This is the week for stage-setting on next week's the Alito confirmation hearings.
Your challenge, should you accept it, is to determine what's Republican spin and what's former SNL man-of-the-people commentator Bennett Brauer, as portrayed by the late Chris Farley:
He is not going to be the well-manicured nominee . . . "He will have a couple hairs out of place," one participant said. "I am not sure his glasses fit his facial features. He might not wear the right color tie. He won't be tanned. He will look like he is from New Jersey, because he is. He's not 'camera friendly'. He doesn't 'wear clothes that fit him'. He's not a 'heartbreaker'. He hasn't 'had sex with a woman'; he doesn't know 'how that works'. I guess he doesn't 'fall in line'. He's not 'hygenic'. He doesn't 'wipe properly'. He lacks 'style'. He doesn't have 'charisma' or 'self esteem'. He doesn't 'own a toothbrush' or let his scabs heal'. He can't 'reach all the parts of his body'. When he sleeps, he 'sweats profusely'."
Remember, folks: there's only one standard that actually matters: does he give substantive responses to important legal issues, and are they acceptable?