John Fund has an excellent piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about the state of politics in Washington, D.C. Last week’s voting scandal in the U.S. House was a low point for both parties — the Democrats who stole the vote and the Republicans who let them get away with it. (The Influence Peddler has the details for those of you who aren’t following the story).

Here’s my view of the situation: Republicans have no backbone. Yes, Minority Leader John Boehner (R.-Ohio) was able to win passage for a bipartisan panel to investigate the voting scandal, but in doing so, he played right into the Democrats’ hands. As fellow RedState blogger Pejman Yousefzadeh wrote, “[D]oes anyone actually believe that an investigation regarding the shenanigans that surrounded the motion to recommit the agriculture bill will really amount to anything or bring about any kind of positive changes?”

Of course nothing will come of it. But in the process Boehner took the wind out of the GOP’s sails. Instead of holding firm until the Democrats’ relented, Boehner dampened the GOP’s fighting spirit. I guarantee this bipartisan panel will be used by Democrats to defuse the situation. In other words, this won’t be remembered like the Republicans’ famous three-hour Medicare prescription drug vote.

Frankly, I’m glad I wasn’t around to write about it when it happened. Although I agree that the Democrats abused their power, I’m sure the GOP’s behavior in years past contributed to the shenanigans of last week.