I've been looking forward to the Sotomayor confirmation hearings this week about as much as I look forward to going to the dentist.
That's because the confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court for the last twenty-five years have had zero to do with the fitness of the candidate. The hearings have become nothing but public relations for the senators involved. I say that regardless of which party was doing the nominating.
Unfortunately our society has become a television society. If a senator can get on the tube by saying something that a television news producer thinks is is good clip for the tube then he's on. It doesn't matter whether the comment or question has any bearing whatsoever on the candidate's ability. It only matters that the clip might attract more viewers.
Believe it or not, many years ago before the age of television, it wasn't uncommon for Supreme Court candidates to not even appear before the Senate committee. Now isn't that a coincidence.
So I won't be watching the hot air confirmation hearings this week. However I am grateful for two things. One is that Joe Biden, blow-hard extraordinaire, won't be there. I used to get so sick of his posturing for the camera I couldn't stand it. It turns out there are advantages to having him as Vice-President although anything happening to Obama sort of scares me. The other is that Al Franken of SNL (hello, I'm Al Franken) is on the committee. If there's any hope at all for confirmation hearings being anything other than political BS, he's it.
July 13, 2009 in
Politics |
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