Tough Times for the 'Sissy Six'

"You said that last time," NBC's Ken Strickland noted on the second occasion.

Lott laughed, then confessed: "They're in there trying to figure out what to say to y'all."

They didn't come up with much. Feinstein and Levin left wearing grim expressions and refusing to comment. Roberts, plainly irritated, announced even before reaching the microphones that "there wasn't any" big news.

Roberts angrily opposed the Democrats' theatrics last week when the minority party forced a closed session of the Senate to restore attention to the intelligence probe. Still seething, he reported that the six "had a very frank and candid discussion" -- diplomatic code for tense and fruitless -- and added that the committee would act "in a bipartisan manner to the degree we can achieve that."

Rockefeller reached out for a handshake. Roberts seemed baffled by the gesture and, after a painful pause, took the ranking Democrat's hand. Before Rockefeller could make his statement, Roberts turned and walked away. "There's no question that there are several areas where there are substantial disagreements," Rockefeller allowed.

For Roberts, the day did not improve during the afternoon. While the chairman lunched with fellow GOP senators, White House press secretary Scott McClellan, besieged at his briefing by questions about the torture policy, lost his cool. He told one reporter she was "showboating for the cameras" and another that she didn't "want the American people to hear what the facts are."

Emerging from lunch in the Capitol, Roberts, quickly surrounded by reporters asking similar questions, explained that although the United States shouldn't torture, prisoners should think otherwise. "It's the fear of the unknown that really allows us to get the answers that we need," he said.

Defending the military's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, he added: "There are more senators and congressmen with ethics cases pending than there are problems with interrogation right now in Gitmo."

That argument might not earn him favor with his colleagues. But these are not the words of a sissy.