4 groan-inducing times senators tried to use Taylor Swift lyrics to own Ticketmaster

• Three senators made a bunch of groan-inducing Taylor Swift puns at a Senate hearing Tuesday. 
• The Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Ticketmaster's merger with LiveNation is a monopoly. 
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar said this country knows capitalism and consolidation "all too well."

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday on ticketing competition and consumer protection after the November on-sale for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour descended into chaos, locking out fans and barring thousands from securing seats at one of her upcoming concerts. 

Almost immediately after the debacle, some Swiftie senators took to Twitter to call out ticketing giant Ticketmaster, whose merger with LiveNation was quickly put at the center of the blame.

The Senate committee later agreed to investigate whether the merger has turned Ticketmaster into a monopoly. 

To make their cases, the Senate Judiciary Committee members at the hearing often invoked the beloved pop star's lyrics, provoking nationwide groans at their corny tie-ins. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, noted Swiftie, chose to call Swift's most famous breakup tune to the front lines in her testimony. 

"I believe in capitalism and to have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition," Klobuchar said. "You can't have too much consolidation. Something that unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say we know all too well."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal suggested, "respectfully, that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, I'm the problem, it's me." 

Sen. Mike Lee proved he's a big fan of Swift's newest release, "Midnights," after referencing "Karma." 

"It's very important that we maintain fair, free, open and even fierce competition in this, as in every other space," Lee said of the Ticketmaster and LiveNation merger, before launching into a Swift reference.

"I have to throw out, in deference to my daughter, Eliza, one more Taylor Swift quote. Karma's a relaxing thought. Aren't you envious that for you, it's not? That's all I've got to say. Thank you.

Lee also joked that he tried to get the gavel back from Klobuchar during the hearing, but said that "once again, she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers," calling out one of Swift's most famous hits, "You Belong With Me." 

LiveNation's president said Tuesday that ticketing markets are extremely competitive, pushing back on the allegations that Ticketmaster and LiveNation are a monopoly. 

"We hear people say that ticketing markets are less competitive today than they were at the time of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. That is simply not true," Joe Berchtold, the president and CFO of Live Nation Entertainment, said.

He added: "Ticketmaster has lost, not gained, market share."

Ultimately, Berchtold apologized for the dayslong chaos that came of The Eras Tour on-sale and resulted in canceling the general sale for those who did not qualify for pre-sale. He also claimed bot attacks impacted ticket sales. 

"We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Ms. Swift," Berchtold said. "We need to do better and we will do better."