Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckF
You give them much more credit than I am willing to do. Collins especially. They are itching to confirm but need some figleaf to maintain the power that accompanies being perceived as a moderate in a closely divided Senate. Otherwise the party leaderships might not be so constantly solicitous. So FBI week it is.
|
I understand that they are
looking for a fig leaf. But they have to know there's at least
some non-zero chance that the result of investigating (or even just delaying) will be problematic. Certainly the rest of the GOP caucus was willing to consider that hearing to be good enough and declare that the whole thing was a sordid political smear job from the Democrats. They don't have to agree with the latter part, but they could declare that there wasn't substantive evidence, agree with Kavanaugh's lies that the other witnesses had "refuted" her claims and that presumption of innocence means Kavanaugh gets the benefit of the doubt, etc.
I think they're still expecting to be able to vote yes (and perhaps they are underestimating what could come out), but unless they're idiots they have to know there's more than a trivial risk to Kavanaugh.
Another calculation may be that while it increases the risk to Kavanaugh, if the investigation is inconclusive enough, the pressure on Manchin/Heitkamp/Donnelly/Jones* might mean they'll get to have a "bipartisan" vote confirming Kavanaugh. Which they may value beyond just the cover it gives their own votes...
*I don't think Jones will switch his vote, he made a stronger statement than Donnelly, but they might view him as potentially gettable.