The good news about this character assassination is that it acts as a kind of insurance against later “growth.” Maybe if Justice Kennedy had been put through this sort of nonsense he wouldn’t be “growing” so much. The Dems’ message here is that conservatives are bad people. No matter how respectable they seem, a little scrutiny reveals that they are dictatorial bigots unworthy of holding government office. The left really believes this. And the right knows they believe it. This is the lesson of “political correctness” in concentrated form. I think this whole tactic and mind-set is a long-term loser for the Democrats. It’s helped make them a minority party, and now it’s threatening their hold on the courts. But the Dems can’t help themselves, lucky for us.