Don’t forget the 14 gangsters. They will rear their ugly heads again
to clog up the senate.
That only comes into play when a conservative interest is being advanced. When the GOP tried to bypass cloture on judicial nominees (a proper move, IMO), the gang of 14 stymied Frist/McConnell. When the DEMs moved to bypass cloture on judicial nominees, there was no gang defending the "principles of Senate rules" or whatever hogwash was used to prevent Bush's judicial nominees from getting votes.
The Senate is dysfunctional in a pretty serious way.