Between David Addington failing to submit testimony, and John Yoo forgetting his words, not a whole lot was cleared up by the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay.

But on the bright side Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), did manage to clarify a very important question. Just what branch of government is the Vice President in?

Cohen: Mr. Addington, what branch are we in?

Addington: Ah, sir, perhaps the best that can be said is that the Vice President belongs neither to the executive nor to the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. That's from two legal opinions issued by the office of legal counsel to the Department of Justice dated March 9th, 1961, and April, I believe, it's 18th, 1961 by, I believe, Mr. Katzenbach if I remember. . .

Cohen: So he's a member of the legislative branch?

(cross talk)

Addington: No. I said attached by the Constitution to the latter. He is not a member of the legislative branch because the Constitution says that the Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Constitution further says that the Senate consists of Senators and the House of Representatives consists of Representatives and he is neither a Senator nor a Representative.

Cohen: But he is attached to the legislative branch?

Addington: That's the quote I read you.

Cohen: So he's kind of a barnacle.

(voice off camera): Kind of a what?!

Addington: He is attached. . . the word was attached by the Constitution to the latter. I don't consider the Constitution as a barnacle, Mr. Cohen.

Cohen: No, the Vice President. Since he's really not fish or fowl, he's just attached to something.

But don't take our word for it:

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) tried to pin John Yoo down on what exactly happened after he wrote his most infamous torture memo for the Bush administration, but like David Addington before him, Yoo seemed to have a small problem remembering his words:

Ellison: The name on the memo was Bybee, but you contributed to the memo right?

Yoo: Yes, sir.

Ellison: The memo was implemented at some point. Is that right?

Yoo: What do you mean by implemented sir?

Yoo later cited attorney client privilege in declining to answer questions about what happened after he wrote the memo.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) interrupted Ellison's line of questioning to summarize the subcommittee interrogators' frustrations:

I have been on the committee for a year and a half, I've never seen two witnesses, frankly, struggle as much to appreciate ordinary use of terms and questions. Would you consider instructing the two witnesses to answer the questions that they're asked and if they wish to elaborate or clarify they can ask to do so, but given that we have time constraints I would ask that the chair admonish the witnesses to err on the side of being responsive as opposed to constantly quibbling over word choice because I've never seen it to the degree I've seen it today.

The seven and a half minutes of excruciating video are here:

After grilling John Yoo on the possibility of burying suspects alive, the great, grumpy committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) turned his attention to David Addington to question him on the Unitary Theory of the Executive, something Addington should know something about, oh, considering that was his primary justification for torturing terrorism suspects:

Conyers: Do you feel that the Unitary Theory of the Executive allows the President to do things over and above the stated law of the land?

Addington: The Constitution binds all of us, Congressman, the President, all the U.S. members of Congress, all of the federal judges. We all take an oath to support and defend it. I frankly don't know what you mean by the Unitary Theory of Government. I dont -

Conyers: Have you ever heard of that theory before?

Addington: Oh I have, I've seen it in the newspapers all the time-

Conyers: Do you support it?

Addington: I don't know what it is.

Conyers: You don't know what it is.

Addington: No, and it's always described as something Addington's the great, you know-

Conyers: I see.

We know. It's great, but it's even better in color: