Hearing, but not listening

Frankly, it's amazing it got this far. And that's only because Feingold threatened to seek a vote by the full Senate.

The Republican-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Friday it would hold a hearing next week on a call by a Democratic lawmaker to censure President George W. Bush for his domestic spy program.

In a one-sentence notice, the panel said the hearing would be held next Friday by the order of its chairman, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who has opposed censure.

Feingold, who has attracted little support from fellow Democrats for censure, said unless a hearing was held he would push for a vote by the full Senate on his resolution.

Considering that Specter has called Feingold's resolution "vastly excessive" and the lack of ossification in most senators' backs, I'm not optimistic.