Weigh this carefully. In the politics of yesteryear, as expressed by another President from Texas, LBJ, this would have been "Keeping his p****r in my pocket", but I am sure that George W. Bush is nowhere nearly that pragmatic or cynical. As it is, Arlen Specter is beholden to Bush now, and as chair of the Judiciary Committee, is in a position to steer the nominations for the Federal bench, all the way up to the Supreme Court. All Bush should have to do is pick up the phone, and the wheels are already greased.
If Bill Frist can show some cojones, and hold the Democrats' feet to the fire when they threaten a filibuster, by keeping any filibuster going non-stop until they sit down, he may just be able to break that tactic for good. At best, the Democrats will abandon the tactic for good, and at the minimum, it would put them on notice, there is just not much tolerance for disruptive activities.
If the GOP doesn't change the rule up front at the start of the new Congress to disallow filibuster of nominees where constitutional "advice and consent" is required, then we will know he is not serious about winning on judicial appointments. The stakes are high, the Dims will pull out all the stops to prevent 3 Scalia-type appointments to the Supreme Court, and will filibuster til the cows come home, even if Teddy Kennedy is that cow. Specter, Snowe, and Chafee will join them in this, and even if a few Dims don't join in, a filibuster will continue to be successful.
The ONLY strategy that will demonstrate to the Dims and to the RINOs that we mean business is to insert into the organizing resolution of the Senate that there will be no filibusters for appointments, or they will be limited to one week. Filibusters are NOT meant to thwart the will of the majority of the Senate; they are a delaying tactic to be used when someone feels strongly about an issue AND thinks he/she can eventually muster the votes to stop something from being rammed through. Therefore, it is OK by me if they allow filibusters, IF they are limited in duration.
They only need 50 votes for the organizing resolution. If they can't get 50 pubbies to revise the rules on filibusters, then this session will accomplish nothing, and the GOP will be blamed, and its base will desert it in 2006 and 2008, and then Hillary! or someone like her will win in a cakewalk. The stakes are high here people! It starts in December with Frist.