BRETT KAVANAUGH: The Surprise Ending. “Kavanaugh saved himself. The staggering turnabout in polls in different races in different parts of the country makes that clear. Privately, Republican campaigns report they have never seen a sleeping body politic jolt awake in this way. You don’t like the politics of it? For those otherwise sympathetic to Kavanaugh’s plight who think he took it too far, you simply have to understand that had he not done so, he would have been known forever as the gang rapist who lost his Supreme Court gig. And for those unsympathetic to his plight, for those who decided (even if they believed every word of Ford’s claims) to play this high-risk last-minute hand—you overplayed it. Your bluff was called. Brett Kavanaugh himself called it.”

The Democrats thought the threat of scandal would be enough to make Kavanaugh withdraw. They chose . . . poorly.