During an eruption of indignant rage designed to blow up the questioning of Judge Brett Kavanaugh and turn the hearing Thursday into a partisan food fight, Lindsey Graham cited a letter from the American Bar Association. The organization had given Kavanaugh its highest rating going into his confirmation process, and Graham held this up as proof of his great character.

Here’s my understanding, if you lived a good life people would recognize it. Like the American Bar Association has, the gold standard.

Well, The Gold Standard seems to have changed its take on proceedings. The ABA sent a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein Friday morning following the two pieces of testimony yesterday, urging the committee to postpone the vote on whether to recommend Kavanaugh for confirmation so the FBI can look into Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegations:

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Incredibly, the committee plans to vote when it reconvenes today at 9:30 a.m. A "yes" vote will send Kavanaugh's nomination to a vote before the full Senate, possibly this weekend.

The Republicans in the majority refused to subpoena Mark Judge, whom Dr. Ford says was in the room when she alleges Kavanaugh attempted to rape her. In fact, they refused to call any witnesses apart from the accuser and the accused, yet repeatedly suggested during the hearings that they were "conducting the investigation here." That's some investigation, particularly considering Republicans spent the vast majority of their time during Kavanaugh's testimony commiserating with the nominee, yelling at their colleagues in an attempt to intimidate any wavering "yes" votes, and generally refusing to question the witness. This, after they'd discarded the seasoned sex-crimes prosecutor they'd hired to question both Kavanaugh and Ford.

But more to the point, Republicans have steadfastly refused to ask the White House to have the FBI re-open its background investigation into Kavanaugh, which would allow the Bureau to interview witnesses and compile evidence that might either exonerate Kavanaugh of these charges—of which he says he is completely innocent—or back Ford's story. The FBI could be an independent fact-finding actor in these proceedings, providing clarity and context. When Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, of sexual harassment in 1991, the George H. W. Bush White House asked the FBI to re-open its background investigation into him.

This would seem to be the bare minimum you would do if you were concerned about whether the allegations made against the nominee were true. But his allies are not concerned with any of that. Instead, they and Kavanaugh spent the hearing suggesting the FBI "doesn't reach a conclusion" on guilt when it does this kind of investigation. That's true, but that's not the point: the FBI could find more evidence to work with. That's why the ABA is calling for it.

But rather than heed the advice of The Gold Standard, Graham is now spelunking deep into the abyss this Friday morning:

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Lindsey Graham: “Ms. Ford has a problem and destroying Judge Kavanaugh’s life won’t fix her problem.” https://t.co/G4k74RSNQh via @TPM — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 28, 2018

This is appalling, particularly because it totally misunderstands—or purposefully mischaracterizes—why Dr. Ford chose to come forward. As at the hearing, Graham attempted to paint this as a smear job on Kavanaugh—as an attack on him, rather than someone coming forward to tell the truth about what he allegedly did to her. It is a refusal to acknowledge her story, instead turning it into an assault on that to which Kavanaugh is entitled, a violation of his birthright. This is the closest Graham has come to calling Ford a liar outright, though he spent his time Thursday hinting she was part of a Democratic Party plot against Kavanaugh—and, as a result, that she was either a liar or a dupe.

The tragedy is that Graham is partly right: coming forward will not "fix" Dr. Ford's "problem." She has carried what she believes Kavanaugh did to her since she was 15 years old, and she will carry it for the rest of her life. Her problem cannot be fixed. It's not clear what happened to Lindsey Graham over the last few months, as he has slid towards his new role as a full-on Trump apparatchik. He's come a long way from the passage he wrote in his book, which Senator Richard Blumenthal read at the hearing yesterday:

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Republicans, except for Grassley, are remaining mute throughout Ford's testimony.



So Senator Blumenthal quotes from Lindsey Graham's own book, to devastating effect. pic.twitter.com/qfC0Oz9N2f — Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 27, 2018

I learned how much unexpected courage from a deep and hidden place it takes for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailants.

This is a beautiful piece of writing, a remarkably honest and empathetic viewpoint. There'll be no more of that. The nominee must be pushed through. No matter that Kavanaugh is interviewing for a lifetime job on the nation's highest court, which might require a higher standard than They Couldn't Prove It and We Didn't Ask. No matter that his confirmation will likely tarnish the institution's credibility—and what's left of the Senate's credibility—for a generation or more. They're going to push him through, at 9:30 a.m. this Friday morning.



Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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