Samuel Alito's Confirmation

Samuel Alito's confirmed and now what?  What should we make of the aftermath?

"Only one of the Senate's 55 Republicans voted against Alito's confirmation ... [and] four Democrats ... broke party ranks and voted for Alito." ( CNN)

Also from CNN, "only 24 of the chamber's 44 Democrats went along with the filibuster ... Among the 24 Democrats who supported the filibuster were five senators being mentioned as possible 2008 White House contenders -- Kerry, who lost to Bush in 2004; Hillary Clinton of New York; Evan Bayh of Indiana; Russ Feingold of Wisconsin; and Joe Biden of Delaware."

The future holds two paths--"the after-Bork path" and the "partisan path."  The "after Bork" path saw a reaction by politicians that made the next two supreme court nominees essentially bipartisan appointees.  The second path shows a severe partisan split from now on.

What may increase the likelihood of the second path is the number of democrats who supported the filibuster.  No, not a whole lot, but the presidential hopefulls.

They are pandering to their party base--a very left base--already, for a run at the whitehouse.  This means that severe strides must be made to get back to the center before taking office should they win.  This separation almost insures that he or she who wins would be devisive in the white house and keep this partisan atmosphere moving.

I hope it doesn't.  I could see a republican or democrat winning in 2008--both parties have some weak candidates right now that leaves the race wide open--but I hope the rancor goes.