Greenwire reports of the defeat of the Lieberman-Warner climate tax bill this morning:

“They fell short of the 60 needed for cutting off debate, but the bill’s sponsors nonetheless claimed a victory by citing support from lawmakers who missed the roll call and otherwise would have cast a vote in favor.”

That’s precious, and I’m now willing to roll over on the issue if simply having the appropriate sympathies is what the energy rationers will accept as victory. I also think it reveals the exercise of the past week as not just humiliating for the Democrats but unnecessary. Unless of course it was intended to be what it has become — the most recent performance of an occasional ritual to show how much a handful of people really, really care, and how mean some other people are for disagreeing with them.

After all, in 2005, during the Senate’s last go-round on this bill and its “no, we won’t” vote, Congress simultaneously (and humorously) approved a non-binding “Bingaman resolution” saying in effect, “but Congress — some Congress, if not this one — really should approve this.”

Isn’t that the same thing? We win if we say that we really would have liked to do something, but didn’t? Can we all just declare victory and leave the economy alone, or at least not saddle it with this particular excuse for wealth transfers?

So, gang, you win. Now go away please.