Sen. Johnson Critical, Democrats Freaking Out

I surely wouldn't want to see the GOP regain control of the Senate under such circumstances, but you cannot just retroactively rewrite the rules to suit the Democrats. After all, they'd be removing the furniture from his office and redoing committee assignments.

Brian Maloney has a rundown of the Moonbat Panic over this. Allahpundit also has a take on matters, noting how Howard Kurtz is calling for the rules to be changed whereby governors appoint replacements. Fine. If you want to do that, introduce legislation. But just because this upsets the Democrat apple cart, we can't just do something like this retroactively.

Not that I have any doubt that the GOP won't just roll over of sympathy.

Kurtz:

Even worse is the situation when a lawmaker dies or is unable to continue in office. In Johnson's case, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds would name a successor until the 2008 elections. He would be under incredible pressure to pick a Republican, which would put the Senate at 50-50, allowing Dick Cheney to break the tie in the GOP's favor. But wouldn't the fair thing to do be to honor Johnson's memory (if the worst happens) by naming someone who holds similar views?

Otherwise, it seems to me, the voters are being robbed. Would the Republicans really want to take over the Senate in such ghoulish fashion? I think there should be a law about this as well.

UPDATE: 5 PM 12/14: There's dumb. Then there's Joy Behar. Good grief.