Matt's a little surprised that the right has given so little thought to the long-term consequences of the filibuster fight, namely, the destabilization of the filibuster and the massive expansions of government that its elimination will eventually engender. He points to David Boaz, who is taking the long-view (and is, by the way, a markedly dishonest dude in other contexts) and realizes the dangers. I'm a bit surprised that Matt's surprised. What's made C-Span so gripping this week has been the fantastic! amazing! unexpected! rhetorical contortions of senators advocating the rule change. They know how wrong they are. They know what they're doing is ahistorical. Bill Frist's stammerfest when confronted with his own filibustering of a judicial nominee was a perfect example: this is a power grab, and everyone involved knows it. It's nonsensical on the merits and obviously dangerous as precedent, but, since the battle has been joined, they need to do it. Thinking long about it is, at this point, nothing but an expression of partisan weakness. And they can't have that, can they?
The flipside has been the obvious relish of Democrats who get to invoke every thinker from the last two millennia in their defense. Folks get a special twinkle in they're eye when they're sure the angels are their reinforcements, and Democrats have had it. Max Baucus walked up and, in the space of 5 minutes, invoked three Greek plays, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Heraclitus, and a battalion of similarly ancient and often obscure thinkers who believed change was an inevitability. It was hilarious. Now, Democrats aren't any better than the Republicans; we've tried to kill the filibuster too, and were the shoe on the other foot it's not impossible, indeed, it's not even taxing to imagine a scenario where we'd try and stomp on the minority. But being powerless and seeing your protections stripped away imbues one with a very thick air of high-mindedness, and it's been fun to watch the Democrats think, write, and speak from within it.
