A Lousy Deal

The deal on judicial nominations stinks to high heaven. GOP centrist Senators who opted to pursue the deal have given up on the hard work of thousands of party activists who worked tirelessly to gain and then build a Senate majority. We tossed out Tom Daschle based in large part on his obstruction, yet Senators from our own party decided earlier today to pretend that the last two elections meant nothing.

Look, I can walk away and rationalize it by noting that two judges who were among the most demonized nominees (Brown and Owen) will get votes on the floor of the Senate. But the rest of this deal is worse than allowing the filibuster to continue. I guarantee that at least one of the next three Supreme Court nominees will be contentious, especially since Bush will not pick all moderates. Even if he does, we have no guarantee that the Democrats won't act in bad faith on a moderate conservative like McConnell or Lutting. We've simply delayed the battle, and the Republican centrists have tied their hands while the Dems can still filibuster under whatever they determine to be "extraorinary circumstances" which probably includes any time Ralph Neas gets an itch in his throat.

Let me say this in very simple terms: John McCain just cost himself ANY chance of winning the Presidential nomination. The same is true for Bill Frist. And the Senate continued to be the same feckless, pathetic place it has always been. The press will spin this as a positive development, because everyone enjoys comity and compromise. We know better. Frist got rolled by McCain, who was in search of his own headlines as the great conciliator. And before anyone tells me differently, they need to explain why Robert Friggin' Byrd was up on the podium with them celebrating this evening. The first person to explain why that would be different from inviting David Duke wins a gold star.

I'm disgusted by my own party, and appalled by the opposition. It's a good way to save money on donations to the NRSC, I guess.