Monday, each Senator had ten minutes to speechify on their views regarding Alito’s confirmation.
Yesterday, Senators get 30 minutes each in round one of questioning. Thirty minutes to budget. Thirty minutes to spend on an historic, momentous issue: the confirmation of a justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, a court in whose hands our liberties lie in a time of unprecedented assertions of executive power.
So what care does Biden take with our freedom and democracy. He fritters his time and our liberties away while clowining around.
In the Roberts hearing Biden flitted about for 9 minutes before landing on his first question.
I thought he could not do worse. See how wrong I was on the flip and “bet” on the over under for today’s “questions” from Biden.
The NYT noticed, too and had this headline today:
But Enough About You, Judge; Let’s Hear What I Have to Say
Here is what I “liveblogged” to myself as I heard Biden on C-SPAN’s replay last night:
He took 12 plus minutes to ask his first question of Alito today.
He has 30 minutes total time.
To top it off, he asked a “could you explain” question.
3 minutes into the answer, Biden inserts his next long-winded “clarification” of the question, and changes the question to a speculation about the company rule in question.
19 total minutes have elapsed and Alito starts in on the answer again.
Biden rambles about the details of the case in question, making more of a statement than a question then asks, “Why not let the jury decide, what was your thinking?” Another open-ended beauty.
We are now at the 20 minute mark.
Biden talks about how he is puzzled about the reason, talks about what got his attention, talks about his own ineptness, babbles, then says let’s move on to another case. 22 minute mark.
At the almost the 25 minute mark (with some of it taken up with a lame joke based on an inapt analogy to Sen. Feinstein’s glasses) he gets to the next open ended question.
Alito starts his explanation: 3 camps, mine was the middle position, in X precedent Z and Q. He is brief (had he wanted, he could probably consumed all of Biden’s remaining time right there).
At the 26 minute mark Biden says the X precedent shows there would have been a different conclusion than you drew (in many more words and justifiably greater detail) but asks no question. Just states his opinion. Concludes with, “But who knows?” 26 minute mark.
Alito explains more, Biden cuts in, prefaced with, “You would know better than I, judge.” He then quotes from the case, says “It seems to me . . . ” Then, “But at any rate it’s your day job, so let me move on!!!!”
Realizing he has 2 minutes left, he babbles about maybe that’s not enough time. He’s on to Casey (abortion) and babbles about how others, Cass Sunstein and others may know more. He admits he may be wrong. Will he get a question in?
NO!! He cracks a joke that he is, for the first time ever, 40 seconds under his allotted time, and quits with that sick joke he just played on our Constitutional process.
Listen for yourself at c-span if you think you can stand it. Trust me, it is much worse than I described.
Scotusblog, which is about as fair and balanced a liveblog of this hearing can be, can barely restrain itself from heavy snark.
Biden is using OUR hearing to grandstand and clown around. He is wasting the little time WE have to get questions answered and to expose Alito for what he is. Biden is providing cover for Alito, and could not have done worse had he been paid by Bush to stall and run out the clock.
Shorter Biden: “Me, me, me, judge. See me grin. What do you think about that? Oh, never mind — time’s up. Ha, Ha”
Worst. Questioner. Ever.
Tell him so here as I did in this letter (doubt we’ll see results today):
Subject: How to ask cross-ex questions
If you need training I, a committed Democrat and professional debate coach, can give you some free of charge.
But if it is not training that you need, if you really know what you are doing, then you are irresponsible for wasting your precious little time, the people’s time, the Democratic Party’s time, today.
I should have sent this message after I heard you take 9 of your 30 minutes to get to your first question in the Roberts hearing. But I thought that might have been a one-time deal and that surely someone would call it to your attention so it could be corrected.
I thought you could not do worse. But today you did. Twelve grinning, rambling minutes to get to a question.
Please construct a tight line of yes/no questions tomorrow. Our liberty is on the line here.
It is disgusting to make a self-aggrandizing mockery (yes, your self-effacing “jokes” were transparent) of this profoundly important constitutional process.
The picture at the NYT article linked above says it all. Unlike the NYT print front pgae it does not show Biden gesticulating in a wider shot, but Leahy’s pose is struck while Biden is bloviating.
Here is the NYT take:
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.
“I understand, Judge, I am the only one standing between you and lunch, so I’ll try to make this painless,” he began, with some promise.
Some promise, indeed.
Mr. Biden then dived into a soliloquy on Judge Alito’s failure to recuse himself from cases involving the Vanguard mutual fund company, which managed the judge’s investments. After 2 minutes 50 seconds – short for the senator – Mr. Biden did appear to veer toward a question, but abandoned it to cite Judge Alito’s membership in a conservative Princeton alumni group. Mr. Biden discoursed on that for a moment, then interrupted himself with an aside about his son who “ended up going to that other university, the University of Pennsylvania.”
Judge Alito, who had been sitting without expression through Mr. Biden’s musings, interrupted the senator midword, got out three sentences, then settled in for nearly 26 minutes more of Mr. Biden, with the senator doing most of the talking. With less than a minute to spare, Mr. Biden concluded, thanked Judge Alito for “being responsive,” then said to Mr. Specter that “I want to note that for maybe the first time in history, Biden is 40 seconds under his time.”
The audience laughed appreciatively.
I, for one, cannot laugh. I want to cry as I see an unethical waste of an historic opportunity.
Biden: Worst. Questioner. Ever.
