The Eleventh Hour.

On the eve of meltdown, the Senate center holds, producing a compromise that allows three Dubya judges — Priscilla Owen, Janice Brown, and William Pryor — through in return for a nuclear standdown. The Dems are heralding this as a victory, but, with Rehnquist in ill health, this may just postpone the conflict…

9 thoughts on “The Eleventh Hour.”

  1. Considering the three that got through, I’d hardly call this a victory. In principle, I guess, I’d have liked to see the Dems go down swinging. Pragmatically, eh… it’s a tossup.

    10 denied for Bush versus Clinton’s 60. Ridiculous.

  3. That was interesting — thanks for passing it along. I’m with Patrick to some extent…given that seven GOP moderates felt they had to deal, I suspect their consciences were working against at least some of them on an up-or-down nuclear vote. And that “extraordinary circumstances” language in the compromise is just too vague to be of much use when push comes to shove.

    Plus, as Mickey Kaus pointed out today, if Dubya nominates Owen, Brown, or Pryor to Rehnquist’s seat, the Dems’ll have a hard time filibustering a candidate they already said they’d let through.

  5. It sure seems like it, particularly given earlier maneuvering by the Fristies.

    Unfortunately, moderates don’t decide primaries anymore, so McCain is already starting down. But it’s very possible, after this Frist failure, that the rabid right-wingers will start looking for a new standard bearer.

  8. Unfortunately, if these things follow to form, it’ll all be over but the crying by the time California votes.

  9. Well, Karl Rove likes to think of himself as Mark Hanna ushering in conservative Republican dominance, but McCain may end up as a new TR.

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