Jeebus media, Begich had just cut Cornyn off earlier

If I hear another tsk tsk or feigned indignation from a "reporter" or a fracking staffer from 40 years ago, I'm going to throw up. They're limiting the time on the floor so they can get their damn work done and go home for the holidays. A classic example of the high school gossip quality of our media. It's alot more fun to make it a pissing match than a procedural point.

WASHINGTON — Normally when senators preside over the Senate, they do little but direct traffic, showing little partiality or emotion as they allow their colleagues to yammer on at length.

So when Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked Sen. Mark Begich. D-Alaska, for additional time to keep talking about health care Thursday afternoon, it wasn't the kind of request usually denied in the polite Senate, where long-windedness is generally tolerated.

But Begich's response was unusual: "In my capacity as the senator from Alaska, I object."

Flummoxed, Cornyn retreated for a moment, then tried again: "Is it the intent of the presiding officer to prevent any senator from speaking on the floor on this important bill? I'm looking around and I don't see any other senator waiting to speak," the Texas Republican said, gesturing to the empty chamber. "I simply would like an explanation of the chair's ruling."

(snip)

It turns out the freshman Democrat from Alaska was acting under orders of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader, who said he had grown tired of what he deemed Republican delaying tactics.

Begich, who as a junior member of the Senate is required to preside over the chamber frequently to learn its rules, had been asked to limit everyone to 10-minute speeches to speed up proceedings. Another freshman, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., treated Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., much the same way Thursday.

Thanks to Heather for Tweey's concern troll video.