The “optics” matter in the sense you won’t get Collins/Murkowski unless she was allowed to speak.
This is about the political cover of making sure they have 50+1.
Again, NO MINDS are being changed with this hearing.
If McConnell was a true leader of the Senate, he’d tell those two idiots to get in line or lose staff and all committees.
The cover can go the other way with a one-sided hearing from a witness who is an expert in memory loss and psychological trauma from events in the past.
Also, there are enough people who will buy the vagueness of this “expert's” story who were on the fence increasing public pressure.
Repubs either have something (Or know about something) or they are just appeasing a handful of undecided. Either way, Kavanaugh, if he gets in, will have this 1982 accusation over his head (Which doesn't matter anyway for his job), however, will be a perpetual campaign hammer for years to come for the dems.
That is the biggest problem in all of this (And not aggressively challenging the accusations), because this will happen again and again.