I don’t really have much to add to this outcome, but to the extent that it’s possible to agree that the compromise was both a good and a bad thing, that’s where I’m at on this. On the one hand, I agree with the sentiment that the Democrats sold out. Here’s a link to something Les Feingold said (via Daily Kos) that I think kind of sums that up.
On the other hand, also as it appears on the Daily Kos, this was probably the best deal the democrats were going to get. The Repubs have a 10 vote margin in the Senate right now, and while a straight-up vote on the “Nuclear Option” would have been close and could well have broken against Frist et al, it could have just as easily gone the other way.
Politics, like sausage making, is an ugly process not for those with a sensitive tummy. Compromises like this don’t yield winners, they just prevent losers. At least for the time-being. I personally have no doubt we’ll hear more about this delicate compromise when the Supreme Court nominations come around.
BTW, I received a kind of rant ‘n rave post about those darn “leftists at Calvin College” who protested Bush’s speech at the campus. I was pretty happy to see that WordPress automatically held the really REALLY long post for my approval (which it did not receive…).