There is literally nothing else that could be done to clear Kavanaugh's name.
False accusations have a way of rapidly crumbling.
There have been a few cases in recent years of false accusations being exposed by an investigation, notably the
Duke Lacrosse case. The details were similar (drunk students at a party) but the accuser was less credible and the prosecution and presumption of guilt was much more rushed. In the end, just a cursory attempt by journalists (not the FBI) was enough to find holes and contradictions in the story, the accusations were withdrawn and the charges dropped, and the prosecutor was disbarred. Multiple university administrators were forced to resign. Despite the initial outcry, justice was apparently served and the accused were exonerated, and the accusers had their lives destroyed instead of the accused.
Given that history, it makes perfect sense to me that Feinstein sat on this accusation for so long. If she rushed to back an accusation of unknown merit, she would probably be forced to resign. Ford's (very famous) lawyer would likely have her career ruined.
Any time that a story like this breaks national news, I sort of assume there is far more information in the hands of the relevant parties than is reported by the press. I've seen too many stories evolve over time to think that we have the full picture at the outset, so I suspect that Feinstein has already done her own private investigation and corroborated the story somehow. A PI can rapidly determine that the two people were in fact students at the same school and traveled in similar social circles, that Kavanaugh was in fact at the party and was in fact stumbling drunk, that Ford has been credibly discussing this attack for decades now, and that other credible accusations support Kavanaugh's history of similar behavior. All of that deserves a public airing before he is confirmed.
At this point, Kavanaugh's best (and I think only) defense is going to be "I was too drunk to remember any of this, but it sure doesn't seem like me." He can't credibly deny the allegations because he was apparently too drunk to stand. Is that the man we want as our final arbiter of moral authority on the Supreme Court?
I have certainly overimbibed as a young man, and said and done some horrible things as a result, but I have never assaulted anyone while drunk. It wouldn't even occur to me that anyone might attempt to make such an accusation based on any circumstance that might even remotely have been misconstrued as nonconsensual touching. This behavior is not, and never was, normal or acceptable. The common republican talking point about "what young man hasn't done this" seems horribly regressive to me. What sort of person HAS done this?
In the republican defense of Kavanaugh I'm hearing eerie echoes of their defense of admitted child molestor Judge Roy Moore for the Senate, or their defense of admitted serial philanderer and groper Donald Trump for the presidency. Republicans, who used to claim the mantle of the "family values" party, have fully embraced the most vile and disgusting sort of male privilege imaginable, the consequence-free sexual assault of women, in their candidates for high office. Even for voters who like the GOP positions on economic policy, gun control, the military, or social issues like religion, the open embrace of sexual assault seems like it's probably disqualifying. I understand that you don't always get everything you want in a candidate, but what kind of person votes for a rapist just because they're also a supply-sider?