Salazar and the Compromise
There seems to be a lot of progressive grousing this morning about Colorado Senator Ken Salazar giving in on the nominations of Priscilla Owens and Janice Brown in return for Republicans dropping their attempt to ban a filibuster.

In one sense, the progressives have a point. The point behind the filibuster is to prevent judges you don't want. If you give in on the most heinous of appointments, you might as well give up the filibuster.

However, the point behind the compromise was to live to fight another day. What Salazar did was, effectively, preserve Harry Reid's (D-Nevada) veto over any potential Supreme Court nominee, assuring that the nominee will be a moderate. Because the filibuster was preserved, some Democrats, indeed, some pro-choice Democrats, will be needed to confirm the new Justice.