Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has stuck a verbal pin in what apparently were trial balloons to see if there could be a compromise with Democrats to head off the use of the so-called “nuclear option” that would eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees.
What’s going on now is fascinating because there is so much at play here: Frist’s well-known presidential nominations, relations with the Democrats (whose support the GOP will need on some issues) for the rest of President George Bush’s term, key constituencies that each party needs to govern and win elections plus the images of each party amid signs from polls that the administration and GOP Congressional leaders are alienating key chunks of voters.
The latest news is fairly straightforward. The AP:
Reacting to a Democratic offer in the fight over filibusters, Republican leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he isn’t interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush’s judicial nominees.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid had been quietly talking with Frist about confirming at least two of Bush’s blocked nominees from Michigan in exchange for withdrawing a third nominee. This would have been part of a compromise that would have the GOP back away from a showdown over changing Senate rules to prevent Democrats from using the filibuster to block Bush’s nominees.
But Frist, in a rare news conference conducted on the Senate floor, said he would not accept any deal that keeps his Republican majority from confirming judicial nominees that have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This will likely please conservatives, particularly social conservatives. And it’ll safeguard his standing should he decide to run for President in 2008, which is an unannounced given, if you believe news and columnist reports. More:
“We’re we going to step back from that principle? The answer to that is no,” Frist said.
That means he and Reid are still at deadlock, because Democrats have said they would not accept any deals that would permanently ban them from blocking Bush’s nominees to the Supreme Court or the federal appellate courts, the top two tiers of the judicial system.
“As part of any resolution, the nuclear option must be off the table,” said Reid, referring to the GOP threat to change the filibuster rules.
So what’s going on?
Blogs for Bush’s Matt Margolis writes:”Good news! Bill Frist “isn’t interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush’s judicial nominees.” This is great news. Republicans have the votes to ban judicial filibuster, and the Democrats are losing their battle of obstruction.”
Meanwhile, a tantalizing explanation comes from the Democratic Daily Kos blog. A small part of it:
Reid just engaged Frist in a game of chicken, and Frist blinked first.Reid has been extremely effective in whipping up opposition to the Nuclear Option, garnering strong grass- and netroots support, editorial board support, and popular support (as the latest polls show scant appetite for ending the filibuster).
But in order to avoid looking like obstructionists, Democrats had to make efforts to “find a compromise”, lest the chattering class get the vapors from such Democratic intransigence.
Had Frist accepted the offers for compromise, Bush would’ve gotten the majority of his judges through, and Democrats would’ve gotten — who knows what….So Democrats would’ve faced a sea of criticism from our own side for snatching defeat out of the hands of victory….It was one heck of a gamble, but the Senator from Nevada played his cards right.
Frist painted himself into a corner, having whipped up the forces of wingnuttery into a froth, he could not back down without damaging his White House aspirations for 2008….So Reid got the Democrats to look conciliatory, forcing Frist and his Republicans to look even more inflexible than before.
A strong stand of principle by Frist that’ll end in Bush’s court nominees being passed? Or a miscalculation because in the end some moderate GOPers will find reasons not to vote yes? A move that’ll make the GOP look forceful in the eyes of the public? Or a hardening of positions that’ll cause further erosion in polls? Is Reid politically impotent and outclassed? Or is he indeed a master strategist who moves his opponents like chess pieces?
Some of these questions will be answered — soon.
Read our previous posts here and here.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.