All you doom and gloomers need to wake the fuck up.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

The fact that Kerry and Kennedy called for a filibuster never EVER meant it was possible to sustain one.

Why would he do it? Two reasons. Firstly, this helps himself in a big way. Look at how many people are praising Kerry here on DU, when not long ago, half of this place called him a traitor (which, I might note, was equally, if not more ridiculous than what's happening now). Taking this opportunity, Kerry has re-established himself as a leader of liberals, which will go along way towards earning the nomination in 2008. The other reason is that it gives vulnerable red-state Democrats a way to go home and show their CONSTITUENTS (whom are NOT, I repeat, are NOT the Democratic party and ARE the citizens that elected them) that they are not party drones. Contrary to what many believe, a "true" Democrat cannot win in most of those states. They voted for Bush, and are highly likely to support his Supreme Court choices, whether you like it or not. Finally, you don't seem to understand the avalanche effect in politics. You see, when a vote is not expected to go the way they want it to, a lot of Congressmen and Senators whom were likely to vote one way otherwise vote the other because their votes do not matter in terms of the outcome, but DO matter in terms of their constituents' expectations. Your "heroes" are almost always those that do not have to worry about this because they are re-elected comfortably. You don't seem to understand that one either.

Alito was going to be confirmed come hell or high water, and anyone who didn't know that needs a serious education in politics. Even if by some miracle the filibuster was successful, nuclear would've been used, and quite frankly, we'd have lost that battle in the court of public opinion as well. And though I know a lot of you have this idealistic notion of what politics are, the bottom line for the people in charge (and what their bottom line SHOULD be) is to regain the majority. Shows of "principle" are completely hollow unless there is any kind of power behind them, and without being in the majority, there is none. Fortunately for all of us, they understand this.