During his confirmation hearing, when asked whether he thought "determining optimal population is a proper role of the government," Holdren answered, "No, Senator, I do not."

Is it likely that Holdren's true feelings towards overpopulation can be extracted from a five word response at a confirmation hearing, or from his own encyclopedic length textbook?

On the one hand we have to weigh the credibility of a one sentence comment at the public sideshow of a confirmation hearing, a spectacle that has become synonymous with the art of lying, deception, and hiding skeletons in the closet , as can be witnessed right now with the Judge Sonia Sotomayor hearings.(Deconstructing Sotomayor's words, revisions)