Why everyone is terrible at questioning William Barr

Nobody thinks either side is doing a good job of questioning Attorney General William Barr during Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Barr is appearing before the committee to testify on the politicization of the Justice Department, but starting with Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler's (D-N.Y.) opening line of questioning — which Daniel Goldman, who served as counsel for House Democrats during President Trump's impeachment trial, described as "ineffective" — the attorney general hasn't gotten much of a chance to, well, address the issue at hand.

The criticism hurled at Democrats has been that their questions are too long, complicated, or rhetorical, and that they keep interrupting Barr when he attempts to answer.

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But critics aren't letting Republicans off the hook, either. National Review's Rich Lowry, for example, doesn't understand why the GOP members don't use their time to let Barr respond to Democrats who cut him off, rather than grandstand about protests against police brutality. Ultimately, Lowry and others have been left wondering why Barr is even there. Tim O'Donnell