On Vermont Public Radio —

I’m one who does not feel somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did.."

But I felt that some of the attacks that he was involved in against Senator Obama …. I thought they went way beyond the pale, that they were not fair, that they were not legitimate, that they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were run about Senator Obama

 I would feel that had I done something similar that I would not be Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress

Imagine that, someone leading — instead of acting like a spineless mush-mouth.  Here’s the audio (courtesy ThinkProgress):

Update:  Greg Sargent has the transcript.