ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- There has been a lot of talk lately about the need to return respect and civility to politics.

Although I'm not sure I buy into the premise that those things were ever really part of politics, I welcome the sentiment nonetheless.

We should start with Senate confirmation hearings, if it's not already too late. There is too much rudeness in these proceedings, and there has been for the last few decades. Much of it is performative, intended not to get to the truth but to get a rise out of supporters.

The process started going downhill in 1987, when the infamous Robert Bork hearings turned ugly and personal. A Republican, Bork was a federal appeals court judge and former U.S. solicitor general who was immediately labeled an extremist. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., took to the Senate floor and gave the nominee a roasting for the ages.

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions. Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is--and is often the only--protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy," Kennedy said.

Ouch. After that brutal takedown, Bork's nomination was rejected by the Senate.

By comparison, former Fox News Host Pete Hegseth -- President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of defense -- got off easy. Although there is no question that, during his recent confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrats went on the attack with tough and embarrassing questions.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., asked Hegseth about previous comments he made that he doesn't think women -- especially after they've had children -- should serve in combat because it would require a lowering of "standards." Gillibrand did not agree. "You're basically saying women, after they have children, can't ever serve in the military in a combat role," she said. "It's a silly thing to say. It's a silly thing to say beneath the position that you are aspiring to."

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked the nominee if he had ever "made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature." Hegseth claimed he was falsely accused of sexual assault in 2017 and insisted that he was "completely cleared." Hirono noted that Hegseth entered into a nondisclosure agreement and paid a person who accused him of raping her "a sum of money to make sure that she did not file a complaint."

Finally, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned Hegseth's judgment given that the nominee appears to have had multiple extramarital affairs, at least one of which resulted in an unplanned pregnancy with a woman who was not his wife. Kaine wanted to know how Hegseth -- if he were sworn in as secretary of defense -- planned to honor his oath to that office when he hadn't honored his wedding vows.

As far as Hegseth's Republican supporters are concerned, those kinds of questions were out of bounds, not to mention rude and disrespectful.

That includes Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who defended Hegseth and accused Senate Democrats of hypocrisy for turning a blind eye to indiscretions allegedly committed by fellow senators. "It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard and you forget you got a big plank in your eye," Mullin said.

I'm all for removing planks from people's eyes. But let's not forget the eyes of Republicans who only recently discovered the importance of showing respect and politeness during Senate confirmation hearings.

For example, in March 2022, there was not much respect and politeness shown to Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Jackson -- who was then a judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- was assured by Republican senators that their concerns were not about race. Then came a series of questions that were all about race. Senators wanted to know the nominee's thoughts on everything from "so-called white privilege" to critical race theory to the Dred Scott decision.

So yes, by all means, let's strive to bring respect and civility to politics. But, while we're at it, let's leave a little room for honesty and moral consistency.

========

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate, Inc.