memeorandum: Not Clear Yet: Collins May Change Her Vote; UPDATE: She's Currently A No Vote; UPDATE … (Matt Vespa/Townhall)

4:00 PM ET, October 5, 2018

Top Items:

Friend of Dr. Ford Felt Pressure to Revisit Statement — At issue is statement to committee that she knew nothing about alleged sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh. — A friend of Christine Blasey Ford told FBI investigators that she felt pressured by Dr. Ford's allies to revisit …

Washington Post:

Senate votes 51 to 49 to advance Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court — The Senate advanced Brett M. Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination in a key procedual vote Friday morning, putting him one step closer to confirmation and ending a deeply partisan and rancorous fight.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, New Republic, ABC News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, CNN, The Root, The Atlantic, TheBlaze, Balloon Juice, Townhall and Patterico's Pontifications

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Elizabeth Warren's new, tantalizing claim about Kavanaugh shows what utter madness this is — One of the most infuriating aspects of this whole Kavanaugh saga is the degree to which we are flying blind about some of the most fundamental points of disagreement at its core.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire and Areo

Brett M. Kavanaugh / Wall Street Journal:

I Am an Independent, Impartial Judge — Yes, I was emotional last Thursday. I hope everyone can understand I was there as a son, husband and dad. — I was deeply honored to stand at the White House July 9 with my wife, Ashley, and my daughters, Margaret and Liza, to accept President Trump's nomination …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, ABC News, Fox News, NBC News, RedState, New York Times, WBUR, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, HuffPost, NPR, Washington Monthly, CBS News, CNN, Politico, Fox News Insider, Hit & Run, CNBC, The Guardian, Raw Story, The Constitution, Daily Wire, The Week, LifeNews.com, Daily Kos, Washingtonian, Bangor Daily News, Conservative News Today, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Joe.My.God., Shakesville, IJR, alicublog, Just Security, SCOTUSblog, Washington Free Beacon, Conservative Intelligence …, Daily Caller News Foundation, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Outside the Beltway, Vox, Mashable, BloombergQuint, The Daily Caller, Townhall, WHYY, Common Dreams, Mediaite, NTK Network, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Chicks On The Right, The Right Scoop, Breitbart, Jezebel, his vorpal sword, KRTV-TV, Washington Times, LifeZette, New Republic, TheBlaze, Althouse, Balloon Juice, CBS Philly, Law & Crime, AOL and Mother Jones

Mike Allen / Axios:

2. “We don't have 50” — Sources involved with Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation were nervous going into today's 10:30 a.m. test vote, Jonathan Swan reports: — Four senators are undecideds: Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Daily Wire and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Charles Ludington / Washington Post:

We were Brett Kavanaugh's drinking buddies. We don't think he should be confirmed. — Charles Ludington, Lynne Brookes and Elizabeth Swisher attended Yale University from 1983 to 1987 with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. — We were college classmates and drinking buddies with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Discussion: Raw Story, LifeZette, Common Dreams, Above the Law, ThinkProgress, The Intellectualist, POLITICUSUSA, Hullabaloo, CBS Dallas, Mashable, Talking Points Memo, NPR, TheBlaze, HuffPost, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mediaite

David Brooks / New York Times:

A Complete National Disgrace — The Kavanaugh hearings as American nadir. — Over the past few years, hundreds of organizations and thousands of people (myself included) have mobilized to reduce political polarization, encourage civil dialogue and heal national divisions.

Discussion: The Week, Slate, The American Conservative, Hot Air and Rewire.News

Michael Lista / New Yorker:
The Tears of Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show, NTK Network, Chicks On The Right and TheBlaze

New York Times:
How Brett Kavanaugh Failed

Discussion: Shareblue Media, USA Today, Washington Post, Hartford Courant, RedState, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God., Cronkite News, Breitbart, The Resurgent, Splinter and Salt Lake Tribune

Stephanie Gutmann / USA Today:
Democrats' big miscalculation: Conservative women like me won't abandon Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: Instapundit and National Review

Kathryn Watson / CBS News:
Sen. Durbin on Kavanaugh: I'll never forget the “fire in his eyes”

Discussion: The Nation and IJR

Gregg Nunziata / New York Post:
FBI's Kavanaugh investigation was by the book — just like Democrats demanded

Discussion: Townhall

Tim Kenneally / The Wrap:
Kathy Griffin Snipes at Michael Moore Over ‘Stop Hoping’ Tweet: ‘Michael...WE LOST’

Discussion: USA Today, Daily Wire and Breitbart

The Daily Beast:

Top Dem Super PAC Backs Away From Phil Bredesen for Backing Kavanaugh — One of the top Democratic aligned super PACs says it will no longer consider helping Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen in Tennessee's Senate race after Bredesen announced his support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Townhall, Bredesen for Senate, Washington Examiner, Political Wire and Raw Story

Matt Vespa / Townhall:

Not Clear Yet: Collins May Change Her Vote; UPDATE: She's Currently A No Vote; UPDATE: Murkowski Changed Her Vote On Way To Chamber — Well, unless something big happens, it looks like Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be the next Associate Justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Discussion: RedState, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Flake support puts Kavanaugh on cusp of confirmation — Brett Kavanaugh is closing in on confirmation to the Supreme Court after his nomination cleared a key procedural Senate vote Friday and a critical undecided GOP senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, announced his support.

