substance.
What if President Trump refuses to accept defeat?
That would be a “political question” that “as a judge would want to stay out of.” She added, after further questioning “I think it’s disturbing that we are having this conversation.”
Indeed. Disturbing is just the word I was looking for. Disturbing in the way her nomination was rushed through, while people were dying in intensive care, because the government sat idly by while the virus raged out of control. Or, out of work and at risk of losing their homes because the Senate is much too involved in the daily exercise of running for re-election to pass a relief package.
Disturbing, the way you dance around questions about health care, LGBTQ rights and Roe vs. Wade. No previews, you say, but, I think we have seen something. As a trustee of Trinity School in South Bend Indiana, you at least accepted the fact that it was school policy that “homosexual acts” were “at odds with scripture.” Also, that “marriage was between one man and one woman.”
Equally disturbing, when Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina asked if you were aware of any legislative move to return to the “good old days of segregation.” It is difficult to believe he really meant it, but it’s difficult to believe he said it, on television, to a Supreme Court nominee, and you didn’t reply how odious that question you found the question.
Maybe, there was more than one telling moment, and maybe it is all just so much wasted time even typing this up. Her seat on the bench is a foregone conclusion. If it were revealed Barrett was the first and only person to earn a cannibalism badge as a Girl Scout not one Republican would change their vote. Washington has gone from bad to worse to gawdawful.
As the French say; c’est plus qu’un crime, c’est une faute. (It’s worse than a crime, it’s a blunder).
Appropriate, just don’t ask me to pronounce it.
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