The misnamed "nuclear option" over judicial nominations has been averted, thanks to a GOP surrender.

Republicans, why should we return any of you to office? You spend too much. You cave too much. You step out and support the war too little. What do we who support you get for our support? If you lose the Senate in a year or four, it will be your fault, and you all will remember this deal as the reason it all unravelled.

I wish I could see a silver lining in all this, but I can't. The GOP holds the Senate now in name only. Sen. Harry Reid, one of the most clueless and hapless minority leaders of the past few decades, is calling the shots now