The Big Sleep

I’m with Fred Thompson when it comes to Senate confirmation hearings (whether for the Supreme Court or anything else): “…what a nominee says during his or her hearing, while certainly not irrelevant, is one of the least important considerations upon which they should base their vote. [A] [n]ominee’s judicial and professional record, along with their public statements and reputation for integrity, are much more reliable indicators as to the kind of judge they will be.”

Hear, hear! The process now involves an enormous waste of time during which the senators make long opening statements that epitomize the pompous grandstanding that H.L. Mencken once attributed to delegates at political conventions, where the participants “compare themselves favorably to the rising of the sun and the aurora borealis.” The mere fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee is chaired by a scoundrel like Pat Leahy has an ipecac-like effect on me, and the equally nauseating Chucky Schumer always gives the impression of being a penny ante hustler who started out selling stolen watches before graduating to the “big time.” And then there’s Lindsay Graham, whose physiognomy never fails to put me in mind of the cartoon character, Droopy the hound-dog.

With respect to politicians of every stripe, in the context of a healthy society, less is definitely more.

Update: Follow-up on Graham; he may look and sound like Droopy, sometimes, but AllahPundit gives him high marks for his cross-examination of Sotomayor.