August J. Pollard of Xoverboard gets my vote for the funniest blog post yet on the filibuster. Here's just two paragraphs, go over and read the whole thing:

So I walk in the door and turn on the TV to check out the "all-nighter" session the Senate declared and to see if Bill Frist was wearing the Spongebob pajamas James Dobson bought him and instead get the most fearsome of images in the form of Joe Lieberman trying to smile. I apparently already missed the speeches from Mike DeWine explaining that his name was Mike DeWine and he was actually a United States Senator, and Robert Byrd telling a story about how he knew Ben Franklin.

The radical right fringe today threatened three Republican Senators who signed onto the nuclear option compromise:

There were a few defectors, a few sellouts and that's troubling," said Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. He mentioned three of the seven Republican senators who compromised with Democrats _ Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Warner of Virginia _ and said, "There will be repercussions."

I'll be adding to this as I find other bloggers whose views I agree with on the Compromise:

• Liberal Oasis:
  It is the same old conservatism with the same old centrist mask.

• Maxspeak:
  I'm more interested in whether it is a victory for the Dems. The point of opposition is to obstruct outrageous legislation and appointments. As far as I can see, the Dems have failed to do this, in return for a vague commitment from the GOP to forego a procedural vote that they can always take in the future, in the event opinions differ on the meaning of "extraordinary." Ultimately, it is a recasting of the absurd deal we had heard about before: you retain the right to filibuster as long as you don't do so."

• Skippy (R.J.Eskow):
  So now we learn that the democrats have achieved a "compromise" that is, in fact, a surrender. they avoided a shootout by throwing themselves face-down in the dirt. it's not their first "compromise." if there's one thing they've learned, it's how to compromise.

All this compromise did was pass the buck to another day, while allowing three extremist judges to be elevated to lifetime appointments on federal appeals courts.

"I think they did what the Senate very often does," said Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University and a longtime student of the Senate. "They kicked the can down the road. They basically postponed a crisis and set up the predicate for another one in the future on the Supreme Court nomination."

Check the language of the compromise. Check Sen. Mike DeWine's statement, with which Lindsay Graham agreed:

Some of you who are looking at the language may wonder what some of the clauses mean. The understanding is – and we don’t think this will happen – but if an individual senator believes in the future that a filibuster is taking place under something that’s not extraordinary circumstances, we of course reserve the right to do what we could have done tomorrow which is to cast a yes vote for the constitutional option.

The Washington Post article linked above makes it clearer:

The only U.S. Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), speaks on the compromise:

This is not a good deal for the U.S. Senate or for the American people. Democrats should have stood together firmly against the bullying tactics of the Republican leadership abusing their power as they control both houses of Congress and the White House. Confirming unacceptable judicial nominations is simply a green light for the Bush administration to send more nominees who lack the judicial temperament or record to serve in these lifetime positions. I value the many traditions of the Senate, including the tradition of bipartisanship to forge consensus. I do not, however, value threatening to disregard an important Senate tradition, like occasional unlimited debate, when necessary. I respect all my colleagues very much who thought to end this playground squabble over judges, but I am disappointed in this deal.

The worst, the compromise is in. Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are in. Total capitulation by Democrats. Total victory for Frist. Let them spin it how they want, it's a loss for the Democrats. Henry Saad of Michigan is the fall guy. He won't get a vote. No one cared about him anyway. That's tossing the Dems a chicken bone.

Ken Salazar. Traitor. Democrats will remember this when he runs for re-election. He's been in the Senate a few months - most of his moves have been Republican-light. Another Joe Lieberman. He'll probably go the way of Ben Nighthorse Campbell in a few years.

Harry Reid had 49 votes. We would have won. There's a blogger conference call to discuss the deal and Senator Reid’s Reaction at 8:15 tonight. Go to MyDD and Swing State Project and Daily Kos for details. I have a dinner meeting and I'm too angry, anyway.

We don't have a "Republic" tonight. We have a total Republican regime. Welcome to the Theocracy.

The Sargeant of Arms called all Senators to the floor this afternoon. The vote on Priscilla Owen is at high noon tommorrow. Bloggers will be live blogging through the night and tomorrow. Senator Reid has 49 votes. We need two more.

Chief Blogs and where to go for news first: Swing State Project, and of course, Daily Kos. If you're live blogging, put a note in the comments.

I'll begin around 9pm Mountain Time. Markos of Daily Kos has an excellent summary of where things stood as of Midnight last night.

Blog coverage will include links to Senators' speeches as soon as we can get them, and in some cases, full transcripts. And anything else we learn that we think readers will be interested in.

In a great effort to stop the Republican abuse of power, Princeton's "Filibuster for Democracy" Protest has spread to 50 filibusters in 34 states. These kids are awesome!

Call them for interviews. Hear it from the next generation what is at stake tomorrow. Judges are appointed for life; those Bush puts on the bench will shape their adult lives.

It's almost time. Sen. Frist has scheduled an all-nighter in the Senate. Cots have been brought in.

Cots were brought into the Capitol Monday as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist scheduled an all-night session stretching into Tuesday to dramatize the debate over President Bush’s judicial nominees and the filibusters that Democrats have used to block votes on 10 of them.

David at Daily Kos says "All Hands on Deck."

The battle to preserve the rights of minority political factions - and the public interests those factions represent - is about to be fully joined. Here are the simple steps you need to take to gear up for the fight to save the filibuster.

The timing is a bit uncertain still, but it will be fast and you have to move. Stay by a computer. Bookmark the links.

From MoveOn Pac:

Senator Bill Frist has pulled the trigger on the "nuclear option." We now have less than 72 hours to stop him from seizing absolute power to stack the courts — including the Supreme Court. The vote is still too close to call. If we raise our voice, we can win.

We've launched an emergency petition we'll be delivering to congress every three hours, from Monday morning until the final vote is complete. Our allies will read your comments on the Senate floor, and every senator will know the American people are standing ready to hold them accountable. Please sign today and pass it on .

Sen. John McCain, chief architect of the nuclear option compromise, said on television this morning that the compromise is alive and kicking.

McCain said a deal would not block votes on any nominees, but would preserve for the minority party the tools to kill some nominations.

"There would be a commitment to let most of them go" to a vote, McCain said. "It's very possible that there would be a vote on all of them, it's also possible that one or more of them would not reach the Senate floor because of other difficulties that their nomination faces."

Sen. McCain echoed Colorado Senator Ken Salazar's remarks from the other day. What's holding up the compromise is not which judges to confirm of those previously rejected, but the definition of the limited "extreme circumstances" in which Dems could filibuster.

"We're having difficulty coming up with exact language which would portray that desire. It's tough," McCain told "Fox News Sunday."

So the nominations of extremists like Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown would go through, and the filibuster - in extreme circumstances which are as yet undefined - would be preserved only through the 109th Congress, until 2006. That's no compromise, that is capitulation.

Call your Senator, leave a voicemail today. Tell them to roll the dice. No retreat, no surrender.