October 1, 2018

No matter how hard Brett Kavanaugh pounds the table, cries and yells about how he is just a harmless guy who liked beer in his youth, people keep coming forward to tell a different story. In this case, Charles (Chad) Ludington came forward with a statement to the press, and offered to speak to the FBI. Uh, oh, Judge Kavanaugh. No one likes an evasive, slimy liar.

In Ludington's statement, he wrote about feeling deeply troubled by what he called Kavanaugh's mischaracterization of the degree to which he drank in college, and his temperament while under the influence of alcohol. While Ludington felt strongly that our youthful flaws and mistakes should not necessarily condemn us for life, he also felt that lying under oath to the Senate in order to secure a Supreme Court seat warranted consequences.

For the fact is, at Yale, and I can speak to no other times, Brett was a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker. I know, because, especially in our first two years of college, I often drank with him. On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer. When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive. On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail....

I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth.

Now, it would seem, a New Haven Police report backs Ludington up on his description - at least of the bar fight. Kavanaugh's name appears among others listed as being questioned about the bar fight Ludington relayed. He was not arrested, but he was named in the report as being central to the beginning of the altercation.

Luddington, Kavanaugh, and some others had been to a UB40 concert, and were at a bar afterwards. They were staring at another patron they thought looked like a member of the band. The patron took exception to the stares, and said so. Rather than shrugging it off, Kavanaugh took the opportunity to make things worse. From the New York Times report:

Mr. Kavanaugh cursed, he said, and then “threw his beer at the guy.”

“The guy swung at Brett,” Mr. Ludington continued. At that point, Mr. Dudley “took his beer and smashed it into the head of the guy, who by now had Brett in an embrace. I then tried to pull Chris back, and a bunch of other guys tried to pull the other guy back. I don’t know what Brett was doing in the melee, but there was blood, there was glass, there was beer and there was some shouting, and the police showed up.”

Now, this all wouldn't necessarily be disqualifying for Kavanaugh if he had been honest about his youth from the start, and if he'd approached the hearing with the appropriate temperament. IF. And we wouldn't be worried about him actually getting SEATED on the Supreme Court if enough Senators actually cared about either of those things.

So, we have two other avenues of hope. We know the press is doing their job. We think, now that trump has relented a bit, the FBI can do their job. Let's hope upon hope the work of the press and the FBI will be so irrefutable, it will force the few critical Senators to actually do THEIRS.

Ed. Note: Mr. Ludington's account in the video above was both detailed and graphic. At around 2:59 he shares a detail which suggests Brett Kavanaugh is a potty mouth too.

CORRECTION: "The original version of this post incorrectly stated Ludington and Kavanaugh had attended a U2 concert on the night of the bar fight. The author regrets the error."

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