Ouch My Head Hurts!

The Harriet Miers three ring circus.

As I cruise the blog-o-sphere I am struck by two things.
1)Both the left and right want a savage bloody battle (the right a bit more then the left).
2)That senate hearings use to actually have a practical purpose.

When the first supreme court justices were appointed there was no Internet, email, TV, radio or telegraph. The media of the day was newspapers, there were a lot of them, and they make the screaming heads of cable news channels seem mild. Anyone with a printing press and an attitude could lie his way to infamy. Ben Franklin had a lot of fun with this, when he published letters about his foes and competitors, while attributing them to a third person. At one point he published an article saying a competitor was dead, knowing full well he wasn't. (Rupert Murdock, the new Ben Franklin? Yeeeew!)

IMHO the reason he could get away with this, is that he had his tongue very firmly planted in his cheek, while performing these actions, and had a genuine love of knowledge and wisdom. He was also a voice of moderation in the continental congress. (Ben Franklin the first Centrist?)

But I digress. The point I am trying to make is that the Internet has accelerated the pace and

invasiveness to an incredible level. It seem like there is no point having actual hearings. Lets just have and online poll and let the whole country vote on the nomination. The microscope of the conventional media 20 years ago is nothing compared to the current level of information mastication occurring today. You can use a site like memeorandum.com to look at an original news item, then watch it discussed in blogs, then watch the blog entry be chewed on by other blogs. By the time a physical hearing occurs few minds are left to influence. All that really is left, is for the senators to play sound byte gotcha.

It would appear that Miers has been nominated, probed and rejected even before a hearing date is set. I get the distinct feeling that the bloggers have voted, and her fifteen minutes are up. Why bother with those pesky elected representatives? I'm not sure I'm happy about this.

The picture that is emerging on the net is that of the worst kind of person. A fawning sycophant, who will say whatever the listener wants to hear, just to get on the supreme court. But I've never meet the women! Heck, I've never even seen her interviewed on TV. Has she even had a sit down, pre-staged, pre-scripted “interview” on FOX? I have heard nothing but bad things. Yet I have the sense she is getting the shaft.

I know the president is busy. Syria needs invading, most of his confidants are about to be under indictment, his poll numbers suck, Iraq, yadda, yadda, yadda...... But this whole nomination thing just doesn't feel right.

It feels like he wants it to fail.
Harriet Miers, human sacrifice?
Isn't All Hallow's Eve coming up?