MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle forced Brett Kavanaugh into a no-win situation on Thursday as she labeled the Supreme Court nominee “blemished” no matter what comes of the sexual abuse allegations against him. Ruhle concluded there’s no upside for the judge: “Brett Kavanaugh is a father. He does have young daughters. He does have a stellar reputation. So does it not surprise you that if he were to get confirmed, wouldn't he not want to have this cloud over him?”
She added, “People say he's got an unblemished record. This is a big old blemish either way. Yet he's remaining silent and not calling for an investigation.” Keep in mind, Kavanaugh is willing to testify on Monday, should accuser Christine Blasey Ford shows up.
Showing how this is a damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don’t scenario, Kavanaugh cited another reporter: “But Robert Costa is also reporting that privately Republicans are crossing all their fingers and toes saying 'Please don't show up, please don't show up!'"
So if Republicans didn’t have the hearing, Ruhle would criticize them for denying a victim the right to speak. If they do plan the hearing (and the accuser doesn’t show up), it’s a relief. The GOP didn’t want here there anyway.
On Wednesday, The View’s Joy Behar assailed Kavanaugh as a “coward” who is “probably guilty.”
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
MSNBC Live
9/20/18
9:06
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Has Senator Grassley made a final offer? Is there a possibility of an investigation before Monday? We've seen all of these public statements and he's given lots of opportunities, private, public, his staff will go to California. But Robert Costa is also reporting that privately Republicans are crossing all their fingers and toes saying “Please don't show up, please don't show up!”
GARRETT HAAKE: Yeah, Stephanie, there's a lot of moving parts here. It's starting to look much more like a negotiation than when we spoke about this yesterday. You saw Chuck Grassley going out of his way to make public remarks yesterday and to release this letter saying there are all these different ways we can get Dr. Ford's testimony. But we do want to get it. He put that deadline of tomorrow morning, saying that's how much time it would take to get the committee sort of revved up and ready to go to make sure this can happen Monday morning.
9:10
RUHLE: I'm no political expert. I don't know any additional information from Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Ford. I understand options. While I hear people saying “Christine Ford is running out of options” while Susan Collins is tweeting, "I hope she changes her mind." She hasn't made up any mind. Why on Earth would she give Republicans any inkling if she wants to do this until 10:00am tomorrow? The moment she does, the full-blown media blitz character assassination is going to go into high gear. So it makes absolute strategy sense to sit on it. Also, she hasn't demanded an FBI investigation. She's asked for one. Every single thing that she's asked for is to give more information so on Monday it won't be strictly a he said/she said.
...
9:11
RUHLE: Let's talk about Brett Kavanaugh for a moment. You know, again, things are getting misconstrued. When we hear investigation, people are going, look at Robert Mueller's investigation. It’s taken two years. An investigation could take two days. Brett Kavanaugh is a father. He does have young daughters. He does have a stellar reputation. So does it not surprise you that if he were to get confirmed, wouldn't he not want to have this cloud over him? People say he's got an unblemished record. This is a big old blemish either way. Yet he's remaining silent and not calling for an investigation. In fact, the guy who was in the room with him, Mark Judge, has said nope, it didn’t happen. But I don't want to testify. Why?
...
9:13
RUHLE: Mitch McConnell doesn't care if you say he's a hypocrite, he's a jerk. He wants to get two Supreme Court justices in those seats because president trump's true base, I don't mean the people who just go to his rallies, I mean Christian conservatives who say “I don't care what he does morally. Those judges matter to me.” How important is this politically? Because we mentioned it earlier. The President has been on message and very restrained. And he very rarely does that. Because he knows this is his money pot.
