Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is really making a name for herself as the new face of the #RESIST movement, only she’s not “resisting” President Donald Trump. (Well… at least not directly.) Hirono has become the poster child of the movement to stop Judge Brett Kavanaugh from being seated on the Supreme Court. The Senator is now apparently the go-to person for all the networks who want some juicy Kavanaugh bashing to fill the lonely hours while we wait for the next Ford-related deadline to arrive.

She showed on on MSNBC recently to burnish her credentials in this area. Host Hallie Jackson asked Hirono if she would like to reconsider her stance as to whether or not Kavanaugh deserves a presumption of innocence after having charges of sexual assault made by an accuser from his high school days. (When Hallie Jackson becomes the person who has to argue on the side of reason, the scales have seriously tipped.) Rather than backing down from her confrontational stance, the senator pushed all her chips in. (Free Beacon)

“In conservative circles, there is outrage at the comment—because this is a conservative judge, you have made your decision about him as it relates to the accusations. Can you clarify what you meant?” Jackson asked.

“Look, we are not in a court of law, we are in a court of credibility at this point,” Hirono said…

“Without having the FBI report or some semblance of trying to get corroboration, we are left with the credibility of the two witnesses,” Hirono added. “I said his credibility is already questionable in my mind.”

She lambasted Kavanaugh’s supporters for attempting to “railroad” him onto the court, and she said “women and all the enlightened men” in the country know this is a “set-up job.”

Here’s the brief video of the exchange, since you really have to hear the tone of voice to appreciate just how fast she’s digging the hole she’s left herself in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxk2okx1wa0

Hirono doesn’t seem to be very good at this, though she does get one thing right. The Judiciary Committee is not a court of law. Sadly, she turns around and shoots herself in the foot in the same breath because it’s also not “a court of credibility.” It’s not a court of any sort. The committee is charged with reviewing all of the information provided regarding Kavanaugh’s qualifications and suitability for a seat on the nation’s highest court and vote on whether or not the question should be put to the entire Senate. In that regard, a vote to not even let the rest of the members consider the nomination should be a relatively high bar to reach, but that doesn’t seem to matter in Hirono’s world.

She’s also trying to treat this as a He Said, She Said scenario. But to date, it’s really not. It’s a “She said, but everyone else supposedly involved has nothing to say because they don’t know what She is talking about” situation. This is different from the standard applied in a criminal case to be sure, but even in the confirmation process, there has to be at least some foundation of fairness. Shouldn’t there be a smidgen of supporting evidence or testimony behind a decades-old allegation before the presumption of innocence is abandoned? On that score, Hirono is insisting that the FBI should be investigating this. Again, I feel compelled to ask… investigate what? Kavanaugh’s accuser is giving them nothing to go on.

I’m still wondering how Hirono has managed to vault herself into so much television time so quickly. I only vaguely recall when she was elected in 2012 and since then she hasn’t really been at the center of much action in the upper chamber. She’s up for reelection this year, but that seat should be entirely safe. It’s really hard for me to imagine exactly what she’s up to.