The internets were lit up like a Christmas tree this morning with the news of Mrs. Alito’s breakdown yesterday afternoon (great takedowns from Jane at firedoglake here, James Wolcott here). Being as I am an empiricist, I decided to hunt down the clip (wmv) and judge it for myself.
Having done so, I have only one thing to say: I may ordinarily be a paranoiac conspiracy theorist, but there’s paranoia and then there’s just being right, and this was so damn staged it’s not funny. It looks like someone trying to cry who’s never seen a real person crying, only movie characters. I’m sure it’s distressing to see someone you love get ruthlessly chatted with for three days, but I cannot conceive that anyone would really respond with such pearl-clutching and swooning, especially given that the speaker is that mean ol’ bully Lindsey Graham.
