Justice Scalia Makes Mincemeat of Al Franken

You probably won't be hearing the talk show host for the dying liberal radio network Air America, Al Franken, doing much talking about a recent run-in he had with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons told the New York Post that in a recent verbal altercation between Franken and Scalia, "Al [Franken] was not quite ready for prime time."

Scalia was the subject of an interview conducted by outgoing Time Inc. editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine as part of a series titled "Conversations on the Circle."

As Mike Wallace, Tina Brown, Michael Eisner, Jack Valenti and other celebs watched, Franken tried to heckle Scalia.

The unfunny comedian stood up and asked about "judicial demeanor." Franken wanted to know whether a judge ought to recuse himself if he had gone duck hunting or flown in a private jet with someone who is a party in a case before his court.

This was, of course, a not-so-veiled reference to Scalia's activities with Dick Cheney before the 2000 election.

Without missing a beat, Scalia responded, "Demeanor is the wrong word. You mean ethics."

After placing the dunce cap on Franken's head, the jurist continued: "Ethics is governed by tradition. It has never been the case where you recuse because of friendship."

The Left Coast Report believes that watching a Scalia/Franken match-up is like watching Gary Kasparov play chess with Jessica Simpson.