Post: What YOU learned

Thanks for interacting with us on twitter. We asked this question:

"We'd like your help with a blog post: What have you learned about American politics and democracy from the Sotomayor hearing?"

Here’s what you said (with RTs and hashtags and the like removed):

bitterb: That a nominee can misrepresent fundamental legal doctrines & still be approved (Incorporation/Fundamental Rights)

jackantic: That The Show Must Go On, always, in the US Senate.

karmakimmie: I've learned that when you talk to senators, use small words and short sentences.

hololio2: Seriously, I learned that many senators and testfiers don't understand that appellate judges rule on law, not social issues.

fmome: That simmering beneath the civility of the hearings, there are those on both sides of the debate that are intolerant and nasty (a)nd I'm not talking about the Senators, rather the people they represent. America still seems quite divided and nastily so.

edmondesq: The Sotomayor hearings taught me that political theater still means more to politicians than people do. That must change.

najahaje: Similar to Socialist country now

daelyn: It has reiterated the fact that we tend to waste a lot of time and money!

Winnowill: Knowing your Perry Mason episodes is a lot more important to these procedures than I ever would have thought.

alexromano: shows us how the people we elect look out for our interests in deciding one of the most powerful judicial positions in the US.

Mokurai: Nothing in the sotomayor hearing is new to me, except the name Jefferson [Davis] Beauregard Sessions III