Confirmation...

Over the past week, several folks have questioned my lack of comment on the John Roberts' confirmation hearings. Well, I guess I'll stop the silence.

As you may have guessed, I was glued to C-Span. I watched these hearings at home, streamed them on my desktop at work, and watched the reruns at night. For geeks like me, this was a true World Series. And I took great joy in seeing it.

Watching Sen. Kennedy question this brilliant judge, well, I have to admit that I could not help but imagine a manatee and a tiger playing tag. Take your own guess as to which was which as Kennedy clearly was reading staff written questions and had no idea what the questions (let alone their answers) meant.

But anyone watching could clearly see that Roberts is a great legal mind. One of the greatest of his generation. Further, he is a gentleman and a man of high moral character, as has been testified to time and time again by a host of witnesses.

So why then was I not outraged by the grilling he received from Democratic members of the committee? Why was I not shocked and appalled at the prevailing winds of disrespect spewed forth by these liberal blow-hards? Why should I be?

Such hearing are primarily pageantry. Certainly most senators knew exactly how they'd vote before the hearing had begun. I doubt any of the undecided were concerned with the questions and answers themselves, but rather will opt to vote as the polls suggest.

This is a fine and beautiful and still educational pageant that offers a great deal of insight into the man who will surely become our next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Yet it is predictable in its tone. The beauty is in the execution. Maybe rather than a sport, we should compare it to a play. And the actors here were superb. So to me, this was a thing of joy and beauty.

God Bless America.