Sorry for the highly partisan host but this is where I found it. I'm sure the copy is genuine. Interestingly, the left wing nuts seem to be celebrating and the right wing nuts seem to be fuming. This doesn't jive with how I read this deal.

The left wing nuts either think that they got more then they got, or they are simply overjoyed about being able to exercise some amount of influence.

I presume the right wing nuts have absolutely no interest in anything less then absolute power. I think they wanted to be able to approve radical nominees with impunity and they wanted the nuke option to proceed because they figured they'd win and get to rewrite senate rules in their favor. They were looking forward to it.

In the end, the Republicans loose 2 nominees and they don't have to proceed with a risky vote on senate rule changes until a supreme court justice is on the line. I see that as a pretty enviable position. They are much better off pulling the nuke option out when the stakes are at their highest. If they had pulled it out now and lost they would have lost big and the option would have been removed from the table almost entirely.

The first rule of announcing any sort of compromise is to claim victory. By screaming and fuming over loosing two nominees the Republicans may be canibalizing themselves. Its not in their interest to destroy Frist's credibility as a leader, but they may do so in their vanity, and if so this will be the thread that begins to unravel them. The NRO predicted this. NRO's editorial board (who opposes the nuke option) recently came out and said that at this point they had no choice but to proceed because backing down would cost the party too much face. If the Republicans target their own leadership for being wimpy they'll set the stage for less experienced voices to come in and start sowing the seeds of the party's fall. Something to watch over the next few days...