Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, has extended the deadline for Christine Blasey Ford to notify the committee as to whether she intends to testify on an accusation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But he's not happy about it.
Grassley has gone on a Twitter tirade over the delay. First, he apologizes to Kavanaugh for the delay and tweets that he's normally not so indecisive. Then he follows that tweet with this statement: “With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor.”
Blogger Ann Althouse gets after Grassley for his grousing:
Schumer is making him do it. I understand teenagers getting pushed around but the man is 85 years old. Grow up, already, or retire. Is he suffering from learned helplessness? I suspect he's simply posing as a man who gets pushed around by a stronger man. Maybe he thinks the American public is so sympathetic to victims these days that he'll get some.
As the former chair of an Iowa Senate committee myself, I'll express sympathy for Grassley. I believe he is doing what his committee members tell him is necessary to do to ultimately have the votes to get Kavanaugh approved by his committee. Remember, the GOP/Democrat split on the judiciary committee is 11-10. He MUST do what his members advise him to hold the votes together.
The reported NEW deadline is 1:30 pm today Iowa time.