Kudos 3wishes for the thoughtful, intelligent post! The only caveat I would make is that while Clinton had impeachment hearings, he was not impeached.

I suspect, Republicans will go after Dr Ford to clear Kavanaugh's name - if, indeed she lied under oath. But who knows? What a debacle this has been for the US! A travesty on all levels... Something needs to change!

Sorry, that's a common misconception. Many people think impeachment means removal from office, and it might be true in many countries, but in the USA that is not the case.

Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, after being found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate held hearings about removal from office. However, he was not removed from office.

Which is the one place everybody avoids like the pest in this matter.

The Republicans may also choose to let this die. Ford has her supporters, a number of people think the FBI report was itself a travesty, and support for Kavanaugh is patched together. It could be like poking a hornets‘ nest with a stick. On the other hand, the main product of this administration seems to be distraction.....so who knows.


I have to add that i‘m fairly disgusted by Trump telling that reporter she doesn‘t think and the resultant snickers on his band of boys behind him. Bunch of assholes. Or is that too much outrage? Well it‘s the truth.

"Republicans will go after Dr Ford to clear Kavanaugh's name"
As 3Wishes posted "The reality is that it's almost impossible to prove that either Kavanaugh or his accusers are 100% truthful or 100% lying".
If the Republicans have any sense they will leave it alone to avoid the risk of more unpleasant stuff emerging.

Likely Kavanaugh will be confirmed but he will face many challenges to his authority, this story will hang around for years!

And in case anyone is wondering. U.S. Supreme Court justices can also be impeached and removed from office by Congress in the same manner as a president can be impeached and removed from office. Fun reading under the Tenure section on Wikipedia.

Not saying this is going to happen to Kavanaugh, but the way things are such a zoo in Washington right now who knows what will happen in the future.

Oh good. Something to look forward to. Hopefully they‘ll get rid of Thomas at some point too. I can dream, right?

There is also Michael Avenatti?
Will he strike his tent and disappear or continue his campaign against Kavanaugh with what, if any, evidence?

"Democratic lawyer Michael Avenatti has produced another sworn statement from a second woman claiming the Supreme Court nominee, while in high school, would “spike” the “punch” at house parties and be “inappropriate” toward women."

Source

Never ending story....

Edit: "sworn statement" LOL!

Impeachment means the levying of charges, essentially indictment, wherever English is spoken, not just in the US. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that.

It's frustrating, the number of people who speak out loudly and authoritatively on matters they actually know little about. I'm certainly not referring to you, 3W.

Honestly. 22 yards? I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here. Perhaps your issue is that you may not be American. But in the US, impeachment typically coincides with removal from office. Impeachment hearings are a different issue. Nixon was impeached; Clinton was not.

Again semantics here, as was sworn testimony and oath...

According to the US Constitution, this is a two step process.
First the President has to be Impeached and second step to be Convicted.
Usually the House manages the impeachment and then it is followed by a trial in the Senate.

Nah, it’ll be in his trophy cabinet once Kavanaugh gets sworn in

That's backwards.

Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only US presidents ever to have been impeached.

Nixon was not.

Tom

I don't think so. It was completely uncalled for, he's completely abusing his position.

Kavanaugh presented himself as virtually a choir boy at college, but his own letters and everyone who knew him at college who has made a statement says he was a drunk. Thats more than a dodgy memory. Thats a lie.



A hatchet job on Ford wont clear Kavanaughs name, he's a liar, this we know.


As a former americanophile I was taken by an interview with an instructor at West Point talking about how they stress chosing the difficult right over the easy wrong, it's so sad to see that spirit so absent in the US and especially amongst the trained seals who are so lacking in character that they overlook basic standards of decency as long as they get someone who hates the same people they hate.



In other news Ret Justice John Stevens,a life long Republican and (third?)longest serving Justice declares "for the good of the court" that Kavanaugh is not fit to serve. And 900 law professors have added their names to a letter to the Senate saying the same. Thats a lot of expert legal opinion, I'm sure we can rely on the Reps to do the right thing <hollow laugh>

The understanding that the right thing to do is not always to one's own advantage seems to be disappearing.

But not for long

Source

"We each asserted that Brett lied to the Senate by stating, under oath, that he never drank to the point of forgetting what he was doing," they write.

"We said, unequivocally, that each of us, on numerous occasions, had seen Brett stumbling drunk to the point that it would be impossible for him to state with any degree of certainty that he remembered everything that he did when drunk."

Ouch!

Maybe he was so drunk that he forgot that he was so drunk he forgot?