No More Mister Nice Senator

So will they or won't they?

Most people believe the Senate Democrats will not filibuster Alito. And why do they believe this? Because the Democrats are holding to their most self-destructive trait: Fear of the people. They believe that if they filibuster, the American public will somehow turn on them as fringe lunatics and boot them out of Washington at the next election. I believe they are wrong about this and I believe they should filibuster for the following two reasons:

1. Alito has shown his views to be outside the mainstream. Let's not kid ourselves: He will vote to overturn Roe if given the chance. Now, I know that Roe has become way too much of a touchstone issue for judicial appointments, but when 66% of the people believe something should be legal, and that legality has been upheld time after time by court after court, then going into this with an agenda to overturn it is outside the mainstream. This is not to mention his very dangerous notions about executive authority. The Executive branch already pretty much controls the Legislative branch. Do we want it controlling the Judicial branch as well? A filibuster would give the American public an opportunity to hear these types of issues debated in a highly dramatized manner. And drama is what it takes to get people's attention these days.
2. The response to the filibuster will be for the Republicans to change the rules in the middle of the game. The filibuster is a long-standing procedural tool for the minority party. The Democrats wouldn't be breaking the rules by using it. But the Republicans would be changing the rules by abolishing it. The drawback is that this would allow some fucking lunatics to be appointed to the bench over the next couple of years, at least, but Republican control of the government won't last forever (unless we let it). So the advantages would be an impression on the public that the Dems have finally sprouted some cojones and the creation of a useful talking point about crybaby Republicans who change the rules to get their way.

I really think it's the left that is eyeing this move more critically than the right. Have the grassroots convinced the establishment that what is needed is balls? Or will they persist in shying away from battles? We'll know soon enough.