While it might be nice if public perception of a Supreme Court nominee’s suitability for the Court was based upon their actual positions and opinions, that hasn’t been the case for a long time. And news organizations are not the ones primarily at fault for that.

I don’t think you can honestly tell the CAP questioning story without Martha-Ann Bomgardner’s reaction. It is an important aspect of the story. I might agree with you if I felt that this was a ’staged’ display, but that frankly isn’t credible.

Additionally, as I stated the crux here isn’t supporting or not supporting the nominee. The place where supporting matters, is supporting the Democrats opposition to the nominee, which includes the tactics being used, both in this line of questioning and the potential for a filibuster.

It is telling that Democrats felt their best shot was the CAP story. Either they don’t have a serious objection, or they don’t trust that their real objections would be shared by the general public.

I have seen the double meme in your comment that 1)it was a Republican who made her cry and 2) that it isn’t ‘news’ floating around a lot. Frankly, both those points are innaccurate.

I think it patently obvious why she became emotional during the hearings. Anyone who had been teased or had a difficult time in other ways is probably familiar with being able to stoically bear the abuse until someone offers you comfort and then all the pain flows out. Saying that the person offering comfort, rather that those doing the abuse, caused the tears is just stupid. The Democrats line of questioning, which I think is offensive whether or not it made her cry, was the cause of these tears.

As to whether something is ‘news’ or not, a good rule of thumb is probably anything that a lot of people loudly claim isn’t news is, in fact, news. Often it is very important ‘news.’ Alito’s fate depends upon two things (and pretty much has since his nomination) if Democrats will muster the political will to filibuster this nomination and if Republicans will muster the political will to change the Senate rules in response. Public perception of Alito, and perception of the two parties plays a huge role in those calculations. Alito’s wifes tears (and the relevant question for the masses as you call them of what caused her to cry) matter a lot in that respect. If the Democrats opposition and tactics is seen as illigitimate, then a filibuster will not be supported. If they are seen as legitimate and Alito is perceived as ‘out of the mainstream’ than Democrats would gain a huge amount of support in blocking the nomination.

That is news.