Hardball tactics are threatening to backfire on the left in the final weeks of the high-stakes fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
GOP senators blasted Democrats and their liberal supporters on Wednesday over what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called a “harassment campaign” against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who a day earlier revealed a staffer in her office had been threatened with rape by people calling to oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Separately, Democrats opposed to Kavanaugh’s nomination have come under criticism for taking remarks made by the nominee out of context. Republicans ripped former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, arguing she was guilty of the same misinformation related to the judge that had earned Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) “four Pinocchios” from The Washington Post fact checker.
Both incidents gave Republicans fresh ammunition in the Supreme Court fight — and a chance to shift the focus from Kavanaugh to the tactics being used by his opponents.
Republican leadership seized on the threats and profanity-laced messages being sent to Collins as a way to paint the Senate Democratic caucus as extreme and “radical,” underscoring the political danger for vulnerable incumbents running for reelection in states won by President Trump.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the No. 2 Republican in the upper chamber, called the tactics “extremely concerning.” He added that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is sending a “dangerous message” by not condemning the rhetoric.
Read more:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/406409-left-risks-backlash-in-kavanaugh-fight
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