As the confirmation hearings on Judge Roberts proceed we must confess to being impressed by his quick intelligence. Of course, having your rights curtailed by smart people is no less comforting than having your life destroyed by dumb people.
Immediate kudos to Russ Feingold's line of questioning. Unlike Joe Biden, who let Roberts make him look a bit silly and pedantic, Feingold displayed an overwhelming command of the issues and specifics at hand and was slowly eating away at Roberts' reluctance to answer in a very smart and calculated way. Is Feingold a Presidential candidate? Why not? Can anyone imagine our current commander-in-chief speaking knowledgeably about any aspect of the law? Then again, can anyone imagine Bush conjugating his verbs?
But the most intriguing questioner we found was Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina. Senator Graham is a former JAG attorney and, as Republicans go, not a total idiot. However, he took whatever smarts he retains and tucked them deep into a dark hole where nobody could find them. His folksy approach was a direct contrast to Feingold's educated and prosecutorial examination. We suspect that his 'let's get rid of all this legal mumbo-jumbo and talk like real men' tactic had much to do with his re-election hopes. Or, more specifically, his Republican primary hopes. Graham has defined himself as a maverick Republican in the John McCain mold: joining McCain to block the "nuclear option", speaking out on global warming, and even expressing concern about torture. Mind you, none of this is especially noble, but it does distinguish him outside the rigid toe-the-line Republican structure. Being able to talk frankly, in a calculated way, about such absolutely non-important issues like flag-burning and prayer in school will enable Graham to return to South Carolina as the champion redneck his Republican faithful want him to be. Then again, maybe he just isn't that bright.
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