Sen. Clayton Hee was granted a point of personal privilege to talk about democracy and the demise of the Hawaii shield law on the Senate floor on Thursday.

We found it interesting that Hee, who as an elected official is the embodiment of democracy, seems to think so little of it.

Hee once accused media lawyer Jeff Portnoy of blathering when testifying at a hearing. Ironically, Hee himself is also quite loquacious. So we’ve edited down his comments to present a condensed version of his 20-minute floor speech. Check CapitolTV.org for rebroadcast schedules if you want to watch the whole thing.

Basically, he wanted it known that other senators also voted in support of the revamped shield law, which substantially weakened protections for journalists from having to reveal confidential sources or turn over unpublished material. He ridiculed those who equated loss of journalistic independence to a decline in democracy.