Democrats, on Brett Kavanaugh, trying to frighten future judicial picks

OPINION:

Democrats running for president, in cahoots with The New York Times, have managed to bring up Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s name in a negative light, calling for impeachment based on supposedly new accusations of sexual harassment that aren’t at all new, but in fact, already addressed, denied and dismissed.

But on this, as on so many things with the left, the truth doesn’t so much matter as the amount of damage that can be inflicted.

And with Kavanaugh, Democrats are looking long-term, reading political tea leaves about their chances for taking control of both the White House and Congress, and running with a backup plan that goes like this: Let’s scare away any future judicial picks the GOP might have opportunity to make. 

Think about it. If President Donald Trump nominated you to the U.S. Supreme Court — or to any high-ranking judicial office, for that matter — would you seize the moment and say yes? 

After watching the takedown of Kavanaugh, both Part One and now, the emerging Part Two, no doubt those who would have grabbed at that chance are now thinking twice. After all, nobody has a 100 percent clean and clear past.

Nobody has a closet that’s free of all skeletons.

So the question in today’s vicious political climate, brought to you courtesy of the Democrats, is whether or not you, as an otherwise esteemed member of the court system and community in which you live, could properly address all the skeletons that would be dragged, for all to see, from your closet. The question is whether you could suffer the absolute hate that would be unleashed during the nomination process. And not just at you. At your family, as well.

This is the giggling Democrats’ long-range plan; this is the message they’re sending with their baseless smears of Kavanaugh.

“The New York Times has finally admitted that the premise of its much-hyped story about an alleged incident with … Kavanaugh was false, as the alleged victim [of the alleged sexual harassment] says she has no recollection of the incident in-question,” The Federalist reported.

But not until the damage was done.

Not until Kavanaugh was raked, once again, over the coals for sexual harassment allegations he’s already addressed — already denied — and for which the country, minus the left, have already dismissed and decided unfounded.

Democrats running for the White House took to the national airways, post-New York Times report, to call for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.

To low-information voters everywhere, the past 24 hours of media circus generated by the skewed New York Times’ report has shown one thing, and one thing only: Kavanaugh is guilty. And he’s guilty enough to be impeached.

Whatever happens from here is shoulder-shrugging to Democrats because their mission has been accomplished, their messaging has gone out. Future judicial picks from the GOP have been set on notice. 

If Trump wins a second term, which at this point seems very likely, and if Trump gets an opportunity to nominate another Supreme Court justice, which again, at this point seems very likely, the picks he’d like to name may not, quite possibly would not, say yes.

The picks he’d like to name may say thanks, but no thanks, out of fear of being Kavanaughed.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.