If somebody could weigh in with a quick reality check they might be able to help sort out the latest news this morning. Are we still watching the Kavanaugh confirmation process or have we slipped over into an episode of Tales of the Bizarre? Just as the Senate Judiciary Committee is preparing to hear from Christine Blasey Ford, two anonymous men have allegedly stepped forward to say they believe that they were the ones who assaulted Blasey Ford at that Maryland party so long ago. The Washington Times has the few details available so far.

Two men have come forward to tell Senate investigators they, not Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, could have been responsible for the encounter Christine Blasey Ford describes when she says she was sexually assaulted at a high school party 36 years ago.

The Judiciary Committee Republican staff did not release any details about the men, but said each had been interviewed, and one had provided a written statement.

Each of the men described “in some detail” their recollection of their encounter with Ms. Blasey Ford, the GOP staff said in a memo late Wednesday, less than 12 hours before Ms. Blasey Ford is slated to testify about her memories of the assault.

Let’s see if we can puzzle this one out. First of all… why? Assuming this is a true account, why come forward now and confess to something you did more than three decades ago, exposing yourself to public condemnation? (There’s likely no criminal liability awaiting them given the nature of the encounter and the statute of limitations.) If their conscience has been bothering them that much they could have sent her a formal apology and fessed up long ago. Or is it something they have pushed into the back of their minds all these years, but now it’s been dredged up again by all the media coverage?

Second, is there anything they could say which would at least hint strongly that their story is true? We can probably exclude the possibility of any physical evidence providing solid proof, so the only way they build a strong case is if they provide some details which have not been made available to the public. But hasn’t Blasey Ford already dished every one of the few details she can recall? If the two men provide the exact date and the address of the house where they claim the party and assault took place, that proves nothing because Blasey Ford herself can’t recall. The other alleged party attendees have no idea either. These men could pick an address at random and claim that was the location and we’d be no closer to the truth.

But what other motivation remains for this admission? If you’re a Democrat I suppose you could allege that they were recruited to clear Kavanaugh by drawing the heat off of him. But in the Court of Public Opinion, that’s going to carry precisely as much weight with opponents as claims from conservatives that the suddenly growing list of accusers were all recruited by the Democrats to lie so they can tank Kavanaugh’s chances. (Since we have no physical proof, it’s worth noting that these two possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Both could be true.)

It seems fairly clear that Chuck Grassley and Cocaine Mitch are out of patience and ready to move forward, so I somehow doubt this revelation will throw too much of a wrench into the gears. In the end, this will likely wind up being one more smoke grenade tossed into the fog of war that now surrounds the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.