Maher blasts Dems for reviving Kavanaugh battle: 'What were you like at 17?!?'
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"Real Time" host Bill Maher took aim at Democrats on Friday night for their renewed opposition toward Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, telling them that "going after a guy for what he did in high school" looks bad.
Maher began the show's panel-discussion segment by citing the "Kavanaugh effect" and the implication that four vulnerable Democrats lost their U.S. Senate seats in 2018 because of their opposition to the then-Supreme Court nominee -- noting that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who backed President Trump's appointment of Kavanaugh, was the only red-state Democrat to keep his job.
"People did not like going after a guy for what he did in high school," Maher said. "It looked bad -- and now Democrats are talking about impeaching him again?"
NYT REPORTERS CLAIMED KAVANAUGH AGREED TO BE INTERVIEWED 'IF THEY WROTE THAT THEY DIDN'T TALK TO HIM
"People did not like going after a guy for what he did in high school. It looked bad -- and now Democrats are talking about impeaching him again?"
— Bill Maher
CNN commentator Tim Naftali -- the historian and former director of the Nixon Library in California -- defended the Democrats' opposition to Kavanaugh, suggesting if there was a "dark cloud" above the justice, it should be pursued.
"From high school?" Maher reacted.
MSNBC analyst Heather McGhee sided with Naftali, stressing that the controversy is about Kavanaugh's "character."
But Maher doubled down.
"So you're saying at 17, you have to have your fully-formed character," Maher exclaimed. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg said glowing things about him. I think he's an a------. I think he shouldn't be on the Supreme Court."
"Sometimes you have to do a fight even if you can't win," Naftali said.
"But what were you like at 17?!" Maher shot back. "I'm just telling you what the politics is... People don't think you should go back to age 17. It just strikes them as preposterous and by the way, it's counterproductive for Democrats winning."
"People don't think you should go back to age 17. It just strikes them as preposterous."
— Bill Maher
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Last week, The New York Times walked back an explosive report about a resurfaced allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh from his college days. The piece by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly was adapted from their forthcoming book, "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation," and alleged that there was corroboration of an incident in which Kavanaugh, as a college student at Yale, exposed himself to a female classmate at a party.
But the Times was forced to issue an update that included the significant detail that several friends of the alleged victim said she did not recall the purported sexual assault. The newspaper also stated for the first time that the alleged victim refused to be interviewed, and has made no other comment about the episode.
Several Democratic lawmakers have called for Kavanaugh's impeachment, including 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.