I am surprised but heartened to discover my e-mail running about 50-50 in favor of the judges deal. Since all you’re hearing is complaining, here are some positive reactions:

“The only thing that can make this a defeat is the ongoing noise coming

from James Dobson, Sean Hannity, and the rest of the Corner. Tell me again why we want to set up primary challenges to these Republicans and possibly lose our majority in the Senat? The more GOP Senators the better. If we force the Senate campaign to waste money on primaries in safe states, it’s less money to spend going after the openings presented by the retirement of Democratic Senators.”

“I was always a lukewarm supporter of the ‘nuclear option,’ so I pretty much agree with you (although I can’t stand the Dems’ post-deal bloviating, and I wish McCain, et. al. had been able to wrangle an agreement to get votes for the two Michigan nominees). That said, I think the key here is not the precise wording of the deal per se, but rather how the deal affects the political calculus on judicial nominees. If the Dems are too cowed to filibuster anymore, then we win. If the Dems filibuster, and the RINOs bow their backs and drop the bomb, we probably win (although the media will have a big say in that). If, on the other hand, the White House goes the GHWB route and puts up wimpy nominees, or the Dems threaten to filibuster and the RINOs cave, or the Dems actually filibuster and the RINOs wimp out, then we lose.”

“Just a note of support for your arguments. I’m a rock-ribbed conservative whose initial reaction to the deal last night was despair. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to the same conclusions you did.”

“I am a conservative but I view each issue dispassionately and do not drink the Kool Aid. Thus, I think the filibuster deal is good for our side:

1. We get three judges with excellent conservative credentials.

2. This ends the use of filibusters to oppose judicial nominees simply for partisan reasons (ie, they are conservatives). We accomplished what we thought we needed the nuclear option to do.

3. We will not get the public opinion blow back that the nuclear option would have created. Think government shut down in 1995 which the MSM used to do enormous harm to our cause.”

“I’ve been an avid Cornerite for years now, and while many of your compatriots are brilliant I’ve always felt they can occasionally overlook the back-and-forth compromise aspects of politics that you mention in your filibuster-deal posts. They are too pure for their own good. Although I too feel the sting of incomplete victory, I think you are 100% about this deal being a win for us in the long term.”