As predicted, the Democrats fold in the face of the Blagojevich gambit.

The Roland Burris saga is over, as Democratic Senate leaders have accepted his credentials, clearing the way for him to be sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois by the end of this week.

The decision ends an embarrassing chapter in Democratic politics and allows the Senate to move on after the Burris spectacle dominated the opening week of the 111th Congress

In a statement issued after a 45-minute meeting between Senate officials and Burris’ lawyers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Burris is the senator-designate from Illinois now that the secretary of the Senate has approved his latest credentials.

“Accordingly, barring objections from Senate Republicans, we expect Senator-designee Burris to be sworn in and formally seated later this week,” the statement said. “We are working with him and the office of the vice president to determine the date and time of the swearing-in.”

Remember – this is the same appointee that these same Democrat “leaders” declared would never be seated due to the “taint” of being appointed by the indicted Illinois governor. Well, I guess the best legal advice they could find told them what anyone who is familiar with the Constitution could have told them – the Senate really had no option but to seat Burris because he was properly appointed under the US Constitution and the laws of the state of Illinois. Thus the leadership of the Senate starts out with a big black eye, having been shown to be impotent blowhards.