Some Praise For….Chuck Schumer?

Michael Goodwin praises Chuck Schumer today for daring to buck the far left wing of his party. In voting for Michael Mukasey, Schumer is now enduring the adoration of the nutroots. Which is lot like being savaged by badgers - only more rabid.

With rabid lefties calling for a protest outside his Brooklyn home and with costumed demonstrators holding up signs behind him in Washington saying things like "united we torture," Schumer earned his title as New York's senior senator. By saving Mukasey's nomination in the 11-to-8 Judiciary Committee vote, Schumer and the only other Democrat to join nine Republicans, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), also saved their party from the clutches of the fanatical fringe.

Schumer said he was voting for Mukasey because "the Department of Justice - once the crown jewel among our government institutions - is a shambles and is in desperate need of a strong leader." And saying Mukasey had promised him to enforce the law independently, he added that "from a Bush nominee, this is no small commitment."

We can excuse that cheap shot because of the stakes. Had Schumer and Feinstein followed the party line, Mukasey would have been defeated and the leaderless, demoralized Justice Department would have been left to twist in the wind. And the partisanship that has crippled Washington would have won again over the national interest.

Schumer's vote for the man he recommended to President Bush could still cost him because, as the head of the party's Senate campaign committee, Schumer has to raise money from some of the groups blinded by their hatred of Bush. No doubt Schumer will have some explaining to do for his crucial vote.

Yet it's really the lefties who owe the rest of us an explanation. The extensive praise that even Dems showered on Mukasey's record and integrity should have concluded with a yes vote. But the eight other Democrats on the panel seized on the issue of waterboarding as a reason to vote against him. And not because Mukasey supports it, but simply because he refused to say it was illegal without knowing more about whether it is used by the CIA and under what circumstances.

Ed Morrisey pointed out yesterday that the Democrats had already scored a political victory with Mukasey's nomination in the first place. Then the left decided to force the issue and turned it into a triumph for the White House. It is getting too close to the general election to keep pandering to the far left, though. Some Democrats are at least starting to put on the brakes.