James Taranto presents a sampling of the totalitarian middle's post-Alito tantrums.

Best of the Web Today presents a cacophony of leftnoise for your edification.

My main concern is whether our totalitarian middle will grow weary of the democratic process (in which they are incapable of successfully competing) and resort to the logical conclusion of their rebellion against reality: violence.


Carroll and Sandra Day
Alito's appointment to the court had to make it over one speed bump. Well, OK, "speed bump" is too strong a term. More like it breezed past an accident scene on the side of the highway and slowed down ever so slightly to gawk. We refer, of course, to the filibuster "attempt" led by the senator from Davos and the senator from Chappaquiddick.

The latter, Ted Kennedy, delivered an apoplectic oration just before the Senate voted for cloture--that is, to allow a confirmation vote--by 72-25. The text (in PDF) begins here, but you have to see Kennedy's performance to believe it, and ExposeTheLeft.com (né The Political Teen) has video of the last four minutes or so.

The Kennedy show had the feel of Archie Bunker losing his temper at the Meathead on "All in the Family"--and as we thought about it, we realized this is an extraordinarily apt analogy. Kennedy, like Archie, is an old bigot who pines for the moral clarity of an earlier time. He kept talking about the "march of progress"--i.e., the civil rights era--as if that march had not long ago reached its destination, as if the moral questions facing the country and the court today were as black-and-white as segregation.

Not that we disagree with every word of what Kennedy said. At the end of his speech, he declared, "I understand my time has expired." Truer words were never spoken.


Nothin' Matters and What if It Did
Before his futile filibuster effort yesterday, John Kerry* wrote the following at the Puffington Host:

Once Judge Alito becomes Justice Alito, there's no turning back the Senate confirmation vote. We don't get to "take a mulligan" when choosing a Supreme Court Justice. . . . Will it matter if we speak up after the Supreme Court has granted the executive the right to use torture, or to eavesdrop without warrants? Will it matter if we speak up only after a woman's right to privacy has been taken away? Will history record what we say after the courthouse door is slammed in the faces of women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor? No. History will record what we say and what we do now.

If it no longer matters, will John Kerry please stop talking? Ah, probably not.

* The haughty, French-looking scourge of the American Bar Association, who by the way served in Vietnam.


The Livid LeftThe Boston Globe notes that the Davos-Chappaquiddick filibuster effort was not good for the Democratic Party:

In the end yesterday they succeeded only in splitting the Democratic caucus. . . . By using a procedural move to try to block the nomination, which many Democrats opposed, Kerry and Kennedy showed that the party remained divided on how far to go to prevent Alito from joining the court. . . .

By splitting Senate Democrats on the eve of what had been expected to be a resounding vote against Alito, the filibuster prompted frustration among colleagues, said a Democratic aide, speaking on background.

''Some people are asking: 'Did Kerry do this in the best interests of the Democratic Party, or in the best interests of John Kerry?' " the aide said.
What the effort also did was set up, then dash, false hopes among the Angry Left, who are now as livid as we've ever seen them.

From the National Organization of Women comes a relatively measured response:

Today's vote is the only Alito vote that really counts. Votes against Alito tomorrow are irrelevant, and no senator who voted "Yes" today [Monday] can hide behind a "No" vote tomorrow. Supporters of women's rights, civil rights and the separation of powers lost this pivotal battle because senators who should have been fighting for their constituents chose not to do so. But in the process we exposed the despicable agenda of the right wing, and their unrelenting determination to undermine our rights and liberties.

And from pro-abortion activist Kate Michelman:

Sixteen years after Roe [v. Wade], its author alerted supporters of this right that its position was tenuous, that a "chill wind" could be felt in the Supreme Court. Today, that chill wind has reached hurricane status.

"That chill wind has reached hurricane status"? Maybe you do have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Over on the Daily Kos, they're much more, uh, animated. "Meteor Blades" writes:

Given what an atrocious job most of the Democrats on the committee did in querying Samuel Alito, particularly bad when it came to follow-up questions, and in framing the issues of concern raised by Alito's extensive judicial record, it is incumbent upon us to try to ensure that Democrats ask tough questions at these hearings [on surveillance of terrorists]. . . .

Many of us are, I know, psychologically exhausted from seeking victory that we knew since November would be a long shot. And I've seen a fat chunk of comments saying: what's the use, the right wing has won, there's no point in fighting anymore. Understandably. But a battle is not a war. And, disappointing as it was, and as devastating as Alito's tenure on the court may turn out to be, giving up is simply not an option.

But "Tranny" does seem to be giving up, more or less (quoting verbatim):
NOT A PENNY FOR THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND FURTHERMORE, I'LL NOT SACRIFICE ONE SECOND OF MY LIFE TO HELP THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY UNTIL THE TRAITORS ARE EXPELLED FROM OUR MIST.

Why? You ask.

Because they have committed an extremely egregious injury against this country's constitution and the people that it protects. I've lived my life under the belief that "An injury to one is an injury to all" When somebody harms my sisters and brothers, I take it VERY PERSONAL.
EXPEL THE TRAITORS FROM OUR PARTY, OR YOU GUYS ARE ON YOUR OWN!.