It’s not about credibility. Conservatives fight liberals on the wrong playing field all the time.
1) Lefty voters need “something” to rebut any conservative argument. Doesn’t matter what that “something” is or whether it’s true. They can make themselves believe it and have “something” from the “leadership” to respond with when challenged. Then they can jump to “racism” or “sexism” if “something” is challenged and the discussion is quickly over (they won in their minds and “something” is true).
2) Democrat elite always provide “something” when conservatives have a winning argument/position. That satisfies their followers need to believe conservatives are wrong and provides an acceptable rebuttal no matter how nonsensical it is. They may go on CNN to provide “something” or get a “reliable authority” like snopes to do it.
3) The fact that “something” isn’t true will soon be forgotten by most people. And for the rest of their life lefties can use it as an argument or a way to shut down conversation because they become so adamant that it is true. They really believe it. It mus be simple like “Bush stole the election from Gore” (and few people can say what the courts decided on Bush/Gore or many details of the election so they won’t be challenged). In this case it will be something like “Kavanaugh is a rapist” and lots of people won’t even remember it’s an unsubstantiated accusation from high school.
4) In this case EVERY 5-4 decision Kavanaugh is a part of will be considered illegitimate by lefties because of the “rape in high school”. Dems will have that as a campaign argument as long as he’s on the court.
5) While Dems hope to win the short game - delay confirmation until they take back the senate - they are also preparing for the long game where they can attack SC decisions for decades and have a campaign argument. Most of them aren’t that smart or disciplined (Mad Maxine), but they have a playbook and those who are “more elite” (i.e. Schumer & Pelosi) can follow it.
RE: your #5. In short, it’s about Roe V. Wade.
IOW, we're looking at this from the wrong perspective, our perspective, which never seems to work, instead of from the democRATS' perspective, which usually serves their purpose.
And we lose, even though we are right or correct in our analysis of these type situations.
While the democRATS don't care about being right, just effective.
You're on to something here. Great comment.