Lyndon Johnson once compared being a member of the Senate and the House as the difference between chicken and chicken shit. It seems that the Senate has largely bridged that gap. These days, the more appropriate comparison between the House and the Senate would be the difference between chicken shit and bullshit.

Beyond that, I agree that this “compromise” is “slow asphyxiation” for the filibuster – in fact, I’d go beyond that to say it’s a death knell: Despite all the studiously parsed language about Senators’ “consciences,” the net effect is that these “moderate” (it shows how far things have moved that John McCain is apparently too “moderate” to be called a “conservative”) Republicans have said to the Democrats “you can filibuster whenever we decide it’s okay” and the Democrats have swallowed it whole.

“What else were they supposed to do?” They were supposed to say no. Might Frist have pulled the trigger? Yes. But the effective outcome here is not much different and Frist can still detonate the bomb – as he himself has noted – anytime a sufficient number of “moderate” Republicans think that Democrats are “not living up to their part of the bargain.”

Finally, one last observation: An AP story said the nulear option “threatened the comity the Senate needs to function.” I think in our discussions of the whole affair we have tended to overlook how important it is to Senators to maintain that atmosphere, or at least the pretense, of collegial courtesy. I think that had a lot more to do with producing this “compromise” than any other single factor.