Tepid response from the hill.
I just wanted to give DKOS a big heads-up that we may have to activate our movement more than it already would be for a Kagan confirmation battle.
I am just watching MSNBC and Tamron Hall right now. Norah O'Donnell just reported that the response from the GOP on the hill to Kagan is tepid at best. Now I know that Tamron Hall and Norah O'Donnell are probably the most right-wing anchors on MSNBC beside Joe Scarborough (Tamron's pro-GOP slant has been obvious since she turned the President winning the Nobel Peace Prize into a near scandal and was blatant last week when she was obsessed with the fact that the NYC bomber got near an airport even though he was caught-anyway I disgress) but I am sure that they have the GOP line down pat if anything else they say is not accurate.
Norah reported that even Susan Collins of ME, a reliable vote on supreme court nominations in the past, is cool to this nomination. Collins is aaying "where's the paper trail" even though many on both sides of the aisle wanted somebody that wasn't neccessarily a judge to be nominated. What happened to that idea? Anyway, if even Susan Collins is leaning against this nomination, a fillibuster seems likely. The GOP is ranting about the Harvard GLBT ammendment as well.
There are still senators like Voinovich that we could get I suppose but that leaves no margin for error. I doubt that Collins would oppose this nomination if Snowe didn't. Brown won't vote the opposite direction of Snowe and Collins either. So the path to 60 is suddenly very questionable.
I am shocked and appalled, especially after 2005 and the nuclear option, that the GOP is bantering about fillibuster talk for Kagan who is a "consensus nominee" at worst for them. I know that the GOP is probably just engaging in Kabuki theater at this point but the tepid response from the Hill is highly concerning. Mcconnell has told his soldiers that they need to vote no on everything to win in November. Why would this be different?
Therfore, we need to activate and convince the American people that Kagan is a great choice and swing them into action so that the GOP knows they will pay when they fillibuster. Let's do it!! Let the fundraising and phone banking begin today!