We nuked ourselves

We just got back from a week in beautiful SW Montana and Yellowstone, and what a great time we had out there. A whole week of peace, quiet and enjoying the beauty our nation has to offer.

However, I seems that I can't go away for a week without things falling apart for the GOP and its principles. Once again the GOP leadership has managed to "snatch defeat from the handa of victory" with their latest compromise. Needless to say, I'm very upset with the GOP leadership and their current deviation from our parties principles of less government, lower spending and fulfillment of the mission the American people elected them to complete.

There's not much more I can say, so I'll post today's letter from Chuck Muth since he says it all so eloquently. Read below and see if you agree with him; I know that I do.

SPIN CITY & THE FILI-BLUSTER

Thanks to Republican "moderates," a "deal" has now been struck where the Democrats will be allowed to continue obstructing judicial nominees when they see fit and Republicans get...well, pretty much squat. They had the carpet pulled out from under them and woke up this morning with a big ol' egg covering their face, thanks to what the mainstream media considers to be the Magnificent Seven. Here's the roster:

Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island
Mike DeWine of Ohio
Susan Collins of Maine
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John McCain of Arizona
John W. Warner of Virginia
Olympia J. Snowe of Maine

Did I mention Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island? More on him later.

As is to be expected, Republican leaders are in full "spin" mode, trying to tell conservatives that this huge loss on a matter of principle is actually a win; that this sow's ear is actually a silk purse. I can't remember the last time I had this much Suzy Sunshine blown up my skirt.

In the defenders estimation, Bill Frist has been a mensch. He stayed the course. He's a rock. Blah, blah, blah. He just couldn't get his whole team to row in the same direction. I'm not buying it.

I wonder what Steinbrenner would do with such a manager?

Here's the bottom line: For their part, the Democrats "agreed" to allow three previously-blocked nominees, but not all ten, to come to the floor for an up-or-down vote. Hello? Those three were already coming to the floor for a vote once the "nuclear option" had been deployed anyway. Some "concession" on the D's part, huh? For our part, we agreed to allow the Democrats to continue filibustering judges in the future. Lovely.

After hearing how the Democrats distorted the judicial and personal records of Owen and Brown over the last five days, you just know it will be a walk in the park for them to come up with "extraordinary circumstances" to block a future nominee. And by retaining the right to filibuster judges, you can pretty much kiss any hope that the president will risk nominating Justice Scalia to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist when he retires.

The Democrats bought time...and time is on their side. The longer this thing drags out, the less likely Republicans are to enforce the principle of every nominee getting an up-or-down vote. And the less likely that President Bush will appoint any more "Scalias." Get ready for a rash "Souters" coming down the pike.

I'm not excusing what the McCainiacs did here; but Bill Frist is the leader and he's been misplaying this issue from Day One. He should have used the power of his office to stop these filibusters two years ago. If he didn't have the 51 Republican votes, he should have told us who the weak-kneed Republicans were BACK THEN so we could have had a chance to deal with them directly from the grassroots level and at the ballot box. But Frist covered for these upstarts. And now they've cut his legs off from under him.

Frist was also in a position to stop Arlen Specter from gaining the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee last year and put someone there who actually AGREED with his plan to use the nuclear option to bust the filibusters. Instead, he "cut a deal" with Specter and handed him the gavel. In return, Specter helped hand Republicans a major and embarrassing defeat by encouraging and enabling this "compromise."

Bill Frist wants to be president. Bill Frist can kiss that dream goodbye. If he can't even handle running the Senate, what business does he have running the COUNTRY? "Trying" isn't good enough. There is no substitute for victory. Second place is like not even being there. Bill Frist needs to step down from his "leadership" position and turn running the Senate over to someone else, someone not afraid to crack the whip on his own troops from time to time.

This was a big one folks. This was important. And we were embarrassed by this "deal"...big time. Someone needs to answer for that.

One last question: Do those of you who say having RINO (Republican In Name Only) Lincoln Chafee on our team is better than having a Democrat in his seat still believe that? If so, you're hopeless. Boy, do I wish the Libertarians would put somebody half-credible up against him next year. That's one Republican race I'd LOVE to see "spoiled." Hey, hey, ho, ho...Lincoln Chafee's gotta go.