4 Comments:

• Dave,
  
  I have a slightly different take on this, I believe the Senate agreement last night was a disasterous defeat for the Republicans.
  
  This whole thing was about the Supreme Court. Many predict the President may get to nominate not only a new judge for the court -- but also a new Chief Justice, possibly as soon as this summer.
  
  The Republicans knew that if the filibuster rule remained unchanged, that they could count on a Democratic filibuster of those Supreme Court nominations when they arrived.
  
  The plan they had to counter this was to put the judicial filibuster to death BEFORE the President had to make Supreme Court nominations -- thereby guaranteeing those nominations an up or down vote.
  
  To that end, Sen Bill Frist -- the Senate majority leader -- carefully picked Priscilla Owen as the appellate court nominee to wage the filibuster fight on. And what a great choice she was. Frist knew that Democratic accusations that she was an "extremist" would not wash in the court of public opinion. He wanted to put the Democrats in the position of fighting for the judicial filibuster against a "benign" nominee like Owen.
  
  He lost that last night when 6 or 7 Republicans, headed by Sen John McCain, pulled the rug out from under his feet. Additionally, they have just about completely sabotaged any future engagement on the point of eliminating judicial filibusters.
  
  Of the nominees that remain filibustered this morning -- none of them are as "benign" or moderate as Owen was. That means if the Republicans want to reattack this issue, they'll have to do it with a nominee that the Democrats have a high probablity of scoring points against. Essentially, last night, the Democrats "bargained" all of the "aces" out of the Republican hand.
  
  The Democrats essentially executed a "strategic withdrawal" -- they yielded the ground this time, because that ground wasn't favorable for them to fight and win on. The Republicans, who had the Dem's exactly where they wanted them, allowed them to escape intact. The next fight on this issue will find the Democrats on ground much more favorable to them.
  
  And all the Dem's had to do to get this deal was agree to pass 3 nominees. These are likely to be the only three. This morning, two other nominees mentioned in the written agreement -- REMAIN filibustered. The 6 Republicans apparently threw them under the bus.
  
  And the Republicans are still facing almost certain Democratic filibuster of the President's Supreme Court picks later this year. Don't buy into the arguement that the Dem's will only filibuster "in extreme cases". The nomination of any conservative judge to the Supreme's will be deemed by them as "an extreme case".

  By  Arjuna, at 8:54 AM, May 24, 2005  

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• I can't disagree with you on the whole. I feel the same way. I just said it badly in my brief comments. I guess I just felt as if the Dem.s had backed down over fear f losing the filibuster. I imagine that if they intend on filibustering any and all Supreme Court nominations, the deal will collapse and the fight will rage on.

  By  Dave, at 10:13 AM, May 24, 2005  

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• Dave,
  
  There might be another option for the Republicans to use other than changing the rules when the Democrats filibuster the Supreme Court nominees later on -- perhaps this year.
  
  Although, like you, I would have rather seen the filibuster eliminated entirely -- there's another option where the Republicans could KEEP their agreement from last night while still forcing an end to filibusters...
  
  In my mind -- it's the REAL NUCLEAR OPTION -- a REAL FILIBUSTER!!
  
  The GOP didn't want to do this -- because a real filibuster is harder on the majority party than it is on the minority. However, in light of events last night - it's now a legitimate option that has some merit.
  
  The Senate would completely come to a halt, for as long as the Dem's are willing to talk. Ex-Clinton political strategist Dick Morris (who I actually hold in high regard - he predicted a BUSH win in the last election from the beginning all the way through election day) - says that a real filibuster would put the Dem's in the same position that the Republican's were in when they shut down the government all those years ago. I like the idea. No guarantees that the Republicans would win it - but wouldn't it be fun to watch!!

  By  Arjuna, at 2:08 PM, May 24, 2005  

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• Ug. no it was a nothing event. We are all just waiting for it to happen again.
  
  Reid says the "nuclear option" is gone forever. what a moronic statement; forever?
  
  Frist says we reserve the right to use the "constitutional rule change.
  
  The only way this works is if we can rely on the integrity of the Senators.
  
  well i have some swamp land in florida for sale. ;)

  By  The Uncooperative Blogger, at 12:59 AM, May 25, 2005  

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