Read about the Nebraska senator’s speech from the senate floor tonight here.
Now let’s see how he votes for Kavanaugh on Saturday.
Ben Sasse: “We all know that the president cannot lead us through this time.”
Read about the Nebraska senator’s speech from the senate floor tonight here.
Now let’s see how he votes for Kavanaugh on Saturday.
I do wonder a bit who Sasse’s intended audience is here – Republican primary voters in 2024? Potential customers for his books?
Turns out same old Sasse. (Not to fly the red flag, but it plays to my prejudices a bit that a man who made his bones breaking the power of faculty during his time as a college president turned out to have other indecent views about power and the strong preying on the weak.)
Sasse has taken to silly White Knight posturing in recent days, as well as remarks on ‘leadership’ which one might charitably describe as naive.
Why would Sasse vote contra Kavanaugh? The President’s courtesies to the Capitol Hill nexus (and the SoCon bloc) have been in the realm of judicial appointments. He draws his nominees from pools like the Federalist Society. Judge Kavanaugh might have been nominated by any one of the last four Republican presidents. Sasse knows perfectly well that the complaints about Kavanaugh are a jumble of humbug and slander. A vote against Kavanaugh would be perverse and that’s all. (As well as an indicator of what the practical implications of the residue of NeverTrump sentiment in the Republican Party actually are).
So, the clear, albeit unstated, implication here is that because Sasse, as a principled conservative, opposes Trump, he should therefore … vote against Kavanaugh. I’m not sure that conclusion follows.
Dr. Fea is going to have to connect those dots.
Is the argument: he’s Trump’s nominee, so by definition: tainted and bad? (Does this rule out any Trump nominee? Or, any nominee who doesn’t get the thumbs up from, say, Chuck Schumer?) Or, is the argument that a mere accusation (wholly uncorroborated, 36 years stale, refuted by the accuser’s own witnesses, beset with logical and factual inconsistencies) has been made, and that alone is sufficient to torpedo the nomination?
I’d argue that if Sasse does stand by his principles, there is no way he can consider voting against Kavanaugh, which would legitimize this execrable and transparent smear campaign.
Ben Sasse has a history of making the right speeches and making the wrong votes. Low expectations.