Today was day two of confirmation hearings
for Brett Kavanaugh, and it had a lot to live up to.
Because day one was, to use a legal term, a shit show, right?
You had liberal protestors being kicked out,
you had angry Democratic senators demanding
the hearings be canceled, and that's not even counting
when Kavanaugh failed the cinnamon challenge.
Yeah.
He was like, "Oh, so you can judge me,
"but you can't even hold your spices.
Get the (bleep) out of here, man."
But for some reason, the moment from yesterday
that got the most buzz was this:
Yesterday, at the Kavanaugh hearings,
a lot of people online talking about
the woman over his shoulder.
Her name is Zina Gelman Bash.
She's a former Kavanaugh clerk.
She was accused of making
a white supremacist hand gesture
-STEVE DOOCY: Right there. -during yesterday's hearing.
Okay, this... this is a tough one.
I mean, it looks like that white power sign.
But it could just be how her hand is resting.
Like, like, I don't know if we can look at this picture
and definitively say that because of that woman,
Donald Trump prefers white people.
Like, I don't-- But I think if we zoom in
on another part of the picture...
Like, I think we might-- Oh, there we go.
Yeah, we might be on to something. Yeah.
And by the way, white supremacists, be original.
Right, this is not the white power sign.
This is okay, that's what the sign means.
Like, you can't just take a sign that everybody knows
and say it means something new, right?
This means okay.
Just like this means I approve,
not "white people are number one," okay?
Like, stop trying to make people accidental racists.
If white supremacists want a hand sign,
just make one up for yourselves
like every other gang member does in the country.
And it has to be new and very elaborate, so there's no doubt.
Like, here's one that you can try.
What you can do is, you can cross your middle finger
and your ring finger on your left hand, right?
And then what what you can do,
is you stick your right thumb up your butt,
and then, when we see that, we can all agree.
"Oh, that dude's in the master race.
Yeah, that's the master race. I like that."
(cheering and applause)
Now, now, yesterday was devoted just to opening statements.
Today, the senators asked Brett Kavanaugh questions
about his positions on various legal issues.
And Brett Kavanaugh avoided answering them.
Does the president have the ability
to pardon somebody in exchange for a promise from that person
they wouldn't testify against him?
KAVANAUGH: Sir, I'm not going to answer
hypothetical questions of that sort.
Can a sitting president be required
to respond to a subpoena?
So that's a hypothetical question.
I can't give assurances on a specific hypothetical.
I don't think it's my role to say one way or another.
Yeah. Who am I to judge?
Who am I? I mean, come on.
Like, honestly, I don't get the point of these hearings.
I mean, if the nominees don't have to answer the questions,
then why are we doing this?
And, by the way, it isn't just Kavanaugh, right?
Every Supreme Court nominee avoids answering questions
about how they'll do their job, which is strange for me.
Because you could never get away with this at any other job.
Right? You can't be at an interview and they're like,
"So where do you see yourself in five years?"
You're like, "That's a hypothetical."
I... I'm not gonna answer that." And they're like,
"Okay, what value are you gonna provide the company?
"Yeah, that's really not my role to say."
Be like, "Say no more, you've got the job."
So, bottom-line, today was just senators asking questions
and Kavanaugh ducking all day.
A lot of words with nothing happening.
A real Senate kind of day.
Although, there was one exchange that stood out.
Let me ask you a personal question.
What is the dirtiest, hardest job
you've ever had in your life?
I worked construction when I was, uh,
the summer after I was 16.
DICK DURBIN: My dirtiest job I ever had
was four summers working in a slaughterhouse.
It was unbearable.
It was dirty, it was hot.
The things I did were unimaginable
and I wouldn't even start to repeat them.
(laughter)
I... I feel like... I feel like that senator
was just using the hearing to deal with his own personal shit.
He was just like,
"Let me, let me ask you something, Judge.
"After you've ripped out a pig's tongue through its throat,
"the life draining from its eyes, its kids watching you,
"each one knowing that they're gonna be next,
will you think that life is worth living then?"
And he'll be like, "Uh, well,
I don't want to get into hypotheticals."