If Judge Brett Kavanaugh was not telling the truth Thursday at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to the Supreme Court, he is one of America’s greatest actors.

The emotion Kavanaugh evinced during the hearing cannot be feigned. When it finally spilled out, it was real and raw. His justifiable anger at being falsely accused of sexually assaulting Professor Christine Blasey Ford when both were teenagers some 36 years ago was palpable.

“I swear today, under oath, before the Senate and the nation, before my family, and God, I am innocent of this charge,” Kavanaugh said.

Most people who are grievously wronged react with outrage. In his statement and testimony, Kavanaugh expressed such righteous indignation. His defense of himself was forceful and convincing.

Kavanaugh’s core message was both conciliatory and compelling.

“I don’t question that Dr. Ford was sexually assaulted at some time and at some place, but it was not me,” Kavanaugh said.

Kavanaugh emphasized that none of the people identified by Ford as attending a party – where Ford claims a drunken Kavanaugh got on top of her on a bed, tried unsuccessfully to take off her clothes and covered her mouth to stifle her screams – corroborate the accusations leveled against him.

Kavanaugh also firmly denied claims by three other women not at the hearing that he was guilty of sexual misconduct. Like Ford, those women have presented not a shred of corroborating evidence or any other witnesses to back up their claims against the judge. One accusation came from an anonymous person who claimed to be the mother of another woman and is so weak that it can’t even be seriously considered.

In support of his denial of Ford’s allegations, Kavanaugh offered a meticulous calendar he kept in 1982. It served as a remarkably convincing piece of evidence showing he could not have been the teenage boy who attacked Ford.

Significantly, the calendar shows that the then-17-year-old Kavanaugh was out of town nearly every weekend of the summer when Ford claims he attacked her at a house party in Maryland, just outside Washington.

For the two weekends Kavanaugh spent at home, his whereabouts were accounted for. His weekdays were equally accounted for.

Kavanaugh laid bare the partisan motivations of Democrats for ruining his reputation and destroying his family. He condemned their actions for transforming the Senate confirmation process into “a national disgrace” and “replacing advise and consent with search and destroy.”

These records clearly reflect that there were no house parties involving the people Ford said were at the party where she was allegedly attacked. While not dispositive evidence, the calendar is highly persuasive. Why would young Kavanaugh have noted all his other activities on the calendar but for some reason left off the party?

Ford also told a credible story. During her testimony, she seemed authentic and sincere. However, when two people tell different and conflicting stories, the benefit of the doubt must always go to the accused. This is consistent with an important principle by which our democracy abides both inside and outside the courtroom: the presumption of innocence.

Fundamental fairness and due process demand every accused person receive a presumption of innocence. If it did not exist, America would be a police state, where the government could accuse any of us of any crime and convict us without evidence. The liberty and freedom of each and every one of us would be endangered.

Try a thought experiment and think back to your own high school years. Imagine if someone came forward tomorrow and accused you of criminal activity long ago. How could you possibly prove you did not engage in such conduct?

Sadly, decency has eluded these proceedings against an superbly qualified judge who has been repeatedly investigated by the FBI for high-level positions in the White House and elsewhere, including for the past 12 years as a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Choking back tears, Kavanaugh – a deeply religious man – recounted how his youngest daughter, Liza, wanted to pray for Ford. “That’s a lot of wisdom for a 10-year-old,” the judge observed. Senators could learn a thing or two from a 10-year-old.

Kavanaugh justifiably heaped scorn on Senate Democrats for what was he described as a “smear” and “character assassination,” pointing out correctly that they revealed the allegations against him by Ford only when his confirmation seemed assured.

Kavanaugh laid bare the partisan motivations of Democrats for ruining his reputation and destroying his family. He condemned their actions for transforming the Senate confirmation process into “a national disgrace” and “replacing advise and consent with search and destroy.”

At times, questioning resembled a theater of the absurd as some clueless Democratic senators like Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut implied that cryptic references to drinking in Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook were somehow incriminating evidence of attempted rape. That’s so ridiculous as to be laughable.

More than anyone, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is responsible for this abomination.

Feinstein knew of Ford’s allegations for the better part of two months. Yet she concealed the professor’s claims about Kavanaugh until after Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing had ended. The hearing was reopened to give Ford a chance to testify, out of respect for her and a sincere effort get to the truth.

Feinstein could have – and should have – brought Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh to the attention of the Judiciary Committee without revealing the accuser’s identity. Committee staffers could have questioned Ford in a private and confidential manner, allowing a more orderly investigation to take place.

Feinstein’s explanations for her actions in refusing to disclose Ford’s claims are nothing more than vacuous excuses.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was right to strongly chastise Feinstein at Thursday’s hearing for hiding Ford’s accusations.

“I hope the American people can see through this sham – that you knew about it and you held it,” Graham told Feinstein. “You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford, none! She’s as much of a victim as you are,” Graham said as he pointed to Judge Kavanaugh.

But Graham wasn’t done.

“If you wanted an FBI investigation you could have come to us,” Graham told Feinstein. “What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020,” referring to Democratic hopes to capture the White House in two years.

Graham then criticized all the Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee.

“I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy,” Graham said. “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. If you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you did to this guy.”

The plain truth is that it didn’t matter who President Trump nominated to fill the existing vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. The president could have nominated a saint and Democrats would have done everything humanly possible to stop the nominee from being confirmed. No shameful tactic would have been spared.

Both Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are the victims of the outrageous conduct by Senate Democrats. And so are the American people.