So. Here are my general (and less abbreviated than in the previous entry) thoughts about the Kavanaugh sitch:

I think if I had been Trump or even Kavanaugh, I would have withdrawn or declined the nomination early into this drama -- and had I been a Republican senator, I would have voiced my intent to vote against Kavanaugh's nomination in order to force one of those outcomes. This is not to say that I would have admitted to any certainty of Kavanaugh's guilt, and I would have said as much in voicing my intentions. My action would not have been about "punishing" Kavanaugh. But I do believe members of the highest court in the country should have (as best we can manage in this hyper-partisan environment) the confidence of the American people, and I'd argue that Kavanaugh -- perhaps especially now, given today's events -- has been irrevocably tarnished in that respect. A friend linked a great piece in The Atlantic that includes (and goes far beyond and explores in greater depth) the rationale I'd use to justify my decision.

At any rate, the above scenario didn't happen. The response to Dr. Ford's allegations from the Right -- despite the hesitancy to call Ford an outright liar and feigned sympathy for whatever trauma she might have endured -- has been fairly appalling in my view. And, per Lindsey Graham's outbursts today, I'm sure folks on the Right are incensed by what they perceive is a deeply unfair process that has maligned an upstanding individual who shares their values and is more than qualified to sit on the Court. This is a lose-lose scenario. I mean, I guess there is a potential "win" here for the Right, but that win requires spitting in the faces of women and destroying the Left's confidence in not only the impartiality of the Court, but the basic decency of the individuals therein. Bridge tatters, meet dynamite.

For the good of the nation, I'm hoping Kavanaugh isn't confirmed. Then Trump could pick a new nominee, and the Left will doubtless disagree with that nominee's politics and vote against that nominee's confirmation, but hopefully when that nominee was confirmed there would be no doubt as to whether that nominee has ever attempted to rape a woman. I don't see that happening -- I think Kavanaugh gets confirmed in spite of everything -- but fingers crossed.

So those are my thoughts about the Kavanaugh sitch. The main problem for me, though, is that this drama has me thinking less about Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford than about my own situation, and what the acceptance of uncorroborated allegations and 30-plus-year-old memories and polygraph test results (though I do believe Dr. Ford in this instance) means for me, personally. And I may write more about that in another post, but suffice it to say that it all makes me want to hurl myself into bed and bury myself beneath the covers and lie there like little Henry Lee till flesh drops from my bones.