The filibuster compromise reached Monday night is being hailed as one that preserves Senate rules and the government's checks and balances. But for now, a more practical view seems more plausible. That is, both parties can read public opinion polls, and both knew that the average American was either not interested in the filibuster issue, or ready to place blame in the event of a showdown - on Democrats if they made good on their early threat to shut down the Senate, or on Republicans, if they followed through with their threat to change the filibuster rules.
Nothing is more offensive than to witness elected officials placing partisan advantage over their responsibility to do the public's business. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., summed it up perfectly: "The first question that most of the media are going to ask us: Who won and who lost? The Senate won, and the country won."
The Times Union, Albany
For whatever reason, Republicans in the House of Representatives felt moved recently to sharply cut back on the ways in which female soldiers could provide support for combat units. Maybe it was the 34 female soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, even though official U.S. policy prohibits women from serving in direct combat units.
The misguided effort lasted barely a week, its sponsors retreating under a barrage of complaints from the Pentagon.
The problem is that the war in Iraq has no identifiable front line, so soldiers in rear support units, whether male or female, are vulnerable to attack by suicide bombers. And women are already serving in forward support jobs as truck drivers, mechanics and medical personnel that make them targets for insurgents, critics noted, so why disparage their bravery and service at this point?
Times Herald-Record, Middletown
The Times Union, Albany
For whatever reason, Republicans in the House of Representatives felt moved recently to sharply cut back on the ways in which female soldiers could provide support for combat units. Maybe it was the 34 female soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, even though official U.S. policy prohibits women from serving in direct combat units.
The misguided effort lasted barely a week, its sponsors retreating under a barrage of complaints from the Pentagon.
The problem is that the war in Iraq has no identifiable front line, so soldiers in rear support units, whether male or female, are vulnerable to attack by suicide bombers. And women are already serving in forward support jobs as truck drivers, mechanics and medical personnel that make them targets for insurgents, critics noted, so why disparage their bravery and service at this point?
Times Herald-Record, Middletown