Someone wants to run for President again:

Sen. John Kerry will attempt a filibuster to block the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

“Judge Alito’s confirmation would be an ideological coup on the Supreme Court.”

It seems Kerry decided to grow a spine at exactly the same time he stopped buying his speeches at Costco. After running an 18-month campaign for President in 2003-4 completely devoid of decisive stands and overflowing with longwinded Valium-style oratory, this is a most welcome development.

It’s hard to say whether Kerry is doing this to keep his 2003 promise, to score some points with Democratic primary voters who don’t exactly hold him in high regard at the moment, or because he believes that it is the right thing to do. I honestly have no idea why he is doing it, and although I mentioned to some people earlier that I fully expected a filibuster, it is truly surprising to see it coming from John Kerry. But whatever Kerry’s motivation, this CNN poll is out of line:

Politicians do things for political reasons every day. When was the last time CNN so openly questioned the motives of a Republican? Damn librul media…

I want to make a couple of points in advance of the mid-term elections that are now just over eight months away. Had Democrats running for the Senate in 2004 done better, John Roberts would not be chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Samuel Alito would not be tenting his fingers in anticipation of joining him. Democrats ran some great Senate candidates who lost close races to complete lunatics who happened to be much better funded. If a few more of them had won, we’d be looking at the same situation that Bill Clinton faced when he appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer. Then, Clinton was forced to accept input from Judiciary chairman Orrin Hatch or face the prospect of not seating justices. By virtue of his party’s wide Senate majority, this President must make no such concession.

Though the next Congress will not be in place in time for it to matter now, there will be more fights over judges and everything else starting next January. If you are fed up with how things are going, if you feel powerless, if you want to see change, there is only one option: work for Democratic majorities this election cycle. We’ll be making some recommendations on candidates and organizations that could put a few dollars or a few volunteer hours to good use. At some point, everyone needs to take responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves. If you care enough to read this site every day, you should care enough to get involved. Not everyone has piles of cash laying around, but everyone can go door-to-door or make some GOTV calls. We raised a lot of money for John Kerry in 2004 with a fraction of the readership we now have. We’re going to do better this time around, if for no other reason than to allow our Senators to credibly wield the threat of filibuster.