Well the filibusterin' feces has finally hit the fan in the Senate. John McCain and his gang of 6 "centrist" Republicans have officially hijacked our majority in the Senate and are writing checks that we are going to all be paying for. While it's yet to be seen if McCain's eleventh hour deal to end the stand-off on judicial nominees is officially good or bad for the party, the majority of Republicans certainly aren't happy.
Basically, what John McCain did was this: he, along with six other Republicans and seven Democrats, came to a deal last night that would get some (but not all) of Bush's judicial nominees an up or down vote. Before this deal, Dems were threatening to filibuster the vote, pushing it off for an indefinite number of hours and accomplishing absolutely nothing. On the other hand, Republicans were threatening to pull out the Constitutional Option (referred to by the Liberal Media as the "Nuclear Option"), which would ban filibusters forever!
In this agreement, McCain promised that the GOP would take the Constitutional Option off the table if they would give three out of the five judicial nominees an up or down vote. Dems agreed to definitely give these three judges (starting with conservative judge Priscilla Owen) a vote, however the other two would be in limbo for debate. What isn't specific about this agreement is the clause that let's Dems whip out their filibuster during "extraordinary circumstances." There isn't any elaboration on this, so they could easily argue that any judicial nominee that is the least bit original or conservative could be "extraordinary."
Luckily not all of the Republicans are as stupid and cowardly as John McCain. Senate majority leader Bill Frist was quoted saying today, on the Sean Hannity radio show, that the Constitutional Option has not been taken off the table. Even though McCain said we would not use it, if Dems try and filibuster any of the judicial nominees, Frist isn't afraid to pull out the big guns.
While some folks I have spoken to about this aren't in support of getting rid of filibusters altogether (my friend Mike said "We may not need it right now, but when the GOP doesn't have majority, we'll want it back"), I think there needs to be a few boundaries. Using the filibuster to block judicial nominees has never really been done before, and its clearly a move by the Democrats to stop Bush from having his way. Sometimes the filibuster is needed, to ensure that a super majority doesn't just run like dogs and change the entire American lifestyle... but the liberals have been abusing it in the Senate for the past four years, and it's time to put a stop to this childish bickering.
And so John McCain and the power-14 have put everyone in a precarious situation. If they hold their own, that means that neither Republicans nor Democrats have majority. It also means that McCain and every Republican under his guidance will shoot themselves in the foot for any sort of re-election or 2008 presidential bid. However, if Frist can use this agreement as a springboard to getting the rest of Bush's nominees in office, then maybe it's not so bad. But no matter what happens with it, it shows you the kind of politician McCain is. A moderate, centrist, who is willing to compromise his party and the President's wishes so that he can blow his political capitol and ensure an early retirement. At least, we can only hope.
