Thanks to reader/blogger Greg Martin for sending this graphic that says it all:

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Related:

- Breaking: Filibuster compromise
- Patterico makes a pledge
- Round-ups: Joe Gandelman, Pardon My English, Conservative Outpost
- More Photoshop-inion from Slublog: Frist as Chamberlain.
- Captain Ed’s sober deconstruction of the deal and a vow: “Not One Dime for the NRSC as long as Frist remains majority leader, or for the Seven Dwarves ever.”
- Hugh Hewitt: “I won’t spend money on a caucus supporting organization when the caucus can’t deliver a majority.”
- Mitch Berg’s open letter to Sen. Bill Frist: “You suck”

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Let the MSM drooling over the “maverick” moderates begin…

Knight-Ridder: “The negotiations were led by McCain, a Republican maverick known for bucking Bush and his GOP leaders…”

AP: “The deal was struck around the table in the office of McCain, the Arizona senator who ran against Bush in 2000 and must now answer to angry conservatives. His advisers say they suspect that the most partisan conservatives were not going to back McCain anyhow, and that the deal bolsters his image as a maverick.”

LA Times: “In a rare act of compromise on Capitol Hill, a maverick group of seven Democrats and seven Republicans reached an agreement today that forced the Senate leadership to stand down from a confrontation over President Bush’s nominations to the federal courts.

A diarist at RedState bites back:

Thanks, John McCain. Thanks for showing us that there really are worse things than allowing 45 Senators to control a body of 100. We could, for instance, have 12 Senators control a body of 100, which is exactly what we saw happen tonight with the “compromise” solution authored and championed by everymedia’s favorite “Maverick.” Forgive us if we’re less than thrilled at the prospect that this “centrist” coalition (including Robert Byrd, of all people!) wields so much power.

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Power Line’s Paul Mirengoff sets Sen. Lindsay Graham straight:

I heard Senator Graham claim that he still has the right to vote to change the rules if the Democrats abuse filibusters. But, in light of the language of the deal, this statement appears to be disingenuous. Graham doesn’t get that right (which he probably doesn’t want anyway) until the next Congress. The Democrats get to skate past their latest defeat at the polls and hope for better things in 2006. Why didn’t Graham and his crew simply back off from the “nuclear” option for the time being, and see if the Democrats started behaving more responsibly? The comparative wisdom of that approach is apparent from the fact that Graham is trying to pretend that this is what he did.

I’m also doubtful that, even if the Republicans hold their own or gain seats in 2006, they will put an end to the filibusters. As noted above, they just don’t have it in them.

The claim by Senator Graham and others that we need to get this issue behind us in order to proceed with the Senate’s business is laughable. The Democrats will be emboldened by this “compromise” and will continue to obstruct. This Congress will accomplish little beyond what it already has, and that isn’t much.

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The morning after updates…

- John Hawkins at Right Wing News has an interview with Sen. Sam Brownback.
- IMAO’s Frank J. weighs in, plus more Photoshop-inion here.
- Ankle Biting Pundits offers an analysis of a sellout.
- Scrappleface spoofs the superduper majority.
- Rick at Stones Cry Out thinks the deal was a “brilliant political move.” (Co-blogger Mark disagrees.)
- Keith Burgess-Jackson has a prediction.
- Andy McCarthy: The Republicans have been rolled.
- Bradford Berenson at Bench Memos:

I have just heard from excellent sources that a number of Hill reporters believe that there is an oral side deal under which two other very good men have been prospectively thrown overboard by the Republican 7, notwithstanding the “extraordinary circumstances” pledge: Kavanaugh and Haynes. If true, this would be the dirty deal of all time and a disgraceful surrender executed under cover of darkness. It would also be an ominous portent of how the written deal will be implemented in the future.