Nuclear Damp Squib

In scenes most reminiscent of Cpt. Kirk stopping the self-destruct system with only 3 seconds to go, the Senate has agreed a "compromise" in the ongoing saga of fillibuster vs nuclear option. I smell a self-serving rat.

Am I the only cynic who doesn't believe in holywood last-second reprieves? The problem is not solved, only delayed - which allows both parties to continue milking it for all it is worth among the faithful while the rest of the country looks on, hopeless and depressed by the games.

Oh, and the rest of the world shakes it's head and titters a bit.

The good Senators could do with getting their heads out of their collective asses and realising the continuance of this nonsense ultimately fails the people they are sworn to serve.

I posted on the kindergarten politics of both parties a couple of days ago. What's wrong with term limits for judges anyway?

Update 24thMay

Reactions on the deal seem as varied as the pundits. Joe Gandelman at Moderate Voice has a great round-up of all the opinionators. There's every possible response, from the Dems lost to the Repubs lost to the Dems won to the Repubs sold out to...you get the idea.

The Washington Post agrees with me that this is a compromise that isn't a compromise; the deal simply delays the eventual clash until another day. James Dobson is already proving my point that the extreme wings of both parties will be happy to beat the war drums on the subject until that day.

This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats...

...We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness. That principle has now gone down to defeat. We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust.

And I am still cynical about the whole thing.

As the various Unpaid Pundits give their views our newest member, Elric, has a well-grounded post I am bound to agree with. (See, the Right and the Left can agree!)in which he argues that the "battle has been ridiculous from nearly the get-go and even more so lately" and that it wouldn't even be happening if Dems of Repubs could convince people to give them more votes. The weeping and the wailing, in other words, is a direct result of their failure to convince. A nice and accurate point being deliberately missed by the politicos and the pundits on both wings.

For myself, I will repeat that the "compromise that isn't" serves no-one except the politicos of all stripes and it serves ALL of them very well indeed. I don't believe in Star Trek style last minute reprieves unless they were written into the script from the get-go.

Yup, that's what I am saying - it's a fix, all right, just not a fix of the problem.