''We've got no more ground to give!''

"Goose recently asked at what price has this filibuster deal come?

Well, Bush got three more judges who shouldn't be approved, approved; and four or five more will soon follow. Sure, two other judges now, and two or three others soon, who shouldn't be approved apparently won't be approved; but that hardly qualifies as any sort of "advance" for progressive causes, let alone a "victory" for Democrats -- particularly given the circumstances under which these concessions have been exacted: The threat by the GOP to cheat on the rules -- having Cheney, as President of the Senate, rule incorrectly on a Point of Order that to change the rule on filibuster, as any rule of the Senate, would not require a two-thirds vote of the Senate -- amounts to extortion. Negotiating with a blackmailer is not only nothing to brag about but is also an invitation to endless extortion in the future."-from the Comments from Left Field blog. howieinseattle opinion: the only reason to make the deal would have been an ironclad certainty that the nuclear option would have passed. I don't think we'll ever know, now.