Banking Panel Member Has Unfrozen Caveman Moment

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had to face a barrage of questions during his two days of testimony on Capitol Hill, but perhaps none had an odder set-up than one from Rep. Steve Pearce.

The New Mexico Republican started by reciting details of Geithner's "impressive" resume, before noting that he had "accomplished a lot." Pearce then proceeded to downplay his own intelligence and understanding of the issues.

"I don't know fancy policy," Pearce said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday. "I'm just a congressman from New Mexico. We don't have big banking institutions. I'm not going to sit here and dazzle you with some question that's going to reorient your thinking about the country. But I have an obligation to those people who elected me to represent them."

The moment was strangely reminiscent of an old "Saturday Night Live sketch," in which the late Phil Hartman played Cirroc, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

In the series of sketches centered around a Neanderthal frozen in ice who was later thawed out and sent to law school, Cirroc would often sway juries by pretending not to understand modern society before declaring that the one thing he "did know" was that his client was innocent or entitled to money. He later ran for the Senate.

"I don't really understand your Congress, or your system of checks and balances… I'm just a caveman," Cirroc said in one sketch. "But there is one thing I do know - we must do everything in our power to lower the capital gains tax."

Like Cirroc, Pearce's flattering wind-up actually betrayed a different purpose, leading to a question about Geithner's credibility.

"We've got sustained 8% unemployment," Pearce said. "We've got financial difficulties that are erupting everywhere… the people in New Mexico -- why should they believe and trust you or the policies that you set in place?"

In a Senate Banking hearing the next day, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., couldn't top that question, but did offer a strange inquiry of his own, asking Geithner at one point, "In 2008, who was the president of the United States?"

Geithner seemed a bit taken aback.

"Well, you know the answer to that question, senator," he responded.