Congressmen? Or prop-comics?

They used to throw tomatoes at bad comedians:

Since Alito first sat down in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, it has become clear that the process is as much about the senators and their own agendas as it is about the nominee. Several lawmakers have spent more time delivering their own stemwinders than they have asking questions of Alito. Nary a mind appears to have been changed....

"Since the politicians seem to have made up their mind, and the rest of this is simply playing out, I suspect that if there weren't TV cameras, this part of the hearing would be over by now," said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who is thinking about running for president in 2008, found a sure-fire gimmick to get the cameras turned on him. Discussing a controversial Princeton University alumni group of which Alito was once a member, Biden clapped on a Princeton baseball cap. Every camera in the room swung to him, and the sound of shutters clicking was deafening.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) also understood the value of props in a hearing as dry and legalistic as this one. He pulled out and waved a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution. Again, cameras clicked.

Republicans had props of their own. Responding to Democrats' claim that Alito was being evasive and refusing to answer key questions, Kyl displayed a poster with quotes from the day's newspaper articles describing him as a forthcoming witness....

This shows the catch-22 with televising things like this. Sure it gives the public an eye on the procedure, but also it gives politicians an excuse to ham it up & cheapen the whole point. Of course, if they stuck to the script then even fewer people would watch it, so....

Basically we get the representation we deserve, folks. Ignore what goes on, & you get campaign-style grandstanding & softball questions during what's supposed to be a heated fracas on all things Constitutional, and the only place you see a reference to the Constitution is as a Carrot-Top moment for someone who shows by their legislative actions to have never read it.

Alito's going to be confirmed having answered basically nothing relevant. Aside from Senator Drunk-off-his-arse bringing up executive overreach in a moment of clarity, nothing was said with weight behind it. Tomatoes aren't hard enough, bricks would be more appropriate.