TSA Nominee Calls it Quits

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The fallout from being Coakleyed continues:

The Obama administration’s choice to lead the struggling Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday, just weeks after revelations that he had provided misleading information to Congress prompted several Republicans to suggest his nomination would not move forward without a fight.

….Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had promised to rally votes to overcome those holds and force the nomination through as early as Wednesday. But such a battle would have added to the political distractions caused by the outcome of Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts, in which Republican Scott Brown won a surprise victory to capture the seat long held by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — and deal a shocking blow to the Obama administration’s domestic agenda by eroding the Democratic majority in the Senate.

The “misleading” information that Erroll Southers provided was (a) trivial and (b) concerned an incident 20 years ago. Republicans couldn’t have cared less about that. They just wanted to pick a fight over the fact that Southers isn’t a diehard opponent of TSA unionization.

And now Dems have caved. Tomorrow, of course, they’ll go right back to wondering why the image persists that they’re weak on national security issues.