I feel for Bill Frist. Yesterday he spoke the truth, saying “me bringing up a vote is not going to change a thing.” (At least he didn’t say “Bill Frist bringing up…”) He was right. Then, after going to the White House he was talking about another vote. But another vote will be pointless unless something changes. It might be that the White House has decided on a recess appointment and just–understandably given the furor it will create–doesn’t want to talk about it yet. But I think it would be best to try again, after offering the Democrats some sort of deal on the documents. The White House has already offered a deal on the Syria part of it. On the intercepts, Roberts and Rockefeller have already seen the redacted versions and Negroponte has already told Roberts that key Democratic “names of concern” aren’t in them. It seems it should be possible to offer the Democrats some sort of deal that either further smokes out the Democrats’ obstruction or–the best result–dislodges a few Democratic vote for cloture. If the Senate is good at anything, it is cutting deals over disputes like this. Of course, it might come to nothing, given the Dems’ bad faith. If so, there’s the recess appointment as a fall-back.