Alito Spit-Polishing Performance

With Alito's confirmation hearing fast approaching, the New York Times reports "Alito Team Says He Lacks Polish, But Grit Is a Plus," referring to the dress rehearsals:

Judge Alito displayed a "street smart" New Jerseyan's willingness to talk back to his questioners. Unlike Chief Justice Roberts, Judge Alito often turned inquiries back on the lawyers who were quizzing him, politely asking them to spell out exactly what they meant, two participants said.

Judge Alito "had no bones about coming back for clarification," the same person said, adding that the judge sometimes stumped the legal experts acting in the roles of senators and suggesting that he could pose an even greater challenge to actual senators reading from staff talking points.

I'm spending this week getting ready myself, conducting practice tunings of C-SPAN on my monitor's picture-in-picture while simultaneously refreshing blog sites. This is going to be fun.