Humbling?

Why is it that every person who is nominated to the Supreme Court, be it in Canada or the U.S., needs to talk about just how humbling it is?

No. It's not. It's pretty damn ego-boosting, I'd say. Humbling is when I turn in a memo and the partner scrawls some sort of "what-kind-of-crap-is-this?" note on it. Humbling is thinking about all those people younger than me who competed at the Olympics. Humbling is realizing that in spite of my attorney salary, I can't actually afford a house.

But let me tell you, if I were appointed to the absolute pinnacle spot of my profession, I wouldn't be feeling very humble. I might say it, you know, so as not to look too full of my self, but I'd be feeling pretty f-ing stoked! I'd be thinking, YEAH, all you people who did better than me at law school, look where I am now! I'd be feeling pretty smart and pretty good about myself . . . that is, unless I were Harriet Miers.

So please. Spare me the humble schtick. Mouth the words, but it's hardly "humbling" to become the third-most powerful person in the country, after the GG and the PM.