When the history of the lasting damage done to American democracy over the past three decades is finally written, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, is going to have a leading role in the chronicles. (Except, perhaps, in Texas, where various Stalinist gomers and gomettes still hold sway over what young Gomer, Jr. will get out of his book larnin'.) McConnell will have earned this exalted place in the saga through his utter and completely shameless disregard for democratic norms and functions, as well as his utter and completely shameless disregard for, well, shame.

He rose in the Senate on Monday afternoon for his daily exercise in persiflage, touching on all the news of the moment. He came out firmly against hurricanes, floods, and opioid overdoses. Then he started in on the perils suddenly facing Judge Brett Kavanaugh and, somewhere in mountains of Greece, our old friend Clio, Muse of History—often referred to by her Marvel Superhero identity, The Proclaimer (!)—washed down half a bottle of Klonopin with three deep swigs of cheap local ouzo.

This is what McConnell told the Senate, via C-SPAN:

IT'S BEEN 70 DAYS, 70 DAYS SINCE THE PRESIDENT NOMINATED JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH TO FILL THE CURRENT VACANCY ON THE SUPREME COURT. FOR MORE THAN TWO MONTHS, THE SENATE HAS PORED OVER JUDGE KAVANAUGH's PROFESSIONAL RECORD. WE HAVE REVIEWED THE 300-PLUS OPINIONS HE HAS AUTHORED WHILE SERVING ON THE D.C. CIRCUIT. MORE PAGES OF DOCUMENTS THAN HAVE EVER BEEN PRODUCED FOR A SUPREME COURT NOMINATION, MORE THAN FOR THE FIVE PAST NOMINATIONS COMBINED.

See? Right there, ol' Mitch is in trouble with the truth. The "past five nominations" include that of Judge Merrick Garland, whose opinions the Senate declined to pore over and review, because Mitch McConnell decided that Merrick Garland would be disappeared as far as the Senate was concerned.

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Keep that in mind as Mitch rambles on.

WE HAVE ALSO CONSIDERED A WEALTH OF EVIDENCE THAT PERTAINS TO JUDGE KAVANAUGH'S CHARACTER AND HIS PERSONAL INTEGRITY. WE HAVE HEARD TESTIMONY OR RECEIVED OPEN LETTERS FROM LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO KNOW JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH, WHO HAVE WORKED ALONGSIDE HIM OR CLERKED FOR HIM AS A JUDGE OR WHO HAVE KNOWN HIM AND HIS FAMILY PERSONALLY OVER THE YEARS. THIS IS WHAT THE SENATE HAS CONSIDERED FOR THE PAST 70 DAYS. IN THE SENATE, AND AROUND THE COUNTRY, ALMOST EVERYONE WHO WENT INTO THIS PROCESS WITH AN OPEN MIND WHO WAS PREPARED TO GIVE JUDGE KAVANAUGH A FAIR HEARING HAS COME AWAY IMPRESSED.

"Almost" is laboring in a salt mine in that last sentence, as the events of the past several days have shown.

BUT NOW, NOW AN ACCUSATION OF 36-YEAR-OLD MISCONDUCT DATING BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL HAS BEEN BROUGHT FORWARD AT THE LAST MINUTE IN AN IRREGULAR MANNER.

This is what will make Mitch McConnell immortal among the people most responsible for the demise of the American republic. That sentence, right there. To have the audacity, if you're Mitch McConnell, and while Merrick Garland still lives, to talk about anything being in "an irregular manner" regarding a Supreme Court nominee is the legislative equivalent of the famous legal definition of "chutzpah."

Chip Somodevilla Getty Images

And, in addition, as the elimination of Merrick Garland's nomination further showed, there's no "last minute" in the confirmation process. There's no clock on it, except the one in Mitch McConnell's head, the clock that's telling him to drop this guy onto the bench before the Court sits again in October, and before a possible Republican bloodbath in the November midterm elections. (Theoretically, McConnell even could shut this whole thing down and confirm Kavanaugh in a lame-duck session after the election. But, I suspect, that's a risk even he wouldn't take.)

Also, too, the fact that this alleged assault happened while Kavanaugh and his victim were in high school is completely irrelevant.

IT IS AN ACCUSATION WHICH THE RANKING MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF JURISDICTION HAS KNOWN ABOUT FOR AT LEAST SIX WEEKS, KNOWN ABOUT FOR SIX WEEKS, YET CHOSE TO KEEP SECRET UNTIL THE 11th HOUR.

There is no "11th hour," except in McConnell's desire to grease this nomination through. I have searched high and low in the Constitution and found no provision that mentions "making Mitch McConnell's life easier."

THEY DID NOT RAISE IT EVEN WITH THE NAME REDACTED IN FOUR DAYS OF EXHAUSTIVE PUBLIC HEARINGS WHILE JUDGE KAVANAUGH TESTIFIED UNDER OATH. EVEN THOUGH THEY CHOSE TO RAISE MYRIAD OTHER MATTERS AT THE HEARING, INCLUDING SOMETIMES BIZARRE INNUENDO.

Here, "bizarre innuendo" refers to the stonewalling efforts of Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, and of the current administration*, which required Democratic members of the committee to refer obliquely to the contents of various "committee/confidential" documents, a designation that has nothing to do with "regular order" at all.

He goes on to refer to the fictitious "11th hour" a few more times, and also to pretend that nobody on the Republican side—not even the elves who put together the 65-woman overnight rapid response letter—knew anything about this until the letter "leaked" to the media. But, mostly, he's very offended that the orderly process of confirming a Supreme Court justice is being disrupted this way. That is not how the Senate works, by gum. Not, of course, unless Mitch McConnell, constitutional vandal, wants it to work that way.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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