Alito filibuster is unlikely

The democrats have absolutely no reason to filibuster this nominee unless complete government shutdown is their aim. I don't have much more to say on this except that the DNC should know that they cannot block every nominee the President puts up for the Supreme Court. Memories are long in politics and if the Dems become completely unworkable in Congress then the GOP will most likely react in kind. As it stands, unless he strangled a black child during his legal career, there isn't anything in his record that should bar him from being an appropriate Supreme Court judge.

Now what's sad here is that the Dems will act like an opposition party, complete with all the blustery trimmings, regardless of how pointless the endeavor will be. Alito should by all rights have a quick confirmation as he's already been confirmed at least once as an appellate judge and I'm fairly certain that during that time he didn't do anything that would drastically alter his record. However, people who like TV time and are running for President (here's looking at Joe Biden) will take this opportunity to show off their verbal muscle, dragging this pointless process out for the next two months if not longer. Again, that's just sad. Energy bills need to be written. The border needs to be strengthened. The deficit and the budget needs a good once over, we don't need blowhards doing monologues about nothing in the middle of all this before Congress breaks again for the year.

As I've yelled to Phil Anselmo at every Superjoint Ritual show I've ever gone to, "Get on with it!"

Despite the heated response by a group of liberal Democrats to Judge Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, opponents would face long odds in killing his chances to join the court with a filibuster.

Interviews with moderate Republican and Democratic senators Tuesday indicated that most do not expect to find anything so alarming in his record or background to merit such a drastic parliamentary tactic. At worst, many said that they would like to wait and see how Alito fares during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on his nomination.

President Bush's choice of Alito on Monday was greeted with dismay by several senior Democrats with sway over Senate opinion: Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Leahy called the nomination "needlessly provocative," and Schumer warned that it would divide the country.

But so far, their warnings have not sparked a bandwagon effect in opposition to Alito.

"There's not going to be a filibuster," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., flatly declared, urging her colleagues to wait for the vetting process and the hearings to take place. (More)