I really hate to say this but Kevin Drum
expresses what I was thinking yesterday while listening to some of the John Roberts confirmation hearings.
The thing is, the hearings are so obviously a Kabuki dance that I just can't get excited about any of the details. Is there anyone who seriously thinks that Roberts will sustain any damage during the hearings or that he won't sail through confirmation?
At this point I think it's all for show, but I'll open it up for comments in case someone disagrees. Can anyone provide a plausible argument that there's even a tiny chance of Roberts not getting confirmed?
I know that sounds very jaded but I don't think Kevin is wrong. The fact is, Roberts just has to hold his own and he's in. He really doesn't have to be all that forthcoming and it's in his interest not to be. Dahlia Lithwick
writing over at Slate puts it best:
[Roberts] completely understands that he needs only to sit very quietly, head cocked to signal listening-ness, while senator after senator offers long discursive rambling speeches. Only when he's perfectly certain that a question has been asked does he offer a reply; usually cogent and spare. Here's a man long accustomed to answering really hard questions from extremely smart people, suddenly faced with the almost-harder task of answering obvious questions from less-smart people. He finds himself standing in a batting cage with the pitching machine set way too slow.
I'm sure I'll loathe many of Chief Justice Roberts' decisions but I don't think there is a practical way to stop his confirmation given the general lack of political will (and ability) on the part of the only opposition party we have -the Democrats. So excuse me if I don't piddle away any more of my valuable time on these hearings.
4 comments:
How can you already be sure that you'll LOATHE many of his decisions? I thought the left was the open minded, inclusive side.
Come on, Bob, don't play dumb. Do you really think Mr. Roberts is going to be anything but a right wing judge? Mr. Bush would not have nominated him if he were anything else. So, yes, I'm sure I'm going to disagree with many of his decisions and I'm guessing you are sure you will agree with many of those same rulings. See how that works?
So explain to me how replacing a conservative with another conservative is either surprising or any worse of a situation than six months or six years ago.
It's such obvious false outrage coming from the left its almost funny. You want a leftist Court? Elect a leftist President. You want a leftist President? Nominate someone that can win. SEE HOW THAT WORKS?
Ginsburg and Breyer flew through the process - and Ginsburg was approved 97-3 DESPITE REFUSING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT HER STANCE ON DOZENS OF ISSUES.
Damn, Bob, I have no idea who you are arguing with since your comment adresses nothing in my post or my comment. But rave on, dude!
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