Demagogue

I enjoyed Mark Leibovitch's piece in today's Washington Post about Judge Alito's smile-for-the-cameras appearance with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid:

Harry Reid and Judge Samuel Alito Jr. were posing for photos late yesterday in the lobby of Reid's Senate office. They looked like they'd rather be stripping wallpaper.

"Oh, we have to do more?" Reid said after an initial flurry of shots following a meeting with President Bush's latest Supreme Court nominee. An aide steered him toward another bank of photographers.

"Oh, I thought we were done," Reid said again, gamely resetting his perma-smile while Alito trailed dutifully behind, looking at his shoes.

... things had gotten off to a bad start between Reid and Alito, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge -- and this was before they had even met, for the first time, yesterday afternoon.

On Sunday, Reid told CNN that Alito's nomination would "create a lot of problems." Alito's was "not one of the names that I've suggested to the president."

... it surprised some onlookers -- including from within Reid's staff -- that the senator would even agree to a photo op with Alito after their meeting. "It's one of the necessary rituals in Washington," Reid spokesman Jim Manley explained of the photo shoot. Emphasis on "necessary."