This week, Specter complained that the hearing is being considered "pro forma," i.e. only for show; perhaps he's worried that he won't get to use his courtroom techniques again this time.
The ranking member on the Republican side is the legendary Sen. Strom Thurmond. Now in his early nineties, Thurmond probably realizes that he no longer has to reinforce his reputation with harshly put questions. He does not try to be the star of the committee, and thus serves it as well as a man of his age can.
Thurmond is haunted by a past that does not exactly merit a seat on the Judiciary Committee. He was a rapid proponent of segregation in 1948 but has since become a repentant integrator. Originally a Democrat, he has become the definition of an archconservative Republican. Even with his experience, Thurmond must rest a few notches below Metzenbaum on the whom-do-you-trust totem pole.
The laurels for most likeable Republican should go to Sen. Charles "Chuck" Grassley of Iowa. Another veteran of the Congress, Grassley's conscientious inquiries are often based on what he reads, not what he hears at any one moment.
It is said that politics make strange bedfellows; the committee that must work together in spite of its differences is an apt example of the adage. These bedfellows, however, are not as strange to each other as their public sparring might indicate.
Hatch and Kennedy, for instance, are great friends who often share each others' company off the job. For loyal Democrats or Republicans, this "sleeping with the enemy" might engender the kind of betrayal felt by fans of the Phoenix Suns when they heard about Charles Barkley's playoff lunching with Michael Jordan. Well, no matter how nasty the Senators are on television, they are entitled to be people, too. In any case, they haven't been a pro team for 19 years.
The only notion that could torpedo the harmony of the hearings is the possibility that Republicans are accepting Ginsburg as a lesser evil. In spite of Ginsburg's years of lobbying and advocacy for women's rights, Ginsburg is not as liberal as she might seem.
After all, Thomas McLarty, President Clinton's centrist Chief of Staff, was the force behind her nomination. But Clinton should have realized that only a strong, if mild-mannered, liberal could tip the balance in the highly conservative high court.
In any event, a smooth confirmation process is in the country's best interests at this point.
Let Hatch and Kennedy continue to lunch together, even President Clinton and Bob Dole, the Senate Minority Leader, have shared a meal recently. A little bipartisan legislation springing from friendship might be just the thing to get this nation moving again.