Very Very Kerry

Alito filibuster? ‘Not likely,’ Democrat says

How very typical of John Kerry! I was shocked, at first, when I saw the big red bar on CNN.com yesterday announcing that he would attempt to mount a filibuster against Sam Alito. Of course, this is what the Democrats should be doing if they really believe he's unfit for the Court--which his positions on issues of executive power alone should make him--but to call for the filibuster now is silly. Oh, and how typical: Kerry did so from Switzerland, where he was at Davos, a conference of the rich.

None of this is to be taken seriously, mind you: He knows he doesn't have the votes, and Democrats secretly know that the best thing that can happen to them between now and 2008 is a radical decision or two by the Supreme Court after Alito gets on without their votes. How else can they prove to the public that it's better to have Democrats making these kinds of decisions?

What this is really about, of course, is that Kerry can't give up on the notion that he should run for president again. The media has been running around with the "Hillary can't win" meme for a few weeks now, and he sees it as an opportunity to remind people that he's still ready to report for duty--and still has an e-mail list of millions to get his campaign going.

But the fact that folks are souring on Hillary doesn't mean they'll turn to Kerry. They share the same downsides--wishy-washy positions, long Senate records, and awkward public personas--but in each case Kerry's are worse. Plus, the public got to know Kerry, and it said no. Even though folks have since seen how bad Bush has been, they'd probably still pick him again if Kerry were the alternative.

So do yourself and the party a favor, John: Promise your e-mail list to whomever wins the nomination, and kindly bow out of the race for '08. You can even give a speech at the convention in prime time, OK? Please?