The fight over judicial nominations was finally starting to go the Dems way. The Senate confirmed a non-controversial nominee unanimously, Bill Frist found himself without the votes he needs to exercise the “nuclear option,” and two major conservative groups (the National Right to Work Committee and the Gun Owners of America) came out against the Republican plan.
And then hyper-moderate Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) decided to try and screw it all up with an unhelpful “compromise.”
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who is working on a bipartisan compromise to end the filibuster of judicial nominees, said he believes that his party’s practice of blocking confirmation votes on controversial nominees has put him and fellow Democratic centrists in politically difficult positions.
Nelson, who accepts recent comparisons between himself and former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), a centrist Democratic dealmaker, suggested that a few Democrats in so-called red states might be relieved should the prospect of filibustering the president’s nominees be eliminated…. Nelson has suggested to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and his own party’s leadership a proposal that would automatically discharge judicial nominees from the Judiciary Committee after a certain amount of time if the panel failed to vote on them. Under Nelson’s proposal, after another set period any senator could then call nominees discharged from committee to the floor for a confirmation vote. The proposal would be implemented as a permanent change to Senate rules.
First of all, this isn’t much of a compromise. Like practically every other suggested agreement, Dems give up their right to filibuster nominees (a right Republicans have exercised in the past) and Bush gets everything he wants (literally every nominee will get confirmed). Usually compromises include some sense of mutual sacrifice. There isn’t any here, so Dems hardly have an incentive to embrace this plan.
Second of all, with the whole “nuclear option” attack faltering for lack of Republican support, there’s no need to even offer a compromise. The status quo is holding and the radical proposal for change is faltering. A number of Republicans really don’t want to go nuclear and just as many Dems really don’t want to bring Senate business to a halt. The best result for everyone is if everything stayed exactly as it is now.
Note to Ben Nelson: Don’t mess with a good thing.