according to wire services, senate dems/repubs were floating some compromise plans on the filibuster whereby the dems would agree to pass on a few of the remaining 7 (re)nominees if the rest would be taken off the table along with the nuclear option.
mr. rove came from out of the shadows and into the spotlight in the usa today to say that there most assuredly would not be a compromise, stating that “only” re-nominating 7 of the candidates was plenty of compromise.
personally, i think the repubs are painting themselves into a bit of corner and reid has done a pretty excellent job with his tactics on this one…
mr. rove came from out of the shadows and into the spotlight in the usa today to say that there most assuredly would not be a compromise, stating that “only” re-nominating 7 of the candidates was plenty of compromise.
Rove may be taking the spotlight off of Frist, who vowed to get all 7 nominees up for a vote. Now Frist has political cover.
possibly. still a bit odd for him to come forward. to read his quotes, you sure as shit think he was the one that had been elected. he sure sounded like he was calling the shots…
Not really related to your post, but as far as filibusters go, I’d be a little more open to the idea if they were actually going to filibuster, as opposed to just threaten it. If you want to block something with a filibuster, by God, you better get up and start talking for however long it takes.
My take is that Reid has realized that his stop the Senate retaliation threat is hollow, and that he thinks Frist might have the 50 votes, so he floats a compromise.
This is a Soviet style compromise. We take what is yours and agree as a compromise to give some of it back. You do have to love the Democrats. They play to win.
We will find out in the next month or so if the Republicans can do the same. If not, they don’t deserve to be in the majority.
I have to laugh at all the Republican Senators that think they can run for President. Are there even a half dozen of them that are worth a damn? We send 55 Senators up there, and that would not seem to be enough of a majority to act like a majority.
i’ve read in a couple places that reid thinks if frist had the votes to change the rules, he’d have done so already. i think him floating this compromise was his version of testing that theory.
I got a dialing for dollars call from Republican Congressional Committee yesterday. I told him not to even think about asking for money until they had a vote on the judges. This issue has energized the base and was a major factor in getting 55 Senators elected. Supposedly Frist wants to run for President. No one, not Frist, not McCain, not Hagle is going anywhere in the primaries unless he steps up on this issue. Frist has nothing to lose by going forward. I am betting he has finally realized that fact.
Of course, like any politician, he will try to avoid making a decision. I believe that explains the stall.
compromise makes no sense if he actually thought the repubs had the votes. they would never agree to it, so why bother? but, if frist doesn’t have the votes, then the compromise is genius: if repubs refuse, it turns the tables on the whole obstructionist routine. if they accept, the religious right’s heads would explode into millions of pieces and there’d be serious internal strife. win-win for the dems.
Sure, if Reid thought he would lose, he would grab a compromise. This entire battle has nothing whatever to do with these nominees anyway. It is all just posturing about a future SC nominee. The Borking machine can’t stay together unless there is someone to fight.
For my part, I don’t give a damn whether the Republicans win or lose the vote, so long as they force it. If we can’t keep 50/55 Senators together, there is no reason to have a majority anyway.
Why would the Democrats compromise their principles by allowing these judges to go through? Maybe they aren’t so bad after all?
The Democrats have the power to filibuster, and are using it. The Republicans have the power to take it away, but are not supposed to use. I don’t get it.