Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy famously was on the receiving end of an expletive from Vice-President Dick Cheney a few years ago. And this morning Leahy demonstrated during his opening statement of the Eric Holder confirmation hearing that there is no shortage of rank hypocrisy on Capitol Hill.

Leahy said the attorney general’s job is “too important to delay because of partisan bickering.” He had no such qualms in 2001 when he led a bitter and extended opposition to John Ashcroft’s nomination for the job, even though the Missouri senator’s ethical record was spotless. By contrast, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA, and other legal experts have raised serious concerns about Holder’s record, including his expediting some of President Bill Clinton’s most outrageous last-minute pardons, and his refusal to investigate obvious fund-raising abuses in the Clinton-Gore White House.