NEW: CNN Admits RFK Became ‘More Confirmable’ After Huge Mistakes By Democrat Senators

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has better odds than ever of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate after Wednesday’s committee hearing, a chance for Democrats to grill the Trump nominee that they instead squandered on misguided questions about his past stances, one CNN commentator stated.

A “big mistake” by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee may have cost them the opportunity to block Kennedy’s nomination to head Health and Human Services, a sprawling bureaucracy responsible for approximately a quarter of all federal spending. Rather than highlight their areas of agreement, far-left progressive icons Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) drove Kennedy into the GOP’s arms, Brad Todd said on Friday.

“I think RFK Jr.’s hearing to me was the most entertaining, but it was a big mistake by Democrats. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders made him more confirmable. There’s nobody who Republicans dislike more than Elizabeth Warren, and it’s for all the right reasons,” Todd, a Republican strategist, told a “CNN This Morning” panel. “But she should have gone with RFK and said, ‘You know, look, I agree with you on abortion. I agree with you on affirmative action. I agree with you on guns. In fact, I like you more than any nominee [President] Donald Trump ever has.’”

“If she wanted to sink him, she should have hugged him. But she doesn’t get that. She wants to make sound bites for the left,” he continued, the Daily Caller reported. “And I know that … this is all theater for her. I thought that made that hearing a circus. Entertaining, but it maybe has strengthened RFK.”

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One day later, Kennedy made a perfunctory appearance before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which did not need to hold a vote to send his nomination to the Senate floor but nonetheless afforded Republican members a chance to commiserate with the former Democrat after his public spats with Warren and Sanders.

Among them is Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician who is also a voting member of the Finance Committee and is widely believed to be the most skeptical of Kennedy. CNN anchor Kasie Hunt asked Todd if he thought the Louisiana Republican might still vote against Kennedy.

“It’s possible. I think there are probably 10 to 15 Republicans who have real qualms with RFK Jr. Most of them have qualms because of his ideology. He’s been a liberal Democrat for most of his career,” Todd answered. “He’s closer to Elizabeth Warren than he is to Bill Cassidy on ideological questions. I don’t know … he has a following. He was additive in the campaign. He brought voters to Donald Trump. People are trying to be respectful of that, but they do have qualms about him.”

On Thursday, Sen. Cassidy made it known that he was torn about whether to confirm Kennedy, given his past controversial statements about vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry.

“My responsibility is to learn, to try to understand if you can be trusted to support the best public health: A worthy movement called MAHA to improve the health of Americans, or to undermine it, always asking for more evidence and never accepting the evidence that is there,” Cassidy said. “That’s my dilemma, man. So you may be hearing from me over the weekend.”