# Ted Kennedy.....Just ask a question and then just STFU and listen to the answer! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447 "2005-09-13T17:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/21 "2005-09-14T01:05:07Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > In 1962, Byron White faced the ordeal of a Judiciary Committee hearing in his process of nomination to the Supreme Court. > > His hearing lasted an hour and a half, most of which time was taken up by testimony of various bar associations. He faced eleven minutes of questioning. > > He was confirmed in a Senate floor voice vote that same day, and then proceeded to serve for 31 years. That’s how it should be. Simple, direct, and done. Ask a FEW questions to verify the guys isn’t a flaming loony and get warm fuzzies about his competence/experience and get on with it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/22 "2005-09-14T01:06:35Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Wasn’t it Feinstein that has already said she’ll vote for Roberts? Or was that someone else? I know it was a Dem that also said the hearings are needed to find out his stance on some issues. (Whomever it was, it was clear the “issues” were abortion) Yet, the Senator said before the questioning started that she plans on approving him. Yup, it’s all political grandstanding. > > I was hoping for some exchange along these lines: > > **Senator Cirrhosis** : And what of your stance on the death penalty? > > **Judge Roberts** : Well, let me give you a hypothetical. There’s a man that got his secretary drunk one night and while driving home went off the road. After the car went into the water he… > > **Senator Cirrhosis** : LUNCH! ROFLMAO. You RULE! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/23 "2005-09-14T01:15:26Z")
You guys don’t get it. In any confirmation hearing, if the Senators are doing most of the talking, the nominee is winning. If the nominee is doing most of the talking, he is doomed to defeat. So if Senators are monopoolizing the microphone and the nominee is quietly listening, why are you complaining. Oh, I forgot, it because that is what you do best, even when you get your way. :wally ---
**Author:** ![AFAIKnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@AFAIKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AFAIKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/24 "2005-09-14T15:05:46Z")
Maybe it just seems to me that Kennedy’s behavior was par for the course. He seems pretty civil right now. What really got my goat was Biden’s(sp) attitude. He started off with an 8 minute monologue (I think the commentators timed it) and then would ask a question about a case while setting it up that Ginsberg answered it. And as Roberts either tried to answer it or give a reason why he wouldn’t feel comfortable, he would cut him off. The chairman reprimanded Biden quit a few times and he would come back with how little time he has and that Roberts is filibustering or not answering the question. There was also a memo he quoted from that was obvious Roberts didn’t remember from 25 years ago and said he couldn’t extrapolate more than what was in the text and the Senator said “well I hope you don’t feel the same way, man”, or something to that effect. What an asshat. I always hated politicians of his stripe. All teeth and grandstanding. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/25 "2005-09-14T15:12:27Z")
I think that while the Senators are really there to hear the sound of their own voices, Roberts is certainly NOT going to say ANYTHING definitive or specific. He is there to duck, evade and re-direct any queries that accidently occur. It’s all a game–and he will get the nod. \ (for the way things work over the way things should work) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/26 "2005-09-14T21:09:59Z")
With respect to the OP, [the speechifying in lieu of questioning is bipartisan](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091401548.html): > [@](#): > > Today, there hasn’t been much in the way of questions or answers. Roberts avoids any question on a topic that might come before the high court – which is to say most any question senators wish to ask. The result: Democrats and Republicans alike are using the bulk of their time for speechmaking rather than questioning. > > \ > > In Hatch’s 15 minutes of questioning, the senator spoke for 12 and left the nominee with three. When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) took his turn, the senator used 15 of the 20 minutes and gave Roberts five. > > \ > > Biden interrupted anyway, and he was able to hold the floor for 12 of his 20 minutes, ceding eight to Roberts. > > \ > > Brownback, who spoke 3,500 words and gave Roberts time for only 1,500, used his question time to deliver an anti-abortion speech. > > \ > > Coburn, likewise, used his time to deliver a pro-life speech. > [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > [Oh, and I can guess that people’s opinions may change or have changed over time…right, Senator Kennedy?](http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-12-2005/0004105498&EDATE=) Which was why the Dems would have liked to see Roberts’ work output from the Bush I administration, being more recent (and in a higher office) than his work during the Reagan years. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/27 "2005-09-14T22:31:49Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Which was why the Dems would have liked to see Roberts’ work output from the Bush I administration, being more recent (and in a higher office) than his work during the Reagan years. Do you really want to posit that if the Democrats had access to everything including what he penned in his daytimer while pinching a loaf on Friday last that we’d be in a different position? Fuck no. Biden and and the Great Windbag from Massachusetts would simply have another point on which to base their baseless pontifications. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/28 "2005-09-14T23:13:22Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > You guys don’t get it. In any confirmation hearing, if the Senators are doing most of the talking, the nominee is winning. If the nominee is doing most of the talking, he is doomed to defeat. So if Senators are monopoolizing the microphone and the nominee is quietly listening, why are you complaining. Oh, I forgot, it because that is what you do best, even when you get your way. :wally While that may be the case, it still doesn’t excuse TK’s obvious (but failed) attempt of railroading Roberts yesterday. What little I saw today was slightly reassuring that Kennedy and Biden toned down the rhetoric maybe because they reviewed the day’s proceedings and probably muttered to themselves…“Damn, I was being quite the asshole yesterday!” :rolleyes: Complaining even when I get MY way? I was undecided on which way it was…from what little I heard, he seems genuine and definitely knows his stuff when he has a chance to say it. Maybe that’s the real reason why they were trying to talk over him. **FI** , it wasn’t how long Ted took to set him up, it was all the other issues that he tried to pin on him when he served as the representative for the executive branch and the senator’s stupid attempt of characterizing him for past job performance. If you were being interviewed for a job, would your interviewer treat you this way? Oh, he’s Catholic? b:Dd \ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/29 "2005-09-15T02:19:24Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > If you were being interviewed for a job, would your interviewer treat you this way? So how do you account for the grandstanding of the Republican senators who use their time, not to ask questions, but to pontificate about anti-abortion windbaggery? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/30 "2005-09-15T02:24:42Z")
