It’s Okay, Di Fi, We Like Phantom Planet Too

This just in, courtesy of a tipster:

During Judiciary Committee Mark-up this morning, Dianne Feinstein’s cellphone went off while she was giving her statement on comprehensive immigration reform.

Her ringtone? “California,” the theme from “The OC.”

Oh, and the funniest part was that she didn’t notice her phone ringing, despite Sen. Durbin’s effort to point it out to her!

This is not entirely surprising. While Di-Fi is certainly one of the most well-spoken — and well-dressed — members of the Judiciary Committee, she can be a bit of a space cadet at times.

But there is an irony in Sen. Feinstein discussing immigration reform to the tune of a song with these lyrics:

We’ve be on the run
Driving in the sun
Looking out for number one
California, here we come

Here they come, indeed.

Earlier: Senatorial Lessons in Cell Phone Etiquette

READ MORE: cellphones, dianne feinstein, illegal immigration, immigration, judiciary committee, phantom planet

John Kerry’s Last Stand: The Alito Filibuster Backstory

Last week, when Senator John F. Kerry issued a vocal call for a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito, Jr. — going so far as to blog about it — many Democrats and Republicans had the same reaction: “What the hell is he thinking?” The fact that Senator Kerry issued this clarion call to arms from Switzerland, of all places, didn’t exactly help. As White House press secretary Scott McClellan put it, “Even for a senator, it takes some pretty serious yodeling to call for a filibuster from a five-star ski resort in the Swiss Alps.” As the New York Times aptly summarized matters, “Democrats cringed and Republicans jeered at the awkwardness of his gesture, which almost no one in the Senate expects to succeed.”

After the Alito cloture vote this afternoon, this will all be nothing more than an embarrassing memory. But, since we had nothing better to do with our weekend, we did some poking around into what might have been running through John Kerry’s elongated head.

The rumor going around in Judiciary Committee circles late last week was that Senator Kerry’s decision to filibuster was staff-driven. Speculation focused in one staff member in particular: Mirah Horowitz, one of Kerry’s chief legal advisors. Horowitz is a liberal lawyer and blonde braniac who previously clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, before joining a decidedly less successful enterprise — the Kerry presidential campaign.

Was there any truth to this rumor of Mirah Horowitz exercising excessive influence over John Kerry? Details after the jump.

READ MORE: filibuster, jessica cutler, john f. kerry, judiciary committee, mirah horowitz, samuel alito, supreme court, washingtoninenne

Daily Briefing, Part I: Alito’s ‘Soporific Effect’

• Samuel Alito vows to keep “open mind” on abortion; distances himself from past statements. [WP, NYT, WSJ, WT, LAT]
• Alito was an “elusive target” who seemed “mostly untouchable.” Alito’s “handling of questions from Democrats had the effect of leaving his questioner shuffling through papers in search of the next question.” [NYT, WP, USAT]
• Alito had a “soporific effect”: “the mood in the hearing room was flat and lethargic.” [WP]
• Alito insists he will maintain the status quo. [WP]
• Alito “sticks to the big picture” as Dems “cast wide net.” [USAT, LAT]
• Judiciary Committee members indulged themselves. [NYT]
• Alito defends ruling on Vanguard. [WP]

READ MORE: Democrats, Republicans, SCOTUS, abortion, judiciary committee, samuel alito

Daily Briefing: ‘So Vicious and So Vitriolic’

• Attorneys for Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee express “uniform disappointment” with Miers and are “pushing back against her.” Said one lawyer, “Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact.” [NYT]
• Dobson says Rove assured him that Miers is a conservative evangelical Christian, though Roe v. Wade “was never part of our discussion”; Rove reportedly explained that alternative candidates removed their names “because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter.” [LAT, WT]
• Judith Miller will testify for a second day today; prosecutors are investigating earlier conversations between administration officials and journalists. [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Laura says criticisms of Miers might be sexist. William Kristol: “It is striking to me they are spending less time explaining the merits of Harriet Miers and more time… using liberal talking points to criticize the critics. I think it is going to backfire.” [WP, NYT, WT]
• White House strategy shifts focus to Miers’ religious credibility. [USAT]
• Bush in New Orleans: “Out of this rubble is going to come some good; out of the devastation is going to come new cities and new hope.” [NYT]
• Milbank on Bush’s “Today” interview: “The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere.” [WP]
• DeLay remains a go-to, agenda-setting congressman. [NYT]
• McCain advances his own agenda ahead of the White House and the Republican leadership. McCain: “Do I want to be president? Sure. Do I want to run for president? That’s the question.” [WSJ]

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