The Nuclear Option Threatens...

By all accounts, the trigger on the nuclear option is due to be pulled this week, unless the GOP and the Dems can reach some kind of compromise. The AP reports that, according to Chuck Hagel (R-Neb), who may well be the last remotely reasonable Republican in the entirety of the American government, Bill Frist and Harry Reid are still meeting and discussing a possible eleventh-hour compromise.

I really hope Harry’s giving ’em hell.

Meanwhile, Hagel, who notes…

"My goodness, you've got 100 United States senators. Some of us might be moderately intelligent enough to figure this out. … We need to work through this."

…and…

“[Y]ou can't give up a minority rights tool in the interest of the country, like the filibuster.”

…and…

"The Republicans' hands aren't clean on this either. What we did with Bill Clinton's nominees - about 62 of them - we just didn't give them votes in committee or we didn't bring them up.”

…still hasn’t decided whether to endorse the nuclear option. What a sad state of affairs, what poor governing we truly have, when there are people who will admit they know something is wrong and yet still go along with it if enough political pressure is put on them. (See also: Dems, Iraq War Vote.)