They debase our public discourse

They’re being all self-righteous about it.

Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, facing mounting allegations of sexual impropriety and growing doubts over his confirmation to the Supreme Court, vowed on Monday to fight the “smears,” saying he will not withdraw his nomination.

“These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our public discourse,” he wrote in a letter to the senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service.”

They debase our public discourse, says the guy who wanted to ask Clinton if he’d stuck a cigar into Lewinski.

“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process,” he continued. “The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed.”

But what if the allegations are true?

McConnell and the gang are joining in.

“I want to make it perfectly clear, Mr. President: Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor,” Mr. McConnell said, addressing the Senate’s presiding officer and leaving no room to pressure the nominee to withdraw. “Up or down. On the Senate floor, this fine nominee to the Supreme Court will receive a vote in this Senate in the near future.”

Not such a “fine” nominee if the allegations are true, is he.

And in an extraordinary public relations push, Judge Kavanaugh is set to make his first televised remarks about the allegations in an appearance on Fox News on Monday night that airs at 7 p.m. He and his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, taped the interview on Monday afternoon with the anchor Martha MacCallum, during which, the network said, the judge addressed the accusations and described the effects of those claims on his family.

Fox News for god’s sake.

It is a remarkable step for a Supreme Court nominee to submit to a television interview before a confirmation vote, and Judge Kavanaugh’s team chose a network that features ardent right-wing commentators.

And that’s putting it politely.

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