Dick Burr Tries to Turn Down the Heat

After putting a hold on the confirmation of Tammy Duckworth, an injured Iraq war helicopter pilot whom Obama wants as an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and never giving a substantive reason why, except that it pleased him to delay her confirmation, Sen. Richard Burr has suddenly relented, saying just as inexplicably that he's now satisfied that Major Duckworth can proceed to a confirmation vote.

Might Burr's abrupt about-face have anything to do with the embarrassing publicity he suffered by inflicting his pettiness on a woman whose qualifications were summed up by Rachel Maddow: "...a decorated helicopter pilot, double amputee, experienced veterans advocate, supported by all the veterans service organizations, and nationally known for her work"?

We assume so.

It's one thing being a big jerk in the cloisters of Washington, D.C., where the home folks don't see your jerkiness. But when it leaks out into the public bloodstream ... well, now, that's another matter.

Same with Madam Virginia Foxx, who is currently rising in the Republican Congressional ranks by empowering her Inner Asshole ... apparently on the belief that her Fifth District home folks don't actually KNOW she's a Giant Asshole, don't stay glued to C-SPAN all day, and even if they did, they'd keep reelecting her particular breed of stink-eye until Jesse Helms arises triumphant from the dead.