So far, depending on what comes next, I don't have any problem with how Frist and the President have played this. It became a campaign issue that helped them dethrone Daschle and add seats. (I'm not one of those who would have played the nuclear option card earlier...I can envision a day where I would like to see a Republican minority blocking judges. But if it comes to that, Frist appears to be ready at which time he will have optimized the political damage to the Democrats.)
...God bless the healing hands of a doctor, but I don't want the Senate run by a man too worried about offending future voters for his presidential candidacy to use a heavy hand when it's needed. Lord knows the Democrats never shirked from it in fourty years...
Amen to that. By using the filibuster tactic they have already shown their willingness to use everything in their arsenal to block Bush's judicial nominees.
If it comes down to it, the repubs should use the nuclear option, for that reason. Hopefully it won't come to that, but the way they have been acting I wonder if it shouldn't have been done already.
I'd give them one more opportunity, but if it looks, sounds, or even smells like they are willing to filibuster again, then by all means, push the dang button. At this point I see no sense in letting them get away with undermining the people, their representatives, and their president.
The fact that they've placed Howard Dean in control of the DNC ought to be a clue as to what their response is going to be. But we'll see soon enough.
The Majority Leader doesn't have the power to force anything through the Senate. The Senate doesn't work like the House. Senate Rules make it very difficult for any one Senator, even a Majority Leader, to get things done.
Frist had only 51 Republicans in the last Congress, and at least three weren't about to go "nucular" (the Maine gals and Chafee). Even with Zell, that's at least one short. It's not Frist's fault he didn't have the votes!
He said last year he needed three more Senators to break any filibuster. He got four more. Let's see how this plays out.