OK, I know, we get the point that Chuck Hagel's appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee displayed neither the nominee nor his inquisitors in a flattering light.
But there's another reason to feel bad about it! Here is a "word cloud" of what was discussed in the questions and the answers during Hagel's testimony:
What do you have to peer to see? Oh, how about the place where the largest number of U.S. troops are now in combat: "Afghanistan." Or "Iraq." And what is not there at all? Or, if present, nearly impossible to find? How about "NATO." Or "China," or "Japan." Or "Pakistan," or "Russia." Or "budget." Or "veterans," "women in combat," etc. "Oil."
Yes, we do get the point. These are the defense policy specialists, of the "world's greatest deliberative body," doing their work. Update: I see that Andrew Sullivan also had this cloud earlier in the day.
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best-seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.