Regrettably, what we have been witnessing in Washington, D.C., during the recent confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate Judiciary Committee ought to give you a very clear picture of how destructive and dishonest the Democrat party has become in its desperate and futile attempts to crucify a highly qualified and decent man nominated to the Supreme Court.

Naturally, the putative “independents” Sen. Bernie Sanders and our own Angus King have added to the caterwauling with their own far left virtue-signaling statements, showing they too can read the bullet point memos from the “Center for American Progress.”

Independent thought, hardly; they’re both regurgitating the dishonest memes of the far left.

King’s statement on why he will not support Judge Kavanaugh is no surprise; he isn’t an “independent” in any way — he is a hard left liberal. Years ago, as a TV host he was folksy and sort of intriguing, but as a governor and now senator he’s become predictable — claiming to be independent, caucusing with Democrats, and being their outlier for friendly media to interview for supposedly moderate and well-spoken commentary.

Being an “independent” might suggest he’d consider something other than what the progressive wing wants — you know, actually review what the person’s qualifications are — not what you want them to be. What the history of his judicial decisions reflects relative to their broad nature and balanced approach to varied areas of the law.

King’s claims that not enough documents were provided to properly vet Kavanaugh are plain ridiculous. The good senator ought to be reminded of the period when Elena Kagan was nominated to the Supreme Court. None of these atrocious smear tactics were being trotted out daily for the media then.

At that point Kagan was U.S. solicitor general, had spent years in the Clinton White House as an associate counsel to Clinton ’95-’96, and as a deputy assistant for domestic policy ’97-’99. Categorized as a policy adviser on firearms and tobacco issues as well as campaign finance to touch on a few areas.

No surprise, questions were asked about her views and writings during those years. When the Clinton library was asked to provide “voluminous documents” related to Kagan’s time as a top presidential assistant in the 1990’s, according to the LA Times, the response from Terri Garner, director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum was that the request was “overly broad and too general in scope and that under the Presidential Records Act attorneys for both Clinton and President Obama have the right to read and review each document before it is released to the public. These are legal documents and they are presidential records, and they have to be read by an archivist and vetted for any legal restrictions. And they have to be read line by line.”

King has grave concerns about what Kavanaugh’s views might be about the usual liberal rallying cries — abortion, voting rights, partisan gerrymandering, reform (of) campaign finance . . . in short everything the liberal left wants to legislate from the bench that could never get through Congress.

We have been an audience for a disgusting display of concocted, planned out, and paid for disruptions of the hearings — all from the far left of the Democrat party — with the apparent knowledge of, and prior agreement with, the Democrat leadership of the committee. How nice. What marvelous examples of the “civility” they so continuously claim as their mantle of legitimacy.

Dishonorable mentions for appalling conduct in these hearings, so far, go to the cream of the crop for democrat presidential contenders in 2020: Sen. Cory Booker (NJ), self-identifying as “Spartacus,” and Sen. Kamala Harris (CA) doing her impression of the interruption queen, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (also CA). Both were trying as hard as they could to disrupt the attempts by Mr. Kavanaugh to answer questions.

Top mention goes to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, for her last-minute hit-job on Kavanaugh with the “timely” declaration that she has “information” on Kavanaugh. Harrumph! Pull the emergency brake!

And because she is fending off an attack by a farther-to-the-left democratic opponent, this “information” that she has reportedly had since July — and done nothing with since then — now is of immediate concern.

Originally Sen. Feinstein stated, “I have received information from an individual concerning the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court . . . that individual strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision. I have however referred the matter to federal investigative authorities.”

This supposedly happened sometime in the 1980s, and was only recently brought to the attention of a Rep. Anna Eshoo of California, who gave it to Feinstein months ago. Apparently, Sen. Feinstein had no reason to ask Kavanaugh about this when they met in person months ago either.

The Portland Press Herald has now run a story from the Washington Post claiming that a woman from California has come forward as the “individual,” and detailed her claim of assault against the then-teenage Kavanaugh. It is worth reading for nothing more than an example of how desperate the Democrats could be to prevent confirmation.

I grew up in the same area of D.C., and her story has glaring holes in it from my viewpoint — not politically, just the attitude of the prep school kids of that era and the way the Post writer dismisses the denials of other people who she claimed were there.

Overall the assertions of Sen. King and his ilk in D.C. that Kavanaugh is an “illegitimate” nominee are just more examples of why these people should not run government, nor should they be allowed to expand government.

No matter who the president nominates, they will have the same cataclysmic objections. Their version of a “suitable nominee” is only someone who adheres to the hard-leftist view of everything.

Nothing less.

Another View is a weekly column written collaboratively by Dale Landrith of Camden, Ken Frederic of Bristol, Paul Ackerman of Martinsville, Jan Dolcater of Rockport and Ralph “Doc” Wallace of Rockport.