What is it about these tough-talking Republicans, who, every time the soup gets too thick, somehow find a way for their wives and/or mommies to enter the public debate and rescue them? Our big, strong AWOL of a president, George W. Bush, does it all the time. Uses Laura and Babs to deflect criticism and defend him with inane, self-serving statements, or, highly orchestrated acts of fake compassion.

And this week we saw it yet again, with Martha-Ann Alito's Academy Award-winning performance at her husband's grueling Senate confirmation hearings. Samuel J. Alito wants to be the next Supreme Court justice, and just about every Democrat in America fears this appointment like the Black Plague. So there they were, the usual liberal posse of Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Dick Durbin et. al., managing somehow to get a few hard-hitting questions out along with mega-hours of self-important, pontificating blather (not the Dem's best performance, unfortunately).

As if the Mrs. didn't expect this to be a blistering session for Sammy, she grew increasingly emotional and upset during Wednesday's hearings. So unfair was her hubby's interrogation, his "mistreatment," as Utah Sen. Orin Hatch called it, that the gentleman Senator from South Carolina, Lindsay Graham, felt compelled to come to the future justice's aid, lobbing loaded, softball questions designed to paint the picture of an honest, decent, compassionate, non-bigoted man worthy of a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court. And with that, wah, wah, wah. Mrs. Alito's eyes welled up with tears, and, too distraught to remain in the chamber, she left. A big scene. Lots of drama. Well done, Ms. Alito! A performance that would make Spielberg proud! The mainstream press loved it! Republicans throughout the land loved it. And for sure, Sammy loved it too.

And so goes another case of... when the going gets tough, the tough get their wives and mommies to make everything better.