The lack of language to vote for cloture where extraordinary circumstances do not exist, tells one all one wants to know. What this deal is really about is 3 judges in exchange for taking the nuke option off the table for this session. The rest is just cosmetic fluff. The Pubbies tried to get some more substance about extraordinary means and the procedures to follow in the future (I assume that because the press said the parties were struggling to define it), but the Dems in the end just said no (except of course for taking the nuke option off the table), and the Pubbies got nothing (other than 3 judges), which is maybe what they wanted in any event. I don't know.
We shall see, as matters leak, and as events unfold, who is right, or whether the word of Senators is now as valuable as Confederate money.
This is what the flipside of the Free Republic is saying about the deal:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_05/006361.php#600837
They seem to be just as outraged.