DOUG THOMPSON: A needless spectacle

Kavanaugh turns in unnecessarily shameful performance

The bitter fight over Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court probably ends today as it was always going to, with confirmation. His fans will congratulate themselves on winning a fight they were never going to lose.

Kavanaugh will spend the rest of his working life in a marble building in which cameras are not allowed, leaving behind the first and last impression most of the world will ever have of him: a ranting hothead who likes beer.

Even if the 36-year-old sexual assault he had been accused of had happened yesterday, proving it would have been difficult. There were no bruises or other physical evidence, apparently. And that was the most credible allegation. So, in light of the minuscule risk, one can only wonder what the nominee was thinking when he responded like this on Thursday of last week in front of a Senate committee:

"This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups."

I am a political writer in Arkansas. Arkansas is a thoroughly conservative state, but we have some passionate liberals, too. I get emails from angry people quite a bit. I have received emails insisting then-president Barack Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya, typed in all-caps, that sounded more reasonable than Kavanaugh's fuming. I have also received emails about how Sen. Bernie Sanders was robbed of the Democratic presidential nomination that seemed calm by comparison.

His accuser said Kavanaugh was drunk at the time. The nominee drank a lot in college, we have since learned, though few of us wanted to. Yet Kavanaugh downplayed his drinking to the committee, sometimes inexplicably.

Since that testimony under oath, people including his college roommate note how the nominee's heavy drinking was no secret. Then, to the surprise of no one, a letter surfaced in which the young Kavanaugh described himself and his buddies as "loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us."

When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid, as many a man has said. Here is what Kavanaugh should have told the committee: "I was young. I was stupid. I drank too much. But I never tried to rape anyone. I never drank to the point that I could not remember what happened. There are no lost hours of my life."

If that was true, good. If that was false, well, it would have been a better lie than the ones he told. No one could refute it.

I do not care how much beer Kavanaugh drank in college. I also do not care a great deal about raunchy, embarrassing things in his yearbooks. I do care about people going to the Supreme Court after spouting conspiracy theories and, to put it mildly, being less than candid while under oath.

Pointing out he lied about his drinking "moves the goalposts," Kavanaugh's defenders say. I cannot speak for everyone, but not lying while under oath has been a goalpost of mine for as long as I can remember. Not spouting angry, irresponsible and paranoid "vast right-wing (or left-wing) conspiracy" theories is another.

This just in: In public life there are often more than one set of goalposts. Besides, this is much more of an "out of bounds" problem than a "moving goalpost" problem. Kavanaugh clearly went out of bounds while running for the end zone. That matters, or rather it should have, but the referees are on his side.

Kavanaugh supporters claim his angry rant was justified because of the loathsomeness of what he was accused of doing. OK. I can see being infuriated at such an accusation when it came out. But the most credible allegation was 10 days old by the time of his committee testimony. Kavanaugh had time -- and reason -- to compose himself.

I do not believe for one second that Kavanaugh lost his temper and could not find it for a week and a half. His performance before the Senate committee and the cameras was political theatrics at their worst: Confirm me or you will be portrayed as suckers in a Democratic smear job. He committed calculated, scripted, televised political blackmail.

He never needed to. He did it anyway.

Commentary on 10/06/2018

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