The Democrats had a problem. A young conservative judge seems headed for confirmation to the Supreme Court, and nothing they did was working.

Not the screaming women who had be to evicted periodically from the hearings while shouting obscenities; not the thousands of people who called Susan Collins, told her to f--k herself, and said that they hoped that someone would rape her and her assistants; not the complaints of Gloria Steinem, who tied global warming to a dearth of abortions; not the assurance of the famed Biblical scholar Chelsea Clinton that Christianity was really about supporting abortion.

And don’t even think about all those red herrings, such as the baby and manger and creche. The time had come to break glass and break out the ultimate weapon, the one that had (almost) worked last time — the unproveable claim of abuse that had never been mentioned to anyone at the time it was said to have happened. (Such claims cannot be compared to those of women who did indeed tell others about the abuse they had suffered contemporaneously, such as Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick.)

This new Kavanaugh accusations was of course perfectly timed to have maximum impact. What’s not to like from the point of view of the accuser? If it works, you get to change history; if it doesn’t work, you live out your life as a martyr and heroine, revered as a goddess by silly young women, guaranteed a lifetime market for your appearances, speeches, and books.

And in case you think there was anything spontaneous about the time the accuser decided that she could in good conscience stay silent no longer, rest assured that it all had been planned for maximum impact, to coincide with demonstrations already planned to take place.

"Last week, you saw protesters interrupt the Kavanaugh hearings … organized by the Women’s March and the Center for Popular Democracy and other groups," the organizers emailed their followers. "They want YOU to show up on SEPTEMBER 20th when the Committee votes. Every night between now and the 20th there is a scheduled 8:30 pm phone call for you to hear about plans … [A]ll will meet at various entrances to the Hart Senate Office Building at 6 a.m. There will be opportunities to express yourself in the hearings and/or call on Senators who need some persuading. The organizers are asking for you to step up."

If anyone thinks the accuser happened to change her mind on the spur of the moment, there’s a bridge in Massachusetts that we might want to sell you. That's what Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., during the course of some long-ago fracas. It is applicable also today.

Do the Democrats keep a steady supply of female accusers, adjusted as to age, geography, and possible chance of having met the subject, ready and set to be called on as needed, depending on which nominee, from which part of the country, the Republicans happen to choose?

If they fail with Kavanaugh, will they try it again with the next male contender? if they succeed, surely they will try it over and over, until not a single male judge might be left.

Democrats lately have been naming women, and the Right ought to follow suit. From now on, all nominees ought to be female. Justice Amy Barrett has a ring to it.