I wonder if
this was part of the deal...and how many more deals are forthcoming.
Note: The following is a quote:
The remarkable thing about what happened on the Senate floor Monday night was that it was utterly unremarkable.
The matter under consideration — the nomination of the first openly gay man to serve on the federal bench — would at one time have been a flashpoint in the culture wars. But Paul Oetken was confirmed without a word of objection on the Senate floor and with hardly a mention in the commentariat.
Even some of the chamber’s most ardent social conservatives — Tom Coburn, John Cornyn, Jeff Sessions, Jon Kyl — cast votes for Oetken. When the lopsided vote tally of 80-13 was read out, there was no cheer or reaction of any kind. Senators continued their conversations as if nothing unusual had happened.
