Senator Tim Johnson came out earlier today saying he will vote to confirm Alito, making him the second Democrat to publicly support confirmation.

The NY Times' opinion page knows Alito's confirmation is a done deal as well, but that doesn't stop them from taking one final pathetic swing:

Senate Democrats, who presented a united front against the nomination of Judge Alito in the Judiciary Committee, seem unwilling to risk the public criticism that might come with a filibuster — particularly since there is very little chance it would work. Judge Alito's supporters would almost certainly be able to muster the 60 senators necessary to put the nomination to a final vote.

A filibuster is a radical tool. It's easy to see why Democrats are frightened of it. But from our perspective, there are some things far more frightening. One of them is Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.

On a related note, John Nichols writes in The Capital Times that Russ Feingold's vote against Alito is of special significance:

Simply put, if Alito is unacceptable to Feingold, then he should be unacceptable to a good many other senators including moderate Republicans with whom Feingold has worked closely on campaign finance reform and a host of other issues over the years, such as Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

Why give this special status to Feingold? Because, since his arrival in the Senate in 1993, he has distinguished himself by his consistent if often controversial approach to presidential nominations. [snip]

The fact that Alito is the first high court nominee to fail to meet the Feingold standard is significant. And, as the senator explained to the committee Tuesday, it was not a close call.

I think Nichols has a point: Feingold's vote does deserve a bit of extra consideration precisely because he has demonstrated independence in the past voting for people like John Ashcroft and John Roberts.

But Nichols' column really helps illuminate what a strategic blunder it was for 22 Democrats to vote against John Roberts.  There was simply no legitimate or tactical reason to vote against such a reasonable, well-qualified nominee other than to appease the left-wing interest groups. 

I'm not saying that if all 44 Democrats had voted for Roberts it would have necessarily changed the outcome with the Alito, but Democrats would have a more credible case to make to the public against Alito if they hadn't reacted to Roberts with such knee-jerk partisanship.