watching the hearings

Well sure you can watch the highlights and hear some analysis of the hearings later on, but you are just getting a version that someone else has edited, and it's like not watching the ballgame because you can always see the highlights and read the box score the next day.  Oh it's great to see the replay of Javy Baez diving at the hard grounder, plucking it up and hurling it, as he rolls to his feet, into the outstretched glove of Rizzo nanoseconds before the runner's toe meets the bag,  But it's so much greater when you have been sweating maintaining a one run lead and the ball looks like it is headed into the outfield with the tying run on third and your heart drops but then Javy snags it and your heart soars like a hawk.  Can't get that out of a replay.

But if you aren't a political junkie it can be a slog, five minutes of questioning by a dem, five minutes by a rep, and depending on the person being questioned one side is all nicey nicey and the other side is like you dirty rotten scoundrel, and even though they are all fine public servants trying to do what is best for the country, you can't help but think that they are thinking about getting a nice clip of themselves to run in their next campaign.

But this would be a little different, Christine Ford was an unknown, I think this was the first time I had seen her.  As a partisan dem I was on her side of course, but I was worried that she might be a flake.  And she didn't look good at the outset, little girl voice, trembly, weepy.  But as the questioning went  on she became stronger, smarter.  Since the reps didn't want to look like a bunch of men picking on a woman they gave their time up to this woman prosecutor, but this meant that her time was five minutes on, five minutes off, so she really couldn't make much of a case that way, and on top of that she didn't seem to know what she was doing, and she never laid a glove on Christine who came across very well.  The dems of course just praised her to the high heavens.  I read a magazine during their questioning.  At the end CNN was calling it a win for the dems and the Foxies were saying well maybe it was a tie, but they were looking pretty glum.

Then up came Kavenaugh and his opening speech went on for like fifteen minutes, he ranted, he raved, he wept and blubbered, he did not act like you would expect a judge to act.  I had a house guest from Champaign who had left that morning for some grueling interview and examination at Northwestern Hospital about a serious illness, and he came back before Kavenaugh finished his speech.  I really wanted to hear the questioning of Kavenaugh, but it didn't seem right to tell my friend (who by the way is a raging Trumpist) to sit down and shut up.  I had to listen to his story and I did not hear the Kavenaugh questioning,  I guess I have seen some replays last night and this morning but it's not the same.

When the ballgame is over the score is up on the scoreboard and there is closure, but with the hearings the result is in the reactions.  What does CNN say?  Well we know what FOX will say, so I guess it is more are they happy or a little glum.  Most importantly in this case is what effect did it have on Murkowski and Collins and the blue dogs?  Right now it looks like the reps think they won that because they are going on with the vote today.  But another result is what did the voters think.  I guess we will have to wait for that.

That Kavenaugh is like a mini Trump, fighting his questioners red-faced and blaming Hilary on his problems, and you could tell, when he was making his speech that he had one eye on the camera and behind it, the eye of the Donald,  And afterwards Trump gave him a big thumbs up. 

If Avenatti has an ace up his sleeve he'd better, slip it onto the table right now.