VOLuntarilyConservative

Everyone in the Blogosphere and MSM has weighed in on the deal to save the judicial filibuster, and I have been patiently waiting to put my two-cents in because I was irate upon hearing the news late yesterday. That anger has naturally evolved into inspection, which then changed to depression (more on that later).

Blogging for Bryant has sufficiently rounded up all of the usual suspects and their opinions on the filibuster, including those who blame Frist (Bill Hobbs, Glen Dean, Slublog, Mitch Berg, Tennessee Rants), those who are depressed but trying to see some good in the surrender (Fishkite, PoliPundit, Blue State Conservatives), those who are extremely disappointed on defections to the dark side (Matt White , Thomas Ravenel, Lance Frizzell on Lindsey Graham, Hugh Hewitt on Graham, DeWine, and McCain, Save the GOP on McCain), and those who see Republicans and conservatives as the big losers (Mark Rose, Hugh Hewitt again, Power Line, The Baltimore Sun, Right Wing News, TeamGOP, Lifelike Pundits, Physics Geek, John Brown).

However, probably the most telling - and most damnable - reaction comes from Josh Trevino at RedState. He sees this is a great tool for the GOP to keep conservatives in their place, with that place being lock-step with the party that cares little for issues important to conservatives. Unfortunately, folks, there are many at RNC headquarters today that are also happy about this result for the same reasons as Trevino. Types like Trevino are the reason that I have divorced my allegiance to the Republican party and instead adhere to the conservative values of Ronald Reagan. And I'm not the only one. As the GOP continues to veer left, conservatives are buying their time, waiting for the viable option to occur that cripples the GOP that has used us as slave labor during campaign season but treats us like slaves at all other times. But this is a topic for another day.

So what do I think of the deal? As many other conservatives have put it, we have seen victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. In effect, Republicans have become the minority party. Add those 7 Benedict Arnolds to the 44 Democrats and one spineless Independent in the Senate, and the Democrats rule the roost on the judiciary - just as it has been for the past 75 years. The fallout? Well -

• Frist's chance at the presidency is done before we even reached the midterm elections.
• McCain's chance at the presidency is done before we even reached the midterm elections. Of course, this is providing that he would run as a Republican.
• The GOP is unlikely to retain the White House in 2008, according to Save the GOP. I'm not so sure, because to summarily dismiss Allen and Owens is a bit overboard.
• Any judge that Bush nominates to the Supreme Court will be filibustered. Why? Because the Democrats will label him (not being sexist, but the short list is comprised of males) as an extremist (as they have done with several non-extreme options like Charles Pickering), therefore triggering the "extraordinary circumstances" option (which is undefined for a reason in the deal). (Patterico also believes this to be the case.)
• The "nuclear option" will not be deployed. With all due respect to Senator Brownback, even in a Supreme Court situation as outlined above, the GOP can't reinstitute it because of logistics. For one, the Senate Majority Leader (whether it is Frist or someone else) will be lax to do so after this mutiny. Second, it took nearly a year of threatening this tactic to bring us to the brink. It is highly unlikely that such a build-up would be attempted again, and even if it were, the question remains as to whether a nominee and the Court itself could sustain while the groundwork was laid to invoke a Senate Rules change.
• Ed Bryant gets a boost in the 2006 Senate race in Tennessee. Say what? When Ed announced that he was running for Frist's seat, the first issue that he cited was the need to confirm federal judges, stating that it was his intent once reaching the Senate to push for a seat on the Committee on the Judiciary so that he could make sure that judges would be confirmed that would uphold the Constitution (see Memphis Red Blogs). This issue is still in play, thanks for the traitorous McCain and his cohorts. Also, Bryant benefits if the Frist family continues to support Bob Corker. Corker needs for someone to help him win over conservative East Tennessee voters (and, with his record, we're talking A LOT OF HELP), and I don't think that associations with Frist are going to help Corker now.
• Residents of the 5th Circuit (Owen), 11th Circuit (Pryor), and 9th Circuit (Brown) have new excellent judges on their federal appeals courts. It is interesting that Pryor will get his lifetime seat at the table by a Senate that just moved to the center, because that is what he has been doing ever since he decided that he wanted a federal judgeship.
• The 70% of the Bush nominees who will NEVER receive an up-or-down vote by the Senate will be heard from again. No, they won't be making rulings from the bench, but any smart challenger to one of the 7 GOP traitors (including possible presidential candidates) should be contacting the nominees for future campaign appearances. In that way, these nominees could be the Swift Boat Veterans of the 2006 and 2008 GOP primaries.

It's funny after the last election how the disappointed mainstream media was willing to write off the next four years as conservative victories. Heck, I almost bought into it. Can someone point to one positive reason why I should be happy since last November?

UPDATE: Frist's first statement on the Senate floor post-mutiny says that I am wrong, that the "nuclear option" will be used as the stick to keep the Democrats in line. I doubt it. Perhaps this is Frist's attempt to look like a leader when it is clear that he has been besmirched.