I just came upon this passage in Bob Woodward's latest book, "Fear":

"Trump gave some private advice to a friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women. Real power is fear. It’s all about strength. Never show weakness. You’ve always got to be strong. Don’t be bullied. There is no choice.
“You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women,” he said. “If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you’re dead. That was a big mistake you made. You didn’t come out guns blazing and just challenge them. You showed weakness. You’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to be aggressive. You’ve got to push back hard. You’ve got to deny anything that’s said about you. Never admit.”

I watched the hearings yesterday with fascination. I found Dr. Ford to be credible. Nevertheless, the Republicans have points of reasonable doubt that can be used both rationally and politically. And they did both.

Particularly effective was Lindsay Graham's passionate and precisely timed rant which transformed a superficially secular investigation into events and probabilities into a purely partisan face-off.

And I found Judge Kavanaugh to be more Nixonian, making emotional appeals from someone who was not known for displaying such, reminiscent of the 'Checkers' speech.

Where my continuity of belief just broke was the reference in high school yearbook of "Renate Alumnus". I find it credible that this was a crude in-joke of a sexual nature. I don't believe it was a reference to just good friends.

I sure hope the FBI gets a crack at this. They should check out the Judge's words of self-defence. Every one of them.