Alito coached by member of Senate panel

The reason I haven't written much about Alito is that it's all so predictable. I could answer the questions for him and you'd get the same results. He's in full presidential debate mode, which means carefully pre-determined answers to anticipated questions. Obfuscate his record while sounding 'presidential,' as it were.

In fact, Senator Lindsey Graham, who amazingly claimed today that he's already made up his mind about Alito, was involved in coaching Alito prior to the hearings. And Alito's answers are such polished non-answers it's hard to doubt.

What this all adds up to, though, is the manipulation of Senate rules into a farce. All in the usual name of grabbing ever-more power. So, sure, I'm catching a fair amount of the hearings-- but I don't think much will come of them. He's too cool a character to screw himself like Robert Bork did, and that's all these hearings are about now. Gentility is now a weapon in these hearings, and confirmation doesn't amount to much more than having a good poker face. Tragic.