Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Here's the new Democratic strategy on Judge Alito, according to the New York Times: no filibuster -- let the guy squeak through -- but vote against him so we can use him as a campaign issue. In other words, they won't deploy the one weapon they've got -- that precious heirloom, the filibuster -- but they will want to come back to us, in '06 and '08 and for as long as Alito bestrides the bench, and claim they were against him.

I love the Democrats on the Supreme Court. It's always their summum supplicium, or rather their ultima ratio, when they tell us we have to vote for 'em no matter how sold out they are. I almost hope Alito turns out to be every bit as bad as they say he is, or worse. Then maybe people will stop being so afraid of the Supreme Court, and find some other means to defend their rights and interests. A panel of nine elderly lawyers never was very good casting for this part anyway.

The tiredness of Democratic thinking on this subject matches the tiredness of the strategy. My new favorite senator, Max "kiss your job goodbye" Baucus, solemnly gave this as his reason for opposing Alito: "I don't know if he's sufficiently mainstream." Really now, when you're reduced to deploying concepts like "mainstream," you're past terminal and well into decomposition.

---