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart, The Week, Conservative News Today, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, VICE, Axios and Outside the Beltway

Wall Street Journal:
Murkowski: Kavanaugh a Good Man But ‘Not the Best Man for the Court at This Time’

Discussion: Townhall, Power Line, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, The Other McCain and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Murkowski: Kavanaugh ‘good man’ but maybe ‘not the right man for the court’

Discussion: Daily Wire, IJR, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and The Right Scoop

Wall Street Journal:
Bar Association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary Reopens Evaluation of Kavanaugh

Discussion: Raw Story, The Resurgent, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Daily Wire

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP confident Collins will back Kavanaugh

Discussion: CNBC and IJR

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
GOP nervous ahead of Kavanaugh vote: “We don't have 50 right now”

Discussion: The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, The Intellectualist, The Week, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

CBS News:
Collins to announce Kavanaugh vote in floor speech — live updates

Discussion: Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and New York Times

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic: Mitch McConnell's Legacy Is Riding on Kavanaugh's Confirmation

Brett Molina / USA Today:
Republican Sen. Steve Daines will be at daughter's wedding Saturday, same day Senate may vote on Kavanaugh

Discussion: National Review, JustOneMinute, Hit & Run, KTVQ-TV and CNN

Ben Terris / Washington Post:

Why is Lindsey Graham acting like this? — Lindsey Graham learned the benefits of acting audaciously at a young age. — As a boy, no older than 6, he hung around his mom and dad's bar in Central, S.C., dressing up as a cowboy and yukking it up with drunks for laughs.

Discussion: Splinter and Political Wire

Don Palmerine / Washington Post:

I watched a rape. For five decades, I did nothing. — Many men have stories to tell and confessions to make. This is mine. — Don Palmerine is a former reporter and columnist living in Pittsburgh. — I was both an observer and a participant in a teenage rape.

Bloomberg:

Bloomberg Terminal Demo Request — The headlines alone are dizzying. Since the New York Times reported allegations of serial predation by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein a year ago, at least 425 prominent people across industries have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct …

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, The Root, New Republic, New York Times and IndieWire

Roxane Gay / New York Times:
I Thought Men Might Do Better Than This

Discussion: BuzzFeed News

Amy Walter / The Cook Political Report:

The War That Never Ends — The vote on Brett Kavanaugh is likely to be taken this weekend. But, the impact of the battle over his confirmation is likely to have short and long-term consequences. — As for the short term, the consensus seems to be building among both Democratic …

Christopher R. Browning / The New York Review of Books:

The Suffocation of Democracy — As a historian specializing in the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and Europe in the era of the world wars, I have been repeatedly asked about the degree to which the current situation in the United States resembles the interwar period and the rise of fascism in Europe.

Discussion: Vox, Shakesville, thenewcivilrightsmovement.com, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Here's how much Americans trust 38 major news organizations (hint: not all that much!) — About 13 percent of Americans don't trust any news outlet at all. (They went 2-to-1 for Trump in 2016.) — Surveys about “media trust” suffer from a definitional problem.

Associated Press:

Interpol president reported missing during trip to China — PARIS (AP) — The president of Interpol, a former senior Chinese security official, has been reported missing after he traveled to his native country at the end of September, a French judicial official said Friday.

Discussion: Reuters and The Week

South China Morning Post:
Missing Interpol president Meng Hongwei ‘under investigation’ in China

Discussion: Bloomberg, TheBlaze, 14news.com, NPR, Breitbart, DW.COM and Motherboard

Hot Air:

No, The Alleged Attack On Ford Didn't Happen At The July 1, 1982 Party, Says ... Ford Team Member — Glad they waited until the eve of the cloture vote to make this clear, after a week of theorizing by chumps like me and days spent by the FBI interviewing people named on Kavanaugh's calendar on that date.

Discussion: RedState and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jennifer E. Duffy / The Cook Political Report:

Governors: Rating Changes Four States — If political geography is helping Senate Republicans, it isn't doing much for the party's quest to hold their losses in gubernatorial contests to a minimum. There are a handful of races in very red states that have inched from the Likely …

Discussion: National Journal and Capitol Fax.com

Camille Paglia / Hollywood Reporter:

The Rise of “Strangely Unsexy” Instagram Exhibitionism — And Why It Hurts Women (Guest Column) — The pro-sex pop-culture academic contends that misguided posts and Hollywood ignorance plague the current generation: “It's time for a major rethink of women's self-presentation.” — Welcome to the flesh parade!

Discussion: Althouse

Najja Parker / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

'Robert, you're going to kill me': R. Kelly's ex-wife details years of alleged abuse — R. Kelly's ex-wife is speaking out about the abuse she said she endured during her 13-year marriage to the R&B star. — During an interview on “The View”, she recounted several incidents of alleged domestic abuse …

Katie Heaney / The Cut:

Almost No One Is Falsely Accused of Rape — Much mention has been made recently (mostly by men) of false rape accusations, and how frequently they occur. During Brett Kavanaugh's testimony last week, several senators apologized for the damage supposedly inflicted by these claims (which …

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Vox and The New Neo

Adele Scalia / The Federalist:

I'm An Immigrant, Minority Woman Going Republican Over Democrats' Treatment Of Kavanaugh — All it took was Democrats' treatment of Brett Kavanaugh over the last few weeks to turn me into that elusive creature: a minority, immigrant woman who supports Republicans. — I have become a unicorn.

Kyle Rempfer / Army Times:

Sheriff's deputies laughed at and filmed Army veteran as he died in a jail cell — An Oregon county sheriff's office has condemned the actions of three of its deputies who filmed and laughed at an Army veteran as he died of a drug overdose in a padded jail cell.

Discussion: Task & Purpose