[penowa]

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.)

[Texas Deb]

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.