Evan Bayh: “this is an unfortunate debate, and I regret that all of us are here this evening. This debate will do nothing to speed…”

“this is an unfortunate debate, and I regret that all of us are here this evening. This debate will do nothing to speed the confirmation of judges about which this session has been called to consider. It will do nothing for the economy, for health care, for education, to protect the environment, or to advance the interests of our Nation's security. It will, however, at least in small part, bring this august body, about which we care so much, to additional disrepute with the American people, making us look ineffectual and irrelevant. In some respects, the Senate is being reduced to something close to a farce. It is becoming rapidly not the world's greatest deliberative body but instead the world's greatest Kabuki theater, a place where speeches are given to which very few people listen, no minds are changed, and votes are then held with complete predictability of results. The search for principled compromise, which has always been a long and honorable part, distinguishing this body from other legislative bodies, has been abandoned in favor of sterile, ideological warfare, satisfying to only the most fervent of partisans. After this debate, I suspect that the far right will be satisfied, I suspect that the far left will be satisfied, and that the rest of the American people will be left scratching their heads, wondering, what on Earth are they doing?”