When the Coalition of the Chillin’ was formed, one of the most prominent bloggers to resist the Coalition’s position was Captain Ed Morrissey. Well, Captain Ed has now succumbed and joined the ‘Chilled Side’:

Tigerhawk points out today that the Gang of 14 deal looks pretty good right now. I agree with him that it has taken a bite out of the Democrats’ ability to use the filibuster and strip the White House of its ability to have its nominees treated with the deference Bush’s election should have given them. I’ll agree with him that it has worked out better than I predicted — but what it has enabled are these terrible smear campaigns as the Democrats and their allies attempt to gin up the “extraordinary circumstances” they believe will justify a filibuster. You can thank the Gang of 14 for the debacle of the show-trial Samuel Alito endured this week.

OK, it is not a complete conversion. I do have to disagree with the good Captain here on the agreement being the root cause of the smearing. Kennedy has been doing this for years. There was no Gang of 14 during the Bork or Thomas hearings. The democrats have to create a reason to oppose a nominee no matter what. So I doubt the good Captain is saying Ted Kennedy would all of a sudden be civil if there was no Gang of 14 agreement.

But it is good to see that he is agreeing that the doom and glo0m predicted by many on the right has never, ever once even come close to being realized. Yes, two nominees did not get seated. Yet. But we need to pick our battles to win the broader campaign. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has had a very dramatic shift and is considered the second most powerful court in the land. All the courts are being firmly shifted back to the center right. If one wants to focus on the few losses, fine.

Welcome aboard Captain!

UPDATE:

Powerline has also decided to adjust their initial positions

With Samuel Alito on his way to the Supreme Court where he will join John Roberts, and with Judges Pryor, Brown, and Owen are ensconced on one court of appeals or another, TigerHawk argues that conservative blogs like Power Line were too harsh on the deal brokered by the gang of 14. TigerHawk is right. The deal has turned out better than I expected.