It seems the Democrats in Congress aren’t going to take the fall for the Guantanamo setback:

Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says the administration’s failure to produce an actual plan made Democrats loathe [sic] to take a vote that would almost certainly launch dozens of GOP 30-second ads.

“We sat down and asked ourselves, ‘What are the amendments we are likely to face from the Republican side?’ And they’re pretty obvious,” Durbin said at the Capitol on Tuesday.

“How can we go to our membership and ask them to take a position on any amendment without knowing the administration’s plan. … Why would they want to cast an unpopular vote for a theory as opposed to a plan?”

Durbin was then asked: “Did the White House put you in an awkward position by asking you for this money?”

“Yes,” said Durbin, who predicted the funding would be restored when the details of next year’s budget were finalized.

Given the Panetta v. Pelosi face-off last week and the Guantanamo flap this week, it seems national security has become a nettlesome issue for Democrats. And naturally when things go wrong the temptation is great to blame someone else. For now, however, Republicans aren’t in power and can’t be readily blamed. So the long knives come out for those in their own party. The first goal of any politician is survival, and if that means attacking others in one’s party, well that’s a small price to pay when the chips are down.

In the meantime, it seems we have stumbled toward consensus. As Sen. Mitch McConnell said in an interview yesterday, “Guantanamo is a perfect place for these terrorists.”