There's plenty of blame to go around, isn't there?

I am not that sympathetic to the Democratic "leadership" in DC on this matter. I can understand that they may feel compelled to do some political triangulation, but the fact that they do so says to me that they do not appreciate the gravity of our situation (and their own). We are in the midst of a genuine constitutional crisis, quite probably the greatest constitutional crisis in our nation's history. If we lose, then democracy as we know it may very well be finished in this country. The government has been hijacked by an extremist cabal that explicitly desires absolute power. The legitimacy of our elections are already being questioned by people who are not hysterics or extreme partisans. The Republican attack machine continues to grind onwards, devouring Democrats one by one, with the stated goal of destroying the Democratic party and establishing permanent one party rule (this is not tin-foil hat stuff: they have stated this openly, and people just don't seem to take it seriously). It will be coming to each of their districts soon enough.

Against that background, how clueless is it to worry about public opinion polls and your chances of re-election? If Democrats don't unite and begin to fight, their chances of re-election will soon be zero. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they should do the right thing, vote their (true) conscience, and let the chips fall where they may.

We are really talking about Peter Daou's triangle again, and each point of the triangle needs to be addressed: the party leadership, the grassroots (or netroots), and the media. We can't do it by ourselves.

They're making a show of a "no" vote but refusing to do the very thing that might give that vote meaning.

Isn't that the same as saying in a Presidential election "You may as well not vote for the candidate unless he's going to win."?

As great as my distaste for Alito is, votes cast on the losing side of an issue are never meaningless.

The Democrats sat on the sidelines over Iraq waiting for Bush and the Republicans to hang themselves. They handed George Bush four more years. The Democrats sat on the sidelines smirking while Bush and the Republicans trashed prescription drug coverage. They're sitting on the sidelines while Bush stacks the Supreme Court with his extremists. They allowed the Republicans to take a faux moral control of the Abramoff scandal only offering their own milquetoast replay in the Republican's self-serving wake. Guess what? The "let them hang themselves" strategy isn't working...they're hanging the whole country. It will only ensure that George Bush will be followed by eight years of John McCain.

The immoral and extreme Republican Party has been allowed to trash this country. The Democrats offer no solution.

Fear is a great motivator. The Dems seem to be fearful of losing thier comfortable status of working for Avis. They want to be looked-at as if they are trying harder but are unwilling to stay on task. Being # 1 is a hard act to follow. My best guess is they like that position. Sound and fury signifying nothing. The laughable and very probable end result of all of this is that Democratic constituencies WILL hold their spineless senators accountable for not trying everything to unload a neocon for a life appointmet to the Court. The end result being a net loss of democratic seats in 2006.

Rove strikes again!

I agree that blame can be spread to the media and the political groups. But as far as I know, political groups HAVE been trying to get people fired up about the Alito nomination, and people are, well, apathetic. Unfortunately, most of the blue-state types won't be personally affected by what Alito and the court do. Their daughters will still be able to get abortions in New York and California (or Switzerland, for that matter), and they won't be subject to any wiretaps themselves. Maybe this accounts for some of the apathy? Or maybe Supreme Court justices just seem too remote from day to day concerns.

I still lay most of the blame with Democratic leadership. Why are they so afraid, all the time, of what people will think? Bush and Company don't give a sh*t about what anyone thinks, and look what they've achieved! Right now, all the opinion polls are showing that the majority of Americans support abortion rights, don't want to overturn Roe, think the President has abused his power, and generally think the Republican policies haven't served them well. What more do the Democrats need?

And yes, a "no" vote is meaningless, when more powerful weapons are at your disposal. It is not the same as voting for a losing candidate -- that is your only choice then. The Senate has a choice, and once again the Democratic leadership is going to do the wimpy thing. They make me almost as sick as the Republicans!

So it's the PROGRESSIVE's fault thee hasn't been "more public outcry?" EARTH TO TIM GRIEVE: the public outcry is DEAFENING. It's just (surprise!) not on the network (corporate owned, Alito-supporting) media. And you blame the progessive's and their advocacy groups for that? MoveOn and CommonCause can't even get television stations and billboards to accept their PAID-FOR ADS, let alone get coverage of the national OUTRAGE.

WAKE UP, AND FOR GOD'S SAKE QUIT BLAMING THE VICTIMS.....who in this case represent the majority of American citizens.

i think the response has been so passive because a lot of democrats secretly are willing to let roe be overturned or picked away at, temporarily, so it will blow up in the republicans face. a large majority of americans support awrtc. he's so offensive in so many areas but i think people are so fed up and feeling so powerless to fight back that they are willing to play chicken. if there are serious inroads made into roe, the repuliscum will be ridden out of town on a rail.

The majority of Americans who voted for George Bush are to blame for Samuel Alito. Like it or not, at least the second time around, we voted for George Bush. He made no secret of his intention to nominate Scalito/Thomas clones to the Supreme Court. In nominating Roberts and Alito, he fulfilled clear campaign promises. I, as a liberal democrat, would not bother to filibuster Alito, because the next nominee would be just as bad or worse. Given the supreme arrogance of the Bush administration and its refusal to acknowledge let alone consider the actual beliefs of the American majority, the most likely result of a successful Alito filibuster would be a nominee even further to the right than Alito. Avoidance of another Scalito/Thomas/Roberts clone on the Supreme Court would require a filibuster of every nominee until the earlier of a democratic majority in the Senate or 2008. Given the slim chance of a Senate shift in 2006, only the 2008 presidential election could make a difference. The American public simply won't tolerate continuous filibusters through 2008. Conseqently, the Democrats see the writing on the wall -- the party that wins the Presidency and the Senate at the same time gets to put whomever they want on the Supreme Court. As should be evident by the Hamas victory, democracy doesn't not always breed either good results, good societies, or even the perpetuation of democracy itself. The majority of Americans are willing to sacrifice personal rights, checks and balances, and a good degree of liberty in the name of safety and security. In a democracy, the minority simply cannot do much about it.