Dana Milbank has his typically snarky article focusing on little unimportant details that make you think that someone must have beat up little Dana when he was a kid and he's taking it out on everyone more prominent ever since. Soon he should join Robin Givhan in the Style section of the Washington Post.

Senators will debate Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito's legal views for months, but this much is settled law: The Senate is witnessing a real-life revenge of the nerd.

Alito, bespectacled, hair askew, suit rumpled and ill-fitting, walked into Sen. Tim Johnson's office this week to pay a courtesy call on the South Dakota Democrat. Sitting in an armchair in the senator's office, Alito forgot to unbutton his suit jacket, causing his tie to stick out and his jacket to bunch up. The judge's pant leg hiked up as he sat, revealing an untied shoelace.

....Washington is a town of geeks and misfits who, for the most part, suppress their inner dorks much of the time. But Alito wears this status on his sleeve: Leaving the cloistered courtroom, he emerges, blinking, into the sunlight.

This, obviously, is not disqualifying. What better place for a supreme square than the Supreme Court? And President Bush, a frat boy himself, has acquired a taste for the nerdy: His nominee for Federal Reserve Board chairman, Ben Bernanke, is known for wearing tan socks with dark suits.

On the other hand, Alito has the disadvantage of following John Roberts, who was just as smart but carried himself like a big man on campus: athletic build, quick humor and good looks. Compared with Roberts, Alito looks as if he were in town for a "Star Trek" convention.

In the office of Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), when cameras and microphones got too close, the nominee pushed himself deeper into his seat. Leaving a meeting with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Alito reached to shake the senator's hand, then quickly pulled it back when sensing that Nelson was not ready. Greeting Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Alito stood in the reception room clasping and unclasping his hands, then rubbing his right index finger.

Leaving the office of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) yesterday, Alito caught his foot in carpeting and briefly stumbled while getting in the elevator.

When he walks between visits, Alito arches his back and stretches his neck. Wearing a fixed grin, he bobs his head right and left so frequently that reporters following him have dubbed him a "Bobblehead."

Why is Dana Milbank writing news reports for the Post? Give him an opinion column and he can take on Maureen Dowd with the little stinging details that he imagines capture some greater truth but just show that if you pick out little moments from anyone's public appearance, you can find details that make that person look ridiculous. Of course, as Kate Roiphe writes about Dowd's new book that tries to explain her inability to find a mate on the fact that men fear her brains, is Maureen Dowd really necessary? Both Dana and Maureen need to grow up.

UPDATE: Apparently I missed that this is a column by Dana Milbank, not a news article. That identification didn't show up the print page from the Post. I would still prefer that it went in the Style section, whence Milbank came, rather than on page 4. Actually, I'd prefer that he kept his thoughts on the nerdiness of a grown man wearing a baseball uniform to coach his child's baseball team or having a shoelace untied. The cattiness of his work belongs in his diary, not in the newspaper.