Sheesh

[From the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.]

A couple of minutes ago, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) described Odysseus as having himself tied to the mast of his ship so that he would not be tempted by the call of the Sirens. Uh, no. If Odysseus did not want to be tempted, he could have stopped his ears, as his crew did at his (per Circe’s) direction. Odysseus’s ears are unstopped: he chooses to be both tempted and restrained. (He’s Mr. Reckless Curiosity, living on the edge.)

*

The senator made me the same mistake in the next day’s questioning. In his metaphor, Odysseus was a judge; the mast, the Constitution.

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[This post had originally had an additional sheesh: a senatorial error in subject-verb agreement. But that was my mishearing of has for have. I checked: the v of have was barely there.]