Kerry, you magnificent bastard

Deborah Orin looks back on the Alito “flop-buster” and wryly notes:

The joke in Republican circles now is that if John Kerry didn't exist, Karl Rove would have to invent him.

Republicans loved 2004 loser Kerry's flop of a filibuster against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito because it had Democrats tearing each other's eyes out — over a fight they couldn't win.

Meanwhile, Ed Whelan lists the “Achievements of the filibuster.” I think this reason is the most potent:

By using the filibuster weapon against a nominee whom the public rightly recognizes to be superbly qualified, Kerry and Kennedy have undermined Democrats’ future use of that weapon.

True enough. What are the Democrats going to say when – for example – a spot opens up for Souter’s or Steven’s seat? They’ll unload all that tired overheated rhetoric again and, like the boy who cried “bigot!” nobody will believe them. Super-chillin'-time.