Peter Welch isn’t a physically large man, and he’s still a freshman Congressman, with very few of the visible trappings of incumbency. He hasn’t got one of those fear-me voices. By all rights, the heavies his committee grills should have no trouble tossing and goring him.

But the guy is very aggressive in a hearing, an aggression filtered through the professional niceties and his own substantial courtroom experience. Welch has a signature way of fencing off the area a witness has to roam; more or less every other question he ends with a directional phrase: “Can I get a yes or no on that?”

And suffice it to say that Welch’s manner of interrogation doesn’t sit well with your standard-issue Bush appointee. Least of all Condoleeza Rice, who is used to being allowed lots of rhetorical running room. Lots and lots and lots.

Check out this Youtube footage of Welch working Condi over and you’ll see what we mean. Welch sees Condi beginning to filibuster, and he cuts her off abruptly. Then he and Waxman run a nice impromptu tag-team.

And you can just about see the smoke begin to trail from beneath that single strand of pearls.

They don’t make androids like they used to, apparently.