january 3, 2006

A Sneaking Suspicion

After covering Capitol Hill for a while now, I just have a feeling, a hunch that the Democrats will try and filibuster the Alito Supreme Court nomination. Let’s break this down for a moment. It really is the “perfect storm” for the Democrats. First of all, Alito is clearly a pro-life guy who has written how Roe was wrongly decided. That not only drives Democrats nuts, it scares them too. The abortion topic alone would be enough for many Senators to try and block his nomination. But now comes this whole NSA wire tapping program. The Democrats are livid over that too. Remember, they DO NOT like President Bush. It all goes back to 2000 and Al Gore and how Bush isn’t the legitimate President. But now here comes Bush saying I have the “power” to secretly wiretap. How do you think that’s playing in democratic circles?

Here’s where Alito comes in. His record suggests that he has no problem with ‘expanded” presidential powers. You see, this idea of presidential powers is going to be a big one in Alito’s upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Just as big as abortion. The Democrats DO NOT want President Bush to have any sort of expanded presidential power, and if defeating Alito is a way to stop it, then by golly, they’ll do it. If Alito performs remarkably well during his confirmation hearing (Like John Roberts before him) and if the polling data shows Americans are Ok with him, then Democrats may back off. But I think that Alito will do Ok in the hearings, not great. Who can do better than Roberts? Alito is smart without the charisma. That could hurt him as it relates to public perception. Doing Ok in the hearing may not be enough for the Judge. That leaves Democrats the opening to filibuster. Watch out everyone. I predict it’s coming.

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