The Democrats Destroyed Themselves, Not Kavanaugh [OPINION]

It looks like Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, and the Democrats will lose seats in the U.S. Senate.

I wrote a few months ago that the Democrat Party had a path to taking control of the Senate, but it required them to play fair with Judge Kavanaugh. Ironically, they had to lose to win.

The Democrats have an unfortunate situation that has nothing to do with them; it is just the map and the calendar. They have too many senators up for re-election in states that voted for Donald Trump for president just two years ago. The Republicans have a lucky situation because they don’t really have too much to worry about senators up for re-election in states that voted for Hillary in 2016. Nobody deserves credit or blame for the map or the calendar; it just is what it is this year.

However, the Senate Democrats decided to ignore the political realities of the map and the calendar and they have come up more than empty. The Democrat Party is in worse shape than it was before the nomination of Kavanaugh.

The best play for the Democrats in the Senate was to ignore the wild and impossible-to-satisfy wing of their party, and let Judge Kavanaugh cruise through to a victory in Judiciary Committee and the full Senate. They should have stayed above board and questioned him on his judicial philosophy and his political work as a conservative activist and a member of the George W. Bush Administration. They were on solid ground on matters concerning his opinions and professional actions.

Obviously, they didn’t decide to do that.

Instead, they attempted to destroy a man and his family in an attempt to drive him out of the process.

This wasn’t actually about helping a woman, Christine Blasey Ford, PhD get to the truth about an allegation of sexual assault or giving the judge an opportunity to defend himself. If the Democrats actually wanted to get to the truth and protect the alleged victim, they would have brought out the charge during the formal process and possibly behind closed doors. This wasn’t about the victims of sexual assault at all. This was about taking an impossible to prove allegation from the early 1980’s and springing it in public to destroy a good man and keep him from getting on the court.

But the dirty plan of Democrats failed, and it failed miserably. The GOP nominee will be confirmed. The base of the Republican Party is angry and motivated to vote in November. And the Democrats will lose seats in the Senate, and President Trump will continue to stack the federal bench for two more years.

So much for the “blue wave” of Democrats sweeping into power in the Senate.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.