It’s hard to argue with Norman Ornstein on the Roland Burris scandal:

There is no question that Roland Burris, under oath, misled the Illinois legislature as it considered the possible impeachment of the governor, as significant a proceeding as a legislature can engage in. He was asked a question specifically about contacts with five people, including Blagojevich’s chief of staff (implicated along with him) and gave a misleading (at best) answer.

Ornstein’s conclusion is : “If it turns out that there is more to his contacts, including what now appears to be a direct attempt to be considered for the Senate seat, he ought to be expelled from the Senate.” Well, so far Harry Reid isn’t tripping over himself to rev up an ethics investigation.

Meanwhile, Illinois Democrats are “troubled” by Burris. Troubled enough to institute perjury proceedings or explore whether a special election is still possible? Well, maybe not that troubled.

In short, it seems like business as usual — the White House is mute, Reid is paralyzed and the Democrats fret. You might be amazed that the party that rode to power on the promise to end the “culture of corruption” could be this oblivious to the implications of the behavior of so many of their own (e.g. Dodd, Blago, Murtha, Moran, Rangel and the Obama tax cheats). But politicians rarely learn these lessons — until they lose an election and vow to never let it happen again.