U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein voted against confirming John Roberts as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court because Judge Roberts didn't talk enough about his feelings. Or at least that's how James Taranto of OpinionJournal.com interprets Sen Feinstein's remarks during debate:

I attempted to get a sense of his temperament and values. And I asked him about the end-of-life decisions: clearly, decisions that are gut-wrenching, difficult and extremely personal. Rather than talking to me as a son, a husband, a father—which I specifically requested he do—he gave a very detached response.

This reminds me of an exchange between Lionel Tiger, Prof of Anthropology at Rutgers University, who is probably best known for coining the phrase male bonding, and Barbara Ehrenreich, social activist/feminist/writer. The exchange occurred during a debate on the decline of males in Western societies. Ms Ehrenreich tried to goad Dr Tiger into revealing his emotions–his feelings–as part of their discussion.

EHRENREICH: I want to get at another level here. I want to explore your feelings about these things. You say the "decline" of males–there's a sad tone to that. I would feel sad, as a mother of a son, if males suddenly started "declining" in some serious way. Do you reel [sic] loss and regret and nostalgia? Why call it a decline? Why not say, Let's go boldly forth in this more egalitarian and somewhat de-gendered world?

TIGER: A more attractive picture to be sure, but not, however, I think, quite as accurate a rendition of the emotional consequences of what's happening. I'm not interested in characterizing my own personal psyche in this matter, solely because I think it's of zero interest to anyone. What is of interest is the fact that, as you suggested, young men and women are very concerned about these matters, one reason being that they no longer have a set of rules that they think are emotionally and morally worthwhile. Now, why should people have rules? If you study anthropology, you realize that human beings generally try to have rules, notions of how to behave. What we saw in the Clinton-Lewinsky business was some astonishing confusion between personal and public life.

EHRENREICH: You certainly got away from the issue of how you feel about it. See, I'm willing to say how I feel.

TIGER: I'm wholly uninterested in your feelings.

That's exactly my view of Justice Roberts' feelings–and the feelings of public officials about any public issue. Don't tell me what you feel; I don't care. Tell me what you think, and why.

I'm glad Judge Roberts didn't emote on national television for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Commitee. The interesting question to me is: Why does Sen Feinstein think Judge Roberts' feelings are important?

EnterStageRight.com posts an interview with Dr Tiger here. For a critical profile of Ms Ehrenreich, click here. (The latter is my source for the text of the exchange with Dr Tiger.)