The beauty of this deal is the fact that it's a
deal. And simply because of this fact, the Republicans can't take it. We'll never know now what side would have prevailed in a floor vote on the nuclear option, but in all honesty, I would have hedged my bets on a Frist/Republican victory. A lot of rank and file Republicans feel the same way, and they couldn't wait for the vote to happen tomorrow... Except now it's not going to because of this deal. While the deal itself isn't great, it's a
huge political victory for the Democrats.
Republican supporters expected to kick the left to the curb, and they probably would have succeeded. They know this, and it's why this deal stings so much for them. They've now lost confidence in Frist and the Republican leadership, and now there are Republicans so disgusted that they're openly saying that they'll withhold money from the party.
The strategy is genius: Compromise for a crappy deal and let the Republicans react. Since they are a bunch of spoiled brats, they'll kick, whine, scream, and cry their hearts out because they lost a measley 2 judges. Despite the fact thar they didn't suffer much of a loss, the brats just can't take it. And this spoiled brat effect is going to cause ripples throughout the party.
Instead of suffering the Nuclear Option, we gave them the Nuclear Deal.