Josh asks: “So did Flake get rolled?” Not really. This is how Flake plays it. Remember Collins and promises from McConnell on the ACA in return for her vote? Same thing. It’s a game they all knowingly play. Flake gets to look like a Thoughtful Centrist (TC), a role he is addicted to (look at that face!), while going along with his tribe. If he runs in 2020 he’s going to need R support – not piss them all off.
Quite apart from no republican actually wanting a proper FBI investigation for the simple reason that they know it will show that Kavanaugh is pathologically lying, and thus derail his confirmation, there’s also the matter that all those R Senators will look like the posturing lying assholes they in fact are. I imagine many of them would like to do their best to ensure the fiction that they continue to look like heroes defending the good name of a worthy Supreme Court nominee who has bee vilified by a vast and well-funded left-wing conspiracy. You can not be too cynical with these fuckers.