Filibuster Appears to Be Fili-Bust

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo blog hears rumor that Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) may cut a deal with Senate Democrats behind and around Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to circumvent the much-ballyhooed "nuclear option" to kill the Senate's 200-year filibuster tradition for particularly unsuited judicial nominees.

If the rumor is true, the far-right Republican power-move to hijack judicial nominees is dead. Just another confrontational tempest in the teapot that is the Bush Administration.

And the American people would have great cause to rejoice. This could mark the beginning of the end of the radical right's ruthless campaign for one-party rule, and the end of fundamentalist Dr. James Dobson as a feared political force.

Don't get your hopes up yet, though. It's still just a juicy, hopeful rumor.