A letter to a roommate about the democrat/republican filibuster "agreement."

Hola, Dan:

I asked my daddy who is politically the smartest daddy in the whole wide world what the dilly-yo (to pull out a still-relevant term) is with this fillibuster compromise thing the democrats and republicans have come to.  The deal is, the dems won't filibuster the first 3 judicial nominees but after that, they reserve the right to filibuster. On top of that, Bush, in the future, agrees to consult with democratic leadership on viable candidates.  You know, like all presidents before him have done?  Yeah, so....

The three nominees in question are:

Priscilla Owen, federal appelate judge (who has already won)

William Pryor, Jr. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (no relation to Richard "The Toy" Pryor)

Janice Rogers Brown, U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit

Had the dems not conceeded to this agreement, republicans were threatening to vote on taking away the right to filibuster altogether. 

Now, my dad's take on this is that the whole thing is a Karl Rove scheme to get those 3 elected because he knew the GOP would never get enough votes to eliminate the right to filibuster.  He knew  some republicans would dissent.  So while democrats are calling this a victory, he's laughing his ass off, having achieved his goal.

I'm still not so sure that's the case because the religious right is up in arms and theatening to pull funding from repo leader Bill Frist (or "Darth Frist" to his close friends) who they think has caved to the dems.  One of these cretins, when asked if they were satisfied with the compromise said no.  Why?  Because they won the 2004 election and shouldn't have to compromise.

Huh.

So yeah, I'm sticking with this:  The dems are fucking idiot sheep who caved yet again to preserve the illusion of democracy.  Just as when Bush said "You're either with us or against us" re: Iraq and the dems whimpered, "No, George!  Give us a vote like you're supposed to and we'll vote you the war," here they're saying, "Let us keep the filibuster like you're supposed to and we won't use it on the people you want."

It's fucking sick either way.  As further evidence, this just in from MSNBC.com:

"The GOP leader also expressed regret that the deal had sidetracked his attempt to permanently bar the minority from using the filibuster to block judicial nominations.

"Use of procedural delaying tactics to stop nominations was 'a new and dangerous course' and 'a power grab of unprecedented proportions,' he said.

"Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the Senate should put the filibuster dispute behind it and get back to work on other issues. 'We should just move on,' he said. 'It’s over with.'"

Actually it's neither new nor dangerous.  Eliminating it is.  "A power grab of unprecedented proportions." That's the Karl Rove tactic:  take what you're doing and say it's what they are doing.  How do they get away with that?  --  Because the media is owned by the right and democrats roll over and take it in the ass with quotes like, "We should just move on. It's over with."

Fuckin' earth. I'm sick of this dump.