Oh! That is just so delicious! So Frist needs to supply a few republican votes AGAINST the cloture to avoid this tactic, and keep up the deception. End game! I would not want to be Mr. Reid right now.
If Reid doesn't have the votes to win on the nuclear option then the Dems will supply the votes necessary to get to the 60 needed for cloture, tuck their tails between their legs, stall the Senate in several minor ways, piss and moan, but in the end regroup to fight this battle on another day when they might be able to muster the one or two additional votes they need to beat Frist.
There will be no vote on the nuclear option. Neither side really wants and it won't be needed. For McPain and the other RINOs, their cover will be lost and they will have to go on record and vote up or down for a bunch of Bush nominees that are way too conservative for them. That is what all this deal making has been about. They don't want to go on the record one way or the other. They don't want to vote yes because they don't like the nominees. They don't want to vote no because it would hurt them with the party base. Much easier to just let the Dems kill the nominations. But it's not going to turn out that way. Frist will win.
It seems that Rush or one of his staff is a Free Republic lurker. Rush made the same point I did (above) on Monday's show and predicted that the Dems will vote for cloture rather than face a defeat via the nuclear option. We should all know tomorrow. Get out the popcorn