Tempers flared as Kennedy and Specter mixed it up in front of the cameras--as fine a demonstration of what is going on in the allegedly collegial body as one could hope for.

I have little doubt that this will be the lead story coming out of this session. Kennedy was hammering Alito on his involvement with C.A.P., asking whether he had read various articles published in the magazine, trying to trip up Alito on timeline issues. After his time was up, he asked for an executive session of the committee to issue a subphoena for C.A.P. records.

At this point, Specter indicated he would take the "suggestion" under advisement which then triggered a bit of playground rhetoric about whether Specter had received the request by letter or not.

These are some massive egos. I find it remarkable to see a couple of senior citizens acting in this manner.

I'll try to find a link to the video a little later.

The implications of the exchange are what is really interesting though--Democrats are increasingly turning to tantrums to deflect the impression of impotency. As I mentioned in my previous post, the committee Democrats had to do something drastic today or be washed over by the tide of inevitability.

Kennedy may have gone a little too far though. If he had made the request through Leahy and in private, he would certainly have gotten his executive session and subphoena. As it stands, Kennedy publicly tweaked Specter's nose, making any concession a potential humiliation.

Postscript: the lunch recess just started, but Kennedy asked that the correspondance between his staff and Specter's staff be entered into the record.

Developing...

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has video