White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the mistake on April 26 of giving a clear and direct answer to a question about President Obama's search for a Supreme Court nominee.

The rare direct answer was to declare there would be no announcement of a nominee for at least a week. It was an admirable show of pity for White House correspondents trying to plan their coverage. But there has been no pity since.

Instead, through the 47 questions he has been asked about the court since the one straight answer, Gibbs has seemed to delight in tormenting reporters. Asked if he could say anything about the court, he responded, "You go about 16 blocks and you hang a right." At another point, asked what day might bring a name, he said, "All of them that end in 'y' are still applicable."

When he slipped and said the president is "close" to a decision, some reporters ooohed and ahhed at the declaration, prompting Gibbs to observe, "I don't know if those little morsels help or just lead you to many more questions that I'm just not going to answer."

But he did not seem to be suffering as much as the reporters. The whole daily drill, he confessed, "provides me endless delight."