Yeah, this. Kavanaugh (or whomever) getting confirmed was always the default assumption, since the GOP has a Senate majority and filibuster has been removed from judicial nominations. But instead of being a done deal, it got stretched out, with the testimony of Dr. Ford, Kavanaugh’s shitshow of a “testimony”, and the blatantly one-sided behavior of the Committee Republicans all on video for people to see and Democrats to use. There was an outside investigation (no matter how perfunctory and toothless) that allowed the media to discuss the whole thing for a week, and new and credible accusers came forth. Finally, now every one of the Republicans is on the record for deliberately voting to confirm a man spectacularly unfit for Supreme Court, and quite likely guilty of sexual assault.
This is a win for the Republicans only in the sense that any other outcome would have been a disastrous defeat, and they just barely scraped over the finish line. If the GOP strategists have any sense at all, they want to avoid any such “wins” in the future like a plague.
