I almost don't dare say this out loud... is Mitchell taking a dive?

[Recursion]

I mean, I'd still be pissed about the "female assistant" comment if I were her...

[rzemanfl]

1. You can't shake a truthful witness. n/t

[Trust Buster]

2. She can only work with what she has and it doesn't include a smoking gun.

I think she had been pretty respectful.

[Amishman]

22. Shocked they haven't mentioned Leland's lack of recall

Glad though, it seems like the only thing they might have even though it's easily explained away.

[Iliyah]

3. Could be that she is not that experienced as the GOPer's thought.

I read an article where it stated that she hardly did anything with respect to sexual assaults cases but ignored them.

[brush]

28. She hasn't done much at all and she's running out of repug senators to speak for.

What is it, up to six with only five left?

She hadn't put a glove on Dr. Ford.

[rurallib]

4. She did try to undercut Ford's credibility with the fear of flying

line of questioning.

[Blue_true]

36. No she didn't.

I have had a fear of flying since the plane on my first ever flight hit a big air pocket and fell so fast that my stomach felt like it was dropping out of my gut. I gripped both my seat handles and looked around at the calm people and wondered what the hell was wrong with those people.

But I fly because I have to. I don't know for sure, but I may have flown on one or two of the three planes that crashed on 9/11, that possibility sits in my mind everytime I am boarding a plane, the empty feeling inside, the quiet fear, the hope that people ahead of me get the hell onto the plane so that I can get into the cabin and ignore anything that is related to the ground. I hate takeoffs and landings, they always scare me. But I fly because my livelihood depend on me getting around fast. After I fly and return home, I numb out, I live out of my suitcase even in my own home, a week later or more I get back to normal, when I return to normality depends upon how long I was in the air. If I could do what I do and avoid flying, I would take that in a flash.

[BumRushDaShow]

43. Yes she did

The ilk who believe the GOP and have no empathy have gone with a narrative that she is lying and faking and the fact that a list of plane trips was trotted out by Mitchell, was specifically done to counter her fear (and apparent claustrophobia) as something that would pile on to impact her ability to come forward.

But *we* know it just shows that despite this, she "plows through" (since Turtle liked that term) because she has to.

I did have several colleagues I worked with who staunchly refused to fly - including for work or even vacation. They either drove or took the train (and one only went on cruises if he had to go overseas and would time it so that he could meet up with his parties by leaving well ahead of time and using up extra vacation time to do so).

[Blue_true]

44. People are different.

A person can be afraid of something, but do that thing anyway. My fear of flying is the ground. That is why takeoffs and landings are so difficult for me. Once in the air, I don't see the ground, so I relax. I try to always read doing takeoffs and during landings, I don't look outside the plane while hoping that it meets the ground smoothly. So people are different, I handle a real fear of flying by selectively blocking some things out, maybe your friends can't do that.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. Yes correct.

But sadly, the fine lines ("degrees of fear" ) are completely lost on those who completely lack empathy and want to keep pounding to find a "weakness".

EDIT TO ADD - See this, which describes exactly what I was getting at - https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211193069

[C_U_L8R]

5. This isn't really her job, is it?

She's a sex crimes prosecutor - which I assume means she routinely prosecutes sex criminals like Kavanaugh... not victims like Ford.

[flyingfysh]

10. prosecutors routinely interview victims

They want to make sure the facts are well-understood and that the victim is convincing. Apparently she is doing that here. She needs to be allowed to interview the other witnesses.

[uponit7771]

21. Hmmm, seems like one of the reasons the prosecutor looks ineffective in this setting; there was no

... investigation into the matter so all she's doing is affirming what's already known.

[qazplm135]

6. it's impossible to do an effective cross

with the five minute switches. Impossible.

so, combine that with no investigation for her to have reviewed and with the short timeframe, all she can do is try to link up really obvious issues, and there aren't a lot of those. So, it's destined to be ineffective.

[uponit7771]

19. +1, it sounds like the prosecutors just affirming what's already known and what's already on record.

[procon]

7. As a prosecutor, her inclination would be to favor the victim.

She's been at that job for almost thirty years so she's pretty set in her actions.

[FarPoint]

8. No she is not....

She's up to something.

[spanone]

20. possibly.

[FarPoint]

25. Ohhhh

Mitchell is digging deep to try and find a gotcha moment" with polygraph...

[Nevilledog]

39. Guess Mitchell doesn't know Kavanaugh is a big fan of polygraphs.

[FarPoint]

40. Ahhhhh

Indeed.... good point.

[beachbum bob]

9. nothing to work with except Ford's own words....since no investigation been done and no

other offers into "evidence" to be used....

A terrible miscalculation by Grassley, Trump and the GOP in general but they had to try as kavanaugh would be a ringer on the court to protect trump.

give it a few days before Kavanaugh removes himself from consideration. I hope we could drag out for weeks but they need time for another nominee and the proper vetting process to happen....

now, if McConnel believes he has 50 votes to confirm (pence is tie breaker) he still MAY try to have a vote. At this time and place, I don't see 50 GOP votes at all.....hell they may not have 40

[CincyDem]

11. Mitchell can't get a rhythm. Dumb structure for Repubs.

Every 5 minutes, Ford gets a break to spend with friends. That's not trivial. If Mitchell ever starts pushing her, she knows it will end in less than 5 minutes.

