[Dolphy]

It is part of a facade or reasonablility on the left so they can murder the next SCOTUS nominee.

Absolutely. The Democrats are trying to play chess. They are pulling back waiting for the next move (nominee) because they know nobody will be able to match Roberts' performance. It's going to be bloody and I hope that doesn't give the President reason to blink in his selection.

[Mo1]

Absolutely. The Democrats are trying to play chess

BINGO!

From the article ...

While every senator must vote his or her conscience on the nomination, the danger of such a message is considerable.

[Netheron]

"Trying" to play chess, where trying is the operative word. They may be pulling back from Bush, but once again they are setting themselves up for the embarrassment of a smothered mate.

The major chess problem with the Democrats is that they are so interested in attacking the Republicans, that they bring out their Queen immediately every time. Otherwise known as the big mistake 101 of novice chess players. This leads to one of two conditions:

1) The Queen is captured early in the game.

2) The Queen is immobilized and the minor pieces end-run and checkmate the King.

Bush's tactic is to offer a hanging piece which always turns out to be an extremely subtle positional sacrifice. The Dems can never figure out how, in all the games they have played, always end up ahead in material but still lose. If they ever want to start winning again, they need to finally start to realize it's time to suck up your ego and correct your past mistakes with a critical eye. Since this can never occur, they just try to open faster and faster (Immediate howling after Katrina for instance) and break against the shores of Bush's Caro-Kann or Dragon Sicilian.