Not An Auspicious Start For Dems

Disappointment.

Shame on you, Harry Reid. Shame on you, Dick Durbin. You couldn't even hold it together for the first 100 hours.

TPMmuckraker writes about the earmark reform legislation debacle here. C'mon guys... I'm sure you owe a million favors after 12 years of not being able to dish out hardly any but this is your chance to start climbing out of the Washington cesspool.

Thank God for the nine honest Dems who broke from the herd. Obama was, of course, among them. Money quote:

But Democrats sought to block DeMint's amendment, with an effort led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). They failed, due mostly to nine Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and freshmen Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Jim Webb (D-VA), who crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). Here's the roll call tally.

The Republicans are only keen on earmark reform because the pork power now belongs to the Democrats. After 12 years of pork orgies it's laughable to think they're suddenly interested in transparency. But KUDOS to the Democrats who had the guts to step up. Obama, Tester, and Webb, etc... looks like it's up to those guys to start raising the bar.