7 Republican Senators Drop To Drop To Their Knees And French Kiss Democrats Asses

Fourteen moderate US senators reached a compromise over President George W. Bush's stalled judicial nominees on Monday, thus averting a showdown Tuesday over the issue. Seven Democrats and seven Republicans signed a "memorandum of understanding," declaring that filibusters against judicial nominees will only be used in the future "under extraordinary circumstances." "We have reached an agreement to try to avert a crisis in the United States Senate and pull the institution back from a precipice that would have had, in the view of all 14 of us, lasting impact, damaging impact on the institution," Senator John McCain, Republican from Arizona, said. Under the compromise, Democrats agreed to vote for cloture, or an end to debate, for three judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown,William Pryor and Priscilla Owen. The group made no commitment to voting for or against the filibuster on two nominees, William Myers and Henry Saad. The Republicans, for their parts, said they would oppose any attempt to make changes in the application of filibuster rules. Republicans have threatened to strip Democrats of their right to filibuster, or make an extended debate for delaying legislative action. The White House welcomed the agreement, calling it "progress." Spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House would continue working to push for an up-or-down vote on all Bush's nominees. The Senate will vote Tuesday on Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice and one of seven nominees Bush re-nominated in his second term, to a seat on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats blocked 10 of Bush's 218 nominees in his first term by using filibuster. Republicans had accused Democrats of unprecedented obstruction, but Democrats said the nominees were too conservative to decide on social and cultural issues. John McCain a wolf in sheep's clothing