SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

KAVANAUGH UPDATE:  Chairman Grassley has given Professor Ford until 10 a.m. Friday morning to agree to testify before the Judiciary Committee Monday morning.  If she does not agree, the chairman will continue the committee's move toward a vote on Judge Kavanaugh, which can come as early as Friday afternoon, but likely will come next week.  Republicans in the Senate appear united that the process must go forward.  I think there is genuine anger that the confirmation process was disrupted at the last minute by a charge out of the blue.

KAVANAUGH THEORY – We don't much like "may" stories here.   You know, this "may" happen.  (On the other hand it may not.)  But there is a thoughtful idea circulating, based on comments by sources I consider reliable – that the whole Kavanaugh case rests on mistaken identity.  The sources say the truth will come out within days.  I don't know the basis for this report, and so we are cautious.  But mistaken identity in cases like this is commonplace.   Proving mistaken identity would probably involve having the name and testimony of the actual perpetrator, if there is one.

THE RIDICULOUS MEDIA – FROM NEWSBUSTERS:   Last night, two of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s high school classmates, each named by accuser Christine Blasey Ford as witnesses to the 1982 assault she alleges Kavanaugh committed, issued public statements flatly denying that they saw anything even resembling Ford’s story.  Yet today, CNN viewers have barely heard a peep about these denials, even as the Kavanaugh story dominates their on-air coverage. From 4:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN spent 3 hours and 23 minutes talking about the Kavanaugh controversy, but only about eight minutes of that were devoted to passing along these confirmations of Kavanaugh’s denial.  This has become the standard at too many news outlets.  When will conservatives learn that most of the press is against them, and that traditional notions of journalistic fairness are out the window?

September 19,  2018