The questioning of Brett Kavanaugh before the Judiciary Committee was painful to watch — and not just because he came across as an evasive, entitled, intemperate, partisan bully. The structure, tightly controlled by Sen. Grassley and giving each Party alternating five minutes, provided Republicans the ability to simply bloviate while Democrats were repeatedly interrupted by Kavanaugh’s self-aggrandizing filibustering. This was hardly a process designed to get at the truth. And the Democrats didn’t help themselves by lacking a well-coordinated attack. By design, the day’s second half successfully drowned out Dr. Ford’s powerful, wholly credible first half.
But now that it appears that there will be a week before a floor vote while the FBI conducts an investigation, the Democrats have an opportunity to reset the conversation in order to bolster Dr. Ford as well as Kavanaugh’s other accusers, and further undermine Kavanaugh’s credibility.
As a minority party they lack subpoena power and are not empowered to hold an official hearing. But they can do plenty that is unofficial. They can hold an extended press conference over the course of several days, bringing forward witnesses, including the other victims of Kavanaugh’s sexual assaults, former classmates who can describe his drinking and belligerence, others who can expose his lies about his high school yearbook, experts on trauma to corroborate Dr. Ford’s testimony and others. They can also present witnesses to flesh out his dissembling to the Committee about his activities while working in the Bush Administration.
It would be a missed opportunity for the Democrats to sit back and do nothing this week in the hope that the FBI conducts the kind of thorough investigation that will provide dispositive evidence sufficient to persuade Senators Flake, Collins and Murkowski to vote Kavanaugh down. They need to be aggressive, creative and change the narrative.
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