Here is the actual text of the “deal” between 7 Republican and 7 Democratic Senators: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Ried, This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon mutual trust and confidence,…

and maybe the Republican Caucus Lunch also. Today, the Senate Democratic caucus is having its weekly lunch session, and the topic of the day is John Bolton.

This is an excerpt from the public statement issued last night be Senator Harry Reid in the wake of the filibuster deal: We have sent President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the radical arm of the Republican base an undeniable message: Abuse of power will not be tolerated, and attempts to trample the…

Surprisingly, the filibuster showdown over President Bush’s judicial nominations has been averted. This throws the Bolton battle into new territory — and TWN does not yet have a fix on how conciliatory both sides want to be in choking down a nominee to the U.N. that seems such a mismatch for the job.

The fascinating thing about the John Bolton fight is that Bolton is a second priority on most lists when compared to the fight over Bush’s judicial appointments.

Most who have been watching the battle over John Bolton’s nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations have been surprised at the ferocity exhibited by Dick Cheney and others supporting him as well as by the many opposed.

Just when everything was looking so clear. There are rumors swirling now that Frist may push the Bolton nomination on Wednesday this week.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar must be steaming about the fact that the administration stiffed him on the Bolton-related NSA intercepts as well as that John Negroponte has reported to the Ranking Member of the SFRC that if the Committee wants anything more on the NSA intercepts, it will have to go through…

Scott Malcomson has given Michael Lind’s new book, What Lincoln Believed: The Values and Convictions of America’s Greatest President a terrific review. Whereas Malcomson picks up on the important point in Lind’s book that in the time of Lincoln, democracy as model of government was disappearing from rather than proliferating through the world.

Most people consider John Negroponte to be an astute inside the beltway player, but he may be harming his record by holding up NSA intercepts and other information from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as “payback” for the tough time some of the senators gave his nomination.