Former Senator Don Nickles on the filibuster

Sirota digs up this quote from Don Nickles, former Republican senator from Oklahoma and long-time majority whip.

"I think it would be a mistake to eliminate all the rules of the Senate dealing with the filibuster...There's real wisdom in the fact that the Senate is a more deliberate body, that- not all legislation that we pass is good, and sometimes it makes good sense for us to look at it, and so, no, I wouldn't favor reducing the 60-vote margin to, basically, eliminate cloture or eliminate filibuster."

- Sen. Don Nickles, CNN, 1/5/95

And Nickles wasn't some "moderate" senator, either. Fact is, the filibuster is good for the Senate, but bad for Frist's presidential ambitions.

And in Frist's world, his presidential ambitions trump good politics, good policy, and the Constitution.