Happy Holiday!

In honor of "Every Single Blogger In The Goddamned Universe Groping Around In The Dark To Find Out Who Won And Who Lost in The Senate Deal On Filibustering Judicial Nominees, and Then Either Expressing The Result As If Their Dog Had Just Been Run Over or If They Just Won The Lottery Day." (™ Norbizness), here's my view of the (not quite) great compromise.

I was putting the finishing touches on a perfect pint of Guinness when the phone rang. Pal o' Upper Left Terry the Ranger called to tell me that the deal was done and that "…the Democrats won everything." That, of course, begs the question of what exactly we won, other than the opportunity to call Priscilla Owens, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor 'your honor' for the rest of their natural lives. At first glance, I figured August had it about right...

Democrats agree not to filibuster as long as Republicans agree not to stop them from filibustering, unless the Democrats do, which they won't, unless it's really important, but not if fingers were crossed, and something about no backsies. Also, everyone gets a free cot.

My expectations for every possible outcome in the Senate battle were very low. As I've said, there was simply no good result available for liberal minded folk. The best we could hope for was not quite as bad as possible, which is about what we got.

The Carpetbagger brightened my mood a bit, though, with this...

I’ve mentioned that Bill Frist is one of the big losers as a result of the deal struck by the Group of 14, but there’s another name that might challenge the Majority Leader at the top of that list: James Dobson. The man who believes he’s helping guide the Republican domestic agenda made a series of unequivocal demands that weren’t open to negotiation. He came up completely empty handed.

Dobson insisted — in fact, he commanded — Senate Republicans to ensure confirmation votes on every Bush nominee, eliminate judicial filibusters permanently, and sidestep any attempt at compromise. Dobson invested heavily to rally millions of evangelicals to the cause, bombarding the hill with messages, and making this vote the top priority for the religious movement in Congress this year. For his efforts, he was rewarded with absolutely nothing from his wish list.

I suppose the practically nothing we 'won' is better than the absolutely nothing Dobson ended up with, and anything that hurts the Taliban wing of the Republican Party is a good thing in and of itself. Good for America, if not specifically for Democratic politics.

It was Steve Soto, though, who finally convinced me that Terry the Ranger had it right. It wasn't an unqualified victory, but it was a victory. "Trust me," Steve offers, "we’re doing fine." Well, yeah, I guess we are. Check out his case at The Left Coaster...