It's becoming more and more difficult to sort out the real winners and losers in the fillibuster-busting deal reached by 14 Senators last night.
It seems that nobody wants to exactly declare victory, though Pelosi and Reid are doing their darndest, and Bush seems like a pretty happy man today. The Republicans and their interest groups are furious, even though the deal resulted in Priscilla Owen clearing the cloture hurdle by a lopsided 81 to 18 vote today. How is getting Owen a one-way ticket to the federal bench a slam dunk for Democrats? Not sure, except that the party preserved the option of using the filibuster in the future: namely, on Bush's Supreme Court nominees.
...which is why the religious right is enraged by this deal. Even getting Owen confirmed, probably as early as Wednesday, isn't sating the Freeperati, who are shark-circling the GOP cavers, especially DeWine, Warner and poor old Lindsey Graham (never thought I'd feel sorry for an impeachment manager...)
Howard Dean basically spoke for the leftie base:
"I would be hesitant to say yet that it's a win for the Democratic Party," he said. "It's a real test of whether this is a real long-term agreement. That will come when we find out if the president consults with the Democrats," he added.
and the GOPers seem to be giving Bill Frist a pass for now (how many times has he used the words "I was not a party to the deal" today?
"I don't think the leadership caved, it was a handful of senator who preferred to stay in the Land of Political Indecision," said Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council.
This is a serious problem for me. How can we declare a winner if no one will volunteer?
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
