I am unamused by the continued presence of Lindsey Graham in the United States Senate. His latest fling, this with the "Gang of Ten" in the matter of energy policy, is a profound irritant and fundamentally damaging to the November election effort of Republicans at all levels, as the lovely Kimberly Strassel explains:

"Sen. Obama was thrilled. He quickly praised the Gang's bipartisan spirit, and warmed up to a possible compromise. Of course, he means removing even the token drilling provisions now in the bill. But he's only too happy for the focus to remain on the Gang's efforts, and in particular on the five Republicans providing his party its fig leaf."

But one must be struck by the profound and gratifying irony of a Gang of Some Number that includes the oleaginous Sen. Graham cutting the electoral legs from under the sojourning maverick senator from Arizona in his presidential campaign in the same manner as the Arizona senator and Sen. Graham and the Gang of Some Number gleefully accosted the electoral focus of the incumbent president by a similar scam in the matter of judicial confirmations.

Has this party neither a brain nor a spine?