Supreme Blather

If I were running one of the cable networks, this is what I would have done yesterday.

I would have told the Senate Judiciary Committee that if you want to devote hours to rambling opening statements from each and every member of the panel-- essentially much-rehashed stump speeches-- fine, but we're not going to cover it.

We'll take five minutes from Specter, five minutes from Leahy and five minutes from John Roberts, and then we're gone until you actually begin questioning the nominee. Then we'll give you some airtime.

Senators bloviating for the cameras for more than three hours while the likely next chief justice sits there uncomfortably isn't news. Senators cross-examining the judge is news. I'm usually a fan of cable television covering the events rather than engaging in punditry, but only when the event is real, not prepackaged and warmed-over rhetoric.

The speechifying started at noon, and at 12:45 CNN was the first to break away to Wolf Blitzer, Jeff Greenfield, Jeff Toobin and none other than John Ashcroft. Fox bailed at 1:03, with Chris Wallace and Brit Hume, and MSNBC around the same time, with Brian Williams and Tim Russert. Within moments, Fox and MSNBC were showing Bush in New Orleans, chiding the press for playing the "blame game."

In short, the Judiciary Committee drove away its audience by insisting on the senatorial tradition that the lawmakers' extended remarks must come first, rather than adapting to the television age.

Dianne Feinstein, for one, figured out the game. After her opening statement, which was covered, she slipped outside and did an interview with CNN while Russ Feingold was giving his opening statement.

The day's most exciting development, in mid-hearing, was "Heck of a Job" Brownie resigning at FEMA. Why he didn't just pack it in last Friday, when he was humiliatingly sent packing from New Orleans, is anyone's guess.

Only Roberts had the sense to be mercifully brief. And that was it! On the first day, when interest was naturally the highest, the august committee adjourned. Its 17 white men (and one white woman) had spent the day listening to each other talk. There's a metaphor there somewhere.

It's All About Baseball or Politics

Roberts's baseball symbolism proved more lasting than all the senatorial flourishes:

"Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush's choice to be chief justice of the United States, told senators Monday that he seeks a modest and limited role for the nation's highest court, akin to an umpire who calls the balls and strikes rather than a star player who is the center of attention," says the Los Angeles Times .

"In an opening day of confirmation hearings in which senators drew sharp and partisan distinctions over his-- and their-- views on issues like abortion, civil rights and the role of the courts, Judge John G. Roberts Jr. promised on Monday that if confirmed as the 17th chief justice of the United States he would 'confront every case with an open mind,' " says the New York Times .