Republicans on Capitol Hill are pinching themselves with delight over the high poll numbers they have achieved simply by doing nothing. Their strategy has two parts. First: Don't schedule votes on anything serious. And, second: If you have to vote on something serious, vote against it -- even if the nay vote is tantamount to a vote against the Constitution.
Last week, Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell tried to abolish federal racial quotas in highway construction that are plainly unconstitutional. His amendment to kill so-called set-asides in federal contracts was defeated in the Senate. That set-aside program will survive because 15 Republicans -- fifteen -- were worried over how it might look if they were finally to bring federal law into compliance with the Fourteenth Amendment.
Let's name names. Those Republicans are as follows: Kit Bond of Missouri, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, John Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Alfonse D'Amato of New York, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, John McCain of Arizona, Frank Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Roth of Delaware, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Ted Stevens of Alaska, and John Warner of Virginia. (It goes almost without saying that every Democrat but one, Ernest Hollings, also opposed the Constitution.)
Shame on them.