Cynical Nation

These are crappy poll numbers for the president and Congress, to say the least. If these trends continue, any future electoral victories for the GOP look like an uphill battle. Thank God for Diebold ^TM, huh?

But lest the Democrats derive too much comfort from these figures, it seems the public's gripe with Congress is bi-partisan to a large extent, at least on the issue of judicial nominees.

Thirty-five percent sided with changing Senate rules, 19 percent agreed on keeping the filibuster and 34 percent wanted filibuster rules to remain intact but for nominees to receive a full Senate vote.

So while a solid majority support keeping the filibuster, a much larger majority (69 to 19) thinks judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote.

In other words, both sides have ample motivation to avert a showdown. I guess that's why we're getting word now that a deal has been reached.

Centrists from both parties reached a compromise Monday night to avoid a showdown on President Bush's stalled judicial nominees and the Senate's own filibuster rules, officials from both parties said.
...
Under the agreement, Democrats would pledge not to filibuster any of Bush's future appeals court or Supreme Court nominees except in "extraordinary circumstances."

Now I guess we're not privy to all the details yet, but I do hope the Republican negotiators nailed down this whole "extraordinary circumstances" phrase. On its face, that could mean practically anything. For Senatrix Boxer, for example, it could mean anyone to the right of Thurgood Marshall.

It's interesting that this "deal" wasn't reached until it was already clear that Frist had the votes to pull off the "nuclear" option. The GOP was negotiating from a position of strength. I hope they conducted themselves accordingly.