“Stop filibustering, or I’ll give you something to filibuster about!”
I try to keep this blog from getting political too often, but what’s up with the filibuster deal? If I understand it correctly, a group of centrists from both sides decided that if the Democrats promise not to filibuster, the Republicans won’t take away their right to filibuster. Put another way, the Republicans get to avoid pissing off the moderates in the party, get to avoid weakening minority rights (just in case they ever leave power), and the Democrats get to lose almost all of the confirmation battles they’ve been fighting and get to look weak in the process.
Splendid deal, fellas.
I suppose everyone’s looking toward the potential Supreme Court nominations, making a few circuit judges seem much less important, but still. It’s not like Frist & co. aren’t gonna bring the nuclear option up again the minute people start thinking about fighting Bush’s pick of Skeletor for Chief Justice.
And as an Ohioan, I just wanna say that Mike DeWine and George Voinovich are frustrating to no end. They waver just enough to make me think there’s a chance, and then they kill my hopes and dreams (like this).
Update: Ezra Klein is smarter than I am. Apparently this deal guarantees no nuclear option through the 2006 elections. That’ll give us a chance for any Supreme Court nominations that happen before then, which is pretty decent. I guess.