The video of Judge Brett Kavanaugh declining to shake the hand of a father whose daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting has gone viral, boosted by opponents of his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The video shows Fred Guttenberg approaching Kavanaugh with an outstretched hand as he left for a lunch break on Tuesday. The judge makes eye contact, and is then turned away from Guttenberg by security. It’s not at all certain whether Kavanaugh knew he was declining to shake the hand of a Parkland father.
His hearing had been disrupted incessantly by rowdy protesters, so Kavanaugh’s hesitance to make physical contact with an unidentified individual rushing up to him before a break seems fair enough. It would also be pretty poor strategy for a man hoping to be confirmed by the Supreme Court to turn down a handshake from Guttenberg, assuming Kavanaugh knew who he was.
NEW VIDEO of hearing room clearly shows security intervened when Judge #Kavanaugh was approached. pic.twitter.com/ZGRRCcWroW
— Raj Shah (@RajShah45) September 4, 2018
Fred Guttenberg, the father of a Parkland shooting victim, says he tried to approach Brett Kavanaugh, but the Supreme Court nominee ignored him. The White House says security intervened before Kavanaugh could respond. https://t.co/IlArmECMFR pic.twitter.com/H5WSdRwrIj
— CNN (@CNN) September 4, 2018
And of course, any reasonable person is forced to admit that it’s very unlikely Kavanaugh had any idea who the man accosting him was. The video is just a pretense, an excuse for people to smear Kavanaugh’s character and convince the public he’s unfit for the bench. They don’t care about his character — including Guttenberg, who said he had gone to the hearing to stop Kavanaugh — they care that he was appointed by a Republican president.
They should stick to that line of attack; it’s much more honest.
