For those of us still cube-bound, what is it we have actually lost? I'm following some comments on this thread that say we get Owens, Brown, and Pryor; that the Dems could take up another filibuster on later nominees, but that the GOP could push the nuke button. What have we lost?
We got an up or down vote on 3,THREE, out of ten. This is a "win"? Not where I come from.
We also got McQueeg acting as the Senate Majority Leader,WITHOUT PORTFOLIO and the semi-deification of Booby, GRAND KEAGLE, Bryd; as McLame kissed his ass.
What have we lost? The Big Mo ... momentum.
The RINOs have shown that they can defeat their own majority leader and their own president. This will embolden them further in the future. It will be harder than ever to get their votes for the constitutional option, for a controversial nominee, or any other damned thing.
This is an utter disaster.
OK, three nominees might get through now. In the meantime, two others are blocked, there is no meaningful promise whatsoever about the Supreme Court nominations, and no meaningful promise about Bush's future nominees.
Our "moderates" got taken to the cleaners. Or maybe that's not accurate, since they really couldn't care less about the result. They just want everyone to get along. Conservatives on the courts really don't matter to them.
What most concerns me is the private side deals that were obviously made --(1) the through out some of the nominees; and (2) to agree that if the nuclear option presents itself, the RINOS, I am certain, agreed to not vote for a change in the Senate rules to require a simple majority vote. It is also very likely that the deal struck was so that if thre is a rule change, it is not to a mere majority, but to something like 55-45 requirement to confirm new Judges.