As if the senate vote to confirm Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court wasn't insult enough, Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) took the opportunity to reveal his true sentiments about our nation and its institutions. During Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) last appeal to his fellow senators, Franken engaged in a disgusting display of leftist contempt for the democratic process. The Hill reports that just prior to the final confirmation vote.

Franken, who was presiding over the chamber from the dais, gesticulated and made faces white McConnell explained his opposition to Kagan, according to witnesses.

The television cameras broadcasting the speech on C-SPAN remained fixed on McConnell, missing Franken's antics from the Senate president's chair.

McConnell grew increasingly angry as Franken made fun of him before a crowded public gallery and Senate aides lining the chamber walls. Senate aides said they were shocked that Franken would flout the decorum of the chamber during such a solemn occasion.

After McConnell finished his remarks, he walked up to the dais and rebuked him.

"The Leader thought I was disrespectful while he was giving his speech on General Kagan," Franken said in a statement to The Hill. "He is entitled to give his speech with the presiding officer just listening respectfully. I went to his office after I was done presiding to apologize in person. He wasn't there, so I've sent him a handwritten note."