John Kerry hearing: Rand gets the better of Rubio... again

Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are both early frontrunners for the Republican nominee in 2016. Each had two cracks at challenging two Democrat heavyweights this week. On January 23rd, Hillary Clinton was in front of the committee over the Benghazi attacks and a day later came the confirmation hearing for Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Not only did Paul do much better than Rubio in front of Clinton but he out-performed every other member of the Senate and House committees that questioned the outgoing Secretary of State.

So how'd each Senator do with Kerry? Once again, Paul clearly out-did Rubio and someone should really coach Rubio on how to question a witness; it's not his strong suit. One thing to watch for in both exchanges is how quickly Kerry is expected to answer. Remember, each committee member gets ten minutes to use as he or she chooses and the longer each member speaks, the more comfortable the nominee is because it means less time playing with the rope of your own words and positions. Paul seems to grasp this concept much better than Rubio does. Note how Paul wraps up his first question and expects Kerry to respond to it thirty seconds in.

Conversely, though Rubio demonstrates that he has a comprehensive understanding of international events, that's not why he's there. He's there to ask the very liberal Senator from Massachusetts some tough questions. Rubio takes up nearly half of his ten minutes showing cameras that he knows what's going on while Kerry does little more than root for the clock to keep running before he has to speak. In fact, such pontificating can be counterproductive in another way.

For example, during his opening four and a half minute speech, Rubio actually asserted that it's debatable to argue that the Honduran government's removal of Manuel Zelaya in 2009 was a coup. No it isn't. It absolutely was not a coup. Zelaya was a stooge of Hugo Chavez who attempted to seize power by usurping the Constitution. As such, he was constitutionally removed. That is not debatable.

Kerry inexplicably supported Zelaya in that circumstance and was irrefutably proven to be on the wrong side, on the side of a would-be communist dictator. Rubio would have been better off asking Kerry to explain why he supported Zelaya. Instead, he came across as willing to listen to an argument that says Zelaya was wrongfully removed. Kerry never addressed the issue in his seven-plus minute response.

Congressional hearings are most effective when the questions are like those found in a cross-examination. To cross-examine means to examine closely or minutely, the record of a nominee or witness. When you have a time limit, this is best done with short, direct questions. As you'll see, Paul does this very well. Rubio does not. In fact, Rubio never spoke after his opening remarks and when Kerry is done, you won't know what questions Rubio asked or if Kerry answered them.

Rubio is a smart guy but he needs some serious coaching in this area.

Here is Paul's exchange with Kerry:



Here is Rubio's exchange with Kerry:

VIDEO: Graham Hits Sotomayor Hard

I was very critical of Lindsey Graham about a month ago when he said, "To call her (Sotomayor) a racist is out of bounds". He came across as wimpy and then trumped himself when he suggested she should apologize for her "inappropriate" comments about a "wise latina woman" having better judgment than a "white male".

That said, he did well today. You DON'T have to tell me that Senate hearings are shows for constituents and that Graham was probably throwing some red meat to those who took the time to file complaints with his office. He Still did well and his efforts may have far-reaching consequences.

If you watch none of this video, do yourself a favor and watch from 14:45 and don't stop until you've seen three minutes. It is the quintessential rebuke to reverse discrimination and Sotomayor is the rightful target.

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NOTE: Did you catch the part of the exchange when Graham attempted to read the "Wise Latina" quote aloud but couldn't find the document containing it and asked Sotomayor if she remembered it. When she said, "yes", he asked her to recite it (because he couldn't locate it). I'd like to give him credit for an attempt to get her to give us the visual image (with live audio) of her repeating those comments but likely just an inadvertent misplacement.

At that point, Sotomayor knew that the video recording of her reciting the infamous quote again (regardless of context) would have been dagger-esque so she sat there with a rather dumb look on her face for a few moments. If Graham would have held out a little longer, he may have either created a very uncomfortable situation for Sotomayor OR gotten her to recite her racist comment for the EIGHTH time.

Oh well, he did ok anyway.


h/t to Hot Air

VIDEO: Sotomayor Not so Wise Today

Before I get to what struck me about today's round of hearings in the Sonia "Ignore my comments, my rulings, and my affiliations" Sotomayor, let's start with the "Wise Latina" woman comments that got her in a bit of trouble today. It's very important to remember that she said these words on six or seven different occasions. To illustrate, here is the quote seven times.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

Yes, on at least six (maybe seven) occasions, nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor uttered those words. Today, she said the words were misunderstood and she shouldn't have used them. They fell "flat" according to Sotomayor.

So we're to believe she DIDN'T think those words fell flat after the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth time she said them. They fell flat when it was time to SAY they did in order to get confirmed, right Ms. Sotomayor?

Here's a video of her taking questions about her comments from Jeff Sessions (R - Alabama) today.



h/t to Hot Air for the link.