Alito Confirmation Another Setback for Bush

(Satire) With confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito as the next Supreme Court justice all but assured, Democrats seized upon this “most recent failure of the Bush administration” as a likely springboard for their party’s electoral triumph in November.

This latest setback for President George Bush — coming on the heels of free and fair elections in Iraq, a growing economy, the first December budget surplus since 2002 and movement by Europe and Russia toward the original White House position on dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions — sets the stage for a Democrat return to power in Congress this year, according to many leading party insiders.

“We’ve got him on the ropes,” said one unnamed Democrat political strategist. “Alito’s confirmation could be the knockout punch. When Bush is flat on his back like this, it’s hard for Republican Congressional candidates to ride his coattails.”

A celebratory mood prevails from Democrat offices on Capitol Hill, to DNC headquarters, to MoveOn.org and The New York Times. Several political action groups said they would immediately launch multi-million dollar TV ad campaigns to capitalize on their political momentum.

“It’s the triumph of our progressive principles and ideals,” the source said. “We’ve got a beautiful feeling, everything’s going our way.”" -- Scott Ott/ScrappleFace

The apporach taken by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee may have backfired on them. Their rants and personal attack on the Judge Alito seemed to echo the sheer frustration and sour grapes at the loss of the last Presidential election and has put them in a mode of desperation. Their crude and classless rhetoric approaching character defemation, sometimes for up to 25 minutes, before allowing the nominee to even speak, spoke volumes to middle America this week.

Democrats will not be winning the hearts and minds of the middle of the road undecided voters leading up to the mid term elections with an obstructionist strategy. They need to articulate clearly what THEY stand for and not simply rely on throwing mud on the other side and risk labeling themselves as the Obstructionist Party. A filibuster attempt, while popular with extermists, will not further their effort to gain potential votes from independents and geo-political "middle America".