Nuclear Pun .:. grubbykid.com

Nuclear Pun

Alright, now that there has been a Senate Filibuster compromise, and each side is busy spinning and assessing damage, let's turn to important matters - let's see where I was wrong.

If you really want to read more about the compromise, here are some well written articles:

Publis: More Thoughts on "The Deal"
Yglesias: Dealmaking
Josh Marshall: A Good Deal?
Next Hurrah: More Musings on the Nuclear Option Agreement

This has been a long two months which Senator Frist has squandered the Senate's time in trying to break Senate traditions and rules. I tend to agree that this actually pushes off the matter of the ~~Nuclear~~ Crybaby Option until the President nominates a successor to Chief Justice Rehnquist to the Supreme Court. But when this nomination rolls around, the stakes will be much higher.

I also want to take the time to rehash what I said about Why Compromise won't Occur:

For a compromise to work Republicans must promise to set aside the Nuclear Option, especially for Supreme Court nominations. Democrats must promise not to filibuster current judicial nominations. Finally some sort of compromise on the Supreme Court between Republicans and Democrats must occur - because this current impasse is just Spring Training for the Supreme Court nominations. All of this must occur for Republicans (read: Senator Frist) to claim victory. Democrats must retain the Cloture Rule, and the larger rule of law, to claim victory - these judges are pretty bad, but losing the fulcrum the Filibuster gives the Minority party is much greater than a few judges. This is what is in play: the Supreme Court and the future nomination of Chief Justice and perhaps as many as two Associate Justices.

As we have seen, this is essentially what the Memorandum of Understanding on Judicial Nominations was agreed to by seven Republican Senators and seven Democratic Senators. So yeah, my not so insightful crystal ball worked.

However, I also predicted that there would be no compromise:

Compromise like along the lines above won't happen: there is too much at stake, and frankly Senator Frist is the one who has painted the Senate into the corner with his constant bleating and promises to use the Nuclear Option. You add in the toxic nature of Dobson and Pat Robertson calling for changing the Senate Rules by any means necessary, and Frist can't step back without losing his meal-ticket to nomination in 2008. Furthermore, Frist can't step back; anything less than a change of Senate Rules via the Nuclear Option is a loss.

So I was wrong about there being no chance for a compromise; I really had no faith in the non-Dobson aligned Republican Senators to strike a deal with the Democratic party. Obviously compromise had to come outside the Republican leadership, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gary Bauer and James Dobson, due to Senator Frist's Presidential aspirations.

As for any other insightful commentary, how the next few days play out will either temper or dull the compromise. Especially important is how the Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Prisiclla Owen (5th Circuit) votes shake out in the following weeks.

Today the Senate will vote on Prisiclla Owen (5th Circuit), which she will probably be confirmed; which isn't a complete loss, because as a reader to TPM states, the 5th Circuit is already a "lost cause". Hopefully enough Senators will come to their senses and defeat Janice Rogers Brown nominated to the closely divided (and quite powerful) D.C. Circuit who thinks government is slavery. It has been reported that at least one judge will fail to be confirmed. Hopefully it will be her. As for William Pryor to the 11th Circuit, I have not researched his bona fides enough to comment.

Nuclear Pun

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