I just sent a proposal to UPI for a regular article (not a Billybob column) on the some 32 times in the Constitution as amended where something other than majority vote is required. Those instances make it clear as a bell that otherwise, a simple majority is meant.
The Advise and Consent Clause requires only a majority to confirm a judicial nominee, whereas it requires a two-thirds vote to ratify a treaty. So, what Daschke-Kennedy-Clinton are trying to do is rewrite the Constitution by force.
I think that Frist will gradually turn up the heat, and that four more Senators from states with high hispanic populations will eventually cave (plus Graham of Florida, who was conveniently too ill to return to D.C. for this cloture vote). So, it will be a long fight, but Estrada will be confirmed.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "Truth, the First Casualty?"