Right wing bloggers howl over Senate deal

salon.com
Right wing bloggers howl over Senate deal

Speaking at the press conference yesterday that announced the
compromise to avert a filibuster showdown, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
conceded some conservatives would be angry at him for not helping to
push the nuclear button. That's putting it mildly. If the right-wing
bloggers are any indication, hardcore conservatives think the GOP gave
away the store and delivered a key victory to Democrats.

Captain's Quarters

complained, "This, in short, has been a clear victory for the Democrats
and a massive failure for the GOP and the White House. The GOP just
endorsed the filibuster, and will have no intellectual capacity to
argue against its use later on."


The Buzz Blog
mocked the negotiating skills of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: "The Senate
Leadership and President Bush have been sold down the river by these
seven Republicans. This so called "deal" was a retreat from earlier
claims that Democrats were willing to approve five of the seven
filibustered nominees. Talk about bad negotiating tactics -- McCain and
company actually lost ground when the GOP held all the cards. This is a
sad day for the Republic."

Powerline called the
compromise a fiasco for the GOP: "What a hideous deal! Someone explain
to me why the Republicans haven't been rolled once again. To me, it
looks like a pathetic collapse on the part of the Republicans--not the
leadership, but Senators like McCain who sold out their party."

And Michelle Malkin
complained, "The GOP parade of pusillanimity marches on. With this
pathetic cave-in, the Republicans have sealed their fate as a Majority
in Name Only."

But not all conservatives would blame moderates who reached a deal. At
Redstate.org, Josh Trevino wrote that the whole controversy was a
Republican black eye: "Historians will look back with no small amount
of wonder at this bizarre episode, wherein a majority seized with a
maximalist vision of its own power and mission, and facilitated by the
personal ambitions of one man, decided to sweep away the institutional
checks upon which it itself so recently relied to stymie its
opposition's plans."