The Patriot Post® · Day 2

Wednesday was Day 2 of the Kavanaugh hearings, and radical demonstrators once again disrupted the proceedings as soon as they began.

Yet once the question and answer session got underway, Judge Kavanaugh quickly demonstrated why the Supreme Court has upheld 13 out of 14 decisions he authored on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a supremely well-qualified judge.

Sen. Lindsey Graham made that point yesterday, and stressed that in any other time Kavanaugh would have the support of 90 senators. He’s right. Leftist Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed 96 to 3. Conservative Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98 to 0.

But then Graham noted how vitriolic the Kavanaugh hearings have been. As we reported yesterday, Mrs. Kavanaugh escorted her two young daughters out of the hearing because of the obnoxious antics of the demonstrators and left-wing senators. Graham remarked:

“I just wish we could have a hearing where the nominee’s kids could show up. Is that asking too much? What kind of country have we become?”

Millions of Americans feel the same way, senator. For us, America hasn’t changed. But the political Left certainly has. (See next item.)

By the way, Democrat senators yesterday repeatedly pressured Kavanaugh over the role of legal precedent. They seemed skeptical of his statements that he will be guided by precedent when it comes to abortion.

Of course, this is all code. What they really mean is, “You better not touch Roe v. Wade.” Yet, the very same senators are furious that he has followed precedent on Second Amendment issues.

In other words, they want Kavanaugh to follow precedent on liberal decisions they like, but they don’t want Kavanaugh to follow precedent on conservative decisions they don’t like.

But this inconsistency is not terribly surprising. Allowing judges to do whatever they want, regardless of what the Constitution says, is the very definition of liberal judicial activism.

The Left’s Insanity

Is there anything the Left will not do in the pursuit of its agenda? Here are a few disgusting examples from Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

One of the traditions of the Senate is decorum. Senators are usually respectful of the process and one another. But Democrats interrupted Chairman Charles Grassley 76 times. Worse were the many left-wing demonstrators whose outbursts must have appeared threatening to the judge and his family.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) blasted the “mob rule” atmosphere that prevailed over much of Tuesday’s hearing. Incredibly, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) encouraged the mob, saying: “What we’ve heard is the noise of democracy. This is what happens in a free country.”

He wasn’t the only one urging more protests. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “I’m glad they’re here. They are exercising their free speech.”

Sadly, that is how the Left increasingly defines free speech. The Left has the right to shout down a conservative speaker who is denied his free speech in the process. That is mob rule.

The demonstrators have every right to protest outside the hearing. They are free to run ads opposing him. They can hold a press conference that would be eagerly covered by the left-wing media. But they do not have the right to obstruct legitimate legislative proceedings.

That some “resistance” senators can’t tell the difference between free speech and mob rule is very disturbing and also very telling.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of one Democrat senator condemning these outrageous left-wing antics. Not Joe Manchin (D-WV), not Claire McCaskill (D-MO), not Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), not Joe Donnelly (D-IN).

Throughout the day, Kavanaugh sat facing the senators with his back toward the audience and was visibly startled at times by the unhinged screaming protestors. Seventy — 70! — demonstrators were arrested and dragged out of the hearing room.

So it’s not surprising that he hesitated when a total stranger rushed up to him during one of the breaks. But within minutes of their exchange the left-wing media were reporting that Kavanaugh had “snubbed” Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the Parkland shooting victims.

Of course, the media neglected to mention that Kavanaugh’s security intervened and escorted him out of the room, and that Dianne Feinstein had arranged for Guttenberg to have a seat near the front of the room.

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was also killed at Parkland, blasted Guttenberg’s stunt, tweeting: “Judge Kavanaugh was not responsible for the Parkland school shooting… Stop weaponizing Parkland to advance a dangerous political agenda!”

Lastly, this would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. The Left is attacking Zina Bash, a former Kavanaugh clerk, as a neo-Nazi because she allegedly flashed a “white power hand signal” during the hearing.

This is beyond absurd. Bash is a Hispanic woman whose grandparents survived the Holocaust!

The amazing thing is that Kavanaugh tolerated this nonsense, proving he has the demeanor a judge should have. Meanwhile, the left-wing politicians repeatedly proved that they don’t have the demeanor senators should have.

Why Was She There?

We mentioned that radical Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour was present Tuesday. In fact, she was the first demonstrator hauled out of the committee room.

Sarsour has backed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel, and hangs out with Islamists even more extreme than she is. Why would feminist progressive women take their lead from an Islamist who viciously attacked a victim of forced genital mutilation?

Another question is why was she there?

Well, this is what has happened on the Left. The radical Islamists work with the feminists. The feminists work with the environmentalists. The environmentalists work with the pro-abortion movement. The pro-abortion movement works with the big labor unions. The big labor unions work with the anti-religious Left. And so on.

But I believe there is a more fundamental reason for Sarsour’s presence. She wants massive Muslim immigration into America. President Trump’s efforts to slow that down have been struck down by liberal judges.

Sarsour was there because the Left doesn’t want five votes on the Supreme Court to let Trump determine what is in the national security interest of the United States.

Mueller’s Questions

It seems there was something of a breakthrough Friday in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but far from the “bombshell” that Chuck Todd was predicting.

Mueller reportedly told White House lawyers that he is willing to submit written questions to President Trump and also willing to accept written responses from the president regarding Russian collusion in the 2016 election.

White House lawyers appear willing to accept this arrangement. Jay Sekulow told Sean Hannity:

“I’m not concerned about the president of the United States responding … to questions about Russia and interference in the election. The president is committed. There’s no crime here… I’m not concerned about where that goes.”

What Sekulow and Giuliani won’t accept is for Mueller to question the president’s authority to hire and fire federal employees. And that strikes at the core of the Left’s conspiracy theory that the firing of James Comey amounted to obstruction of justice.