I'm no Villager, but it struck me there might be more than a few Beltway dog whistles in the following little story by Carl Hulse in the Times:

Fearing that President Bush would again use a Congressional recess to install disputed executive branch appointees without Senate confirmation, Democrats convened the Senate for the first of four microsessions to be held during the holiday break, precisely to thwart such an end run.

“I am glad to see the leadership stepped up here,” said Jim Webb, the junior senator from Virginia, called upon by the majority to open the Senate with a skeleton staff for the express purpose of immediately closing it down.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, chose to schedule the so-called pro forma sessions because Mr. Bush took advantage of past recesses to install nominees including John R. Bolton, as ambassador to the United Nations, and, most recently, Sam Fox, a donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as ambassador to Belgium. This time, Democrats were particularly suspicious of plans to appoint as surgeon general a nominee they oppose.

“This is the first time that pro formas have been used to block recess appointments,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid.

Mr. Reid said he would be willing to consider some of the president’s more contentious nominees as long as the White House moved forward with Democratic choices for regulatory bodies like the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Excellent. Now Reid should go ahead and block everything. The Republicans are; why shouldn't we? Tit-for-tat is a highly successful strategy, after all, even though so far the Democrats have applied it only to members of their own caucus, and their base.

Anyhow, the possible dog-whistles:

1. Reid is signaling that Bush's word is not good, since otherwise he could rely on an agreement with Bush not to do recess appointments. We may say, "Duh!" but maybe in the closed world of the Village that's not so easy to see. Or to say.

2. Reid trusts Jim Webb, and in turn Jim Webb expresses what? Giri? to Reid. Isn't it a good thing the Democrats took Webb's seat in VA?

3. Reid's playing harder ball with Bush. None of our appointments? Fine. None of yours. Now, if only Reid could generalize this attitude to "We pass the laws. And you fucking obey them!" Fired by enthusiasm for this new concept, Reid would then bring the Judiciary version of FISA reform* to the floor, and no immunity for the telcos! Well, we can dream....

NOTE Although, in a more Machivellian world, Reid would bring the Rockefeller's version to the floor, let Dodd filibuster, and then "lose" the filibuster, stopping the immunity, giving Dodd a big boost, and turning the Senate floor in to a national school for Constitutional issues, ideal prep for 2008. Again, we can dream....