Boycotting is a legitimate form of political participation, best employed for effect when the process is obviously rigged and the outcome is in no doubt. Those conditions were met here.
If I were in the Senate, I would not have even participated in these rushed joke confirmation hearings for a lifetime appointment taking place in the middle of a pandemic and days before an election that looks likely to be a landslide against Republicans.
The proposal I liked best was for the entire Senate Democratic caucus to send a single low-level staffer solely to take notes and ask questions.
The Democrats’ participation in these hearings in any respect granted this process more respect than it deserved. In the end I suppose they did so anyway because taking a controversial stand would pose some risk of turning off moderates and disturbing a race that was trending in their favor.
However, I would advise Democrats to vote like hell in the general election from now until Nov. 3 because that election actually matters and the outcome, though predicted, is far from certain.
