Have you heard Frist talk about this? The Republicans don't have all of the options people seem to think that they do. For every single option I have seen discussed here he had an explanation of the likely futility. Yes, they have staged this for national publicity and from what I have read they have orchestrated it quite well. They are looking to make the Dems either cave or pay at the polls.
Yes, I have. And I can agree with many of his points. For example, the Republicans are certainly averse to making rule changes that could diminish their chances of using the filibuster in the future, and I agree with this. Frist has also said that the Republicans do not want to derail other important legislation from being enacted by the Senate, and I agree with this, to a point.
To me, however, there comes a time when the value of judicial nominations outweighs ALL ELSE (and, IMO, we are long past that point). And let's not forget that the Dims are using this as a proving ground to derail any future Supreme Court nomination, which to them is the "Holy Grail" of politics (look into it and you will see why this is so).
Thus I remain unconvinced that Frist's tactics are sound, and to me he seems more and more to be a "let's all get along" Republican SML wimp in the same mold as Lott and his fellow wimps, Hatch and Specter.