Non-Nuclear Fallout

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND begins the high season at Main Beach in California's Laguna Beach. Two-player beach volleyball is never gone completely from the beach, but during the summer it is always in play during daylight.

Even a Midwesterner like me understands the game. Try and score on the serve, but if your opponent digs out that shot, be ready for a set-up followed by the spike.

Thanks to the McCain Caucus, working harder to rehabilitate the Arizona senator's 2008 GOP primary chances than the constitutional provisions governing judicial selection, the Democrats were able to dig out from the majority leader's serve. Not even a day had passed from the deeply unethical deal which sacrificed at least two fine nominees with long records of public service when minority leader Harry Reid followed with the set-up. Here's what he said about the deal:

"[The deal] took the nuclear option off the table. The nuclear option is gone for our lifetime. We don't have to talk about it anymore. I'm disappointed that there's still these threats of the nuclear option."

Reid and his colleagues cannot be blamed for trying to load up the poorly drafted memorandum with their spin. If they can sell a waiting-to-be sold media on the idea that the GOP gave up the Byrd/Constitutional/Nuclear Option, then the coming summer clashes over one or more Supreme Court vacancies will be tilted from the start towards Democratic talking points.

A deeply compromised compromiser, Lindsey Graham, spent most of Tuesday proclaiming his understanding of the "deal," with all the persuasiveness of every grifter victim in history. If Graham's political future traded like a stock, it would have been de-listed yesterday.

Ohio's Michael DeWine may have been surprised to see that his venture into high politics with McCain may have cost his son Patrick a victory in the GOP primary to replace new Trade representative Rob Portman in the Buckeye State's 2nd District.

But it was McCain himself who has blundered in the most obvious way. As a recent New Yorker profile details at great length (with plenty of gushing quotes from Lindsey Graham), Senator McCain is running for president, and until the judicial nominee fiasco, he had made great progress in reestablishing his GOP credentials as a team player, including a strong defense of the president throughout the 2004 campaign.

All that rehab is now irrelevant. Other than the war, there is no issue of greater consequence to GOP activists than the courts, and this includes all GOP activists, not just faith-based conservatives. The sub-parties of national defense and free enterprise inside the GOP know all too well that the courts control many issues, from interpretations of the president's war powers, to the reach of federal regulation over the interstate-commerce clause and tort excesses, to judicial decrees on same-sex marriage and the use of international law to declare state death penalty statutes null and void.

The disfigured filibuster is a constitutional horror, and only the left's babblers pretend otherwise. Writing in a super-majority to the advice and consent clause of Article Two, Section 2 is simple willfulness by a deeply distressed political party, a naked power grab which should have been struck down immediately upon its introduction in 2003, and one which gains false credibility with every day it's left alive.

But John McCain, on April 14 in a Hardball broadcast declared that he'd side with the Democrats against the effort to restore the Senate to its tradition of up or down votes on nominees who made it to the floor. The reaction throughout the Republican primary electorate--instantly communicated through blogs and talk radio--was incredible anger at McCain.

Not long afterwards, his name began to show up as a possible architect of a "compromise." It isn't hard to see that McCain's April blunder led to McCain's May fumble. The first rule of holes always applies, and McCain ignored it, dragging Graham, DeWine the Elder (and possibly DeWine the Younger) and others into the political pit with him. Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, is being urged to take on Senator Lincoln Chaffee in the 2006 primary so that GOP voters don't have to vote for a Democrat in November 2006. (Chaffee voted against the war, against the president's reelection, and now for the filibuster. Chaffee's presence was necessary with a Senate closely divided, but with a healthy majority, he should be booted before seniority puts him in a position to do real damage. Even big tent Republicans like me believe every tent needs an inside and an outside, and Chaffee's way outside.)

The National Republican Senatorial Committee finds itself receiving returned fundraising appeals with "not a dime more" scrawled on their letters. The brainchild of blogger Ed Morrissey, "not a dime more" conveys the refusal to send money to an organization pledged to the reelection efforts of Chaffee and Maine's Olympia Snowe. Of course cutting off the NRSC hurts all incumbents, but principled senators like Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum and Missouri's Jim Talent can go directly to donors via the web. It's the weak horses that like to fundraise as a field.

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL FRONT, it wasn't only McCain who lost big with the deal. So did Senator Bill Frist, at least for the moment, as legitimate questions are being raised about his ability to run the country when he cannot even corral his own caucus. Nebraska's Chuck Hagel contributed to the collapse of the caucus with his reprise of Hamlet on every Sunday show that would have him. Winners include Virginia's George Allen and Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

One big winner who has repeatedly, and convincingly, argued for a return to the constitutional process, and who did so from the impressive high ground of having beaten Tom Daschle on the issue, was John Thune. Though Thune's age works against him, he ought to establish the sort of PAC that usually precedes a presidential run, as the fans of candor, honor, purpose, and effectiveness would love to see a spokesman emerge from the new generation of senators elected in 2002 and 2004.

Meanwhile, Harry Reid sees the ball very high in the air, and is planning to bring all he and the left can bring when the president nominates Judge Luttig, McConnell, or Roberts to the Supreme Court. Seven Republicans gave away their party's advantage. Let's hope they don't try to help out again.

