Fox News� �Special Report with Brit Hume� replayed an exchange between Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) at the beginning of a judiciary committee hearing on Thursday. Hatch was angry. Very angry at the way that Judge Charles Pickering was being treated in the committee. It was good TV at the very least, and one of the reasons I love C-SPAN.

To listen to Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) talk about the nomination of Pickering, you�d think he�d vote for the guy, right up until the point where he said that he wouldn�t vote for him.

Biden talked about phone calls that he�d gotten from people from Mississippi �whom I know� whom I respect� say that the man is not a racist. That he is a good, fair, honorable man.

That should be all that matters, unfortunately it�s no longer the case. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on �Meet the Press,� defending a charge that she uses a litmus test. Said that she didn�t, and then outlined her decision making process, which included the textbook definition of a litmus test.

One of the words that I heard again and again as Senators spoke at the hearing was �mainstream.� Apparently from the senators� definition of mainstream is simply someone that everyone likes � good luck finding intelligent, thoughtful judges whom everyone likes.

Unbelievable quote of the day: �I�m not influenced by any outside groups.� � Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)