Could anything be more useless than a House hearing?
Senate hearing can be interesting, since there aren't all that many many senators on a committee, but in House hearings, about 100 people get about two minutes each to say something really good about themselves and then another minute to ask a highly leading or outright rhetorical question.
The highly leading or outright rhetorical questions come in two varieties, depending on which Party one is in.
All time consumed by the witness in answering questions comes out of somebody's bloviation allotment, and thus it is considered rude (our, some times, a moral outrage) for a witness to try to butt into the process. (These are, after all, largely rhetorical questions.)
Every third questioner is required to invoke the "shocked, shocked" line from Casablanca as if they were the first person to ever make the allusion.
Questioners of the opposite party from the witness frame everything as an admission. As in, "You have admitted that you have a Masters degree in public administration from Duke University..."
Questioners typically share how preciously unique their district is with compelling observations like, "We have a thing in my district called a 7-11," or, "my constituents put gas in their cars."
The very picture of edifying public inquiry and debate.
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