Winners include Virginia's George Allen and Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.""""

RUDY? Does Hugh Hewett think that Giuliani would give us good conservative judges? And does Hewitt seriously believe the GOP will, in effect, nominate Judith Nathan for First Lady? The strumpet that Rudy was openly committing adultery with in the face of his wife and kids? YEs, I know Reagan was married twice (not thrice like Rudy), but Reagan didn't commit open, flagrant, in-your-face adultery for all the world - and his wife and kids - to see. Rudy is NOT the candidate for a family values party, unless that party is totally cynical and utterly insincere, when it talks about family values.

I'll just add that while I used to scratch my head and say "What the h#ll are these people thinking?" when it came to Democrats, I now truly, and will forevermore loathe and despise both Democrats and RINOS and will work against them with renewed vigor from this day forward!

I'm not taking any prisoners, and Wisconsin is going down as a pseudo-Blue State, Baby! *Insert Solidarity Icon Here*

This was on at the very first of the broadcast and I did miss just the first of it, but that is the way I understood it, and if this is true, it shows the UNITY of the GOP. It does make sense, and I just hope they can get more judges through - seems the Dems don't have the big victory they thought they did as Frist didn't have the votes to begin with, but he sure acted like he did - maybe that was part of the scam. Of course, Spector MIGHT have voted for the CO, but I guess Bush didn't want to take the chance that it would fail at this time so he sent Graham and Dewine in for the compromise. It does make me feel better if Bush, Frist, and the RINOS were in on this together as at least it shows unity and I think the Dems may be the ones with egg on their face, if this has played out like I think it has.

i read it as total treason and collapse of the republican
majority.
i sent an e-mail to Frist asking him to hand over the leadership to someone who is not "A GENTALMAN"
i believe that conservatives elected a republican majority to advance a specific agenda revolving around iraq and judges. this compromise is a travistey and we are the losers.
President Bush is running out of aces up his sleeve
and his hand in this should have been to box some ears, NOT beg for a deal. hat in hand.

WE ARE THE MAJORITY, WE SHOULD START ACTING LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE THE MAJORITY, WE SHOULD START ACTING LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!

Maybe you can write the President and Senator Frist and explain to them how to pull this off..... reckon?

The Republicans are the majority as far as party name goes. But as has been displayed the 55 players within that party act quite often as individuals regardless of party and the people of their state continue to send them back.

A majority rules in many cases and places but in the Senate a majority isn't always the controlling factor. In fact much of the senate operates upon unamimous consent or with out it things don't get done. They have become over the years a little fiefdom answerable to very few, imo.

I read sentences like that and wish I could write like that. Beautifully stated.

I saw the entire Brit Hume program and the White House is trying to give cover to DeWine and Graham. I think they had NO idea how balistic the conservative reaction would be to "the deal" and now that they see the handwriting on the wall that DeWine's kid may bite the dust, not to mention Graham and DeWine when the voters have an opportunity to get to them, they are trying to shift the blame for Frist not having the votes from DeWine and Graham to Arlen Specter. Arlen is recently re-elected and should he live long enough to run again, probably will not. They even blamed Arlen for leaving town early and not staying to vote for cloture on Bolton. This is a real stretch considering that Reid didn't come through as he supposedly "promised" putting them at 57 votes (3 short, not just Arlen's 1 vote.) Maybe the deal Arlen made to get his chairmanship was to let them blame him for ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.

Yes, you are correct. Bush, the WH, Frist, the senate leadership were all in on "the deal." Unfortunately, I think the sting is on the voters, not the Democrats. There isn't going to be any nuclear option and there isn't going to be any SC appointee unless Bush finds himself a "Souter." My guess is they will try to convince us we need to go to the polls in even bigger numbers next time and elect more Republicans so they can be chairmen and we can get the shaft (again.)

maybe you can write the President and sen Frist.

you bet there are things they could do.
ever hear of coat tails?
ever hear of VETO,
i know that the only sen up in 2006 is deswine
and the rest are due in '08 but do you think that other Leaders haven't called his subordinates on the carpet
and leaned on them? they always want something and withholding your public support is a big deal.
no more bills sponsored with pork barrel interests
supported by the boss?
you bet they could make a diff from the bully pulpet.

Thanks for that information, as I missed the very first of the report. I have heard the last few days that some were surprised that Graham and DeWine came in late on the compromise talks, so it made sense to me that it could have been the WH that sent them in late to make sure the CO was retained if a compromise was reached.

I think there is probably a lot behind the scenes we don't know about, but I do think this can still play out to our benefit if the compromise can give cover to a couple of the RINO's to vote for the CO - I still have hope as since the Dems will break the compromise, then that can be a reason a couple of the RINO's might back the CO and we can get rid of the filibuster - then Bush can get his nominees through.

I share your frustration, but this poker hand hasn't been played out yet, and I am still holding out hope - and judgement - until it does.

I have been listening to Rush this morning and he too was in on what transpired on Hume's show, and apparently none of that is true. Graham and Dewine did not get orders from Frist and the Whitehouse and none of what we thought is spin. They snookered us again...

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