I don't have enough information to disparage the authenticity of the accounts, though I think Kavanaugh was already a poor choice for other reasons. That said, I think this is less the Democrats manufacturing a crisis than the Democrats never letting a good crisis go to waste. The degree of grandstanding is bad optics though; just a brief perusal of social media reveals that a number of voters who are otherwise sympathetic to the Democrat cause are getting increasingly vocal about how inauthentic some of the reps and Senators are starting to sound. As one guy put it, it was like most of the Dems were so busy already running for office that they forgot the victim they were apparently so concerned for a moment ago. People see through that fairly easily. Attempting to force an October surprise rarely ends well for either side.
A prime example is how Senator Hirono (D-HI), on top of her other absurd rhetoric about how all men should just "shut up and step off", used the most acrimonious moments of the Kavanaugh debate to launch a fundraising campaign.
A pundit on Charles Payne's Fox Business program an hour ago said that Senator Flake and Dems' proposal to give 7 more days to an FBI investigation to go one more extra mile, shows that Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed (multiple Senators on the D and R sides have conditioned their "Yes" vote on the 7-day investigation). He said that the additional investigation (the 7th), after 6 previous FBI investigations of Kavanaugh, for multiple previous higher court appointments, is unlikely to yield any new information, but gives additional cover for Dem and Republican Senators to give their approval in blue and semi-blue states.
I could argue for or against that.
FOR: It shows a flexible willingness by Republicans to allow further investigation, allowing one more FBI investigation to resolve all remaining doubt. It is more to get Independents and Democrats to overcome their final doubts, and possibly increase support among those resistant to Trump in 2018 and 2020, and gain a little more support among them by the bipartisan concession.
AGAINST: It could result in more outrage and loss of support among Trump's (and the broader GOP's) Republican base, who will
definitely vote Republican, than it will gain among Independents and Dems who are far less likely to vote Republican. Democrats and Never-Trump RINO's could also ask for another delay after the 7 days, based on any new allegations or discoveries over the next 7 days(i.e., that it's just another delay tactic, to delay it to the point of never allowing Kavanaugh to be confirmed.)
But I think momentum at this point is for confirming Kavanaugh. That yesterday's Senate committee antics with Blasey-Ford, and with Kavanaugh, made the Democrats look mean and petty, and this compromise 7th FBI investigation gives Dems a way out, to look tough but willing to compromise with a conditional final investigation to eliminate remaining doubt. And gives Never-Trumper Republicans that same way out to support Trump's nominee after forcing concession of a final investigation.