That’s an easy one. They’re ALL full of shit, on BOTH sides of the aisle 😃 ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/31 "2005-09-15T04:39:12Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > So how do you account for the grandstanding of the Republican senators who use their time, not to ask questions, but to pontificate about anti-abortion windbaggery? Wow. Just wow. You are so prolific in pointing out the political grandstanding of Republicans and stating your ire in any way you can when a conservative Doper doesn’t suck your sack in agreement. Then when the granddaddy of the Liberals comes under fire, you go back to how bad the conservatives are. Sad. Just sad. At least I can accept a differing viewpoint, no matter how wrong it is. 😛 This is becoming a habit for you based on a few recent threads. Face it, even most mainstream Dems can’t stand the guy. Kennedy is your baby, I guess. You live with it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/32 "2005-09-15T05:45:05Z")
Ah, the shrill cries of the Red Crested Teddybashers! Its good to see you guys have some fun, get something you can sink your teeth into without getting bitch-slapped around by facts and cites. See, thing is, most of us lefties don’t really pay that much attention to the accidental Kennedy, he just doesn’t matter that much, we look upon him with a bemused mixture of vexation and nostalgia. So, what the hell…knock yerselves out, wouldn’t be Christian to try and stop you. Last year or so hasn’t been very good for you guys. And prospects are, well, dim. Maybe we can hear from that Senator from Oklahoma, maybe solicit Judge Robert’s views on the dreadful threat of junior high lesbianism… ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/33 "2005-09-15T12:13:21Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > …knock yerselves out, wouldn’t be Christian to try and stop you. Last year or so hasn’t been very good for you guys. And prospects are, well, dim. The only reason our recent past has been dim is because you guys couldn’t even drum up a candidate that could beat our guy a couple years ago. > [@](#): > > junior high lesbianism… What…some young girls on drugs experimenting with homosexual urges? I mostly kid. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/34 "2005-09-15T14:00:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Ah, the shrill cries of the Red Crested Teddybashers! Its good to see you guys have some fun, get something you can sink your teeth into without getting bitch-slapped around by facts and cites. See, thing is, most of us lefties don’t really pay that much attention to the accidental Kennedy, he just doesn’t matter that much, we look upon him with a bemused mixture of vexation and nostalgia. So, what the hell…knock yerselves out, wouldn’t be Christian to try and stop you. Last year or so hasn’t been very good for you guys. And prospects are, well, dim. > > Maybe we can hear from that Senator from Oklahoma, maybe solicit Judge Robert’s views on the dreadful threat of junior high lesbianism… I watched yesterday’s hearings (or at least a few hours of them) on C-Span last night. Kennedy wasn’t anything to get worked up over. He was like a grand elder statesman compared to Leahy, Biden, & Schumer. FWIW, you can stream this mornings hearings off C-Span 3. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/35 "2005-09-15T14:54:22Z")
Some NPR stations are broadcasting the live hearings instead of normal programming. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/36 "2005-09-15T14:54:47Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > Oh, he’s Catholic? So is Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/37 "2005-09-15T15:10:44Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > The only reason our recent past has been dim is because you guys couldn’t even drum up a candidate that could beat our guy a couple years ago. > What…some young girls on drugs experimenting with homosexual urges? > > I mostly kid. Huh? What? Everything sucks, we are going down the toilet, but it isn’t the fault of the “ruling party”. It’s the fault of the “other guys” because they lost the election and aren’t in charge. That’s some great logic there, unless I have been whooshed. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/38 "2005-09-15T15:32:14Z")
David Brooks [column](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/opinion/15brooks.html) this morning takes a nice, humorous look at the hearings so far. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/39 "2005-09-15T16:01:03Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > David Brooks [column](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/opinion/15brooks.html) this morning takes a nice, humorous look at the hearings so far. Now **that’s** funny. I liked this bit - > [@](#): > > Jeff Sessions This may be a good moment to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that in this country unelected judges don’t write the laws. We have unelected lobbyists to do that. Under our system, judges merely interpret the law and decide presidential elections. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447/40 "2005-09-15T16:33:25Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Do you really want to posit that if the Democrats had access to everything including what he penned in his daytimer while pinching a loaf on Friday last that we’d be in a different position? Fuck no. Biden and and the Great Windbag from Massachusetts would simply have another point on which to base their baseless pontifications. That might may be so. But Roberts wasn’t working as Bush Sr.'s personal lawyer during that Administration; he was representing the United States of America - _we, the freakin’ people._ It’s doubtful that Roberts, in that capacity, was working on anything that needed to be kept classified due to national security considerations, but I’m certainly willing to let such documents, if any, remain protected. But aside from that, there’s no reason on God’s green earth why we, the people, shouldn’t get to see what we paid for, all these years later. Just because a coupla Senators can’t bloviate their way out of a paper bag means nothing, one way or the other. That people - or even the people’s elected representatives - might use their rights unwisely, isn’t an argument for the removal of those rights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-just-ask-a-question-and-then-just-stfu-and-listen-to-the-answer/321447.md?page=3)