I'm tired of reading about Alito. He's well qualified and you hate his politics. Great, we get it. Guess what? The GOP has every right to put this man on the Supreme Court. They won the elections that give them that right -- over and over again.

So enough with the handwringing, this battle was over a long time ago. A minority party has to pick its spots to raise a huge stink -- and just who do you think would be nominated in place of Alito, anyway? Remember, "we" did not defeat Harriet Miers, either.

Thank you for saying what all of us out here in the real world are thinking: What good are the Democratic Senators if they won't fight for us, the majority of the people of this country, when it counts? There is nothing, other than war, more important than a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Why should we keep going to the polls and electing the Diane Feinstein's if they won't even try? I think it's time for a radical shift in the way Democrats do business. If the Republicans want to threaten the right to fillibuster with the nuclear option, we should accomodate them with a fillibuster of Alito. If they use their simple majority to try to "reinterpret" the rules of the Senate about judicial fillibuster, we should challenge it in Court as another abuse of power. They are trying to change the rules by violating the rules, typical of this bunch of Republican's "might makes right" theory of government. The Republicans not only don't play by the rules, they think they have the right to ignore them or change them as suits their momentary need. It's like Bush's wiretapping without going to the FISA Court. When will the Democrats wise up? These guys don't think the rules apply to them. They have a sociopath mentality.

We should challenge the "nuclear option" and if they win in Court, then at least they won't have judicial fillibuster either. So the next time the Democrats have a majority we won't have to worry about a Republican fillibuster of our judicial candidates. And we, the voters, should throw out the current bunch of Democrats if they won't pick up their sword and fight for us and elect some that will. As a former Republican feminist, I don't care if Feinstein's a woman and says she's a progressive/liberal. I have the misfortune to live in Texas where neither of my Senators pay any attention to anyone but the fundamentalist nutballs. If she won't do political battle, she's useless or worse, a collaborator. Her constituents should be flooding her phones, threatening to throw her out of office. I would be. Fight or get the hell out of the way and let someone who's willing and able fight. At least go down swinging. And who knows, we might actually win something.

Well I hear the arguement about how this could come back to haunt the Dems in negative ads, but rolling over and playing dead every time Republicans push something hasn't served the Democrats well to this date. I say go ahead and fight, we let some pretty extreme judges onto the appeals court to stave off this so called "nuclear option" early last year, just so we could retain the filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. This is almost certainly the last nominee Bush will be putting forward and if this clear extremist isn't worthy of a filibuster then there is no point in having it anyhow.

Regards

What is the point of having a tool that cannot be used for fear of losing it? If Democrats are scared of the nuclear option, they should not be. A good leader handles each battle as it comes. If the rule of filibuster is being attacked, then be prepared to defend the rule. I don't believe that the Republicans are willing to remove that rule. In any case, better to have a good loss, than not to fight.

I encourage each reader to make a phone call (emails do not work because senators don't give them weight) and ask for a "NO" vote on the confirmation of Alito and to use the filibuster if that is what it takes to stop his confirmation.

So Feinstein thinks that a filibuster is only justified for "moral turpitude"? Tell that to the ghost of Abe Fortas, filibustered in the late 1960s, ostensibly for accepting speaking fees from a university, but really just to delay his confirmation as Chief Justice long enough to get a Republican in the White House. It worked, by the way, and Nixon got to name Burger as Chief. (And although that sounds utterly Rove-ian, I'm pretty sure Karl doesn't actually share the credit for it-- though he undoubtedly learned from it, unlike the Dems.)

What Feinstein (and most everyone else) seems to forget is that unlike a real nuclear war, the "nuclear option" would just be the initial salvo. The real blood would be shed by folks like Robert Byrd, forcing the Senate to undergo roll call votes just to take a lunch break (remember how good it felt when Harry Reid ordered a closed session? remember how it actually accomplished something?).

To quote the late Mayor Daley: Politics ain't tiddlywinks. So buck up, Dems, and call their bluff. There's nothing the Senate Republicans can do with the nuclear option that they won't be begging to undo after a month of procedural pain.

So Feinstein thinks that a filibuster is only justified for "moral turpitude"? Tell that to the ghost of Abe Fortas, filibustered in the late 1960s, ostensibly for accepting speaking fees from a university, but really just to delay his confirmation as Chief Justice long enough to get a Republican in the White House. It worked, by the way, and Nixon got to name Burger as Chief. (And although that sounds utterly Rove-ian, I'm pretty sure Karl doesn't actually share the credit for it-- though he undoubtedly learned from it, unlike the Dems.)

What Feinstein (and most everyone else) seems to forget is that unlike a real nuclear war, the "nuclear option" would just be the initial salvo. The real blood would be shed by folks like Robert Byrd, forcing the Senate to undergo roll call votes just to take a lunch break (remember how good it felt when Harry Reid ordered a closed session? remember how it actually accomplished something?).

To quote the late Mayor Daley: Politics ain't tiddlywinks. So buck up, Dems, and call their bluff. There's nothing the Senate Republicans can do with the nuclear option that they won't be begging to undo after a month of procedural pain.