The Sound of Silence

Dana Milbank has a funny piece on the sudden silence that has fallen over the Democrat Senators. These folks, who normally couldn't walk by an open mike even if you bribed them with an MoveOn.org campaign donation, have suddenly gone mute:

Democratic senators, filing in for their weekly caucus lunch yesterday, looked as if they'd seen a ghost.

"I haven't read it," demurred Barack Obama (Ill.).

"I just don't have enough information," protested Ben Nelson (Neb.). "I really can't right now," John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters -- an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.).

"Ask her after lunch," offered Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines. But Clinton, with most of her colleagues, fled the lunch out a back door as if escaping a fire.

In a sense, they were. The cause of so much evasion was S. Res. 398, the resolution proposed Monday by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) calling for the censure of President Bush for his warrantless wiretapping program. At a time when Democrats had Bush on the ropes over Iraq, the budget and port security, Feingold single-handedly turned the debate back to an issue where Bush has the advantage -- and drove another wedge through his party.

So nonplused were Democrats that even Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), known for his near-daily news conferences, made history by declaring, "I'm not going to comment." Would he have a comment later? "I dunno," the suddenly shy senator said.

It has long been said that the most dangerous place in the world is to be between Chuckie Schumer and a TV camera, but suddenly it's more dangerous to be between any Democrat and the nearest exit. Feingold has created this year's "Murtha Moment" and has put his Dem Senate brethren on the spot. When you combine Feingold's move with this image from yesterday, the Senate Dems aren't looking too sharp right now.

Majority Leader Frist needs to capitalize on this moment by pushing for a vote and not letting up. Either he'll get the vote and really create chaos for the Dems, or they'll be forced to explain over and over again why they don't want to vote on this issue that is so important to one of their own. It's a lose/lose for the Dems.