When the Senate reconvened on Wednesday, Republican leadership held its usual weekly press conference. But, unusually, they fled before reporters could ask any questions. None of them, not one, was wiling to talk about Mitt Romney's disastrous 47 percent video. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, on the other hand, hadplenty to say.

[...] So who are those Americans Mitt Romney disdains as “victims” and “those people?”

They’re not avoiding their tax bills using Cayman Island tax shelters or Swiss bank accounts, like Mitt Romney. [...]

Thousands of families making more than $1 million pay nothing in federal income taxes each year.

Is Mitt Romney among them?

We’ll never know, since he refuses to release tax returns from the years before he was running for president.

This brought on howls of protest from Senate Republicans, none of whom were willing to defend Romney, but all of whom were outraged that Harry Reid said something political on the floor which would be totally out of bounds if only that pesky Constitution didn't say otherwise. Seriously. They say Reid's words "would violate federal rules if not for the Speech and Debate clause of the Constitution." Damn that Constitution!