GOP on Alito: "No fair doing what we've already done."

These guys are pathetic. When the AP did a piece on A-lie-to's blatant ducking and dodging on his own record (couched as "Democrats say answers inconsistent," of course), they dutifully included Sen. John Cornyn's regurgitated GOP talking point rebuttal:

Republicans complained that Democrats have already made up their minds about Alito.

"I do think that there are those who have already decided to vote against your nomination and are looking for some reason to do so," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday. "And I think one of the reasons that they may claim is that you've been nonresponsive." Cornyn said he saw nothing to derail Alito's confirmation.

Of course, not a day earlier, we were treated to this nugget from Lindsay Graham's opening statement:

"I don't know what kind of vote you're going to get, but you'll make it through. It's possible you could talk me out of voting for you, but I doubt it. So I won't even try to challenge you along those lines."

"You'll make it through?"

"I doubt you could talk me out of voting for you?"

It looks like making your mind up, in advance, is just fine if you make it the right way, huh, Sen. Cornyn?

You would think, for the benefit of the unwashed masses who still hold onto the fantasy that this is a democracy, that they'd at least make a token effort to give the appearance that their approval isn't a foregone conclusion. You'd be wrong, of course. At least the Dems, even if their minds are made up, go through the pretense of talking about "hard questions" and wanting adequate responses. Leave it to the GOPers to fall back on their hypocritical "attack where we're weak" strategy and try to turn looking for answers into a pejorative.

After the Harriet Miers curveball, it looks like GOP unity has been regained and "presumed qualified" is the confirmation mantra. In El Presidente's America, the openness of your mind is directly related to your fawning praise for his choices.