Unbelievable: Alabama Senator Richard Shelby has put a hold on ALL of Obama's nominees

This is disgusting. From Congress Daily:

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations on the Senate calendar in an effort to win concessions from the Obama administration and Pentagon on a variety of fronts affecting his home state, according to aides to Senate Majority Leader Reid.

Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle said Shelby is blocking more than 70 pending nominations. Reid can force a vote on any nomination by filing cloture [which requires 60 votes].

Because of the time required to vote on multiple nominations, the Senate processes most nominations by unanimous consent. Any one senator can block any of those nominations by objecting to a unanimous consent request to take it up....

While holds are frequent, Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal.

"He should not be holding up 70-plus nominees for a parochial issue," a Democratic aide said. "They're qualified and they should be moving forward."

Disclosure of the blanket hold came after two days in which top Democrats voiced mounting frustration with Republican holds on executive nominees.

Is this the government we deserve???

UPDATE: Even worse, Shelby is a total hypocrite. From a 2005 issue statement that is posted on his Senate website:

As a U.S. Senator, I believe that the review of judicial nominations is one of the most important responsibilities of the Senate, and I firmly believe that each of the President's nominees should be afforded a straight up-or-down vote. I do not think that any of us want to operate in an environment where federal judicial nominees must receive 60 votes in order to be confirmed. To that end I firmly support changing the Senate rules to require that a simple majority be necessary to confirm all judicial nominees, thus ending the continuous filibuster of them.

More from Ezra Klein here, and an explanation of exactly what a Senate "hold" is here.