HARRY REID ON THE SUPREME COURT’S ABORTION RULING:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was among those who denounced yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Act. Commenting on the decision, Reid said “A lot of us wish that Alito weren’t there and O’Connor were there,” indicating his desire that there has been a fifth vote to invalidate the statute, as Justice O’Connor had provided the fifth vote to invalidate Nebraska’s partial-birth abortion ban in Stenberg v. Carhart.

What is curious about Reid’s statement, as NPR and some news outlets have noted, is not Reid’s criticism of Alito — Reid opposed Alito’s confirmation — but the fact that Reid supported, and voted for, the federal statute upheld in yesterday’s decision. . . .

So, despite his repeated support of legislative restrictions on abortion, Reid’s latest comment suggests that he believes the Supreme Court’s decision was regrettable and wrongly decided, and that a law that he supported is unconstitutional. To me, the latter is of greater concern. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that if a member of the Senate believes a law is unconstitutional, he or she should vote against it.

As noted, however, Reid is hardly alone in this regard. This kind of thing may explain why Congress’s approval numbers are so low.

UPDATE: Yes, there’s also Bush and campaign finance reform. As I’ve said before, that represented a betrayal of his oath.