Would You Like Some Karma With Your Egg Nog?

With the news of Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and his illness, speculation is rampant about how control of the Senate hangs in the balance. If Johnson dies (a tragedy, as he's not yet 60 years old), it will fall to the Republican Governor of South Dakota to name a replacement to fill the seat until the next Federal election in 2008, which happens to be until the end of Johnson's term.

Already, partisan hacks of the far Left are saying that it behooves the GOP Governor to replace Johnson, if that becomes necessary, with another Democrat. WMAL's Chris Core even suggested a name this morning: George McGovern (no, he's not dead ... at least from the neck down).

I've said it elsewhere: I pray for Senator Johnson and his family. I hope he recovers fully. My wife was recently diagnosed with a tiny aneurysm, and while she is asymptomatic and it may well be something she has lived with since birth and will live with for a long time, it has put the fear of God into us. I wish such difficulties upon no one.

Nevertheless, the notion that the Republican Governor of South Dakota should, if the occasion arises, appoint a Democrat to complete the term is utter nonsense. Anyone stupid enough to believe that it is somehow "statesman-like" or proper to do so is probably too stupid to vote.

That Vermont voters had elected a Republican did not give Democrats pause when Jumpin' Jim Jeffords quit the GOP, caucused with the Democrats, and gave them control of the Senate in 2001. That Georgia voters had elected Paul Coverdell, a Republican, did not give the Democrat Governor of Georgia pause when Coverdell died in 2000; he appointed Democrat Zell Miller to fill the seat.

Of course, if Johnson dies or resigns --- the latter decision being one for him and his family, though it is a given that power-hungry Democrats will exert considerable pressure to have him remain without regard to whether he should --- the Republican Governor of South Dakota should appoint a Republican to complete the term. The objective standard is this: Governors are privileged to appoint members of their own party to fill unexpired Senate seats. Is anyone foolish enough to believe that, if the Senator lying stricken were John Warner (R-VA), that the children at Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine, would be calling upon Democrat Governor Tim Kaine to fulfill "the will of the people" and replace him with a Republican?

The popularity of the NBC sit-com My Name is Earl, which has the theme of karmic justice, causes one to wonder whether a giant dose of karma hasn't fallen squarely on Johnson's head. After all, his 524-vote margin over Jon Thune in 2002 was almost certainly the result of fraud. In 2001, Democrats virtually stole control of the Senate from Republicans when a perfidious Republican Senator broke faith with those who voted for him by leaving the GOP and caucusing with Democrats. As a counterpoint, when then-Congressman Phil Gramm switched parties in the 1980s to join the GOP, he had the integrity to resign his seat, and put it to the voters (he was elected handily).

Yet I don't recall a single Democrat commentator calling for Georgia's Governor to replace Paul Coverdell with a Republican. And Democrats were positively gleeful when Jumpin' Jim Jeffords left the GOP to hand over control to Democrats without an election. Let us not forget that the only reason that the balance in 2001 was already so close was because elected Republican Paul Coverdell had been replaced with an appointed Zell Miller.

Democrats' pious pretensions about "the will of the people" are as vacuous as most of their "agenda." The coin of the Democrat realm is power. And some are demonstrating it in spades by their desperate efforts to maintain power while their colleague lies stricken. Anyone suggesting that a Republican Governor should surrender his opportunity to render partisan aid, should the occasion to do so arise, is both ignorant of history and of political reality, and of the stakes.