Geithner: Let Those Without Sin...

The Senate has confirmed Timothy Geithner as President Obama's Secretary of the Treasury by a 60-34 vote. You can tell the difference when a troubled nominee hasn't been a Senator himself, since more people were willing to stand against Geithner and his honest mistakes about taxes. Susan Collins of Maine, who is usually regarded as a relatively liberal Republican, is being portrayed as the leader of the opposition to Geithner. In which case, credit where it's due -- and perhaps some little girl might be inspired by this some day. Kirsten Gillibrand can at least say that she hasn't been sworn in yet. Honor is also due to Senators Byrd, Feingold and Harkin -- Democrats all -- who applied common sense to Geithner and found him wanting. Senator Sanders lived up to his independent label by also voting nay. Harkin says the tax trouble actually had little to do with his vote. Rather, he says, "I want a Treasury secretary who's going to start banging some heads." That ought to be somebody's quote of the day.