{Really angry, coke-addled snort-sniff}
1. I've been saying consistently that "Brett" will be confirmed, unless there is some intervening event. Yesterday was not that intervening event. There was nothing in the proceedings that would get through to Susan Collins.
2. What would it take to do so? Maybe a video of "Brett" committing a rape, while cackling about how he would make the woman carry the pregnancy to term after he struck down Roe v. Wade. Even then, the moron would probably say he was just joking about the Roe v. Wade part, so we shouldn't take it seriously. In fact, that must mean the whole thing is a fraud. What could get through to Collins? I can't imagine anything.
3. The bizarre spectacle of the interrupted pseudo-deposition from Mitchell interspersed with questions and comments from the Democrats showed what a ludicrous stunt it was to bring in a prosecutor to question Ford.
4. I made a series of comments berating Mitchell before even seeing what she had planned, but I think, after yesterday, she may actually have just been a dupe. It seems that they told her she would be questioning both Ford and Kavanaugh, and she was stupid enough to believe them. The GOP stopped letting her question "Brett" pretty quickly so that they could grandstand. She also didn't seem too fond of the process. What an idiot... If you are stupid enough to trust Chuck Grassley, on anything, you may not be a bad person, but you don't deserve a shred of respect.
5. "Brett." What a sneering, entitled, little douchebag. In other words, exactly the kind of guy who would commit multiple sexual assaults with way too much booze as a kid. He went full Trump. In most cases, I'd say, "never go full Trump." That's not how you win academy awards, but it is how you get the backing of the Republican Party. And that's why he'll be confirmed. Sneering, entitled little douchebag? Check. Rapist? Check. White boy? Check. This is the party of Donald Trump. They lap that shit up like it's shit and they've been told to lap it up by Donald Trump. Spines? Not so much with these people...
6. Also, "Brett" is a fuckin' liar. Before any of this came out, I was doing a series called, "Brett Kavanaugh, craven liar." He's a liar. I hate liars. He just kept repeating the same lie, over and over again, that the four letters refuted Ford's allegation. They did no such thing. They said they didn't remember the party. Very different, particularly for Keyser. If she wasn't raped, there would be no reason for her to remember it, and that's different from saying it never happened. "Brett" isn't stupid enough to fail to see the difference. That means he was lying. If you aren't a lawyer, or if you are just speaking casually as a layperson, fine. You get a pass on this. Not so for "Brett." Yes, this kind of thing matters, particularly when you are being nominated for ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE MOTHERFUCKING SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED FUCKING STATES. If you can't see the difference in this, which is legally important, you are too stupid for the job. If you can see the difference and pretend otherwise, you are a liar, and disqualify yourself by eliding the difference in sworn testimony. "Brett" is a craven liar.
7. DiFi. What would you have done with Ford's statement? She wanted it kept confidential. A case could be made that Feinstein mishandled it, and the GOP has a legitimate gripe about her, although it hardly follows from that that a rapist must be confirmed because DiFi mishandled Ford's request for confidentiality. One thing's got nothing to do with the other. Feinstein may have fucked up, but that says nothing about "Brett's" guilt or innocence, nor fitness for the Court. Prosecutorial misconduct can get an accused person acquitted, but this ain't no prosecution, boys and girls!
8. That little shit, Lindsey Graham. Was it just me, or did it look like he was auditioning to replace little Jeffy Sessions as AG once Trump fires him? Once upon a time, Graham acknowledged that Trump is a nut-job. He was a 2016 candidate, bullied by Trump. Once upon a time, he said that Trump would face hell if he fired Sessions. Now? Now, he is one of Trump's most obsequiously loyal little Trumpkins. Why? Bullying works, in the GOP. They love bullies, and they love getting bullied themselves. That's why they're all such spineless little shits, like Lindsey. That temper tantrum he threw yesterday? That was for Donny. Once upon a time, he tried to play the role of a bipartisan, reasonable type, going for the same (phony) image that McCain had. Now? Now, he's trying to out-Trump Trump. Why? Bullying works, and he wants something. This is how you get it in the GOP in the Trump era.
9. And for good measure, did he really accuse the Democrats of behaving unethically for trying to obstruct a Supreme Court nomination to hold it open in the hopes that they win an election?! Really, Lindsey?
10. Finally, where does this go? "Brett's" confirmation has seemed relatively clear all along, although I have built in uncertainty for things like some witnesses coming forward and saying they witnessed a rape itself. Short of something like that, though, getting through to Collins has never really been in the cards, and that means this has been mostly a done deal. What now?
"What goes around, comes around?" What do you think Republicans are going to do the next time there is a Democratic president and Senate? A Democratic president without the Senate won't be allowed to fill any court vacancies at any level. That isn't even a question at this point. The GOP right now is the party of Trump, Trumpian lies and Russian fake news. They are the party of "pizzagate." Do you think they would hesitate to construct, or at least embrace indisputably false rape accusations against Democratic nominees whose records are clearly clean? Be honest. You know they'll go pizzagate on whoever a Democrat picks. Not just the idiots who watch Fox. (That's the damned President right now!) The whole Senate delegation. Go back and watch Lindsey and tell me otherwise. Remember, he used to vie for the image of Mr. Bipartisanship. Now, he can't live without his rage-ahol.
What else? Court-packing. I've been saying it periodically, and it is time to say it again. It's coming, and for Democrats, it is the only strategic option, assuming anything resembling "democracy" makes it to a point at which they get that option. I don't take that as a given.