Scalia's friendship with Keagan notwithstanding, I'd still like some independent confirmation of the conversation. It's not like Axlerod hasn't bent the truth to suit his purposes before.
FWIW, during the lead up to the debate the other night and with all of the discussion surrounding Scalia's passing, it was reported that (pretty much what was said in the article) that Scalia viewed Kagan as an intellectual...no so much someone that shared his views but someone that he believed to be quite intelligent. Which, in view of who was doing the nominating, that might be about all you could ask for.