NYT: For Senators, Pact Does Not Mean Peace(deal covers judges,not Bolton)

[DeepModem Mom]

For Senators, a Pact Does Not Mean Peace
By CARL HULSE
Published: May 27, 2005


WASHINGTON, May 26 - The filibuster is far from dead in the Senate.

Putting a fitting exclamation point on weeks of bitter partisan fighting, Democrats initiated a stunningly successful procedural attack on Thursday against one of President Bush's high-profile nominees, just days after an unusual compromise averted a showdown over the right to filibuster judicial candidates.

The vote against cutting off debate over the confirmation of John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, just as Congress was recessing for Memorial Day, left Republicans fuming and showed there is still some distance to travel to reach the new spirit of Senate comity that some believed was represented in the judicial pact announced Monday....

***

Architects of the agreement that forestalled a showdown over judicial filibusters insisted there was no link between Monday's deal and the filibuster against Mr. Bolton, who is an executive branch nominee and thus not covered under the new arrangement. But there was a clear sense of disappointment that the opportunity for better relations that had seemed so open on Monday was not there as the Senate prepared to leave town.

"It is unfortunate," conceded Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio and a prominent member of the so-called Gang of 14 who drew up the judicial compromise. "It is too bad. But the deal was on judges, not anything else."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/politics/27cong.html?

[struggle4progress]

1. If the Republicans push the nuclear button, everybody will regard them ..

.. as a bunch of sorry-ass liars ...

[atommom]

2. Sadly, there's little reason for the two parties to trust each other.

If the Republicans had been acting in good faith all along, they might be getting better cooperation from the Dems now.