Now don’t get me wrong. I’m sick and tired of the “free-thinking” moderate Republicans (a.k.a. uber-RINO’s) undermining the conservative majority in the Senate. Who do these people think they are? The usual suspects - McCain, Chafee, Snow, Collins, Hagel - don’t care about compromise or the traditions of the Senate; they care solely about getting good press from the liberal media, and the way to do that is to distance yourself from the evil “right-wing” of the Republican Party. Sure enough, the Spineless Six have been hailed as bold and daring political heroes by the mainstream media: “the brave Senators who dared to defy the Bush White House and the powerful religious right.” Blah, blah, blah…. But surely real courage entails fighting for conservative principles and taking the resulting media hits, as President Bush, Majority Leader Frist and the other 48 conservative Senators have done and will continue to do.

Still, in spite of what all the conservative pundits are saying – including Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Thomas Sowell – we did not get rolled in Monday’s deal with the Democrats. As a matter of fact, it’s just the opposite. The Democrats have been taken to the cleaners…only they don’t know it yet!
The problem is that no one – including our side - is looking at the big picture. What actually happened as a result of this deal is that, for all practical purposes, the filibuster as a means to obstruct judicial nominees is dead! Isn’t that what we wanted in the first place? And like Reagan winning the Cold War without firing a shot, we achieved this goal without having to initiate the so-called “nuclear option,” and thus avoided taking the huge hit from the mainstream media. The MSM was waiting with bated breath, ready to pounce on the Republicans like a cat on a cornered mouse. Can’t you just hear them repeating the mantra “…and the Republicans actually changed the rules in the middle of the debate!”
In the first place, we now will get confirmed the three nominees deemed by the Democrats to be the most “extreme”: Pricilla Owens, Janice Rodgers Brown, and William Pryor. Follow me on this. If these three are the most “extreme” - by the Democrats own definition - what does that make the others? That’s right…moderates! Does anyone really believe that the Democrats will now resurrect the filibuster to obstruct “moderate judges”? Majority Leader Frist has vowed that all of the remaining judges will be put forward for votes promptly, possibly within a week or two. Should the Democrats be foolish enough to filibuster any of these “moderates,” he has also vowed again to ignite the “nuclear option.” All the centrist Republicans who supported the agreement – including Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham – have likewise vowed to support Frist should it become necessary. Let me see…they give up the filibuster while we retain the right to use the “nuclear option” against the filibuster and have become united in our opposition to it. Sounds like a victory to me!
How about the seven Democratic “centrist” senators? I doubt very seriously that any of them would support a filibuster at this stage of any kind, most especially against the remaining “moderate” judges. Guess what. These people have been looking for a way to dissociate themselves from the Teddy Kennedy wing of their party… and now they have found it. Without these seven senators, the Democrats couldn’t filibuster Attila the Hun!
And don’t you see how foolish the Democrats are looking already? What was all the fuss about Pricilla Owens in the first place that they had to block her for four years? This so-called “extremist” will be confirmed today with a sizeable number of their own party voting for her! That’s some “extremist!” In other words, they’ve proven again for all to see that you can’t trust their judgment on who is really “extremist” and who isn’t. Like the little boy who cried wolf, their use of the label “extremist” has a definite “hollow ring” to it.
Let’s recap: the Republicans have effectively eliminated the filibuster without taking the huge media hit, while letting it be known that they retain the threat of the “nuclear option,” with their seven senators on record as supporting Frist should the Democrats be foolish to try the filibuster again. In addition, the Republicans appear as the “moderates” in the debate, willing to try compromise to avoid a Senate showdown. As an added side benefit, John McClain – by taking the lead on this and being so willing to side with the Democrats – has shown once again that he can’t be trusted and for all practical purposes has committed political suicide. Can anyone imagine him winning a single Republican primary in 2008? As usual the media has got it wrong again, making McCain the winner and Frist the loser.

Not bad, not bad at all.