How can you tell it was bad? Two ways.

First, the fact that Byron York's nearly incomprehensible story about some trivial role Kagan may or may not have played in a long-forgotten Clinton White House era non-scandal was actually taken seriously by the true believers. And second, so was the fact that while making awkward small talk with Sen. Orin Hatch in front of the cameras while visiting with senators on Thursday, Kagan agreed with Hatch that an old gun in his office was “beautiful.” The Noise Machine considered that utterly mundane chit-chat to be hugely embarrassing for Kagan.

Trust me, if at the end of the week when a SCOTUS nomination has been announced, utterly pointless, inane efforts like that are being touted online as being big deals, your team is losing.

Badly.

UPDATED: And yes, when folks are (belatedly) hyperventilating over Kagan's undergraduate thesis from the `80's (i.e. treating it as news), you know that it's been a very unproductive week for the GOP Noise Machine.