The Republicans have in no way cleared the way for a vote for Alito. The Democrats are just stalling the filibuster until they can get enough calls and emails to use as an excuse for the filibuster. They will then say that they were forced to do it because Alito is so far out of the mainstream that their constituents demanded the filibuster.
That's what I'm thinking. That and the fact that the SOTU speech will be the same day. The Democrats would love to rub Bush's nose in such a fiasco. What was wrong with holding the vote today ?
Although I have seen references here to the effect that Kerry and Kennedy have called for a filibuster, though I haven't seen quotes around the word filibuster attributed to either of those senators. It is conventional when assaying to filibuster to deny that that is what you are doing; if Kerry actually used the word it would be a direct challenge to Frist to go for the "nuclear option."Even if they did not use the word explicitly, the Democrats - Harry Reid is officially the Minority Leader - have announced that there has been plenty of time allocated for debate before Tuesday. There is therefore no fig leaf for "extended debate" - if it becomes necessary to call a cloture vote it would officially be a filibuster.
It would constitute a direct challenge to the Republicans to officially reject the principle that cloture requires more than a simple majority. And I don't see the McCainiacs accepting a plea of "extraordinary circumstances" in this case; how many of the Gang of Fourteen have already committed for Alito?? Certainly Lindsey Graham has . . .