"You were a warrior in the war on terrier."

Said by Andrea Mitchell, hosting "Hardball" last night, to her other guest just after tangling with Judge Richard Posner, who was on the show, by telephone, to talk about the Bush administration's warrantless interception of telephone calls. It's quite surprising, by the way, to find a federal judge going on a TV news analysis show to talk about a legal issue. I note that he did not take a position, but tried to explain the arguments.

He had to keep saying things like "I said it's arguable" as Mitchell kept trying to pin him down before moving back to the other guest. Posner, though he was on the phone, was very forceful in denying Mitchell the ability to use the host's standard strategy of capsulizing the guest's position in order to move a two-sided debate forward. Mitchell must have felt the need to be more tolerant toward Posner than to the usual guest, but she obviously needed to give some time to her other guest. She kept a smile on her face as she tried to make the requisite move, but then she said, "You were a warrior in the war on terrier."