Barack Obama (D-IL):

"There's one way to guarantee that the judges who are appointed to the Supreme Court are judges that reflect our values. And that's to win elections."

Does anyone honestly believe that the Democrats would have stopped this nomination even if they had a majority in the Senate? When you're a minority party (and remember, Democratic Senators, as a whole, were elected by more people than the GOP "majority"), the filibuster is one of the few tactics that allow you to have any influence. If you're not willing to use it now, then what difference does it make how many Senators you elect? Unless, like the junior Senator from Illinois, you intend to make a career of it in the Senate, and kissing ass and going along with the program becomes more important than, say, defending a woman's right to privacy, or preventing a President from abrogating the Fourth Amendment.

There were nineteen Democrats who voted to end debate this afternoon, who weren't even prepared, like Obama, Biden, Mikulski, et al., to go through the motions of opposing Alito. Five (Lieberman, Akaka, Cantwell, Carper, and Kohl) face the voters in Blue States this year, (btw, all four are pretending to "oppose" the nomination) and both Lieberman and Akaka have strong primary challenges. Support the challengers, and/or encourage said opponents to run as independents in the fall. There should never be a tent large enough to include a Vichy Wing in any political movement.

As a real Democrat once said, I wouldn't piss down their throats if their hearts were on fire.