In a rational world, back in July-August when Diane Feinstein first learned of Dr. Ford’s allegations, but her desire to remain anonymous, Feinstein would have walked over to Grassley’s office and told him that such-and-such allegations are there against Kavanaugh, from high school times, though the accuser wants to remain anonymous and she (Feinstein) is going to honor that.
The FBI background check of prospective nominees would then have focused on the high school and early college years of Kavanaugh, and from what we know today, would likely have found Ramirez. They might also have found out by themselves about Dr. Ford. At that point, in a rational world, Kavanaugh would quietly be nixed rather than be nominated. Unless someone malicious leaked it out, this would not have entered public consciousness.
Depending on how serious and corroborated with evidence the findings were, Kavanaugh might have also been quietly “encouraged” to resign his current judgeship.
This Feinstein’s “I did not tell anyone because the accuser wanted to remain anonymous” is, IMO, a sign of lack of Senatorial temperament and too much hyperpartisanship that characterizes today’s Senate. It is to me, a failure of the top of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That Dr. Ford was forced to go public against her own wishes because of a leak to the Intercept is also a failure, IMO.
The fact is that prior to Dr. Ford’s allegations going public, the pro-Kavanaugh and anti-Kavanaugh votes in the Senate were pretty much set, the only undecideds being perhaps three Republican Senators and a few red-state Democratic Senators.
IMO, the hyperpartisanship that would make the post-Ford-testimony investigations perfunctory was there way before Dr. Ford; and maybe this episode has made it only more apparent. But had Feinstein proceeded as I outlined above, and Kavanaugh still made it to the Supreme Court, then it would have even more clarified issues, and if Kavanaugh was stopped, we public would not know about it, but we would have had a better functioning Senate, and two party-system, instead of being at each other’s throats.
Please note, I am anti-Trump and anti-Kavanaugh even with zero Dr. Ford’s input.
