Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was on fire Monday during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings. He used his time to absolutely destroy the Democrats for their past reprehensible behavior and assured Jackson that Republicans would treat her more respectfully and fairly than Democrats have treated Republican nominees.
“Now, what should this hearing be? And what should it not be?” Cruz asked. “Well, you’ve heard a number of members on the Republican side of the aisle quite clear on what it should not be. This will not be a political circus. This will not be the kind of character smear that, sadly, our Democratic colleagues have gotten very good at,” he said, before detailing the Democrats’ shameful record.
Related: Cory Booker Embarrasses Himself by Gushing Over Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Race and Gender
He began by talking about a weekly podcast he did a couple of years ago on which a liberal guest insisted that both Democrats and Republicans smear Supreme Court nominees. But, Cruz pointed out, this person was dead wrong. “It is only one side of the aisle, the Democratic aisle, that went so into the gutter with Judge Robert Bork that they invented a new verb, to ‘Bork’ someone.”
“It is only one side of the aisle that, with Justice Clarence Thomas, was so reprehensible that […] President George Herbert Walker Bush wrote at the time, quote, ‘what’s happening to Clarence Thomas is just plain horrible,’” Cruz continued. “’All the groups that tried to beat him up on abortion, affirmative action have now come out of the woodwork, they’re trying to destroy a decent man.’ As Justice Thomas observed in that hearing, what happened there was, to use his words, ‘a high-tech lynching.’ And I would note the chairman who presided over that disgrace was Joe Biden.”
Cruz wasn’t finished. He brought up the Kavanaugh hearings next, calling them “one of the lowest moments in the history of this committee, where Democrats on this committee sat on allegations — didn’t refer them to the FBI, didn’t ask for investigations — hid them and then leaked them against the wishes of the complainant. And we began a circus that featured Spartacus moments, featured such nuts as Michael Avenatti.”
But despite the Democrats’ past shameful behavior, Cruz assured Jackson that she would not be treated the same way Democrats treated Republican nominees. “Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior. No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, ‘Do you like beer?'”
“But that’s not to say this hearing should be non-substantive and non-vigorous,” he clarified. “In this hearing, this committee has a responsibility to focus on issues, to focus on your record, to focus on substance.”
You can watch Cruz’s speech below:
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