I'd say it's the opposite - it makes sense for unsorted lists (CCC gets you to the third C-country) because if it's sortes you can just press C-down-down which is just as fast if you have your hands on the keyboard. And if your right hand is on the mouse, you'll still have to either move the pointer to the right country and click it (at which point might as well only press C once) or move it to Enter (at which point the arrow keys are just as reachable).