1. President Obama said often that sensible people can gather to devise solutions to our country’s most pressing problems. He said partisan interests, in the end, would give way to reason, the national interest and the common good. That’s what he said. 2. His problem: he believed it.

1. The Republicans aren’t alone. Democrats believe spin, too. To be sure, the numbers aren’t the same. While most Republicans really do believe their own nonsense, a small faction of Democrats tends to swallow baloney whole. 2. We can see this in the reaction to Joe Manchin’s vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. He was the lone Democrat to do so. Some say there’s nothing good in the party having a Republican-lite. Others have called for him to be purged.

1. Thread, quoting Jefferson to a friend, about SCOTUS: You seem in pages 84 and 148, to consider the judges as the ultimate, arbiters of all constitutional questions – a very dangerous doctrine indeed and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. 2. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is, ‘boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem’; and their power is the more dangerous

1. The Editorial Board’s mission is to cut through the noise by speaking plainly about politics. That mission is especially relevant now after so many spent so much time this weekend explaining why the Democrats lost the battle over Brett Kavanaugh. 2. Here’s a reality check. The Republicans had the advantage. They always had the advantage. There are 51 Republicans in the Senate. There are 49 Dems. The GOP needed a majority to confirm. They could have lost one Republican. The vice president would then have broken the tie.

1. Paul Campos says that if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, he and the other four conservative justices of the Supreme Court will have been appointed illegitimately. lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/10/kavana… 2. Clarence Thomas, he said, perjured himself. John Roberts and Samuel Alito were appointed by George W. Bush, who won the 2000 election thanks to the court. Bush did not win the popular or electoral vote. He won because a divided court told officials in FL to stop recounting.

1. So much ado about the so-called Kavanaugh effect. In brief, it’s fear among Democrats that the fight over the nominee is going to drive out Republicans next month, limiting their possible gains, especially in the Senate. Let me give it to you straight. 2. That’s baloney.

1. The FBI last night wrapped up its background investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The bureau remitted its report to the White House early today. From there, it went to the Senate. Each party is taking turns reading it. 2. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was the first to make a statement. No surprise, he said there’s nothing here we don’t already know. The implication was that Mitch McConnell’s plan to hold a vote tomorrow is a go.

1. President Donald Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford last night during a rally. In doing so, he made fun of all women who have experienced the trauma of sexual assault. 2. He also wrote a new chapter in the story of his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. In openly disdaining Ford, and invoking supporters to laugh at her pain, the president tried turning the midterms into a referendum on #MeToo.

1. I’ve been puzzling over why the Republicans are all-in for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. It’s not like there aren’t a dozen apparatchiks to choose from. 2. Why endure a week-long drip-drip of bad headlines in order to confirm him? Why not cut him off, tap a new nominee, and take advantage of renewed willingness to play ball? There’s still time, though not much. Why all-in for just one mook?

1. This week will be rife with push and pull. The Democrats want to see more. The Republicans want to see less. But let’s not lose sight of where we are heading. No matter how wide, or narrow, the investigation’s scope is, the Republicans are signalling it’s Kavanaugh or bust. 2. The Republicans seem prepared to overlook or ignore incriminating evidence in order to transform the United States Supreme Court for the next 30 years, even if that means losing the House and the Senate.

1. Pulitzer prize-winner Matthew Desmond poured ice water on the debate over universal basic income and a federal jobs guarantee. nytimes.com/2018/09/11/mag… 2. In a portrait of Vanessa (at right, above), a woman who cannot climb the social ladder no matter how hard she works, Desmond wrote that liberals have allowed conservatives to dominate the poverty debate so much they don’t defend anti-poverty measures that work. Instead,

1. I understand why Barack Obama chose to restore order after the 2008 financial crisis. But the former president’s natural instinct for caution came at a price. 2. His insistence not to seek “Old Testament justice” meant that many Americans channeled their justifiable rage against Wall Street and capitalism run amok in other ways.

1. Here at the Editorial Board, political analysis does not go down easy. It’s often downright bitter, and cold.

Today is no exception. 2. The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting to vote this afternoon on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. The full Senate will debate over the weekend. A vote goes to the floor Monday or Tuesday.

I'm kinda scared to say this, but one way of looking at today: It could have been worse. Kavanaugh could have been calm, cool and collected. Instead, he was a raving partisan loon who exposed himself and SCOTUS to decades of scrutiny. Before today, Dems could have accused Kavanaugh of being biased when court rules 5-4. Only Dems could take that seriously. BUT NOW, oh ho ho! Now, everyone can see he was on the warpath. Totally credible to allege 5-4 rulings are about REVENGE, not the Constitution.

1. All eyes are on the Senate, as Christine Blasey Ford testifies against Brett Kavanaugh. It’s hard to say what the reaction will be to her public allegation that he sexually assaulted her. But one thing, at least, is more certain: Kavanaugh is likely to be confirmed. 2. I don’t say this lightly. I don’t say this cynically. I say this in order to encourage all of us to face what’s really going on. This GOP is prepared to die on this hill despite an unpopular nominee, the risk of delegitimizing the Supreme Court, and losing women generally.

Another mini thread.
1. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is set to meet with the president Thursday even as Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s first accuser, is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is not an accident. 2. Trump is trying to split out attention between two pivotal events. It might work, but we should remember that these two stories are linked.

A mini thread.
1. I have been saying that Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation is likely. I still think that’s the case, though the odds are getting slimmer now that three women have come forward to credibly accuse the Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault. 2. There is another reason the odds are getting slimmer. Last week, Independent Gov. Bill Walker, of Alaska, came out against Kavanaugh, citing the judge’s antipathy toward Obamacare, especially the law’s provision banning pre-existing conditions.

Every time the Republicans appeal to a value higher than politics, the immediate answer is Merrick Garland. A thread. Graham: "We're not turning this into a trial."
Answer: Merrick Garland

1. The Editorial Board has been on the margins somewhat in talking about the looming crisis of legitimacy facing the United States Supreme Court. That appears to be changing. The political debate seems to be going national. (Yay!*) 2. In “The Supreme Court Is Coming Apart,” the Times’ @DLeonhardt wrote about three ways the court’s legitimacy can be protected and preserved. One is the easiest (though not easy): term limits of 18 years for each justice.

1. If he fires Rod Rosenstein, or accepts his resignation, Trump will have put him thumb on the scales of justice, thus mocking what has been called America’s civil religion: we are a country of laws, we believe, not a country in which might makes right. 2. This is happening while the Senate is still conducting hearings on the confirmation of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford.

A second woman has come forward. Deborah Ramirez wants the FBI to investigate a night she and Brett Kavanaugh were at a party at Yale. newyorker.com/news/news-desk… After Republicans learned Mayer and Farrow were investigating a second allegation against Kavanaugh, they tried to speed up the confirmation process.