This should be a riot. The Republicans want to make the hearings about who should be running America. So who do they bring to testify against Kagan? A religious right general with a long, long, long history of embarrassing controversy.

From Steve Clemons:

I just learned that the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling none other than the God-connected, crusade-obsessed saber rattler retired Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin as one of four military witnesses raising questions about Kagan’s policy of making it tough for the military to recruit at Harvard when there was a conflict over the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policies. I think DADT is a relic that should be tossed out — but reasonable people can disagree and debate. But Boykin? If this party is engaged in such self-destructive theatrics, why can’t the White House do a better job of dividing up the Republicans into smart and not-so-smart factions.

Because they’re spending far too much time dividing their friends into different factions? More from Wikipedia on this nut – this is just a sampling, there’s a lot:

Boykin achieved widespread media coverage for his statements that appeared to frame the War on Terror in religious terms, first broadcast on NBC News, October 15, 2003. William Arkin, military analyst for NBC-TV News, was the source of the video and audiotapes of Boykin. The following day the Los Angeles Times ran a piece on Boykin. Amongst several quotes, the LA Times article revealed Boykin giving a speech about hunting down Osman Atto in Mogadishu: “He went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, ‘They’ll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.’ Well, you know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.” Boykin later clarified this statement, saying that he was implying that Atto’s true “god” was money.

President George Bush distanced himself from the statements, saying that Boykin didn’t “reflect my point of view or the point of view of this administration.”

Some news commentators, such as Republican Patrick Buchanan, believed that there was nothing wrong in what Boykin said.

Boykin also believes that he speaks with the Holy Spirit.