Not the entire issue in this post (read it for the other reasons, too!) but I haven't seen anyone suggest my particular theory about why Kavanaugh did, in fact, go the full asshole. One reason is that he is one! That's obvious. It was an "act" he could manage. But I don't think it was for red meat for the base purposes. Even he has to realize that such a performance would follow him around for the rest of his career, and not really in a good way. Sure it's the fault of the libs that he was such an asshole - it always is the fault of the libs when we force conservatives to be assholes (back in the day we had a word for this I think involving something instapundit wrote along the lines of "it sure will be a shame when the liberals force us to kill them all.") But I'm not entirely sure being the Morton Downey Jr. of the Supreme Court is really the best thing for your lifelong reputation.
No I think he was told he had to impress one man or his nomination would be in jeopardy. That man was not Jeff Flake, but a man who understands the world through the logic (or illogic) of professional wrestling and who happens to be the president of the United States. He did it to impress Trump.
