"The only thing I am sure of now is that Senator Dianne Feinstein has behaved outrageously. Because no matter what you choose to believe, she waited too long to reveal the accusation.

"Feinstein knew about these allegations in July. She made no attempt to ask Kavanaugh about them, even in closed session. If she believed the allegations were true or credible, she should have acted on them. If she didn't -- as has been reported -- going public as a desperate ploy to derail or delay his confirmation is an act of grotesque cynicism, particularly when she had no idea whether Kavanaugh's accuser would come forward.

"Feinstein's gambit may pay off. Republicans are understandably wary of cross-examining an alleged victim of sexual assault, particularly ahead of the midterms, given that the GOP is bleeding support among moderate female voters.

"But the conservative base also remembers the slander of Judge Robert Bork and has no appetite to surrender to such tactics ever again. If the White House or Senate Republicans do surrender, the populist rage from the right will be terrifying.

"So congratulations, Senator Feinstein, you've done the unimaginable: You've made our politics even uglier."

"Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer has announced that Ms. Ford will not testify until the FBI completes yet another investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh that everyone knows will never happen.

"It was already highly unlikely she was ever going to testify; this is a convenient excuse, a stalling game. But it is more than the usual cheap political stunt. It's vicious, ugly, and more than slightly sadistic. In regards to Judge Kavanaugh, Democrats are channeling Comrade Beria's famous dictum: 'Show me the man and I'll show you the crime.'

"Not only are they despicable to Kavanaugh -- a man with an impeccable reputation as far as women are concerned -- and his family, but in using the hapless Ms. Ford as a pawn, they are making a mockery of the #MeToo movement, increasing suspicion of women (and men) who come forward in cases of sexual abuse where there is genuine proof and corroboration, not, as in this situation, an amorphous memory without time, place, witness, or remotely contemporary report.

"Even Ford's sponsor, Dianne Feinstein, admitted in a rare moment of candor -- or was it guilty conscience -- that she wasn't sure of the accuser's veracity. Feinstein, a coward terrified of her left flank, walked it back quickly. The California senator has much to answer for, not just the unconscionable sandbagging of Judge Kavanaugh, but also the extraordinary enrichment of her family by the Chinese at the very time she was being chauffeured by one of the communists' spies."

"If Franz Kafka had written about confirmation hearings, he couldn't have come up with a better scenario than the one now unfolding in the US Senate.

"Brett Kavanaugh, who the day before yesterday was an unimpeachable pillar of the legal establishment, stands accused of a heinous offense that it is almost impossible to definitively rebut.

"Even if he is completely innocent of the charge that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl at a high-school party 35 years ago, he will be forever considered guilty of it by some portion of the public. This is not due process, or any kind of decent process at all, but how the Senate conducts its business, especially if you are a conservative jurist on the cusp of confirmation to the Supreme Court. ...

"The confirmation process for the Supreme Court has long been badly broken, a forum for sheer bloodsport. If, based on what we know now, and this accusation keeps Kavanaugh from the court, it will be a new low. The Senate will have embraced a new world where the existence of an allegation, regardless of whether it can be proven, is enough to stop a nominee and destroy his good name."

"I fear we are about to relive at least part of the national psychodrama over Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill. That ideological maelstrom transfixed the country and divided it into bitter warring camps of Thomas supporters and Hill sympathizers. And that was when there was just one 24-hour cable news channel and no Internet or social media.

"As we enter what's likely to be another sad episode in the borking of Supreme Court nominees, we'd do well to remember that after the American people heard both sides in the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill slugfest, they believed Thomas by a two-to-one margin. Something similar may happen again, but if liberals fail to derail Kavanaugh, they will still try for a consolation prize.

"After Clarence Thomas was confirmed by a vote of 52 to 48 in 1991, we had a drumbeat of books, articles, and conferences all dedicated to rewriting the history of the incident. Two years later, a Newsweek poll showed that most of those surveyed believed Hill, even though no new evidence had been uncovered.

