Time to dump McCain and the rest of his moderate crew. We get less than half of our nominees, the Democrats keep the filibuster, and the Constitution is raped again by those who have no fidelity to it.

Averting a showdown, centrists from both parties reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.

"In a Senate that is increasingly polarized, the bipartisan center held," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.

"The Senate is back in business," echoed Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of 14 senators who signed the two-page memorandum of agreement, which cited "mutual trust and confidence."

Under the terms, Democrats would agree to oppose any attempt to filibuster - and thus block final votes - on the confirmation of Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor. There is "no commitment to vote for or against" the filibuster against two other conservative nominees, Henry Saad and William Myers.

As for future nominees, the agreement said they should "only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances," with each Democrat senator holding the discretion to decide when those conditions had been met.

"In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement," Republicans said they would oppose any attempt to make changes in the application of filibuster rules.

And no doubt "extraordinary circumstances" means any time half-Truth Harry, Ted the Drunk, Leaky Leahy and the rest of the lackies of the hard Left tell them to support a filibuster.

Hat Tip -- Michelle Malkin, Scared Monkeys , Ace of Spades & Buzz Blog.

Text of the crooked, backroom bargain at GOPBloggers.

Live blogging at Blogs For Bush.