"Congruence," "Proportionality" and Arlen

The AP's Jesse Holland has an interesting take on our junior senator from Pennsylvania and a question he asked in the Sotomajor confirmation hearings.

From the story:

"I would like to know what your standard will be, if confirmed: a rational basis, which had been the traditional standard, or congruence and proportionality?" the 79-year-old Specter asked Sotomayor. "And if you tell me congruence and proportionality, then I'll ask you what it means, because it slips and slides around so much, that it's impossible to tell what a constitutional standard is. And we senators would like to know what the standards are, so we know what to do when we undertake legislation."



In one fell swoop, by warning Sotomayor that he had some weighty legal issues on his mind, Specter reclaimed some of the gravitas he lost by changing parties from Republican to Democrat in order to have a better shot at winning a sixth term in the Senate.

It's a litte hard to believe that Democratic primary voters will be as impressed with Specter's "weighty" question as the AP reporter was.

Was that "gravitas" or just another blowhard senator spouting off while the cameras were clicking?