I am VERY impressed by Judge Roberts. Very impressed, indeed.

[Stinky The Clown]

His mastery of evasion in impressive. His subtle but effective way to avoid answering questins directly is impressive. His sheer genius at acting reasonable is impressive. His ability to obfuscate on issues behind a screen of legalese is impressive.

He is, indeed, an impressive nominee.

[undergroundpanther]

1. Rhetoric spewing sexist creep

There goes the Judiciary down the toilet.

[CityDem]

8. He is replacing Rehnquist

He could not go much lower than Rehnquist. The real fight will be for O'Connor's seat.

[bribri16]

12. My husband said he saw pure evil in Roberts' eyes when he looked

straight into the camera at the hearing. My husband is usually a man of few words but he is always right.

[Coexist]

2. And he has practiced his party line(s) in front of the mirror for hours...

"as past nominees have stated, I do not wish to comment on an issue that may come before the court"

[renie408]

3. Somebody help me out here....

If he is not going to address, even in a general way, anything that could come before the court...what the fuck good are these hearings?

We all know he is going to be confirmed, why are we having to go through this stupid crap?

[Coexist]

4. and they are criticizing Biden for not letting him talk...

his is being a goofy parrot when he talks, spews excuses and the same "I can't answer that" over and over.

[ProudDad]

15. There are a couple of reasons

One, so that the Senators can get face-time on TV/radio to impress their base.

Two, in the wan hope that one can reason with this person and maybe noodge him in the direction of rationality and humanity. Not likely, but still an opportunity to do so.

Until they started showing up on TV they were usually 1/2 hour affairs unless there was a repuke fillibuster (like Abe Fortas http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Filibuster_Derails_Supreme_Court_Appointment.htm).

[havocmom]

5. Politician instead of jurist.

He will be another tragedy, like most bushco appointments. Make sure to remind your Senators of that.

[underpants]

6. I'll ask-Why does a 50 year old "man" need a "handler"?

That question itself gets at a conspiracy theory about this lot of Republicans (for another time) but seriously why does a 50 year old "man" who is nominated for the top legal position in the WORLD and who will be making complicated decisions based on 200+ years of history and court rulings need someone to "handle" him (Fred Thompson)?

No one has answered that question for me yet.

[napi21]

11. I don't think he's needs a handler, but the top Pubs DO!

I don't know if they're afraid he'll say something that will piss off their RW nutjobs, or risk losing ANY Pub support in the final Senate vote. I doubt it has anything to do with fear that he'll slip up and divulge some explosive hidden past. It appears to me that Roberts has been aiming for a position on the SC for his entire career, and I believe he was very careful NEVER to do anything that could sink that chance.

Handlers and advisors have become so commonplace in todays politics, it would make me wonder what was wrong if a nominee or political candidate DIDN'T have one. I agree, it's a shame though.

[bloom]

7. That's about right... eom

[Double T]

9. I wonder how long it will be before Roe v. Wade is on the SCOTUS.....

chopping block?????

[0007]

10. When it does I would hope that America wakes up again.....

It seems this country never learns from the past. 0'hum back to the coat hanger days again.

[Nikki Stone 1]

13. I think these hearings are so that certain senators can

maintain the campaign contributions they get from pro-choice organizations. Much as I like Spector for his moderate views, he's gotta know that there's no hope here.

[ProudDad]

14. Our only hopes

are;

1) Maybe this clown is not "religous". If he's not a screaming fundie, he may be able to change as Chief Justice Earl Warren did. Warren was a right-wing republican gov. of California and turned into a "liberal" once he had life-time tenure. Maybe Souter can influence Roberts rather than Scalia. Who knows...

2) More and more people will decide that as long as the feds are right-wing fascist, withhold their obedience to the government and its laws as much as possible and create localities of rational self-governance as the Zapatistas have done in Mexico.

In the meantime, anyone who has tried to depend on the supremes for help has been looking at the wrong place.

[bearfan454]

16. Scott McClellan could take lessons from him nt

[chelsea0011]

17. The smartest guy in the room. No, wait. That was the Enron guys.

[Raiden]

18. Scary!....

[SpiralHawk]

20. Employing Occult Iridology Technology, I can ascertain that his eyes

reveal a Total Stealth NeoCon.

Bad ju ju all around.

[jayfish]

19. Bah! Nothing To Be Impressed About At All.

What you are seeing is SOP for the Rethugs. Don't answer anything and when you are cajoled into saying something, talk ad-infinitum until no one remembers what the hell you were supposed to be talking about in the first place. It's a tried and tested system.

Jay