Boy this was quick. In fact it’s the quickest confirmation I’ve ever seen. As expected after he did his little monkey dance befor the Senate Armed Services Committee, Robert Gates was confirmed by the Senate today.

Good news? Depends on who you ask, but you can tell a lot by who said no, and who had a glowing “rub the nipples” indorsement of the development.

“The Senate voted 95-2 Wednesday to approve Robert Gates as President Bush’s choice to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary.

The vote came a day after the nomination sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gates, a former CIA director, will be sworn in December 18.

Two Republican senators — Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Jim Bunning of Kentucky — cast the only no votes.

“He’s the right guy at the right time,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.

During Wednesday’s debate on the nomination, it seemed Democrats had been successfully wooed by Gates.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he was “favorably impressed” by Gates’ candor and forthrightness.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been a vocal critic of Bush’s Iraq policy, added that he believes Gates will be “an independent thinker and give candid and frank advice to the president about a way forward in Iraq.”

However, Kennedy warned, the American people “are demanding a lot more than a change of faces at the Pentagon … They’re demanding — and they deserve — a comprehensive change in our policy.”

Yeah. When Gate said, “We’re losing”, Levin started to rub himself under the table and Teddy’s eyes glistened with desire.

Need I said more?