Much has been said in the last few days about the need to Filibuster Alito (or not) and how to deal with the wiretapping issue. What I don't understand is why Dems have not linked the two, refusing to vote on Alito until after hearings into the (illegal in my opinion) wiretapping by the Shrub.
The Bush Whitehouse has stalled the Plame investigation and has consistently refused to give congress the documents that they request (Think Bolton hearings and Conyers has a huge list as do many other Congresscritters).
What I propose is that the Senate should put a hold on the Alito vote until after the hearing into wiretapping have been held.
If the Whitehouse is forthcoming with documents and the hearings are not stalled (like the documents requested for Bolton's confirmation), then the hold/filibuster is dropped and the vote on Alito is held.
The public is increasingly coming down on our side, against domestic wiretapping (See the excellent diary yesterday on the recent polling). If we use the strategy of telling the public that the confirmation of a Supreme who embraces the Unitary Executive Theory during an ongoing investigation of abuse of power by the executive branch is unwise, there will not be the backlash that is likely if it was over abortion.
In this way, the vote is stopped until the investigation is complete. If the Whitehouse is cooperative, the investigation wraps up quickly and they get their man. If not, they have no one to blame but their own illegal program.