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You think they are going to filibuster?

What do you think?.... I don't think they will. They'll puff and blow, use delay techniques as possible with the rules but in the end Alito will get an up down vote. I don't think they want to test the waters on a 'constitutional option' vote on a nominee that won't overly change the direction of the court.

Now given that if one of the liberal justices is being replaced by another nominee of a conseravtive bent then I think the filibuster will be used. But not until then.

You think they are going to filibuster?

Imagine you are a Democratic Senator. Alito is confirmed with out a filibuster by a vote of 56 to 44. What do you tell the Democratic base? Do you tell them you preferred a conservative Supreme Court? Do you tell them you were afraid of ticking off George W. Bush by filibustering his nominee? Do you tell the teachers union that what they get for all their donations to you is a supreme court they hate? Do you tell the AFL and the CIO that even though the Democrats had enough votes to sustain a filibuster .. they did not?

There are states where Democratic Senate Candidates need the support of moderates and even some of the right to win. There is no state where a Democrat can win with out the support of the Democratic base.

Allowing Alito to be confirmed would be the single most damaging thing a Democrat could do to his own career. It would anger the Howard Dean faction of the party beyond belief. Dean represents over half the Democrats that vote in their primaries. Democrats are very reluctant to tick those people off.

All we have is Feinstein saying she did not think there would be a filibuster. She doen't think Clinton was with Monica either... No one asked her if she would vote against cloture if filibuster were attempted.

One Democrat said he would vote for Alito. He did not say he would vote for Cloture if a filibuster is tried.

Do you know what I think the agreement of the gang of 14 was? I think it was Bush could get who he wanted for one of the empty seats and the Democrats could get who they wanted for the second empty seat.

That sounds like something Mike DeWine would DeFine as Fair... The Question is does Frist have 50 votes for the nuclear option?