Absolutely, hold feet to the fire. There simply is no room for compromise on this issue. The Dem base doesn't want ONE of these nominees through. The Republican base demands an up or down vote. To compromise on this issue is political suicide (more so for a Dem than a Rhino). I have no doubt that the Republican gang of seven think they have accomplished something and that a meaningful compromise was reached. But, the Dems simply can't afford to let ONE of these judges come up for a vote. I think there intent was to get something they could call a compromise and then stall stall stall. Well, the bluff is going to be called immediately and not sometime in the future. If the Dems go back on this right away, they will look absolutely foolish (as will the gang of seven Republicans) and the deal is deader than Elvis.
Exactly...now give my brain back.
I don't blame Frist for the deal itself. As it is set up, he technically has nothing to do with it. I was disappointed at his rush to the floor to basically throw up his hands and say "Oh well, we tried." I think perhaps overnight people explained to him that he was just the victim of a coup whereby 7 of his caucus have basically said that they control his agenda - don't think they don't see themselves as mavericks and the saviors of the Senate.....they are feeling their oats and the MSM is going to feed their egos to the point where they will try to form a permanent power block if this goes unchallenged. Frist's statements today seem to indicate that he realizes that he needs to challenge this deal and make the RINOs put their money where their mouth is. As it stands, the RINOs don't actually have to vote on the legality of the filibuster, just on individual nominees. So, Frist will allow the vote on Owen, simply because that process has already been started and also because she is one of the "approved" judges. If the 7 Renegade Dems hold to the "compromise" they will have to go on record today supporting a judge that the Dems have previously declared extreme and unacceptable. That is the first test of the compromise and serves to activate its provisions. For Frist to reassert his Majority Leader status, he should then bring up Judge Myers for a vote. Judge Myers is NOT one of the "acceptable" judges of the deal. That would require the RINOs to actually vote for filibuster - which is something I think they never thought they would actually have to do. I think they assume that Frist will only schedule votes on the "accepted" nominees. At this point, Frist wins even if he loses, because as long as he calls the vote, most of us will be satisfied that he "walked the walk" - and in truth he will have. But the risks for the RINOs are much greater because as it stands now, they can paint themselves as heros and still campaign saying that they never voted to uphold the filibuster. Frist needs to get them on recorded votes. At the very least it establishes that he still runs the Senate and not these RINOs. And as weak-kneed as these RINOs are, I'm sure some of them are already having doubts considering some of the feedback they have surely gotten since last night.