Details from the press conference:
McCain: (wearing his hypnotizin' tie) We are here, 14 Republicans and Democrats to announce that we have reached an agreement to try and avert a crisis...grateful for the efforts of Frist and Reid...Byrd provided a "beacon" of where we should go...
All 14 will vote for cloture.
Nominees should only be filibustered in the future under extraordinary circumstances.
Nothing in the agreement prevents any individual senator from voting according to his [conscience].
Nelson: made a deal for the future that will "keep the faith"...retains rights and responsibilities of each senator....give as many judges as possible an up or down vote...the handicap is 100%.
Pryor: came as a result of perspiration, not inspiration...agreement based on trust...
Byrd: I remember Benjamin Franklin, the oldest in the group who signed the constitution...was asked "what have you given"...response by Franklin "a Republic"....thank god for this moment...provides for freedom of speech, freedom of debate...
Warner: remarkable study of senate history...quiding question: what would happen to the senate if the nuclear opton were done...no one was able to answer that question.
Devine: felt the use of the constitutional option would not be good for the senate or the country...agreement reached in good faith and trust...isf an individual senator believes a filibuster is not being done in [good faith] in the future...the agreement reserves the right for one senator to object...
Leiberman: how great it is to be a member of this band of brothers and sisters...the bispartisanship held...each of us accepted this agreement [even though parts of it weren't agreeable to us]...empowered bispartisan center...
McCain: the senate won and the country won
Snowe: what bound us was the belief that the consititutional option would have been to the detriment of the senate...comity, compromise, cooperation...
A couple of other senators spoke briefly and then CNN cut away beofre the press started asking questions.
CNN's Paula Zahn just made a big Freudian slip: they were going to cut back to the press conference shot and she said,"of course, CNN will cut back... when any Republican goes to the microphone".
Harry Reid: This is really good news for every American tonite. This so-called nuclear option is off the table tonite. This is a significant victory...integrity of the supreme court has been protected from the vocal, radical right in this country.
(Wow - strong message to Bush and Cheney that their power grab on behalf of the radical right is over!) Bravo!!!
And for the masochistic, I present the past editions of this duhbate blogging: