Democrats are calling for a delay in a key committee vote set for Thursday. And a Republican on the panel, Arizona’s Jeff Flake, says he’s “not comfortable” voting on the nomination without first hearing from the accuser.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa is trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and accuser Christine Blasey Ford before the vote, but just for aides to top members.

The panel’s ranking Democrat, California’s Dianne Feinstein, is rejecting that plan, saying there’s more that senators don’t know.

The fact is, at this time, Ford’s story holds very little water. It’s filled with irregularities and inconsistencies to the point where I’m beginning to wonder if Republicans are agreeing to investigate in order to be able to say they took the claim seriously during this age of #MeToo, where you’re guilty whether guilty or not.

And this, in part, is what the Democrats want. For one, they can always say that Kavanaugh was investigated for sexual assault. Being found innocent will matter very little. That can be written off as biased people making biased decisions. Kavanaugh, innocent or not, will be guilty for the rest of his days in the eyes of the left.

For the most part, however, Feinstein is slow playing claims against Kavanaugh in order to delay the vote. With such an important position on the line, there is no shortage of people for Feinstein to find who would be willing to gin up a story or two about Kavanaugh in order to keep him from the Supreme Court indefinitely. As Erick Erickson pointed out at the Resurgent, this isn’t about Kavanaugh’s past, this is about keeping leftist causes alive and well, namely abortion. Kavanaugh is a threat to them, and so stories are going to come out of the woodwork.

Once Ford’s claims are likely tossed out, Feinstein can then release another claim that Democrats and the likes of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) will likely stop and say we need to investigate. Again, Feinstein will have no shortage of claims, and this could potentially go on for as long as Democrats need it to.

Say, for instance, after midterm elections.

Republicans should judge the complete lack of evidence for what it is, and shrug off the hearings the Democrats are scrambling for. The left and the media play this off as Republicans not caring about sexual assault victims to a great degree, but this is a bullet worth biting in order to send the message that these kinds of hollow accusations aren’t going to be taken seriously. Agreeing to stop everything for a full-on investigation is likely going to send the signal that the Democrats’ play here is worth using again and again.

Republicans need to cut the head off of this snake while it’s still within swinging distance.