James Lileks:
HH: Joined now by James Lileks, columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, blogger extraordinaire at Lileks.com. James, your take on the week of Alito?Mark Steyn:
JL: Oh, where does one begin? The fantasy that comes back to me, again and again, is seeing these people grill Albert Einstein.
HH: (laughing)
JL: I would love to see Biden leaning forward with that expression of deep concern, and saying you know, Doc...Doc, I've read that you believe that E=MC2, but I gotta say I'm troubled by it. And I'm puzzled as well. And weren't you a member of a country that elected Hitler?
HH: (laughing)
JL: I mean, it would be like that. It would be like engaging in a colloquy on the theory of relativity with Einstein, with these guys who had a chemistry set when they were in 4th grade, and believe that qualified to study the theoretical...
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JL: The one thing we have learned, at least, is that we now know for sure that the Republicans do not have an operative hidden deep in Teddy Kennedy's camp, because if they did, this would be the perfect opportunity to slip him talking points based entirely on Dr. Seuss books, and he would read them with absolutely no...with as little comprehension and recognition of the fact that he was asking Alito about whether or not he'd come out against Green Eggs and Ham. He would no more hear the absurdity of that, than the absurdity of...
HH: But you know, Herb Kohl would do the same thing. He, too, was a distinguished reader of whatever was handed to him.
HH: I'm joined by Mark Steyn, columnist to the world. You can read everything he has to say at Steynonline.com. Mark, I've got lots to ask you about the Alito hearings. But let's start with your general impression of the almost four days of blathering that's been going on in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Democratic Senators, and the resolute responses of Judge Alito.Not to worry about Teddy, he can still call for another round of drinks on his own.
MS: Uh, sorry Hugh, I think you'll have to make that question a lot longer. After listening to Joe Biden, I'm not used to questions that last less than eleven minutes now. But I think that, whatever it is, that Harry Potter music, or whatever you've got, they actually need underscoring for some of these epic statement.
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MS: You know, I think the Senate has passed beyond parody now. I would love somebody to do a reality TV show, like Survivor, where you drop someone in the United States Senate, and they have to see how much questioning they can stand by the Senate Judiciary Committee, before they flee the island. I mean, this is now beyond parody. These ludicrous obsessions, you know, where troubling is the word. I love that. I find it troubling. I find it troubling that at a grade school in New Jersey in 1952, you belonged to a group that played ethnically insensitive games of cowboys and Indians. There's no play for racism in America. I mean, this is as absurd as you can get, the obsessions, the questioning, and the lack of self-awareness of these Senators...
HH: That is pretty amazing. They do not appear to understand how they are appearing to the world.
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MS: And when I've compared them in the past to the House of Lords...you know, the difference between the House of Lords is that when you went to see any of these dukes or marquises or earls, who'd been in the House of Lords since the 12th Century, there were like three dukes to an office. They were wedged in a pokie office with one little secretary between them. These Senators have huge staffs, and when you listen to Ted Kennedy, Ted Kennedy is a pitiful creature who is incapable of doing anything other than reading out the prepared statements and questions for him by his staffers. These are not citizen legislators. This is not republican government. It is a disgrace, and an abomination for anybody to have to sit through twelve minute questions prepared by a staff that's bigger than the court of your average Gulf emir. It's pathetic.
