The Great Institutionalist

Let’s not forget how Dick Durbin, defender of Senate Rules and Traditions, got to run the Judiciary Committee when Dianne Feinstein finally stepped away from that.

See, Democratic rules had it that Majority Whip would not hold a committee chairmanship. But then when Feinstein stepped away, that wide-eyed Maoist radical Sheldon Whitehouse was going to take over. And Durbin just couldn’t stand the idea of someone actually standing up to Republicans heading this committee. So our Defender of Glorious Senate Traditions got Schumer and his colleagues to change the rules so that Durbin could head the committee instead.

That’s right–Dick Durbin is more concerned with Sheldon Whitehouse running Judiciary than he is with Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton and all the other fascists in the Senate. Because what would be worse than having Whitehouse–a great senator who actually understands the Republican Party and articulates that–run the most important committee in the Senate?