Compromise

May 24, 2005

So the Senate has reached a compromise on Bill Frist’s “Nuclear” option which clears the way for three of Bush’s blocked nominees and preserves the filibuster for use against a potential Supreme Court nominee. I haven’t looked at _anyone else’s blogs_ yet about this issue, and while I’m relieved that debate in the Senate is not going to decline into open partisan warfare, I can’t help but feel the conflict has been swept under the rug.

The politics of the Republican hardliners are offensive enough, but that they are willing to lie openly and sacrifice ideological principle in exchange for short term political gain is not a good thing and demonstrates quite clearly that they are _not dedicated to democratic principles_. I hope this compromise is the first example of the criminal wing of the Republican party losing power, and not yet another chance for Democrats to be stabbed in the back.

This is probably what made negotiations so difficult — every time Democrats have reached across the aisle recently they’ve had their hands bitten.

Incidentally, my personal feelings on the nuclear option were _moderated_ by hearing “Tom Oliphant”:https://bostonglobe.com/newsroom/Editorial-Opinion/oliphant.stm on Air America Radio. Oliphant explained pretty clearly why a compromise would be better for us in the long run than either side “winning” in this issue. (Tom Oliphant was on the Al Franken show on May 19. “Download the show here.”:http://tinyurl.com/ao6zu)

Posted in Politics