Futile theater

I'm watching the Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings. I'm appalled by their uselessness for it is obvious that everybody is playing to the cameras and that this pathetic spectacle has been so rehearsed that the end is known and that no important questions will be answered. So what is the point of it all? It seems that it may be time for Congress and the political establishment to do everybody a favor and save us from this lamentable theater, which just reminds those of us who care about the US Supreme Court that this exercise has stopped to be useful because the fear of the unknown and of the political embarrassment, has led all the participants to agree to make a process, that needed to be somewhat authentic to be fertile, predictable and sterile.