Stevens broke down after his latest attempt to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was defeated. Ted tried to use the defense spending bill to force through a home-state oil drilling provision.

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Stevens: "This has been the saddest day of my life It's a day I don't want to remember, and I'm sorry to see it come to an end -cause I am drawing a line with a lot of people I've worked with before. I really am--I say goodbye to the Senate tonight. Thank you very much."

Chip Reid notes: "Our senate producer stayed here until the wee hours last night to try to find out if senator stevens was saying he was going to resign. Ken asked are you coming back? Stevens said, quote, 'I don't know."

The MSNBC host felt so bad for Ted at the end of the segment that he said: "It has been his life for many years."

I guess he shouldn't have tried the slimy act of attaching his provision onto the defense spending bill.

Digby writes:

Because the beltway press corps has conditioned itself to respond only to Republicans. They've trained themselves not take Democrats seriously, either the rank and file who inconvenience them with e-mails they do not want to read, or the leadership they simply disdain. Unpopularity obligates them to criticize Bush at least mildly, but the relief they feel when his numbers edge up a bit is palpable. They don't seem to know this about themselves.