Fili-busted!

You know, I was all set to dislike the filibuster compromise. After all, anything that potentially allows a Janice “God Trumps The Constitution” Brown or a Priscilla “I Killed Willie Searcy” Owen to sit on a Court is not a good thing. But anything that causes raving lunatics to froth at the mouth like this deal has done can’t be a bad thing. I’d do some linkage, but you can’t swing a dead cat around the Web today without hitting a Conservative In Name Only blogger complaining about how they have been sold out.

Here’s the thoughts of a true conservative, John Cole at Balloon Juice. He’s someone who actually has the temerity to think for himself instead of just drinking the Powerline Kool-Aid and writing posts that mirror what the unholy trio have to say.

First, I have felt that all along that nominees deserve a vote. That just seems fair and appropriate. It does not, however, have any historical foundation in fact.

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This was nothing more than a brazen power grab by my side, and everyone knows it. Fortunately, we get a few nominees put through, things go back to normal, and the Senate will not shut down. Life will go on.

As usual, the extremists will be screaming for heads. The evil moderates snatched 'defeat from the jaws of victory' (you will see phrase over and over again in the next few days) and they have betrayed the center-right coalition, and must be punished.

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What Hugh and others fail is that the Republicans won because they wrap themselves up in the moderation of the centrists, presenting themselves as all cozy and warm and as 'compassionate conservatives.'

In other words- Bush is President in large part because moderates voted for him. It was Arnold Schwarzanalphabet and Rufy Guiliani and John McCain who were the most effective campaigners for Bush in 2004. I didn't see Dobson speaking at the GOP Convention. Republicans control the Senate and House because of moderate support. Try to organize a Republican leadership without the moderates. It fails.

At any rate, I voted for the Republicans, and all they have done is shit all over me since election day. The bankruptcy bill, the censorship calls, the pandering to the religious right, the new mandatory minimus bill, the Patriot Act II, and so on and so forth. It is about time we gave in to some 'moderation.' What else am I getting out of this coalition that demands my pure loyalty but offers me nothing in return?

The hard-liners don't get it, though. They think because you support them some of the time, you must support them all of the time. They think in terms of permanent lock-step coalitions, not coalitions about ideas or issues. They are wrong.

At any rate, calls for conservative purity should fall on deaf ears. The Republicans are in control of the government in large part because of the moderates, not in spite of them. Go give money to these seven, they are going to get shit on by the extremists for the next few years. You should support them. (emphasis added)