Quick impressions (and I reserve the right to change my mind based on the latest posting in Bench Memos): 1) What a waste of time. All the energy spent on this and Republicans still didn’t manage to codify what has been the practice for the last 200 years or so? It would have been better to force the issue much faster, and move on to issues people care about more than Senate procedure. 2) That key sentence in the agreement on the Republicans’ end of the bargain should have started with the phrase “contingent upon” (with the necessary adjustments to follow) rather than “in light of.” 3) If I hear any more talk about the Senate “walking back from the brink,” or the 14 “saving the institution,” or any similar cliché, I’m going to catch the first flight I can today out of the country. 4)Labels are so important. When this rules changes became known as–thanks to Trent Lott?–the nuclear option, Republicans were behind before they even got started.
UPDATE: On point 4: In other words, I agree entirely with my fine colleague, the wise, the collegial, the esteemed Jonah Goldberg, who is so steeped in the traditions of the Senate and the practices of American politics that he almost always has the same thoughts I do–except at least 6 minutes before me.