Posted on 01/11/2006 5:02:03 AM PST by pjsbro
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - The Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. were supposed to be about the judge, but on Tuesday it sometimes seemed as though somebody forgot to tell the senators on the Judiciary Committee.
The lure of 50 cameras and the captive audience in the Senate Hart Office Building appeared too much of a temptation for some of Capitol Hill's windiest lions, who began by promising not to run a marathon session of questions, then did so anyway.
At one point Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, was even granted two extra minutes from the committee's chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania - drawing groans from colleagues, among them Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.
The highest ratio of words per panelist to words per nominee was that of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, who managed to ask five questions in his 30-minute time allotment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Great title
So long as the stories are about the senators, Alito is in great shape -- it shows that the media can't take their claims seriously.
The highest ratio of words per panelist to words per nominee was that of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, who managed to ask five questions in his 30-minute time allotment.
Wow, the NYT nails the Dems in that title. They must be annoyed that the Dems on committee are not delivering
This hearing is not any different than any other when it comes to the questions..After and hour or so of their rants the Dem's get to one question..More than likely it has to do with abortion.They don't care if the Judge OKs the bombing of (if he had the authority) the USA as long as they can keep killing babies..No matter what these morons say or do they will keep getting elected as long as they can make sure the blacks do not have a proper education..
She's not the only one who noticed:
Another Hot Air Hearing
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
By Neil Cavuto
They are called hearings. Why? Who's hearing?
I suspect, Judge Alito... and that's it.
He's the one we should be hearing. But he's the one who isn't talking.
Senators are doing the yapping, at a ratio — I clocked, unscientifically today — at about 6-to-1.
That means, six times more bloviating from senators than answering from Judge Alito.
And don't gang up on the Senate Judiciary Committee. That's all committees in Washington.
Every time Alan Greenspan comes up on Capitol Hill for his "hearings," he's the one listening — usually to long-winded politicians grandstanding and meaningless pseudo-intellectual babble, the stupidity of which is, well, stupefying.
And by the way, fair and balanced here, this isn't a Republican issue or Democrat issue — this is an all-senator, all-points-bulletin issue.
They all yap too much and ask too little.
It's insulting to us, it's insulting to Judge Alito and it's insulting to our country.
I'm still waiting for the senator who asks short, to the point questions, because he wants clear, to the point answers. In short: The senator who makes sense, not speeches. Alas, I haven't found him or her.
Hearings? Try... hot airings.
Kennedy kept repeating his words.
When Kennedy repeats a word, is that word counted once or counted twice?
You know the dems have a PR problem when they are called names by the NYTimes..
ping for later read
Kennedy given two extra minutes to question Judge A - lee - oh -to!
No wonder Andrea Mitchell mentioned it first (the long questions) on Imus today. The NYT still gives the talking heads their lead.
Yeah and Katie Couric cited this article on this morning's Today show in the segment with Begala and Carville, suggesting Dems were in big trouble when the New York Times starts mocking them...
Dahlia Lithwick of liberal mag Slate accuses Alito of being boring, but she also points out that Alito is so smart and loves his job so much that he goes into such intricate detail that the Dem committee members don't understand his answers.
Read Betsy Newmark's analysis of Dahlia and the twisting libs
http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2006/01/hmm-ya-think-that-dahlia-lithwick.html
Well, the senators do have to ramble on until there are enough words on the table to make a question.
Meanwhilst, the Judge gives a concise, direct, and unassailable answers.
No suprise about the time differentail. The Judge gives a one minute answer off the top of his head to the senator's rambling five minutes of script reading.
Marking for later. Not every day the Dems get trashed by their own. LOL
The GOP senators cleverly and correctly, used their time to rebut all the Dems lies from the previous speaker, and when necessary, let Alito expand/clarify his remarks..they chold not be critisized in this instance..
Best description I've heard of Schumer, Kennedy and Leahy after day one of questioning is glum, glummer and glummest.
These Roman senators are making fools of themselves (again). None of them (not one) has half the skill, experience, and knowledge of Judge Alito (and Judge Roberts). So they make these faces, expressing 'concern' for this 'radical activist' judge. When in fact, these clowns (the senators) are the radical activists!
Schumer, Biden, Graham, Feistein, Kennedy, etc. How embarrassing for us all.
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