Instead of Ford running a marathon to protect herself from these asshats...she's doing wind sprints and, for someone of her precision, it seems like it's well within her experience (independent of the venue and the eyes of the nation upon her).

Now...the issue is that Kav gets this same benefit so it helps him catch his breath and it gives the Repubs time to polish up and dings during the round.

Think of it like getting med attention between rounds in a fight. Rounds always benefit the weaker fighter unless the stronger fighter scores a knockout. They were betting Ford would not be a knockout and, I think, she is.

Go dr. Ford.

[uponit7771]

16. +1, a rhythm would've allowed for a singular message vs this broken up crap.

[Blue_true]

38. How about Dr. Ford is just fucking telling the truth and has nothing to fear? nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. She's a prosecutor. She doesn't know how to do anything else but prosecute. ETA: She's probably very

good at what she does. Picking a prosecutor for this role was a GOP mistake, not her taking a fall.

[Wellstone ruled]

13. Mitchell is in a no win

position. Two control factors,Amy Klobucher and Pamela Harris. Pay attention.

[Adrahil]

14. Let's not sing her praises until....

we see how she handles Kavanaugh.

[EffieBlack]

26. I don't think it really matters how she handles Kavanaugh

Since the Dems will likely work him over pretty good.

[Adrahil]

33. That's a good point....

I particularly expect Sen. Harris to have a go at him.

[EffieBlack]

37. The GOP's big and really only shot was to try to take down Dr. Ford and they punted.

Republicans co-signing what a good guy Kavanaugh is does nothing for them since that's what they've been doing all along. They needed to discredit Dr. Ford and have completely failed.

Now it's the Democrats' turn to do some discrediting and I have a feeling they're up to the task.

[uponit7771]

15. K&R, ***YES*** I'm monitoring mixed aisle forums and she's horrible. Wasn't prepared for lack of

... continuity in questioning and veering off into trial level credibility on peripheral issues vs getting down to the main incident.

There's not going to be closing statements so the peripheral memory crap is useless

[world wide wally]

17. A little respect goes a long way

That is why the men couldn't question Ford. They have no respect whatsoever.

[agingdem]

18. Rule #1

My late husband was attorney..he said Rule #! when you're crossing a witness...never ask a question you don't know the answer to...that's what depositions are for...it's obvious watching Mitchell that she has no idea how Dr Ford will respond...she's reading from the GOP playbook...no facts, only insults, and innuendo

[EffieBlack]

23. I was just thinking the same thing

She doesn't seem to know or care that she supposed to be discrediting Dr. Ford.

[grantcart]

24. Or was it part of the plan from the beginning

Unable to get Trump to withdraw the nomination they set it up for Kavanaugh to fail

Suggested in my thread yesterday

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211182090

[Iliyah]

29. GOPers want this guy badly. Whacko

evangelists wants it badly. The Federalist Society want it badly, and so does shithole.

[grantcart]

31. Exactly and thats why they can't publicly abandon him even though they know he

can't be confirmed

So the premise of the possible theory is that since Trump is so publicly bellicose in his support that they could only get this damaged nominee out of consideration is to have a professional sexual crimes prosecutor illicit the victims testimony in a sympathetic way and then cross examine Kavanaugh in an aggressive way.

Your comment doesn't counter the theory but confirms the premise

The confirmation of the theory, as much as it can be confirmed, will be if Mitchell is much harder on Kavanaugh than she was on Ford.

By the way most of the questions asked by Mitchell has been aimed to make the Republicans on the committee look good, not to make Ford look bad.

[Turbineguy]

30. Maybe

if the GOP pulls the nomination, Kavanaugh doesn't have any liability?

[grantcart]

34. They can't pull it so are they trying to get Kavanaugh to quit or Trump to pullit

So they can get a clean candidate confirmed before the end if the term

[honest.abe]

32. That would be an interesting twist.

I do think tRump wants this guy much more than the Repub Senators do. I think they would be happy with any conservative lawyer nominee.

[grantcart]

35. That is my point

With Trump so committed the only way to get a better candidate with enough time to confirm before end of this term

[emulatorloo]

27. No, she's been trying to undercut Ford's credibility constantly. But Ford is credible and consisten

For example, trying to insinuate Ford was “coached” for the polygraph and failing miserably.

[Vinca]

41. She's definitely coming off as being more sympathetic than I expected.

She's asking questions in the way she would ask a victim on the stand in a court room and victims are generally handled with TLC by prosecutors. I don't think that's what the Grand Old White Men expected.

[Fla Dem]

42. I'm sure all her questions and line of questioning were scripted by the GOP

Senators on the Judiciary Committee. But once again, let’s blame the woman. I don’t mean here on DU, but the Republicans and pundits.