I've been watching the Senate's confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito the last couple of days, and have found them to be rather entertaining. Now, all of the legalese mumbo-jumbo might seem to be a bit boring and dry, but it's been quite instructive to watch the Senators at work. To listen to the Democrats and the Republicans, you'd almost think they were talking about two different men. I've found it especially droll to listen to Senator Joe "Kinnock" Biden and Senator Ted "Splash" Kennedy sitting in judgement of anyone else's ethics or morality.
And then there was the spectacle of Senators Patrick Leahy and Kennedy, both "men of pallor," decrying the fact that the President didn't nominate someone who would make the Supreme Court more "diverse." This despite the fact that they are members in an exclusive club that has exactly one black, one Hispanic, and only a handful of women among their 100 members. If Sens. Leahy and Kennedy are THAT concerned about "diversity" in our society, I'd recommend that they immediately announce that they will not run for re-election the next time around, and instead will throw their support behind a candidate who is a "person of color," preferably a woman, since they are more "diverse" than men. Fat chance, eh?
In any case, the Senators appear to be almost as overmatched by Judge Alito as they were by Chief Justice Roberts during his confirmation hearings. The judge obviously knows what he is talking about, and several of the Senators have come off poorly by comparison. Today should be fun to watch.
