Today, Senator Susan Collins gave an excellent speech on the Senate floor, carefully analyzing Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record and criticizing the efforts to smear his character. When she finished speaking, Senator Lamar Alexander immediately took the floor to praise her speech.

The entire speech is well worth watching, but here are some key excerpts:

The long drawn out saga of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court is finally winding down with the voting process expected to start tomorrow.  As a closing statement, tonight he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal tonight describing why he was so emotional during the hearing last week:

After all those meetings and after my initial hearing concluded, I was subjected to wrongful and sometimes vicious allegations. My time in high school and college, more than 30 years ago, has been ridiculously distorted. My wife and daughters have faced vile and violent threats.

Against that backdrop, I testified before the Judiciary Committee last Thursday to defend my family, my good name and my lifetime of public service. My hearing testimony was forceful and passionate. That is because I forcefully and passionately denied the allegation against me. At times, my testimony—both in my opening statement and in response to questions—reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused, without corroboration, of horrible conduct completely contrary to my record and character. My statement and answers also reflected my deep distress at the unfairness of how this allegation has been handled. . . . I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters.

Just when you thought it could not get anymore ridiculous or the smears any worse, Senator Dick Durbin takes off on a new tact.  Knowing FBI reports are confidential, he tweeted:

This tweet is not accurate. Committee Republicans must correct it. See our letter here: https://t.co/trJ9ymDjee https://t.co/cCVpAwCzEI

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) October 3, 2018

Now think about this. Through multiple confirmation hearings (including for the DC Circuit), Durbin never brought this up.  Neither did any other Senator.  Yet now there is an issue in those past 6 FBI reports?  This is a classic, like the “there is a problem with Mitt Romney’s taxes” tactic used by Harry Reid. Reid famously said that when there was nothing there.  Yet the media reported Reid's charge breathlessly. 

Fortunately the Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Chuck Grassley fought back:  

Nothing in the tweet is inaccurate or misleading. The committee stands by its statement, which is completely truthful. More baseless innuendo and more false smears from Senate Democrats. https://t.co/x7VUEKnFRV

— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 3, 2018

While Saturday Night Live and the biased media are offering one sort of portrayal of what is going on regarding the Kavanaugh nomination, the facts and reality are different.  Here are some highlights with links if you want to go more in depth.

Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor hired by the Senate Judiciary Committee notes:

"In the legal context, here is my bottom line: A 'he said, she said' case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that," she wrote. "Dr. Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them. For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard."

Today, RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen wrote in The Daily Caller about how Senator Dianne Feinstein has harmed the Senate, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and Judge Brett Kavanaugh through the politically calculating way she handled the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Judge Kavanaugh.

Today's continuation of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh was a long, heart-wrenching day of testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh.  Both described how their families have faced threats and harassment since Dr. Ford's accusations were made public 10 days ago.  

Judge Kavanaugh gave compelling testimony, with specific and detailed recollection. His testimony is corroborated by multiple other statements and evidence. The Democrats’ disgraceful smear campaign of character assassination must come to an end. It’s time for the Senate to vote.

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) September 27, 2018

Here are some of the remarkable moments from the day:

RNLA Vice President for Communications Harmeet Dhillon wrote today's blog post.

Back in July, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer promised to oppose Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court with “everything I’ve got.” Then in the confirmation hearings earlier this month, Judge Kavanaugh’s competence, intelligence, diligence, and character shone. 

At Kavanaugh’s hearing, the Democrats looked foolish. Senator Cory Booker had his self-identified “Spartacus” moment where he claimed to release confidential information when it was not confidential (and proved Kavanaugh agreed with him on civil rights).  Senator Kamala Harris teased a smoking gun that somehow Kavanaugh was connected to a law firm that represents President Trump personally, only to come up empty.  Senator Schumer used an obscure procedural motion to shut down the Senate for a day, only to have the hearing go ahead and the full Senate confirm eight lower court judges with less debate.    

The far left was furious at Schumer’s failure and the belly-flops by Democrat senators on Judiciary. The Schumer-led Senate Democrats turned to trying to score political hits based on unsubstantiated allegations that attempt to viciously destroy a good man’s character, and forever tar him and his family with these defamatory claims. 

Thomas Jipping reminds us that the smears against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, while reprehensible, are just the latest of the inconsistent, partisan means by which Democrats have evaluated judicial nominees:

Partisan double standards, ignoring what really matters, smears, turning basic notions of fairness on their head — that is what it means to use “whatever means necessary.” Schumer is keeping his promise of opposing Kavanaugh with everything he has. It won’t be enough.

Led by Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley Republican Senators have patiently listened and investigated the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.  The results at every turn back Judge Kavanaugh and it can be considered telling that the only person not to provide a statement to the committee (which are subject to criminal penalties for perjury) is Dr. Ford.  That has made Democrats more desperate in their smear campaign against Judge Kavanaugh. 

Now other Senators have gotten into this fight to stop the effort to smear a great man and Judge.  Let’s start with Leader Mitch McConnell's speech today:

Democrats have signaled for months they’d put on whatever performance the far-left special interests demanded and throw all the mud they could manufacture. Well, it’s not like they didn’t warn us. But even by the far left’s standards, this shameful smear campaign has hit a new low. I’ll get into the specifics in just a moment. But I want to be perfectly clear about what has taken place.

An allegation is not self-proving. That is why it is called an allegation.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 21, 2018

Part of proving or disproving an allegation is the accused's right to respond to an allegation. There is a long precedent in the United States and society in general for thousands of years that the accuser must go first.  The accused gets a chance to respond.  Yet the lawyers for Dr. Ford said:  

Kavanaugh must testify first, before Ford. This, according to congressional aides, is a non-starter. It's not how the committee works, and given Kavanaugh would need to respond to Ford's testimony, will not occur.