GOP blinks, begins attempting to slow down Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process
Just two hours ago, the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a statement attacking the Democrats and questioning the credibility of Christine Blasey Ford, who earlier in the day came forward to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault and attempted rape. But now some key Republicans are indeed making an effort to try to slow down the Kavanaugh hearings.
The first Republican to hedge was Lindsey Graham, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He stated that if Christine Blasey Ford is willing to “provide information to the committee,” he wants to hear it. This would require reopening the committee hearings, which by default would delay the committee vote. Then came Jeff Flake, who is also on the committee. He issued a statement, flatly saying that “For me, we can’t vote until we hear more.”
This does not mean that Graham or Flake is willing to vote “no.” However, by moving to slow down the confirmation process, they’re giving Ford more time to make her case, the Democrats more time to make it stick, the media more time to make a bigger deal out of the scandal, and the public more of an opportunity to push back against Kavanaugh. This move is in direct contrast to the Republican strategy up to now, which has been to try to ram Kavanaugh through as quickly as possible.
In short, the GOP just blinked. We’ll see what happens next. But it’s now clear that A) Senate Republicans are not all on the same page when it comes to how to respond to this worsening crisis, and B) at least some of them are willing to slow down the process in order to cover their own backsides, even with the knowledge that any delay will serve to reduce the odds of Kavanaugh ultimately being confirmed.
