Monday, May 23, 2005

The Great Compromise

Well, all the sound and fury over the so-called nuclear option is over. The Republicans blinked. Heck, they squinted, batted their eyes and cried "Uncle." I hadn't paid all that much attention to the fate of judicial nominees until this mess started. The Democrats couldn't oppose these folks on any grounds without going completely overboard on character assassination, which means they really had no gounds other than ideological grounds to oppose them. We heard lots of words about the nominees, the rules of the Senate and life as we know ending. Somehow I don't think the rules came down on stone tablets from the mountain. In fact, the rules of the senate are what the senate decides they are and are subject to change.

It comes down to the fact that the minority party has more gumption than the majority party. The "compromise" is not about judgeships, it is about who really controls the senate. The Republicans just had their bluff called and the majority party controls the senate in name only. A major victory for the Dems.

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