Calculated gamble

Trunk, it’s not just you who under-estimated the nerve of the Senate Democrats when it comes to Miguel Estrada. As Byron York points out, Republicans in the Senate were “amazed at the audacity of the Democrats,” and York appears not to have seen this coming either. In a way, I admire the toughness of the Senate Democrats which, I believe, far outstrips that of the Senate Republicans. Of course, it sometimes comes back to haunt them. The thinking was that a filibuster of the Estrada nomination might be such a case because Estrada is Hispanic and universally regarded as well qualified. I’m not so sure, though. Most people have a lot more on their minds right now than who gets confirmed for Court of Appeals judgeships and, for that matter, whether the Senate is tied up in a filibuster for a while. The Democrats can also claim that all they want is more information and that President Bush could end the filibuster by supplying it. So, there may not be much political mileage in this one way or the other. It may just come down to which side is more determined.

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