No More Alitos

Speaking to the New York Observer, Sen. Chuck Schumer says that allowing Samuel Alito to join the Supreme Court was the single greatest failure of the Democrats as an opposition party. And I believe Alito's confirmation was the greatest achievement by Republicans in an otherwise lackluster 109th Senate. So there's one issue Chuck and I see eye to eye on.

Schumer swaggers through the interview – which touches on a variety of issues – calling Dick Cheney's influence "Rasputin-like" and warning "One more justice would have made it a 5-4 conservative, hard-right majority for a long time. That won’t happen [now]." Ominously, the Observer reporter concludes that "From now on, all the President’s judicial appointments will need to meet the requirements of Mr. Schumer."