Nominees have been withdrawn before. Remember Douglas "Captain Toke" Ginsberg, who was Reagan's first nominee chosen after Bork's defeat? He had to withdraw after it was revealed he was a marijuana smoker while he was a law school professor.
I'm glad you brought that up- I was thinking about that last night- we've been through bad picks before without the sun then rising in the west..
The changes are self-evident- cable tv, internet etc. It used to be less "public" before the onslaught of the information age- for good and ill.
Yeah, Ginsberg really hurt himself when a senator asked him to name his favorite movie and he replied . . .