I remember, in the second phase of the Kavanaugh nomination fight, the zeal that developed among Democrats for calling additional witnesses or having an FBI investigation. The idea was some new information would shake loose in such a process and potentially move more votes.
It felt like real progress when Jeff Flake bucked the Judiciary Cmte majority and insisted on an FBI investigation. But Flake didn’t close the deal. The new FBI process McConnell offered and Flake acquiesced to was so tightly constrained it couldn’t find sand on Bethany Beach.
It’s a lesson worth remembering in Democrats’ current process struggle, I think. They don’t just need 3-4 Republican defectors, they need those defectors to be committed to making it count.
Any coalition demanding witnesses and evidence will almost surely have fight for the new process to be broad, real, and open enough to have a chance to work. Based on the Kavanaugh experience, it’s unlikely that will be McConnell’s first offer.
I also remember thinking that the Kavanaugh story would come out one way or another pretty soon—that someone would get Mark Judge on the record, his finances would leak, or the FOIA suits would open up revealing docs. It’s sobering how many of those secrets are still being kept.
