Emotions ran pretty high after the undermining deal was announced by the 14 Senators yesterday, and rightfully so. I'll admit I was one of them. While Bill Frist and others tried to, in the words of Matthew Franck from NRO's Bench Notes, "
put lipstick on a pig", the facts are plainly clear: the Democrats will continue to filibuster nominees, none of the nominees the seven Democrats promised not to block are guaranteed to be confirmed, and this deal won't solve any of the problems the Senate faced in this scenario.
The senators that signed this deal are patting themselves on the back and are being hailed by the media as men who overcame poltics and partisan bickering to end this conflict. Hell, Robert Byrd had the nerve to say "The Republic is kept." As usual, he's full of garbage; this deal was done only in the self-interests of the people who signed it, not to save the Republic or the Senate or to muzzle partisan bickering.
This wasn't a show of character; it was an act of cowardice. The senators made this deal because they didn't want to be placed in the uncomfortable position of taking a stand. Do you think Mark Pryor wanted to go back to Arkansas to defend his vote to filibuster conservative judicial nominees? We already know Ben Nelson didn't. John Warner had stated he didn't wanted to change the status quo in the Senate, and the Three Stooges (McCain, Snowe, and Chafee) have never met a leftist proposal they didn't like. When the Democrats filibuster again (and you can believe they will), don't expect the seven Republican senators to take a stand - with the possible exception of Graham, who's going to have hell explaining this to South Carolina - to support ending it.
As Paul Mirengoff of
Powerline stated last night, it's deals like these that are precisely the reason why there hasn't been a senator elected president since 1960. They are more interested in protecting themselves and the status quo of the Senate than actually getting something done. The Senate is rightfully frowned upon by the American people; not because of partisan bickering, but because of the chummy good-ole-boy atmosphere that dominates the chamber. It is that aura that turns off the electorate and persuades them to send someone outside of Washington to the White House.
Despite a
Washington Post article this morning stressing the conflict between Bill Frist and John McCain that could run into Election 2008, neither will get the nomination. McCain won't get it for obvious reasons, one being that there aren't enough states that will allow Democrats to vote for him in the primaries. Bill Frist won't get it because he is not able to stand up to his own weak-kneed members of his party, much less the despots and terrorists opposing America within the global theatre. Frist should have strongly condemned a backroom deal that undermined his leadership and rendered the 47 other Republican senators ineffective. Instead, he tried to see a bright side in something that didn't have one.
"Moderates" may applaud this now, but soon they'll evoke the spirit of Rodney Dangerfield about how they're getting no respect. But it's hard to gain respect when people don't even know what you stand for. It's one thing to simply oppose a handful of issues, but everytime in-party opposition arises - whether it's filibusters, social security, tax cuts, John Bolton, social issues, government funding, etc - the same names tend to pop up every time, and it's targeted towards issues that Republicans have ran campaigns on across the nation.
Casey Lartigue said, "I may vote Democrat next time around. As long as Democrats are running things, they may as well as be in power officially." With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats? In fact, I give those guys more credit. At least Barbara Boxer knows who she is and we have a good idea how she will vote and what she will support. For folks like McCain, Snowe, and Chafee, how they vote depends on the number of cameras and microphones are focused on the Senate at the time.
