14 Senators save the day with moderation

And seriously, folks, that is what happened. 14 Senators brought this country back from the brink of destruction. They are heroes all regardless of party affiliation.

The Senate, as the deliberative body, has always been the body where compromise is made. Since 2002, this has not been the case as partisan bullying by the administration had turned the body into a rubber stamp. They nearly pushed us off the edge, but brave people who stood up to the more radical elements on both sides of the aisle brought us back.

This deal is not the best thing for the Democrats.

This deal is not the best thing for the Republicans.

THIS DEAL IS THE BEST THING FOR THE NATION!

And I will call it a complete victory for the Democrats if indeed Lindsay Graham keeps his word and a few of these other nominees get rejected in a vote.

Frist is giving a good example of that right now

the Dems came away with the overall win. Yeah, it is not perfect but it is like letting a pitcher walk a batter to set up a double play. Strategy is the name of the game and this particular strategy has left the repugs weaker, fractured, pissed off and questioning their team's management. Despite all the money, the Yankees still lose ballgames and despite all the special interests and religious zealots the repugs can still be taken down a peg or two.

I'm a glass is 3/4's full kinda of a person on this one.

by the press conference yesterday. It was very dramatic, with "Star Wars" playing on movie screens everywhere -- they were talking about our republic.

We've put 3 more radically conservative jurists on the bench, with nothing to prevent them from placing even more for nomination. The Bush judges are not good for the nation- they're good for the corporations. And the bonus for the republicans is that the Democrats come off looking weak yet again. Yeah, great deal that.

The nuclear option, resulting in the Dems shutting down the senate? I suspect that would be worse for the country, no?

These are LIFETIME appointments, and all these judges are very young. Owen and Pryor especially can influence our justice system for the next 30 years! They are very conservative, pro-corporate jurists who, along with Bush's other 200 or so appointees, will be able to greatly influence our civil and criminal systems.

And the nuclear option hasn't been taken off the table by the republicans- if you think that you need to re-read the compromise. All that this does is take the nuclear option off the table *for now* because the Democrats have agreed not to filibuster those 3. This does nothing to prevent us from being right back here with the very next nominee. The dems saved the filibuster by agreeing not to use it. Great save that was, eh?

Read it.

And you think that the most egregious nominess won't be saved for the 110th? You think that CJ or O'Connor will retire before the next term, especially considering they've just agreed to hear the parental notification case?

Far too many people here are giving republicans the benefit of the doubt and expecting them to act in accordance with the agreement or to play fair. I'm either a cynical jackass or else you people are just way too freaking naive.

You may be right.

Which underscores the importance of Dems making serious gains in 2006.

This compromise ain't perfect, but it bought an opposition party what it needed more than anything else:

Time to become the majority party again.

We won't be the majority if we keep screwing workers, women, minorities and the rest of our base. And that's exactly what happened here, with us letting people like this on the bench.

We should have forced the republicans to overreach, go for the nuclear option and let the cards fall where they may. If we won in that battle, we would have looked strong, united, and had the support of the majority of Americans. If we'd lost, the republicans would have been going against what a majority wanted, and would have looked like the petty, power hungry assholes that they are. It was a freaking win-win for us.

The *only* way we could have lost in this fight was to back down! Which is of course what the party did.

Since when has what the majority wanted mattered in American politics? :hi:

Seriously, there's absolutely no evidence that the GOP would've paid at the polls in 2006 had they wiped out the filibuster. None.

In the meantime, we would've been faced with two years of unrestrained judicial appointments.

Maybe that's a gamble you were willing to make, but not me.

If we've allowed someone like Owen to be put on the bench, we already have unrestrained appointments. And we will for the next 2 years, too. Nothing in this compromise prevents more nominees from being voted on by the Senate. And we've now basically agreed that they will all get up or down votes except in extraordinary circumstances (or some other BS language). If Owen wasn't an extraordinary circumstance, I don't know what would be. We have essentially given them complete control where judicial appointments are concerned- something which is neither good for the country nor required by our Constitution.

