Well I agree with you, but let's not run too far down the shoulda woulda coulda path.
Avoiding confrontation on a SC nominee is more important than how many of the following? Never touching the veto pen, allowing government spending to skyrocket, campaign finance reform, Rx, Raich, Kelso, CAFTA, IRAQ, etc etc.
We sit here wondering where Bush has shown any amount of leadership for the general populace, outside of adding as many citizens as possible to the public dole. Now we have to ask ourselves where the one bedrock principle used to bludgeon ALL criticism against Bush on these issues where "compromise" held back all acceptable dissent, where this bludgeon has taken us, now that this bedrock principle has been violated.
As for all the other stuff, especially spending and border control, Bush has been worse than past democrats. All I ever hear with regards to those is that Bush has a master plan that I am too stupid to understand. Maybe I am. I have a plan too. It's not as ingenious as the President's, but it goes like this...Pack the court with fire breathing, hard core, right wing, Attila the Hun constructionists, cut spending, and keep all the illegal folks out!
If they reject a nominee, send in one that they'll hate even more. If they stab your man, you kill theirs! (with apologies to Sean Connery)