The Deal: What Happens When One Posts on Two Hours Sleep

My 3rd grader and I were listening to Robert Byrd (D-WV) on the radio, and he asked me why the Senator was going on and on for so long. I replied that some people can talk for hours and hours and never really say anything. He said he couldn't understand how that could be, as when people talked they always said something. I smiled, and said "Son, you've never met a politician." His mind went tilt at that point, and we began talking baseball, which is a far more important topic than politics anyway...sigh.

I've had some time to sleep on The Deal, and wish, as they say in Congress, to revise and extend my remarks:

I do think The Deal was a bad thing for Republicans. It would have been better to have ended the Filibuster. The use of the filibuster by the Democrats in such a systematic fashion needed to be stopped. Joe, I'm sure you know your statistic of 200 out of 210 judges approved is misleading to say the least. You know that Appellate judges, where it matters the most next to the Supreme Court, is much, much lower than your figure shows. It's closer to 67%, the lowest percentage in modern history.

The vote to end the filibuster would have allowed votes on all the Judicial nominees. And yes Patricia, I do indeed want to see Conservatives in control of all four branches of government. See my reply to your comment on my previous post. Those votes may still happen, and then we'll see if the Democrat seven can be trusted. We will also see if John McCain can be trusted. I would doubt the latter, even with several days of sleep....

Be that as it may, I do understand the desire to compromise on the part of Graham, DeWyne, and Warner. It's hard to work in a place where there is constant conflict. Trouble is, their compromise didn't stop anything. It simply delayed the inevitable. Does anyone really doubt that the battle will now be joined over the next Supreme Court nomination? Then what will the Republic 7 do? Or better yet, what will the Democrat 7 do?

We all know this fight comes down to Abortion in the end. I have no doubt that Bush will nominate pro-lifers to the upcoming Supreme Court vacancies. There's no doubt that the Maine contingent and Chafee will oppose that. So it again comes down to the Democrat 7, and Graham, DeWyne, and Warner. We'll see in the next few months if The Deal will last....I'm betting it won't.

OpinionJournal has it just about right.