The "halo effect" brining out the worst in everyone the camera aims at.

It's an old political adage that "two things one should never see made are laws and sausage."

Watching the confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions this morning confirms that adage. It also has confirmed what goes through my mind every time I watch a congressional panel question someone from Marine LtCol Oliver North in 1987 all the way thru umpteen SCOTUS nominees, cabinet members and so on. And that opinion is that continuous live media coverage (as in with audio and video coverage) of congressman in hearings only turns that sausage into dog food.

Why? Because most of those clowns spend more time creating nifty sound bites that appeal more to their constituents and other supporters than they do truly and effectively vetting a candidate for a position.

Of course, effectiveness is a concept that's just about completely foreign to the legislative branch of the federal government anymore, I'm sorry to say. 

In fact, our whole federal government is living proof of Chesterson's observation that "anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

But equally as unproductive about broadcasting these hearings live is the fact that it brings out the lunatic fringe who get their 15 seconds of fame shouting varying rants of hysterical messages from the Moronosphere until Capitol Hill Police wrap them physically remove them from the hearing room. 

At least the sports broadcasts have gotten smart. They refuse to give video exposure during broadcast of a major league game to the embicile who darts out onto the playing field and runs away from pursuing stadium security personnel while taunting them with an embarrassing game of "Catch Me If Ya Can." 

Get a clue CNN, FOX et al; go back to sketch artists and on-camera summaries and ditch the embarrassing and all-but-worthless hamming it up for the cameras and free P.R. these political hacks (for the most part) get along with the dingbat protestors. Maybe then the coverage of these events will have more worthwhile value - as well as the substance of these hearings - and we could all get back to watching/hearing REAL news.