Let's Talk A Moment About Dem Ethics

Amidst all the hot air (and it is largely just that) about a spirit of corruption in the GOP, we have one of the top Dems in the Senate breaking a promise made to the public.

What is more corrupt: Following the pack to eat legally at the lobbyists' trough or making a public promise one day and breaking it the next day?

The promise was made by Patrick Leahy, ranking Dem on the judiciary committee in November, and it was made in front of the media. Leahy said of the promise at that time, according to the WashTimes:

"We dealt not with some kind of unanimous consent, but with two senior members of the Senate having commitments."

The promise was to vote on the Alito nomination today, and yesterday Leahy broke it. From the same WashTimes article:

Under the terms of the November arrangement presented to reporters by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick J. Leahy, Republicans agreed to conduct the confirmation hearings after the holidays and Democrats agreed to allow a committee vote on the nomination today.

The only conditions for violating the agreement mentioned at the time by Mr. Leahy was "if something extraordinary comes up that neither Senator Specter nor I anticipate or expect."

Yesterday, Mr. Leahy was not claiming that anything extraordinary had come up. The only explanation he has offered is that Democrats didn't want to cut short their Martin Luther King Day holiday. [When the agreement was announced, Specter said the hearings would begin: "on the 9th, with the good-faith understanding that our intent would be to go to an executive committee meeting on the 17th, the day after Martin Luther King holiday."]

But, according to his office, the November agreement was not binding anyway because it wasn't in writing.

OK then, Pat and Howard and Nancy and Harry, show me the writing proving the GOP's corruption. Have you got it in writing? No. Then shut up.