Watching the double standard in Cabinet confirmation hearings.

Whoever thought Mitch McConnell would be the voice of reason?

I’m speaking of Mitch McConnell – circa 2009 – when he wrote a letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid laying out the GOP’s eight requirements for getting President Barack Obama’s Cabinet picks confirmed. Among those requirements: complete ethics reviews, financial disclosure statements and FBI background checks for all nominees before the GOP would allow the process to move forward.

It’s a stark and starkly ironic contrast to the Mitch McConnell of today. Now the Senate majority leader, McConnell took to the Sunday morning news shows to say he had no intent of slowing down hearings that started this week for President-elect Pussy Grabber’s Cabinet picks – despite the fact that the Office of Government Ethics sent a letter voicing concerns that several nominees have “potentially unknown or unresolved ethics issues” owing to their complex financial entanglements.

Based on McConnell’s response to that OGE letter – a resounding thhhhhptttttt – it’s safe to say he doesn’t remember what he told Reid in 2009. On Face the Nation, McConnell said the GOP didn’t like most of Barack Obama’s Cabinet picks in 2009, confirmed them anyway and that it was time for the Dems to grow up and move on.

And judging by the guy who nominated them (remember, the one who said if you’re rich, you can grab women and get away with it) anything is possible.

Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, billionaire GOP donor Betsy DeVos, is a charter school industry proponent with no education in education and has, according to the New York Times, singled out education reform as a means to “advancing God’s kingdom.” As of this writing on Jan. 10, she had not completed her ethics review. Neither had John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general tagged for Secretary of Homeland Security. Both of their hearings were scheduled to begin this week, as were hearings for Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, which did business with Iran while Iran was under economic sanctions from the U.S.; Mike Pompeo, CIA director nominee; and Transportation Secretary nominee Elaine Chao.

Some of those hearings have been stacked to take place on a single day, a neat trick of the GOP that will make it that much more difficult for the public to follow the process.

Rather than getting over it, as McConnell has suggested, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, California’s newly sworn-in congressman, recommends that his constituents pay close attention, both to the confirmation hearings and what comes after.

In fact, it’s one of Panetta’s main asks right now. Since most of Trump’s nominees have no record of public service, they have no record of official votes or public positions on which they can be judged.

“I hope many, many people tune in,” Panetta tells me. “The Republicans have the majority there and we no longer have the ability to filibuster.

“But I believe these wealthy executives need to be exposed a little bit as to who they are and what they’ve done and what they plan to do in these positions.”

My conversation with Panetta took place about two weeks before his Jan. 3 swearing-in. I asked him to project forward and anticipate what his first few months in office would look like. He said he likely would end up on the House Ag Committee (which happened Jan. 10), where his focus would be on crafting an ag bill that would protect speciality crops, and making sure something smart gets done on immigration.

“President-elect Trump can talk all he wants about deporting people, but the reality is, there’s only so much he can do,” Panetta says. “So getting something done on immigration reform is at the top and, with some of the Cabinet picks, so is making sure our coast and the environment is protected.”

In the backdrop of the Cabinet hearings, Trump continues to tweet inanities. But I suggest we follow Panetta’s advice and don’t let the president-elect distract from the matters at hand – Trump’s Cabinet picks, what they’ve done and what they really stand for.

MARY DUAN writes Local Spin for the Weekly. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com.