A rare moment when a senator had to listen

With an insulated life, the nation’s politicians are rarely in the uncomfortable position Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake and his handlers were put in this morning after he said he’d vote to approve the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Flake, a person of power, was powerless because of the setting: an elevator. He wanted to close the door, but he couldn’t. The optics of shutting the door in the face of women who have been sexually assaulted would’ve been too symbolic of the last two days and could have brought down Kavanaugh’s nomination.

So he had to stand there and listen.

In a week or so, he’ll be at a restaurant and he’ll suffer the same fate. And the Washington insiders and media will say isn’t it a shame that a politician can’t eat in peace anymore.