The Cowardice of Their Convictions

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and his cabal of Democrats have buckled to the will of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and will now seat nominee Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate. Now the Washington ComPost has cleverly framed this as an end to a "standoff," but it is merely Reid caving on his previous statement not to seat anyone appointed by the morally tainted Blagojevich.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs when one state governor who has been impeached and is facing federal corruption charges holds sway over the entire United States Senate, and any blowback for this turn of events should rest solely on Reid's shoulders. He'd rather be popular among his fellow liberals than right, and he did not have the courage to stand up to Blago's obtuse race argument. Not exactly leadership material.

Instead, typical to Reid's nature, he put the onus on Republicans to make a challenge to the Burris appointment. They most likely, and wisely, will not, but let's hope in 2010 they go all out to claim that seat for the GOP.