Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court became an unpleasant affair because Democrats chose to make it one.

Rather than investigate Christine Blasey Ford’s 36-year-old sexual assault allegation against him confidentially during August, as would have been normal for such cases, they leaked her story to the press to damage the nominee. They timed their ambush for maximum political effect, when the scheduled hearings were over. It's what they did to Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Democrats’ media circus that we hope ends this week puts in a glaring spotlight their cynicism and disdain for the truth. The public spectacle they engineered has encouraged every crazy to make new allegations, each as uncorroborated as the original, but less credible or plain ludicrous.

The more time that passes without a confirmation vote, the more false accusations can be dreamed up and flung like mud against a wall to see if it will stick. In the Democratic feedback loop, senators and their allies leak highly damaging stories about Kavanaugh to the press with next to no evidence and claim that their vacuous insinuations are evidence of a pattern of perfidy.

Democrats use every minute of delay to leak stories and invent evidence where none exists. With public doubt rising about Ford's contradictory evidence, the party shifted attention to Kavanaugh’s fondness for beer and his propensity for high school jokes when he was in, er, high school. Through the filter of Democrats' disingenuousness, these contemptibly slight data points are presented as evidence that Kavanaugh is a serial rapist. It's rubbish.

Tendentious journalists cherry-pick portions of Kavanaugh’s public testimony and present it as evidence of perjury, knowingly omitting testimony under oath that makes clear what he meant and that he was not lying or trying to mislead.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who deserves a medal for patience and fairness in this process, gave Ford, Kavanaugh’s only nearly credible accuser, a chance to tell her story last Thursday. She testified with emotion, but also with substantial holes in her account. None of of the witnesses she cited could corroborate what she said or fill in the massive gaps where she left things out. Grassley gave Kavanaugh a chance to rebut, which he did with the anger one would expect from a falsely accused innocent man.

The curious thing about the hearing was that Democrats spent very little of their time grilling Kavanaugh about the allegations against him. They appeared preoccupied with advising the nominee about how he should advise the committee to investigate him. One after another, Democratic senators demanded Kavanaugh call on the White House and Judiciary Committee to open an FBI investigation.

Democrats repeated the words “FBI investigation” again and again during the hearing. Throughout, they implied that there is something magical about the FBI that would bring closure. Again, it's rubbish. They got their investigation, but they instantly pocketed that concession and tacked away, claiming it would be inadequate. Let us hope Republicans stiffen their spines and stop appeasing these dishonest bullies.

Democrats are preparing the ground to say the FBI failed to find anything only because it wasn’t given enough time or manpower or resources. In short, they are making excuses for the inevitable conclusions that investigators can find nothing important against Kavanaugh.

Moving the goalposts is the only thing Democrats can be relied on to do. They pocket each concession and instantly move on to their next line of attack, no matter how inconsistent it is with the one they used before.

Their only aim is to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation until (they hope and pray) they take over the Senate in the midterm elections. At that point, they will simply refuse to let President Trump fill this or any other Supreme Court vacancy. Their goal, as Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, admitted, is to keep the slot formerly filled by Justice Anthony Kennedy open until 2020.

If Senate Republicans let Democrats abuse and manipulate the process, they will deservedly lose not only the Senate but also all the respect of the people who used to vote for them.