"The incident sparked a sharp rebuke from Sen. John McCain, who declared, "This is the first time I have ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks."

Though the liberal Web site Thinkprogress reports McCain himself refused to grant senators additional time to speak in 2002 when the chamber was debating the Iraq War authorization."

Having raised two generations of stroke-inducers I found the old "K.I.S.S." acronym to be the shining principal of parenting. Reasons being: A. Kids are so much smarter, and intellectually receptive, from the moment of birth on up, they make, by definition, most parents look stupid, and B. They're gonna do what they want to do regardless of what you say anyway.

Therefore, "k.i.s.s."  I told my kids that I wouldn't insult their intelligence with a laundry list of do's & don'ts which, as the bejillion kids that went before (including me) would absolutely ignore, and 99.9% of the "don'ts turn out to be pretty harmless for most people most of the time anyway.

"BUT (and this I said just as soon as they could comprehend, around 2-3 yrs. of age), there are a couple of things which are absolutely, positively, and unequivocally forbidden. I said earlier that 99.9% of "adult" rules are understandably forgettable, that leaves .01% that I would kill to enforce; rules, that when violated even once, have a tremendous probability of changing your life forever, or ending it altogether. So when I tell you what I'm talking about it's not a father-son/daughter chat, it's an adult-adult chat."

"Now, what "things?" 1. Don't ever, not even once, get into a car with a drunk driver. 2. Don't ever, not even once, engage in unprotected sex. 3. Don't ever, not even once, ingest something into your body that you don't know exactly what it is. And 4. Probably the hardest of them all; never disrespect another human being. Regardless of who they are, where they came from, or what opinions they hold, they were born just as free, just as unique, and just as entitled as you were to be heard. For, if you want to grow up having people listen to you, truly listen to you, starting your conversation with a slur, or any sign of disrespect, guarantees that anything you say afterwards; "they will see your lips moving, but they won't hear a thing."

Of course, the funny thing is what he is saying is that all of this stuff that he abhors is sort of beside the point - go talk to Ben Nelson if you want this bill. not anyone else.

But in the absence of any evidence of that commitment the words rang hollow and there was a palpable sense of disappointment in the audience.