Was Kavanaugh a publicity stunt for Flake?
Sen. Jeff Flake’s hunger for publicity has gone off the charts with his recent stunt over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
There is no other way to explain the Arizona Republican senator’s maneuvering. He drew the national spotlight on himself when he called for a limited FBI investigation into decades-old sexual allegations against Kavanaugh.
In a drama that played out on live national television, Flake got up from his seat and single-handedly paused a fight he characterized as ripping the country apart, agreeing with a Democratic colleague to look into the allegations.
Flake’s intervention would have been heroic if the FBI had done a thorough investigation, but it turns out the good fellas at the agency didn’t see fit to interview the main characters: Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. What a joke.
Flake, one of the swing votes in the confirmation, now appears poised to support Kavanaugh, saying he agrees with fellow Sen. Susan Collins that this FBI inquiry was “thorough.” A vote is expected as soon as today, and that means the conservative judge who lashed out at Democratic senators will join the Supreme Court, where he can take his revenge. You can thank Flake for that.
He talks tough about Trump’s divisive rhetoric but continues to support his agenda. And now that he holds the key to one of the most consequential appointments, Flake seems to be playing the usual partisan politics.
Sure, Democrats in the Senate held out on Blasey Ford’s claims that Kavanaugh sexually attacked her in high school, an accusation Kavanaugh has denied and the FBI’s new report offers no evidence to back up.
And yes, the Democrats are trying to stop Kavanaugh’s nomination at any cost, saying his conservative views are a threat to America. What Flake did was give the country a breather, but nothing else. Is that heroic? Flake has said that he found Kavanaugh’s partisan attacks problematic. But he’s hinting that he’s fine with an FBI inquiry that didn’t even bother to interview Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford.
What a joke.
If Flake had planned to vote for Kavanaugh, I’d have preferred he not give the country any hope of due process. In the end, Flake’s political maneuvering may prove to be just a publicity stunt for a presidential bid or to land a job at a conservative think tank somewhere.
That, my friends, is tragic, not heroic.
Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@ arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @elviadiaz1.