After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her Democratically connected legal team gave the Senate Judiciary Committee a week-long runaround, the parties finally agreed on a tentative hearing scheduled for Thursday. And despite all of Ford’s named witnesses telling the committee they had no recollection of the party where the alleged sexual assault took place, NBC Political Director Chuck Todd couldn’t see any way for Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to look good coming out of it.
“Republicans I talk to, Chuck, are feeling pretty good right now. They've got the other people who are alleged to have been at the party saying I have no memory of the party. They feel they've given Dr. Ford time and space to let her come when she's ready, before their committee,” anchor Willie Geist prefaced during Sunday Today. “How does this play out, and what are the perils for Republicans as they roll into a midterm season they hope to do very well in?”
The “peril” was “the event itself”, according to Todd’s divination. Even though he claimed he understood why Republicans felt good going into the hearing, his liberal mind couldn’t see a “helpful” situation for the nominee. “I have to say, I'm trying to visualize this event and I can't come -- I can’t figure out how this event is helpful to Brett Kavanaugh,” he proclaimed.
Todd appeared to argue the best outcome for Kavanaugh would be a hearing that ended in “a stalemate” where “there's no other evidence that they can really go by” and it’s “Brett Kavanaugh's credibility” versus “Dr. Ford's credibility.” According to Todd, that meant it would somehow become extremely difficult for Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
“If that's where we're at, I just think in this -- I just think the bar for confirmation probably has been raised for him if this event happens. What does that mean? I think that's in the eye of the beholder. But I feel as if this confirmation gets that much harder. If this event happens on Thursday,” he argued.
Despite the fact that Republican Senators like Susan Collins (ME) and Bob Corker (TN) have grown tired with the ridiculous runaround from Ford and her legal team (including refusing to fly across the country), Todd thought they and more Republican Senators would oppose Kavanaugh in the end.
“Look, we are in a different -- the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings was one era of America. You can't ignore the backdrop of #MeToo right now,” he suggested to Geist’s agreement.
Again, this comes as the other three people Ford claimed were at the party deny it ever happened. “Leland Keyser, a reported longtime friend of Ford’s, denied knowing Kavanaugh or having any knowledge of attending a party with him,” reported the Daily Caller.
In a response to the Judiciary Committee, Keyser’s lawyer stated that “[s]imply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.”
With Ford’s apparent fuzzy memory and the denials from the other supposed party attendees, it’s hard to see how there wouldn’t be an outcome where Kavanaugh got confirmed.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Sunday Today
September 23, 2018
8:05:15 a.m. EasternWILLIE GEIST: Chuck Todd is NBC's political director and the moderator, of course, of Meet the Press. Chuck, good morning. Good to see you. So, overnight, we’ve got the news of this deal. We don't know the specifics of it. We know the broad outlines that Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford will both testify on Thursday before the Judiciary Committee.
Republicans I talk to, Chuck, are feeling pretty good right now. They've got the other people who are alleged to have been at the party saying I have no memory of the party. They feel they've given Dr. Ford time and space to let her come when she's ready, before their committee. How does this play out and what are the perils for Republicans as they roll into a midterm season they hope to do very well in?
CHUCK TODD: Look, I think the perils of the event itself, Willie. I tend to agree with you on where Republicans feel -- today as opposed to where they felt even yesterday or the day before -- but I have to say, I'm trying to visualize this event and I can't come -- I can’t figure out how this event is helpful to Brett Kavanaugh, right?
Let's assume the outcome is a stalemate, which is it's up to everybody to decide who they believe, right? There's no other evidence that they can really go by. It's really about Brett Kavanaugh's credibility, Dr. Ford's credibility. If that's where we're at, I just think in this -- I just think the bar for confirmation probably has been raised for him if this event happens. What does that mean? I think that's in the eye of the beholder. But I feel as if this confirmation gets that much harder. If this event happens on Thursday.
GEIST: And you think that's in the hands of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski who would be put in a tough spot, right?
TODD: I would say Jeff Flake too and I wouldn't assume it's just those. Look, we are in a different -- the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings was one era of America. You can't ignore the backdrop of #MeToo right now.
GEIST: Yeah.
