Democrats Like Teenagers

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a great editorial out today about the Democrats' posturing on the Alito nomination, particularly with regard to the filibuster threat. Here are some of the highlights:

"Like teenagers dashing across the tracks in front of an advancing locomotive, Senate Democrats are strutting their stuff at the Capitol, threatening to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of appeals court Judge Samuel Alito."

"This is all about the Democrats' need to rally their constituents by convincing them such Republican nominees seek to outlaw all abortions on their way to creating a fundamentalist theocracy."

Sen. Byrd's "interpretation of 'freedom of speech' would justify tying up the only pay phone in a burning theater rather than allowing someone to use the line to summon the fire department. He wants the freedom not to submit the Alito nomination to a majority vote on its merits -- the only kind of political 'speech' that counts, in the long run."

"The risk [the Democrats] take is that Republicans will call their bluff, employ the 'nuclear option,' and clear the way to rule as majority party, leaving the minority to issue fatwas of dissent from their booth at the Palm over on 19th Street."