The weekend can't come soon enough for Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the feckless Democratic majority leader.  He got caught politicizing the California wildfires as being global warming related, and then when questioned by a reporter a short time later about his comments, he denied he said it. 

Today, Reid and the Democrats got thumped twice before lunch.  First, a Democratically-led filibuster of one of President Bush's Appellate Court judges, Leslie Southwick, failed as 62 Senators voted to invoke cloture and move on to a final vote, where they confirmed Judge Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court. 

Next up on the docket was Illinois Senator Dick Durbin's latest amnesty incarnation, nicknamed The Dream Act.  This also needed to get sixty votes to invoke cloture and work towards a final vote of passage.  Here's how badly the Democrats have managed the Senate.  Durbin, who is assistant majority leader and serves as the Whip, thought they easily had the sixty votes to invoke cloture.  In fact, he and Reid were so sure of their head count that Reid already had blocked the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow in the Senate for debate on the Dream Act, leading up to a final passage vote.  But a funny thing happened.  Reid, Durbin and the rest of Democratic leadership miscounted their votes by a smidge. Instead of getting 60 or better, they only fell short by eight votes.  Only 52 Senators voted for this turkey. Reid was stunned.  Not only did he get two shots to the chops before the morning was over, he now had no idea what to do with the rest of the day on the floor.  He had reserved a day and a half worth of time for a bill that can't possibly get past cloture.  

For your enjoyment, here is the video of what a Senator looks like when he has no idea what he's doing, has no plan, no agenda, and basically just wants his mommy.

 

Since Reid is now consulting with Mitch McConnell to see what to do next, might I offer a suggestion?  How about telling Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to get off his rear end and move the nomination along of Michael Mukasey to be the next Attorney General?  After a long delay, the Judiciary Committee finally held hearings last week.  But they haven't held a vote to move his nomination to the floor.  They haven't even put the nomination on the docket for future consideration in the Judiciary Committee.  Wouldn't you think that the Senate Democrats, the same ones who couldn't wait for Alberto Gonzales to leave, would want someone in there that even ultra-lefty Chuck Schumer esteems? 

Which Senator do you think has the most to gain by stalling on the nomination of Mukasey?  Which Senator benefits from having a Justice Department in a continued state of transition for the rest of the Bush administration?  I'll give you a hint.  She's running for president. 

The Los Angeles Times has done a nice series of stories looking into the very bizarre fundraising of the Clinton campaign, not only from the donor bundling of Norman Hsu, but into questionable fundraising by minimum wage-earning dishwashers in L.A.'s Chinatown district.  If there are any illegalities in the Clinton campaign fundraising, it's going to be up to the next Attorney General to decide whether or not to investigate, prosecute, or hire an outside counsel to look into it.  The longer the Bush Justice Department is in disarray, the more the Clinton machine can try and run out the clock. 

In the meantime, we'll continue to monitor the Senate to see if Harry Reid has any bright ideas on what to try next.  It may be a very slow afternoon.