Yawn.

There does seem to be a concerted effort to paint Fred as either “lazy,” or a “less than hard worker.” Stories touting that line have appeared in Newsweek, Time, CBS, and US News and World Report to name a few. Of course, it’s been further moved along by the wire services and the web. (Next stop... fact!)

But let’s be fair. In a reasonable answer to previous mention of the subject, Fred responded in 1998 by saying, "I don't like spending 14- and 16-hour days voting on 'sense of the Senate' resolutions on irrelevant matters."

That sits right with me. There is a lot of posturing that leads to nothing, and sixteen hours of doing nothing just creates a really good nothing. I’m reminded of the empty chamber speeches broadcast on C-Span, wherein it’s all fire and brimstone…. to an empty house. A great photo op, to be sure, just not so great for democracy.

And really, it’s not like Congress is getting anything done at all, regardless of the day’s length. I’d take a few hours less if we could solve some of the issues we put them there to solve in the first place.