What do you think Bush's motivation was in allowing Estrada to get trashed. Inattention...wanting to get along...a trade for other nominees in the future...?
BTW, I think that Bush was deeply involved with Frist on this filibuster thing. But they both got their legs cut out from under them by McCain and Graham. I heard Frist on the radio yesterday and while he was diplomatic, the man was very angry. You could hear it in his voice. There's more there than we know.
But Bush now has a much better picture of "who is with us and who is against us" here. While I don't believe that was the original aim, I'll bet we see that information used to our advantage from here on out. I may be wrong, but I'm not ready to take my anger at the Seven Smurfs out on the President just yet.
We can certainly agree on that!
As to Estrada, I don't know what Bush was thinking. All that I know is that - from Estrada's point of view - I bet he wishes he had never heard of George Bush.