I'm a long time lurker who never posts, but I've just been wondering, strategically: might it not be a real winner for the democrats to let this thing pass? It's true bush would get his ten nut jobs in--for life--which is no small deal and a terrible thing.
But it forces the Reps. to put all their cards on the table--it further alienates the moderates, who are already tired of being strong armed, and it will encourage further overreaching by the extreme right, while uniting the democrats in the kind of ballsy opposition now being shown by Reid and Schurmer. The Dems can be genuinely oppositional, sharpen their language, and in two years, reclaim some real territory.
Objectively, it looks like the Republicans are running out of cards--social security "reform' is a loser, the deficit is a big problem, the economy WILL have a downturn; they blew it in the Schiavo case, the Delay problems will continue to fester--and they'll be further revealed as the pawns of the far right.
The only dependable card they have at the moment, and the thing that makes me hesitate to endorse the end of the fillibuster completely, is terrorism and phony patriotism. it's the gift that keeps on giving for Bush. But he can't bury iraq and the recruitment problems forever