And though you're correct that we don't know exactly how this particular situation would have played in 2006, there's plenty of evidence that Dems pay at the polls by being a wishy washy, weak, bend over party.

...time will tell.

is the party that has no serious opposition to anybody running for re-election over this deal.

The Frothing At the Mouth Repugs are already planning on challenges to some of the easiest pickup seats for the Dems, and that may well make the differene because for any of these 14 to be weakened in a primary challenge could sway the balance of power in the Senate. Especially with Bush so weak in the polls.

I hope the Dems keep making the case that Bush made bad choices, choices that will hurt the interests of the middle class, of the average American.

I hope Dems keep hammering away at Repubs to vote their consciences and not to rubber stampe the President. They should hammer the words "advice and consent" over and over and over until they make some Repub Senators realize that they are not doing their jobs if they don't stand up to Bush.

Right now the Dems are looking good to Americans. They look like they are governing from the middle where most Americans want to be.

We don't have the votes to stop these 3 in an up or down vote. Why the hell do you think that the republicans were demanding an up/down vote- they by God knew they could get them confirmed!

The Dems once again look spineless. A great majority in ALL of the polls wanted judges to be scrutinezed very carefully and didn't want the filibuster killed. And yet we can't even stand firm when we have public opinion on our side.

lines and onto constitutional ones. I am proud of those who are willing to work together as the Senate had intended them to do. Too much party and not enough Democracy....

and it was not the best thing for the nation

on that brand new rope that Priscilla Owen is going to hang me with.

Moderate Democrats have, after long-term continual, destructive legislative capitulations, finally compromised our nation to the brink of total fascism. Hooray.

This is a completely rotten deal for Democrats, a fantastic deal for republicans, and a sad day for America.

No steps forward, four steps back. A major victory.

The Brown and Owen nominations are hard to swallow. They make me wonder what in the hell will actually constitute an extraordinary circumstance since they are both awful judges.

But on balance I think the positives outweigh. It's being reported that Specter was going to vote for the nuclear option so I think they had the votes if it came to that point. At that point we are put in the position of going on the offensive and implementing all sorts of dilatory tactics in retaliation. How long would that have went on before the Democrats either caved in or the Republicans pulled other parlimentary manuvers to get around those tactics? The end result would have been the centralization of power in the hands of Frist and the White House.

At least with this we still have the the filibuster for the most high stakes battle: the replacement of a moderate or liberal SCOTUS justice by Bush. I would think that would be an extraordinary circumstance. If he tries to ram the likes of John Ashcroft down the Senate Dems' throats then, let's hope we are in a better position to filibuster and then block the nuclear option if they try to use it in that situation.

Got a list handy, by chance?

Republican side: McCain, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Warner of Virginia, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island

Democratic side: Lieberman, Byrd, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ken Salazar of Colorado.

Once again I'm pleasantly surprised to find my own Senator, DeWine, showing some conscience and insight. He's been showing a pattern of that in the last few months. I'll have to write him (another) note of appreciation. (By contrast my House rep, Tiberi, is pure slime and scum ... he keeps sending me letters dismissing my concerns....)

and NAFTA was a victory for American workers.

and when I take a dump, it smells like daisies...

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=700005



Bill Frist’s Power Failure


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and right-wing conservatives suffered a major defeat last night when a bipartisan group of 14 senators struck a deal to defuse the nuclear option. In reaching this deal, these senators rejected Frist’s core argument that the judicial filibuster is unconstitutional. The compromise recognizes the right of senators to filibuster judicial nominees in extraordinary circumstances and two Bush nominees – William G. Myers III of Idaho and Henry Saad of Michigan – will probably be withdrawn or subject to filibuster. Conservatives declared this compromise a defeat, and while this agreement has its downsides – the probable confirmations of Judges Pryor, Owens and Rogers Brown – it is a victory for those who want to preserve the filibuster and traditions of the Senate.

This agreement assures that the nuclear option will not be invoked in the 109th Congress. In the agreement reached, the senators vowed not to invoke a rules change in this Congress. Section IIB of the compromise states: "In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress.” Section IIA makes clear that senators maintain their commitment to the agreement as long as they only filibuster in "extraordinary circumstances," a determination to be based on their "own discretion and judgment."


Conservatives have declared this compromise a defeat. James Dobson – who helped lead the charge for the nuclear option as chairman of Focus on the Family – called the compromise a crushing defeat and “betrayal by a cabal of Republicans.” Gary Bauer, president of the right-wing American Values, said that Republicans who supported the compromise have “undercut their President as well as millions of their most loyal voters.”


The compromise calls on the White House to once again actively consult the Senate on judicial nominees. During prior administrations of both parties, the White House routinely consulted with both Republican and Democratic senators. The compromise reached last night calls for the president to consult with members of both parties prior to submitting nominations to federal courts. This step – which is consistent with the requirement that the Senate not just consent but "advise" on judicial nominees – could significantly reduce the partisanship and acrimony that plagues the process.

and I totally agree!:thumbsup:

I think the smart pug senators (i.e. moderates) are sensing the change in the political winds.

Two days ago, the Senate was as far right as it will ever be for this term. The GOP moderates just turned the boat slightly towards the left. Any movement in our direction is a good thing.

Let's keep pushing.

This is a huge defeat for the TaliAmericans who wanted to push this country into a theocracy.

The compromise took power away from Bush's stoolies in Congress who wanted Congress to be a rubber stamp. The compromise kept the Senate from giving away its power to the executive branch.

I think Byrd is right to say that the Constitution should be taught to all students.

I wasn't taught about the importance of the balance of power between the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court when I was growing up in the South and I doubt that other Southerners were either.

Our loyalty was to the Bible, not the Constitution. We admired King David and King Solomon more than George Washington. And Lincoln was seen as a traitor to our country which we believed was founded on the Bible, which permitted slavery. To us the Constitution was just a way of putting the Bible into law.

Sorry, but I simply can't agree with your assesment. Call me doom and gloom, call me Eeyore, call me extremist, but quite frankly the Dems capitulated on this one, again, and neutered themselves in the process.

Bush gets three of his most extreme nominees through. Not a good thing for those of us who will be subject to this judicial tyranny, you and I, the ordinary folks. These quisling Dems, they have enough money and power that they won't have to put up with the consequences. Your daughter is raped, and wants an abortion. Too bad, Roe v Wade is no longer the law of the land, and your daughter is forced to give birth to her rapist's child. Same thing happens to Ben Nelson, hell, he's got enough money to fly his daughter overseas, first class, and their world is just fine afterwards.

Nothing in this agreement prevents the other four nominees from coming up for a vote. And damn, if we're not going to fight over the most extreme nominees, what makes you think we'll fight about the rest. In fact given the wording of "extreme circumstances", this compromise cuts out the legs from under us on virtually any judicial nominee, including Ashcroft. Yeah, we get to keep the filibuster option, but what fucking good is it if you don't use it?

We missed a perfect opportunity to show up how extreme and power hungry the Neo-Cons are. We had both morality and public opinion on our side in this fight. The 'Pugs were coming across as crazy, power hungry loons. It was in our grasp, yet once again, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

Besides, quite frankly the Dems would have won this one. McCain, Snow, and Chaffee were going to vote against removing the filibuster. Warner was going our way, there were others who, when push came to shove, would have followed their intelligence rather than their party. It was in our hands goddamnit, and now, it all has slipped away, like sand through our fingers. Another fucking sell out by a bunch of corporate controlled Dems:eyes:

Spin it how you like friend, whatever gets you through the day. But I prefer to deal in reality, in facts, and the fact is that this is in no way a victory for us. It was another case of the corporate controlled Dems selling us down the river.