Jeff Flake: Hero of the Republican Party

Until the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford were made public, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was proceeding as usual. Democrats, having decided to be terrified of any nominee of Donald Trump, were nearly unanimous in opposition from before the nomination was announced. Republicans were nearly unanimous in support. A couple of Democrats from states that supported Trump might have voted for Kavanaugh, and a couple of Republicans who support abortion might have considered voting against him; but the clear expectation was that he would be confirmed by the Senate.



Dr. Blasey Ford's charge changed all that. The charge could not simply be ignored: she had to be given at least an opportunity to testify. As discussions dragged on, it seemed reasonable to believe (and still does) that Democrats were engaged in delaying tactics, especially since it gave time for people to emerge with less plausible allegations. If Dr. Blasey Ford hadn't finally agreed to testify, the Judiciary Committee couldn't have been blamed for proceeding. Once she gave her testimony, the call to reopen the FBI investigation became very plausible despite the Republicans' claims that it would be inconclusive, and therefore useless.



Even if further investigation would be useless, refusing to do it would have given the Democrats a powerful campaign issue against Republicans in November. Whether Jeff Flake saw the matter in political terms or just as a question of satisfying himself that he had the information he needed — and I believe he was doing it for personal reasons, not for partisan political ones — the decision to call for the FBI to investigate in fact took a powerful weapon out of the Democrats' hands, and probably thereby saved tens of thousands of votes for Republican candidates, possibly enough to allow the GOP to keep control of one or both houses of Congress.



The only thing that could change this dynamic is if the investigation is inadequate. It will be no surprise if the Democrats try to make the argument that more investigation (and thus more time) is needed. But if Senator Flake is satisfied and gives a good explanation of why he is, that should be good enough for those who, like him, have been undecided.