[cicero's_son]

Agreed. But it's not the hard core Democrats we have to worry about, it's the media.

If the media can be muted, we'll stand a great chance of peeling off 5-8 moderate Democrats in the Senate, more than enough for a cloture vote and confirmation.

[inquest]

I still don't see the difference, whether we're talking about Democrats or liberal media. They're both going to keep a very watchful eye on anyone Bush nominates, especially after the nominations he'd been making during his first term. They'll go over that person's record with a fine-tooth comb, and do whatever they can to blow out of proportion anything they can get away with blowing out of proportion. And if Specter approves the nominee anyway, that'll only provide an excuse for them to accuse him of hypocrisy, and push him further to the left.