Senate to White House: Look what you made us do.

Just days after the 14 maverick Senators gallantly saved the Republic with their deal to escape the judicial filibuster showdown, the Senate this evening failed to pass Cloture to end debate on the nomination of John Bolton.

Bolton now faces additional Senatorial limbo, courtesy of (among many others) 4 of the munificent 7 Democrats who paid such recent and grandiose lip service to a more restrained use of filibusters.  (They were Senators Byrd, Lieberman, Inouye, and Salazar.)

Senators Kerry, Reid, Boxer, Biden, and Dodd have been good enough to assure us this is no filibuster, but rather an effort to enable Senators to thoroughly discharge their duties of advice and consent.  At issue is the release of information related to Bolton's past requests of the names of U.S. officials named in NSA intercepts.

This is an unexpected level of reverence for such duties from a minority that has neglected the same with regard to judicial nominees over the past 4 years.

Immediately following the reading of the results of the vote (4 short of the 60 required to pass Cloture), Senator Reid rose to announce dolefully that he was "disappointed that [the Senate was] not able to have a vote tonight." He and Senator Biden then proceeded to levy something of an impromptu lecture duet upon the Bush Administration about the harm they bring on their own nominees by withholding such information.  Both spent plenty of time reminding us of the non-filibusterness of this maneuver, that they're "ready to vote", and have "no interest in preventing an up or down vote" for Bolton.

Senator Frist's reaction, namely that we have seen the "engagement of another period of obstruction" and that this development looks and sounds a lot like a filibuster, somewhat shockingly met with agreement by Senator Reid, who offered only the mild caveat that this was the first actual filibuster to take place this year.

Faint consolation, given the "good faith" implementation of Monday's deal that we're asked to anticipate.

Video at The Political Teen (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin).