Moreover, Justice Kavanaugh was not a controversial nominee because of the BS uncorroborated assertions against him. He was ‘controversial’ because he is and was a conservative Constitutional fundamentalist, and his opponents did not want a Constitutionalist on the US Supreme Court for the next 30 years or more. To make compromise nominations of jurists who would be ‘acceptable’ to the political opponents of the President and the Populist/Conservative movement which elected him would make no sense. The people voted for change in a Conservative direction; the President promised change in a Conservative direction; to pander to the politicians whose previous actions and present positions are what Pres. Trump ran against and his supporters voted to end would be a betrayal, not a compromise.
“...because he is and was a conservative Constitutional fundamentalist...”
That’s probably a bit more than is merited for a Bush White House staffer and Bush nominee to the DC Circuit Court. He is a career-long denizen of the Swamp and was a SCOTUS clerk for Kennedy, a Justice in the middle, the ever-swaying “swing vote”. Yes, his work on the DC Circuit Court has had some notable deicisons/opinions, often in the minority so it was without real effect in that moment. Let’s wait to see how these eggs hatch into chickens before we apply the label of “next Justice Thomas” to him.