however, one of the country's leading constitutional attorneys, floyd abrams last night said here on this broadcast that any supreme court candidate should be giving senators straight answers. >> people who are up for confirmation are not as candid as they should be. i think we'd be a lot better off if senators would say i won't vote for individuals who are up for confirmation unless they give straight answers. >> after watching these proceedings, there may be a -- well, an outcry to replace the so-called ginsburg rule with the abrams rule. joining me now with more on that, jeffrey toobin, author of the nine. jeffrey, you watched the whole thing. she has now retreated from two statements that amongst others, senator schumer said she would not alter in any way. she has simply thrown her two most controversial remarks to the wi7bd, hasn't she? >> lou, you know the song, "you've got to know when to hold, know when to fold." it is an indefensible comment on its own terms. she explained what she was trying to do. i thought she did a pretty good job of saying, look, this is what i think. i

floyd abrams, thank you very much. it's great to see you.s for joining us today. >> thank you. >>> up next, we'll be talking to republican senator olympia snowe about her meeting just moments ago with president obama. will she support efforts to write a new prescription for health care? that all next on "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act. has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis

who opposes the confirmation and constitutional attorney floyd abrams who said sotomayor should indeed be confirmed. thank you both for being with us. wendy we start with you. we began with the first day of hearings, how is she doing so far? >> she's still reading from the john roberts confirmation transcript sounds to me. everything she's saying is at odds with the record in the last 30 years or an avoidance of answering the question. the senators should judge her on the record not what she's saying in the hearing. >> you don't expect they'll do that, do you? >> i sure hope they well. we get them to do everything they can to focus on the record. some will, yes. >> floyd, how is she doing? >> she's doing great. i think they should focus on her record. record as a judge. 17-year record as a judge. she's a well respected, serious person who has done all sorts of things one should do before going to the supreme court and has done them all well. one of the persons that weighed in, a judge who wrote for the federalist society. he said he was disgusted with the judge's testimony. said, quote