And What's the Deal With the Senate?

Regrettably, the much ballyhooed "deal" brought to us by a breathlessly self-congratulatory, bi-partisan group of Senators is little more than an agreement by the Democrats to put down their dukes for the time being, in exchange for a commitment by the 7 "maverick" Republicans to cut off the majority at its knees.

While floor votes for Janice Rogers Brown, William Pryor, and Priscilla R. Owen are welcome and overdue, the leverage conceded to get there was highly lopsided.  Democrats have holstered their filibuster long enough to allow votes on the three forestalled Bush nominees, but retain the right to later redraw it.  Meanwhile, Republicans have not only taken their finger off the "nuclear" trigger, but have effectively cut the finger off.

[Too many self-amputation metaphors?]

Thanks to this agreement, the paramount prize of control over Bush's presumed multiple Supreme Court nominees has been largely ceded to the minority party.  Unless 2 or more of the mavericks turn double-maverick and renege on the deal, Republicans will be unable to wield the judicial filibuster-buster down the road when they'll truly need it (brashly assuming that these 7 Democrats will find any Bush SCOTUS nominee to be "extraordinarily" unqualified).

The deal's aftermath is generating mounds of praise and adulation for the bi-partisan deal team, mostly self-heaped, in honor of their magnanimously rising above politics.  In truth, of course, neither side did anything of the sort.  On the contrary, they engaged in a terrifically high-stakes political power play, one which it must be said the Democrats won handily.

Michelle Malkin, Power Line, Captain Ed, and GOP Bloggers feel my pain.  Fox News has the woeful text of the deal.