The Blackmail Worked

Or is it extortion?

The Food and Drug Administration will decide by Sept. 1 whether a morning-after contraceptive pill can be sold without a doctor's prescription.

The long-awaited deadline was unveiled in a letter sent by Michael Leavitt, secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, to high-ranking senators. The news prompted two Democratic senators -- Patty Murray of Washington and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York -- to announce Friday they would allow a vote on the confirmation of Lester Crawford as FDA commissioner.

The two had placed a hold on the nomination because of the lack of a decision on the pill, also called Plan B.

I don't think a senator should be able to put this type of hold on a nomination. This is extortion, plain and simple. What do you want to be that they won't allow the vote until after the decision? Plainly as an effor to say to Mr. Crawford that they will only vote for him if he decides his way.