The Art Of The Deal

Kevin Featherly, a fellow Fellow, has a witty op-ed piece in today’s Strib poking fun at Governor Pawlenty’s decision to put a cigarette tax, er, fee on the table to get a deal on a final budget. Kevin is more of a libertarian than me, but I think we’re both amused by the Governor’s semantic gymnastics on this point.
It looks like bipartisanship hasn’t totally disappeared from the Senate. The filibuster deal forces those of us on the left to swallow some bitter medicine. I’m especially dismayed that William Pryor’s nomination will move forward. Pryor, an opponent of the ADA in particular and disability rights in general, strikes me as someone who places ideology well before rule of law. But the right to filibuster, at least in theory, is still preserved. And I’ll admit to getting all warm and fuzzy when I read James Dobson’s written statement temper tantrum. I especially love his thinly veiled threat to those disobedient Republicans, implying that they’ll be punished in the next election. I could be wrong, but I don’t think most people are going to be thinking about filibusters and rules of cloture when they go into the voting booth. And if Bill Frist loses a little of his shine among the rabid right-wingers because of this deal, all the better.