I finally got around to seeing video of the Kavanaugh hearing in detail rather than just clips and recaps... as well as the commentary surrounding it. It was honestly even more of a circus than I was expecting, and that is saying a lot.
Just damn. Everything about that guy was weirdly inappropriate. From his tone to his outbursts to his frankly disturbing over-exaggerated expressions and tics when he's not in his resting Martin Shkreli level douche-face. Really, that snotty "all of this and all of you are beneath me, stop wasting my time and give me what I am due" look on his face was impressively grating. Also every time he turned on the waterworks his tongue started shooting everywhere like it was trying to escape his mouth. I have a sneaking suspicion he gets cleaned out every time he plays poker.
There were a lot of people accusing Christine Blasey Ford of fake crying because her voice trembled at points but how the hell could they look at the freaking mess that was Brett Kavanaugh and call it genuine? Now I know a lot of people have pretty strange reactions to stress but none of the emotions he displayed really seemed to match the subject. Crying about workouts, talking like his dad was dead when he was sitting right behind him, laughing about harassment until the subject turned to the FBI at which point he started crying, sounding annoyed when talking about a friend that went through multiple addictions and recovery before contracting leukemia because Kavanaugh's name was used in a book he wrote that did not paint the most flattering picture of their school days. Despite relying on written testimony from that same friend for his defense (and freaking right out at the suggestion of having him appear before the senate directly) he seemed to go out of his way to mention as many things as possible that would make anyone listening doubt the reliability of his memory for that time period. Drugs, alcohol, emotional distress... none of which Brett sounded particularly broken up about. Then his drinking comes up and he goes into complete defense mode (which was the one point I actually felt sorry for him despite his acting like a prick) and he starts lying about things he wrote in his yearbook which is perjury.
Now I'm of a mind to wait for hard evidence in any case before making a conclusion even when I'm inclined to believe one side over the other based on testimony alone but nothing Brett Kavanaugh says or does makes me think there's a remote chance he's innocent. He is immensely resistant to anything that could actually exonerate him and as a judge he should know quite well not only the burden of proof but just how stacked against the victim that burden is when the charge is specifically rape. But regardless of guilt he's shown nothing but contempt for the entire process thus far and that is completely disqualifying for a judge. A judge who undermines procedure isn't fit to present a ribbon to the fattest pig, let alone interpret laws that affect millions in the highest court of the land. The politicians closing ranks around him trying to use the loss of reputation and trial by public opinion as their cover for trying to make the investigation go away should also know damned well what they're doing would only hurt his reputation even more. They already spin a lack of corroboration as being "denials" and more of that would only benefit them while humiliating their opponents who they can continue to press as petty by spinning the narrative that the real focus is something asinine like college drinking which they will of course minimize to sound like they believe the Democratic party is claiming that a single beer disqualifies someone from the supreme court which their base will slurp up and clap like really slow seals upon hearing. The only reason not to do that is if they also think their boy's guilty and don't think the loss of reputation hurts him as much as their attempts to garner sympathy try to trick people into believing.
In the interests of fairness I do have to admit Kavanaugh's supporters have exactly one valid point: The Democratic Party is using Christine Ford's tragedy as a political tool. All claims of manufacturing her story or that Ford herself is motivated politically are patently bullshit but they are shamelessly using her. They're not invested in justice for her any more than the Republican party is invested in justice generally and they do want the hearing to drag out. But dirty politics do nothing to diminish that justice must be served and the integrity of the law itself demands this be seen through to the end because the Republican response is undermining that integrity, betraying that this was always their intention. The sad thing is being used as a political tool might be the only way for this to have even the slimmest chance of happening. It might be for the best that Republicans are going all in on Kavanaugh, because if they did the smart thing and just dumped him for another candidate the Democrats would probably abandon Ford entirely losing her shot at justice and the terrifying example to the public just how far Republicans are willing to go to tear down all limitations on their power as they present themselves as the exemplars of everything they subvert.