DANIEL SCHORR: Anybody around here still remember 2005 and the nuclear option?
LIANE HANSEN, host:
NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr.
SCHORR: That was when the Republican majority in the Senate threatened to change the rules to permit the breaking of filibusters. That issue at a time with judicial nominations by President Bush that the Democrats were holding up, a compromise was reached and the rules changed, called a nuclear option was not invoked.
And so, the sanctity of the time on a filibuster was preserved to serve the Republicans two years later when they wanted to block a Democratic move to remove American troops from Iraq. A week of debate culminating in an all-night session the Democrats hoped could slice off enough Republican votes to provide the 60 needed to break the filibuster.
In retrospect, one has to wonder whether the Senate Democrats were well advised to commit themselves to this dramatic all-out effort. Their thinking was that trying to attack this amendment unto the defense authorization bill was a no-lose move. That's to say that if they didn't the vote, they would at least settle the administration and the Senate Republicans with a responsibility for keeping the troops in Iraq. That position was bolstered by the latest New York Times-CBS poll that shows 60 percent of Americans say Congress should allow financing for the war, but only on condition of setting a timetable for withdrawal.
And so, Majority Leader Harry Reid orchestrated this dramatic all-night session. Senator Reid, as it turned out, guessed wrong. When it came right down to it, many Americans were not ready to pull the rug from under the forces in Iraq. And the Republicans mocked the overnight session as silly theater. That apparently ends the Democratic drive until September when the military report on prospects in Iraq will be final. By then, we may face a whole new ball game.
This is Daniel Schorr.
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