(1)  The political game is weird.  You watch and formulate opinions, not necessarily straight forward or free of conflict, but also have to end up with an eye toward how things will be seen by the public or a segment of the public, and throw in a “theater review” portion, and the strange effects where one is defined into one of two (or perhaps three) spots from the get go.

(The good news for me is that ad sense has decided that I am alternatingly a Republican and a Democrat.  So comes all of those Republican Congressional Committee “click here if you hate the mainstream media” and all those Senator Harris “STOP KAVANAUGH” ads.)

(2)  Under that rubric, we knew that today would be a public relations debacle of one sort or the other for the Republicans.  Because the witness, Blasey Ford, is human after all.  But be that as it may…

(3) Take on step away from your politics, and never mind the reason (don’t want the batch of old white guys to be seen kicking about this vulnerable not wanting spotlight woman where every “dear” will be viewed as a slight), putting in that sex crime prosecutor is… good.  As good as we’re going to get for the “search for the truth” concern in this environment.  As it plays out here, the five minute increments of slow testimony allows for some cohesion in getting some facts out of this, as opposed to how the Democrats spend it in throwing up speeches.  Whether or not this gave any headlines, there’s at least some minutiae to look at here.  [Nit-pick situational fear of flying, and also it’s evident we’re trying to get at something of when this gets politicized.]

(4) That being said, they were wise to drop her in the Kavanaugh portion… even though they probably were planning on having her move forward with these forensics.

(5)  Memo to Lindsey Graham regarding how “we’re supposed to have you as Bill Cosby in high school”… despite years of exemplary service following:  Um… Bill Cosby got away with it for decades, in part because of his public persona of exemplary character.  Not the best example.
Also noted:  Graham has adopted the John McCain tic of using the “my friend” refrain.

(6)  On Kavanaugh’s temperament: damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.  Personally, I want to side-step making issues of this double-bind.

(7) That being said, he loses me completely when he tasks this as being “revenge on behalf of the Clintons”.  Notably I’m not faulting him for placing it with something of a left-wing plot, but specifically citing the Clintons.  Still fighting his battles as a charter member of the Clinton era Right Wing Conspiracy.  Not good.

(8)  I like how Cory Booker, in his damnedably grand-standing content less speech for the Ford testimony, praises Jeff Flake and that even handed to the point of irritating everyone speech he made yesterday.  The Democrats need two Republicans to join them with any “no” vote, and he’s one of three who might cross over… so gotta butter him up, I suppose.

(9)  I single out Ben Sasse as the one who got to the bottom line question on behalf of the Republican side, devoid of all the irritating histrionics.

(10)  Memo to Ted Cruz, on “one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the United States Senate”.  Sure.  Except for the nineteenth century’s constant upholding of Slavery or Indian extermination.
Also noted, the politically minded misdirection of bringing up the other two allegations (and, I suppose fourth) — playing the Democrats’ punting of them as evidence or proof.

(11)  Jeff Flake again pisses everyone off with his one minute call for civility when everyone votes whatever way they vote.  THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD.

(12)  At the 5:25 mark here, Here’s a moment, under questioning by Sen. Klobuchar, that demonstrates Kavenaugh’s character, and his contempt for women.  Oh, I don’t know.  I think with the same line of questioning, Kavanaugh would have exploded about the same with a Senator Durbin, or whomever.

(13)  Let’s everyone now talk about what our attitudes toward flatulence was during our teen years.
… Noted, and understand I’m not much a fan of Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh and see plenty to disparage in his testimony, but assessing with perfection the definitions of various widely accepted but sometimes varied teen slang terms is asking for trouble.

As a whole, I liked Christine Blasey Ford (*), Senator Ben Sasse, and Senator Jeff Flake (**), and at least understood Katherine Mitchell.  Everyone else here sucks.

(*) Understanding “in a court of law” determination… we do have the problem of reliving recovered memory, that once a detail gets in there it is fixed… hence 100 percent.

And… funny, though, the term “her truth”… or “his truth”… or on.  As opposed to a “the truth”.  But Cory Booker has his quip.

(**) My one problem with his “good people on both sides” is I’m more of the “charlatans everywhere I look” school.

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