Kudos to Senator Schumer

Good for Senators Schumer and Feinstein for announcing their support for Judge Mukasey to be Attorney General. Schumer had originally told the Bush administration that he supported Mukasey and had introduced him to the Judiciary Committee. But people were holding their breath to see if Schumer would change his mind because of the dust-up about Mukasey not be willing to come out conclusively and say that waterboarding was torture before he had been briefed on its use. But Schumer announced Friday that he would vote for Mukasey. It's a sorry sign that, as the Wall Street Journal says, we should be grateful that Schumer didn't change his mind after the politicking that went on for this nomination.

On Friday the New York Senator ended his indecision, noting that, while Mr. Mukasey was "not my ideal choice," he was "the best we can hope for" from President Bush. California's Dianne Feinstein also came out in favor; she reportedly made up her mind earlier in the week but waited to announce her intentions to give some cover to Mr. Schumer. That's another indication of the leftward pressure on Democrats.

The two Senators deserve credit for giving Mr. Mukasey the support he needs when the committee votes as early as tomorrow. Still, it's incredible that everyone is breathing a sigh of relief because Mr. Schumer decided to support his own candidate -- especially one who was universally saluted as an independent, consensus choice. The political threshold that Senate Democrats established in this fracas is a measure of how distorted their antiterror priorities have become.