Speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth is an occupational hazard, if not an occupational necessity, for politicians seeking elective office in competitive races. It’s not a pretty sight, and it supports a cynicism about democratic politics that is unbecoming. Catering to such cynicism, the leftist writer Garry Wills used to advise college audiences, “Vote for your enemy–he has no one to sell out to but you.”

The political debate over the use of the Senate’s filibuster rule to torpedo President Bush’s judicial nominees has triggered a series of reversals and pratfalls that support the low-comedy version of democratic politics. Among the most notable examples was the April 3 profile of former Ku Klux Klan kleagle and civil rights obstructionist Robert Byrd as a cornpone constitutionalist by New York Times congressional reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg: “Master of Senate’s Ways Still Parries in His Twilight.” Twilight zone would be more like it, but we get the point.