O.K., some highlights from the 33-hour (as of right now) Senate circus.

Exhibit 1: the Thing already pictured in the previous post. Now, there are uglier members of the Senate; meaner members; more nasty, cold-hearted, calculating, Machiavellian, treacherous members of the Senate; but as far as I am concerned, Norm Coleman (R-MN) stands alone as The Most Loathsome Member of the U.S. Senate.

Not a laurel I bestow lightly.

Exhibit 2:

Yes, Orrin Hatch, speaking beneath that halo of asshole-clenching sanctimoniousness that only he can muster, while standing in front of a poster which read:

"From the Spanish word filibustero, meaning a pirating or hijacking."

That's right, folks--"filibuster" is "from the Spanish"! I'm glad Orrin's poster explained this information to the television audience--otherwise we would have had to rely on the Spanish-speaking members of our households to understand what all this "filibustero" business was about! No Mas, Orrin, no mas!!!

[Also: has anyone ever head of "a pirating"?]

Orrin went on to note that "one of the reasons they lost the 2000 election was this treatment of judicial nominees."

I found this a rather baffling claim. Either there's some kind of radical anachrony going on, or else Hatch means that we "lost" the 2000 election because we mistreated President Clinton's judicial nominees? Who else's nominees could we have been "treating" in 2000? Weird.

Exhibit 3:

Although Lott wasn't one of the major players in this thing (that honor went to freshman slimebags Lindsay "Lindsay" Graham, Coleman, Saxby "Saxby Chambliss" Chambliss, and a more-than-healthy dose of Jeff Sessions) his speech stood out for the peculiarity of its language. Initially Lott referred to the mistreated judicial nominees as

"These men, women and m'nahrities [read: minorities]..."

O.K., so we got the broad sketch of the 3 Categories of Judge-Types we were dealing with here...but then Lott bears down, seeks focus and detail:

"Three men, four women, a minority...all blocked by this filibuster."

Now the math is one thing (the Dems are currently filibustering four; Janice Brown can be counted as a fifth); the gender breakdown is another; but who is this solitary spotlit "minority"?

Well, the men/women/minority triad had to break down at some point:

"But don't use a procedural vote to defeat these men, women and children..."

Got it, Trent. Thanks for the clarification. Now hurry Trent, I hear there's a great big huddle going on in the cloakroom, you don't wanna miss that...


Exhibit 4:

Saxby "Saxby Chambliss" Chambliss standing in front of the "The Faces of America" poster.

The "The Faces of America" poster was a poster showing a cartographic outline of the United States. Superimposed on the map were pictures of the faces of the four filibustered judges. Hence: "The Faces of America." Get it? (Hint: two of the faces were brown. One was a women. Three were children. Wait...four minority...three woman...shit, I've got it all confused now. Have to go call Trent Lott and get it straight...hang on, Saxby, I'll be right back!)

Exhibit 5:

Now I'm seriously second-guessing my claim in Exhibit 1, when I think again of this man

grinning, bantering with Norm Coleman, and referring to a poster declaring

"Most Jobs Ever."

Thought the U.S. had lost 3 million jobs under Bush's watch? Nope. Buncha lies. On the contrary, we've got the

"Most Jobs Ever"!!!

Got it, America?