CNN’s Jim Sciutto believes that Brett Kavanaugh’s angry outbursts last week during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee are disqualifying because, let’s face it, this is Washington, D.C., and being accused of orchestrating gang rapes when you’re just 15 years old is “politics.”

The former Obama-official-turned-CNN anchor was responding to Scott Jennings, who had argued that Kavanaugh was justified to be angry last week during his hearing on allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school. After all, Jennings noted, partisans had been hammering away at the Supreme Court nominee with even flimsier allegations of sexual misconduct, including that Kavanaugh regularly attendee parties where he drugged and gang-raped girls when he was just a teenager.

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To the people who keep saying Kavanaugh’s shows of anger are disqualifying, Jennings said, “I wonder how they would react if somebody showed up … and ran a three-week or four-week campaign to call them a rapist, a gang-rapist, a drunken — you know, no account whatsoever. I don’t think they would react very well. To be honest with you, I think Judge Kavanaugh reacted exactly the way most Americans would react to being smeared.”

This is about where Sciutto jumped in to argue all’s fair in love and politics.

“I got to challenge that, Scott. Let me challenge that, because it’s become a talking point,” the CNN anchor said. “Here’s the difference, Scott. This is a person … being considered for a lifetime position. The fact is, this is Washington, this is politics. Political candidates have been accused of horrible things for years, and it becomes — how do you respond to that?”

“Gang rape?” Jennings asked, incredulous.

CNN commentator Margaret Hoover then jumped in to note that politicians are more used to mudslinging and baseless accusations, to which Sciutto responded by arguing Kavanaugh has “a history in politics. He worked for Ken Starr. He worked in the Bush White House.”

Naturally, Sciutto wasn’t convinced by any arguments to the contrary. He switched gears eventually to asking whether Kavanaugh wasn't too “political” during his heated interactions with Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Because hey, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.