Opinion: A fork in the road for the Kavanaugh nomination

Also: A simple financial-aid calculator grows larger. You should try it out. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, September 20, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist First, Brett Kavanaugh: Senate Republicans are clearly operating in bad faith, [as a Times editorial explains](. They show little sign of wanting to get at the truth of what did or didn’t happen between Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. The Republicans are not calling for the F.B.I. to investigate and are not willing to call other relevant witnesses. But something else has become clear, as well. The only way the country will get any closer to the truth is if Blasey decides that she is willing to testify even under the Republicans’ conditions — which is, of course, her call — and that Senate Democrats also accept those conditions. “It’s growing increasingly clear that if Christine Blasey Ford doesn't testify, Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed with Republicans falling in line — barring any new developments over the next week,”[ as CNN’s Manu Raju put it](. “We’ll find out in the next couple of days whether all of these objections from Democrats and Ford’s lawyers have just been negotiating tactics and she will testify on Monday after all,” [Slate’s Jim Newell writes](. Otherwise, Republican leaders will be thrilled, because they “didn’t want Ford to testify in a public hearing in the first place, and they still don’t.” “Democrats will be in a much better position to demand more investigation and more delay after Ford testifies than if she refuses to testify,” [writes Josh Barro, newly of New York magazine](. [Vox’s Tara Golshan and Li Zhou]( have a good primer with more details. How much college really costs. Regular readers know how valuable I find [this easy financial-aid calculator]( for selective colleges. It shows that these colleges are much less expensive for middle-class and poor students than many of them — or their parents — imagine, thanks to financial aid. At many top private colleges, lower-income students — from a family earning $50,000 or less, for example — face an annual bill of $6,000. Students can often cover that cost through part-time work and a small annual loan, without their parents having to pay more. It’s true that affluent and upper-middle-class students face much larger bills, but their parents tend to have incomes in the six figures and substantial savings. Paying for college isn’t fun for them, but it doesn’t require them to make major changes to their lifestyle — or require their children to take on enormous debt. Today, the calculator — known as MyinTuition — is expanding to include 15 new colleges, bringing the total number to 46. The new participants include Caltech, Emory, Harvard, Illinois Wesleyan, Penn, Vanderbilt, Washington University in St. Louis and the universities of Chicago, Denver and Richmond. If you have five minutes, [give the calculator a try](. You don’t need to enter your actual information, if you don’t want. You can do it for a hypothetical family. [Here is my more detailed explanation]( of what the calculator shows and why it matters. The larger point is that the real crisis with college costs isn’t on the fancy campuses with the highest list prices. It’s at colleges [where the dropout rates are shockingly high]( sometimes above 50 percent, and students still leave with meaningful amounts of debt. So why do you hear so many more complaints about the supposedly unjust cost of the elite private colleges? Because that’s where many journalists, think-tank experts and politicians send their own children. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. [Everyone Deserves Better Than This Senate Spectacle]( [Molly Snee]( Molly Snee By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Forget the political finger pointing. Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation against Brett Kavanaugh needs to be seriously investigated. The Accusations Against Brett Kavanaugh Op-Ed Columnist [The Kavanaugh Charade]( By CHARLES M. BLOW What are Republicans hiding about him? What don’t they want you to know? Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Why Sexual Assault Memories Stick]( By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN Christine Blasey Ford says she has a vivid memory of an attack that took place when she was 15. That makes sense. letters [The Kavanaugh Uproar and Women’s Voices]( Readers are reminded of experiences in the lives of many women and girls. From Our Columnists [Of Time, Tides and Trump]( By GAIL COLLINS The ocean is rising, but at least we’ve got hot dogs. [A Smorgasbord Recession? (Wonkish)]( By PAUL KRUGMAN The next slump may have multiple causes. [Can the Democrats Rise Above?]( Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images By THOMAS B. EDSALL There is a lot of pressure on their coalition coming from within. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Can the People Who Almost Brought Down the News Business Save It?]( By KARA SWISHER Marc Benioff has bought Time, becoming the latest technology mogul to invest in a media property. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Finland Saved These Children From War. Did It Hurt Them in the Process?]( By MOISES VELASQUEZ-MANOFF What a study of evacuees tells us about the lifelong health effects of separating kids from their parents. ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Editorial Observer [Bloomberg’s Blind Spot on Racial Injustice]( By MARA GAY He should acknowledge the error of the N.Y.P.D.’s stop-and-frisk policy. More in Opinion [Democratic Women Are Ready to Win in Farm Country, Too]( By ROBERT LEONARD Like Barack Obama, Deidre DeJear, an African-American small-business owner and candidate for Iowa secretary of state, stresses opportunity, voting rights and unity. [The Liberalism of the Religious Right]( By EMILY EKINS Conservatives who attend church have more moderate views than secular conservatives on issues like race, immigration and identity. [Voting at Home Will Help Save Our Democracy]( By PHIL KEISLING AND SAM REED All 50 states should follow the example set by Oregon and Washington. [The Truth in Trump’s Law-Enforcement Hypocrisy]( By SCOTT HECHINGER As a public defender, I’m not mad at how well Manafort and Cohen have been treated. I just want that same treatment for my clients. [A Better Way to Get New York’s Traffic Moving]( By JAY PRIMUS The city can fight congestion and raise revenue through parking regulations. [Are Airlines Sure We Can Flee Planes Fast? Fat Chance]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD With smaller seats, bigger passengers and more baggage packed into jets, why haven’t evacuation plans been updated? SIGN UP FOR THE OP-DOCS NEWSLETTER Find out about new [Op-Docs]( read discussions with filmmakers and learn more about upcoming events. ADVERTISEMENT letters [Doubts About the Vatican Meeting on Sexual Abuse]( Readers question how much can actually be accomplished. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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