"So even if Brett Kavanaugh takes his seat on the Supreme Court, liberals will have extracted a pound of flesh. Just as with the Florida recount of 2000 and the Trump election of 2016, any confirmation will be branded as suspect and accomplished only through brutish tactics and the wholesale disregard for the truth. The effort to sink Kavanaugh is not just a naked attempt to change a confirmation vote but to forever brand him as illegitimate."

"Over the eight years of the Obama presidency, the stock market climbed, corporate profits climbed, and the economy grew. But for most of those eight years, wages were stagnant.

"That's finally changing. We've hit full employment, and working Americans are finally seeing their wages increase.

"Median household income hit $61,400 last year, according to Census Bureau figures announced Wednesday. That's the highest level ever. Put another way, wages have finally gotten back to (and just beyond) where they were before the financial crisis. ...

"It's easy for folks who watch the economy to look at the headline numbers of GDP and the stock market. But for real people, wages are what matter. Those are still climbing, and climbing to record levels. That's real economic success."

"A federal judge ruled Tuesday that California's ban on handgun advertising is unconstitutional.

"Judge Troy Nunley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, an Obama appointee, ruled California could no longer enforce Section 26820 of the California Penal Code, which dates back to 1923. That law banned gun stores from displaying signs promoting the sale of handguns. California argued the ban was necessary to prevent suicides and murders but Judge Nunley said it violates constitutional protections on free speech.

"'California may not accomplish its goals by violating the First Amendment,' Nunley wrote in his ruling. 'Accordingly, [the law] is unconstitutional on its face.'"

"Democrats are convinced that the 'blue wave' they've been counting on to set the stage for President Donald Trump's impeachment in a House of Representatives they control is out there and building. They continue to enjoy a four to six point 'generic' advantage in the polls, and there is evidence that their voters are more anxious to turn out and vote than their Republican counterparts -- two indicators that combine with the media's continuing effort to demonize Mr. Trump to give them more than a fighting chance to take the House. ...

"Victory is far from guaranteed, however, because many of today's Democratic leaders are staking out positions so extreme that they are risking driving away some of the voters they can usually count on. Republicans faced a similar problem when purely ideological candidates who split rather than united Republican voters allowed Democrats to hold onto seats they might otherwise have lost in 2014.

"Rhetorical over-reach can be a real problem in a campaign and that is exactly what we're witnessing today as Democratic candidates and their fellow-travelling pundits tout 'socialism,' declare their desire to impeach a president, raise taxes and continue to attack not the candidates with whom they disagree, but the voters who support them."

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children."

"With Hillary Clinton already part of the midterm scrum, Barack Obama's entry last Friday shows the old band is getting back together again. So far, the music is uninspiring.

"Clinton, as usual, is all about the money. Her latest slush fund, Operation Together, sent an e-mail offering donors a 'Resist' sticker if they send her $5. I was able to resist the offer.

"Obama, meanwhile, gave his first campaign speech since leaving the White House and his media handmaidens instantly swooned like giddy teenagers. ...

"Trump claimed he fell asleep during Obama's speech, but now that Obama and Clinton are active again, the president better wake up to seize advantage of the ripe target they present.

"If so, he will finally start releasing the files that chronicle the effort by the Obama White House, FBI, Justice Department, State Department and the CIA to help Clinton and stop him in 2016. The already-revealed misconduct at the top levels of the FBI amounts to a scandal of historic proportions -- and it is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg."

"There is one issue that unites America like no other: the pursuit of genuine energy independence. Our national security demands it. Our national economy demands it. It is technically possible, legally feasible, and necessary to protect hardworking taxpayers. ...

"In the quarter-century I have polled American priorities and policies, never have I encountered an issue that has such universal support. Fully 92 percent of the country supports a specific effort and priority to: 'Make America energy dominant by using more American-made energy, including American natural gas and biofuels like ethanol, and purchasing less foreign oil.'

"This isn't my language. This is President Trump's language and President Trump's policy -- and it has greater support than any other issue he has raised or supported since his election. As we approach the 2018 midterm congressional elections, the data teach us a powerful lesson: fully 99 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats support an energy dominance policy that promotes American energy resources and reduces our purchasing of foreign oil. No other issue or proposal comes close."