Senatorial Circus

I think our Senate must be the laughingstock of the world. There is the weeks-long obstruction of healthcare reform by every last Republican. There is the birther senator Coburn. And the deather senator Grassley. There is the global-warming denying senator Inhofe. (Poor Oklahoma! They've got two out of three here.)

Then there are those holy, theatrical praying senators. They surface time and again. Some of their praying has gone on behind the doors of the C Street house of "The Family" But much of it is very public.

The latest senatorial holy moment took place this week in Washington, more precisely in the Senate itself. Senator Coburn, back in the spotlight again, made a call to prayer -- prayer that some Senator would not make it to the roll call for 60 votes to end the Republican filibuster on health care reform. Of course Coburn had to be referring to 92-year-old Senator Byrd -- who nevertheless did arrive in his wheelchair in the middle of the night to enthusiastically vote for cloture.

People have long said that of the two chambers of Congress, the Senate is the more dignified one. Not for quite some time.