The tea partiers get smarter in undermining health care reform.

"I have not talked to her today."

"Would you mind checking with her scheduler and letting us know?"

"We do not know when she's coming in."

"OK, so we know that's not true."

"We do not know when she's coming in."

"We know that's not true. We know that you know when she's coming in. We understand that they keep a schedule and that you know the schedule."

"There's been no alert from the Senate today so we don't know when she's coming in."

Then, after a pause, Meckler: "We'll wait, then."

Later that morning, Meckler and co. headed over to the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has become as much a pariah on the right for supporting health care reform overall as he has on the left for opposing a public option. When they asked to speak with the man himself, a staffer said he wasn't there, that the office had a "no loitering policy," and that they would have to leave. If they did not, he would call the police. They did not. He called the police. A policeman arrived. He asked whether they understood they were being asked to leave. They said yes. They then asked whether he—the policeman—was asking them to leave. He said he was not. However, the policeman said, if a staffer had asked them to leave and they refused, they could be arrested. More police soon arrived. As they were conferring outside, Meckler got up and left. "We'd made our point," he said. (Lieberman's office confirms the account. See video here.)

Some Democratic Senate offices were more receptive. One group of tea partiers got a 15- minute meeting with Harry Reid's Nevada press secretary Tuesday morning—an energetic but civil conversation about the potential consequences of health care reform. Staffers for Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania also met with the group. Tea partiers expecting to accost Democrats in the afternoon were out of luck, as Senate Dems had been summoned to the White House for a meeting with the president.