Before the agreement, 3 outstanding judges were tied up in filibuster with no chance outside of the nuclear option of confirmation. Now all 3 will be confirmed, and the Dems have agreed to not filibuster except in extraordinary circumstances, which now must mean more than the reasons given for Pryor, Brown, and Owen. If the Dems start filibustering again, the agreement's dead and the constitutional option invoked by Frist. And the 7 reuctant Republicans will now be under tremendous pressure to support Frist, a pressure they did not feel before the agreement. No downside to that. All of the pressure now appears to be on the Dems to pass on nominees in good faith. If not, we have the three most important ones confirmed and we are no worse off than before.
With the nuclear option ( and yes, there WERE enough votes to pass it, prior to the "compromise" ! ), we would have been able to get an up or down vote on ALL of the stalled judicial nominations.
And as far as the Dems' promise, all I can say, is : YOU FELL FOR THAT CRAP ? Anyone and everyone of the president's nominations, from here on out, AS THEY WERE BEFORE THE DAMNED COMPROMISE, will be called EXTREME EXTREMISTS/EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES !
You're wearing rose colored glasses, blowing smoke, making excuses , spinning, and are damned, dead wrong in spades!