Many felt the GOP lost terribly when the filibuster deal was made at the 11th hour. Then again, many felt that this was a first skirmish in a strategic political battle where the GOP had to win the filibuster fight, win the nominations and win the respect and support of the American people (mainly the moderate, non-aligned middle) to win convincingly. Thus came into being the Coalition of the Chillin (see blog roll at right as well). For the Coalition, to win on this issue meant a long term strategy with apparent retreats and losses, like any important struggle. Except in politics, wins and losses are in typically in PR perception.

Today the WashPost explains how the Bush the administration is ready to take the step for the final push through the democrat lines. The judicial ‘deal’ was akin to the battle of the bulge – except the Bush administration knew it was retreating to allow the democrats to over extend.

The White House is preparing to send a raft of new judicial nominations to the Senate in the next few weeks, according to Republican strategists inside and outside the administration — a move that could challenge the durability of last week’s bipartisan filibuster deal and reignite the political warfare it was intended to halt.

The Bush administration has been vetting candidates for 30 more federal district and appeals court vacancies that have been left open for months while the Senate battled over previous nominations stalled by Democrats. Now that Democrats have agreed not to filibuster any new candidates except in “extraordinary circumstances,” Republicans are eager to test the proposition.

The democrats where not smart to allow so many vacancies to build up while they pretended they had stopped the tide.

Now, with the democrats promising a moderate, responsible approach to judicial nominees Bush can test their commitment to the American people with a sea of nominations. The democrats will be spending their limited, minority party political capitol trying to halt this tide (or they will have to let the tide through). Either way, they will lose ground with their base who are demanding a win on this subject AND they will lose ground with the moderate middle of the electorate who are tired of 3 decades of partisan carping, as the recent interest in Watergate and comparisons of the War on Terror to Vietnam have reminded us. This political fight has been going on long enough, and the dems are on the brink of losing for a generation because of the way they are fighting, what they focus on, and their failed ideas which have seen more failure as time passes.

One way people can misunderestimate Bush is to think statically about his political position. Right now he is preparing for the 2006 elections to increase the republican hold on power. He will do this by appearing moderate and reasonable compared to the democrat’s over reaching, partisan, osbtructionism. He will do this by making concessions towards moderation while the democrat’s break these concession agreements.

After 2006 Bush is free to do what he wants as he grooms replacements. His boldness is only going to rise as he has less and less political concerns closing in on his final days.