In the Aftermath

The considerably agitated dust will settle within hours. The insufficiently qualified Brett Kavanaugh will be voted into the Supreme Court.

Insufficient because, as his tirade indicated, he's just not ready to take on the impact of the cases he will be studying and deciding. He faced it, person to person, right there in the Senate Judiciary Committee's Q-and-A sessions. 

He lied, he obfuscated, he whined, he completely blew his cool. In terms of legal background, he has as many chops as anyone else. In terms of attitude and emotional steadiness, he has left too many questions unanswered--or, to be more accurate, with unacceptable answers.

He is, instead, an extension of a president who needs, demands and finds unacceptable anything that isn't exactly the way he has foreseen it. With his childish, obstinate tantrum and his wild-eyed insults, Kavanaugh echoes he who nominated him.

Here's a seat-of-the-pants analysis of those Kavanaugh left behind:

• 45: Another disgusting display of insults and humiliation of Christine Blasey Ford--but one that apparently fired up the base. Again. Give him this: He knows his people. He never lost control of the process--legally, procedurally, emotionally.
• McConnell: Tougher than he was previously thought. Undermining, the ultimate hypocrite, taking Democrats to task for their resistance to his resistance of process in 2016. His disgust is returned in kind.
• Grassley: The template for old, white men who have nearly burned out. His values and bluntness are perfect for his party, in addition to his attitude toward the Senate women, who, he says, are too afraid of the workload to be named to the Judiciary Committee. Women as lazy: Now there's a twist. His handling of Ford in the hearings can be characterized as either gentlemanly or deeply condescending, depending on your own derivation.
• Graham: The ultimate sycophant. He wants to be something in the 45 administration, so he cops the attitude of scorched earth with cookie-cutting, incessant, vituperate attacks. He demonstrated the maturity of a baby elephant. He has been faking something, either his friendship with the late John McCain (who would never put up with such behavior), or his prior objection to 45 himself. Feisty wouldn't be the word I'd use for his sudden explosions; hotheaded hysteria would be far closer to it.
• Hatch: Far past his prime, ignoring anything or anyone who doesn't meet his idea of support. It is past time for him to retire. His admiration and near adoration of 45 strikes me as odd, but perhaps he and/or Graham have been hiding their contempt for Democrats this long and, now that he need not ever truly answer for it, he can say what he pleases. But his previous statesmanship has been quickly forgotten with the pettiness he has displayed the last two years.
• Flake: We will never know whether he utilized the FBI investigation that he demanded, and got, as a true cooling-off period that didn't work, or to provide himself cover to vote Kavanaugh in anyhow. He is a man without a base. It has been rumored that he wants more. I have no idea how he will get it. He had a chance to leave a lasting mark on the process. It is now dust in the wind.
• Collins: Her angst in this process now wears thin. Her speculation--and that's all it is--that Kavanaugh will maintain Roe v. Wade as established law, and her insistence that Kavanaugh is actually more of a centrist than it has been reported, strikes me as either a colossal piece of naivete, especially considering the sophistication at which she should be now operating with this much time in the Senate, or a comment grounded in information and savvy that no one else has. We will soon see.
• Feinstein: The Democrats' botching of this opportunity begins with her. Her failure to get Ford to make up her mind--and then, to make it up for her by invoking a strangling timeline (I could be wrong here, and the full story is yet to be written, but that's how it looks right now), made everyone try to get on a train which the Republicans wouldn't, and needn't, slow down. Those that wish to buy time need to purchase it early, not late, if they don't have the power to make all else happen. Feinstein needed to be pro-active in tracking this down. Regardless of the efforts she undertook, it did not remove the too-little, too-late impression of being half-baked. She really looked helpless, and that's not the way for the ranking member to look.
• Klochubar: Her set-to with Kavanaugh on the issue of drunken blackouts, combined with her cool, calculating manner, impressed many. Rumors of a presidential run will now grow louder. They should. She should run (too), and if she wins, she should make Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris the next Supreme Court justice when a spot opens (and vice versa).
• Schumer: He couldn't possibly have shepherded all 49 Democrats to vote against Kavanaugh, what with the mid-terms threatening too many in red states. That he got all but one is to his credit. It was either bring in Pence to break the tie or watch it happen by itself. Is this process a tribute to a party used to herding cats unsuccessfully, or to the one where so many appear to be now in silent, submissive lockstep?
• Manchin: Without a Democratic takeover of the Senate after November--which appears now to be less likely--his vote for Kavanaugh will appear to be the self-preservative bailout of the decade. He's leading right now, and his Senate race isn't that close. He decided after Collins and Flake provided him with cover, too. That didn't look good, and even 45 Jr. noticed.
• Heitkamp: If there's a sacrificial lamb in all this, it will be her. Her position is much like that of Claire McCaskill in Missouri: Nearly impossible in a state with too many who slavishly follow 45's lies. I predict she will be back, though. She will come away with as much respect as anyone connected with this sad, sordid business.
• Ford: Diminished now as a confused, inadequate pawn. I believed her from the start, but the spotlight was too intense and the stakes way too high for her to get to the top of the hill with nothing more than her trustworthy, but unverifiable, word, even with a genuinely professional background to support it. If anything, her description of how Kavanaugh tried to remove her clothes lacked sufficient, if potentially prurient and even salacious, details. What do you mean he tried to take off your clothes? Where exactly did he put his hands? Did he actually get beneath that swimsuit? Did he touch your private parts? BUT--How do the Democrats accomplish that bit of detailed storytelling without making her look like an actual rape victim?
• Avenatti: He stopped by to pester but faded just as fast. He was a mere annoyance. To insert himself into the streetfight, he needed a weapon by which to take on top Republicans right in their front yard. He missed it, and Jon Cornyn's back-handed insults (referring to him as "Stormy Daniels' lawyer" without saying his name) resonated too well without adequate chances to answer. It was a side comment to a side issue. He'll have to do better if he's to gain notice as a competent challenger to 45's second term, for which he lusts endlessly.
• Kavanaugh: It is impossible to say how much this process has changed him. It should have. It should have thrown open the door of his privileged background and gotten his feet squarely back on the ground. Now, it's entirely possible that, even if he tries, he may not be able to shake off feelings of bitterness and vengeance. What goes around, comes around. He will have to live with those words, however admittedly uttered inappropriately, for his entire term--that is, most of the rest of his life. Bias already assumed has now been doubled down. Regardless of any effort to be fair-minded (as he claimed he would be in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that was obviously set up for him to play last-minute nicey-nice and which I don't believe for a moment), his back will be stabbed continuously. He had his chance to back away. Now he may change the country permanently, and potentially in reciprocity, either real or imagined. Nothing good can come of it for him. He will have to hide behind partisanship, instead of emerging as a healer or mediator, for him to get any traction on the Court--a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Nor can it be good for the country. There are no winners here, only losers, by degree and as future events will demonstrate. Like the dust-up with Merrick Garland, both sides will try unsuccessfully to gloss over the bitterness. But new events will bring them back--now doubly certain to explode into more and deeper shouting and repercussions.

Thought we were in trouble before? You were right. But now....

Be well. I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark