Sen. Shelby unapologetic about the holds

Dana Bash from CNN has an eye-opening interview with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL). You will recall that Sen. Shelby recently held up Senate consideration of nearly all of President Obama's nominees in a snit over an Air Force tanker contract for Shelby's home state.

When asked why he brought the nomination process to a halt, Sen. Shelby responded, "Well, I did it to get the attention of the administration."

That's right. There was no larger principle involved and nothing wrong with the nominees themselves. The CNN story explains

When asked about the qualifications of nominees he held up, Shelby replied, "Oh, I don't have any idea."

He openly concedes he is blocking them for one reason: leverage. "That's part of the life up here," he said.

Sen. Shelby continues to hold up consideration of three Air Force appointees, this at a time when U.S. forces are actively fighting in Afghanistan and at risk elsewhere.

You can watch the whole sordid thing in the clip below.