Dems Getting Tremendous Pressure on Alito Nomination

The liberal special interest groups that control the Dem party must be in full cry these days over the Alito nomination. That was made very clear yesterday when three of the most liberal Senators made floor speeches in which each tried in their own stumbling way to cast doubts on the nomination:

Democrats said yesterday that Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s confirmation is not guaranteed as senators kept the focus on a 20-year-old document in which the Supreme Court nominee asserted that the Constitution "does not protect a right to an abortion."

"Even at this early stage, I have a number of significant concerns," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday.
[...]
Judge Alito's job-application essay "may explain why the extreme right wing is popping champagne corks," Mr. Reid said. "We learned of the 1985 memo in which he said, 'I am and always have been a conservative.'?"

Two other top Democrats also registered their dismay with the Alito nomination on the Senate floor yesterday, kicking off the first concerted effort by leadership to sow doubts about the nomination.

"Anyone who thinks that this nomination is a foregone conclusion is sadly mistaken," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "There are too many questions still to be answered."
[...]
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and member of the committee, said, "Many of us have serious reservations about the Alito nomination."

Does anyone seriously believe that any of these three guys were going to vote for Alito? Of course not, and how do you like the fact that stating that you're a conservative is now an automatic disqualifier for the Supreme Court?

The GOP, to their credit, is not just sitting around and letting the charges go unanswered:

Republicans charged that the speeches were choreographed to mollify leaders of the liberal interest groups who will meet today with Mr. Reid and other Democrats to discuss their stated opposition to the Alito nomination.

"Harry Reid: Puppet Politician" read the headline of a press release by the Republican National Committee. "Minority Leader Harry Reid once again caters to his liberal special-interest allies by attacking Judge Alito."

The Dems and their liberal allies are in a panic over Alito. They know they can't stop him without convincing some wishy-washy Republicans to join them (and it's not a foregone conclusion that they won't succeed). Delaying the hearings until January was a huge tactical error, and I hope it doesn't come back to bite the GOP.