In this era of Machiavellian politics run rampant, it is easy to get paranoid. But as they say, if you're not paranoid, you aren't paying enough attention.
Having just read this article, I am starting to wonder:
One aide said part of the problem is that Democratic senators haven't felt a groundswell of opposition from constituents. Polls show that Alito's nomination is supported by most Americans.
"People aren't engaged in this fight," one senior aide said. "The reality is this isn't something that American people are calling in droves about. We're getting more calls in on NSA spying than we are on Alito."
More on the flip...
Now if I were the truly evil mastermind that we all know Rove to be, I would send up a smokescreen to divert the press's attention from the Alito nomination. This is a classic tactic on Rove's part when dealing with any criticism: divert and obfuscate. And guess what, everybody is confused about what the NSA was REALLY doing and to whom, and very few are keeping their eyes on the ball.
The NSA stuff is likely to be trivial in the long run compared to the elevation of Alito to the court. Especially, because if Alito is elevated to the court, it makes it much more likely that Bush will get away with the NSA stuff. So Rove, a consummate tactician, sacrified a little program that really produced no tangible benefits but that he knew would cause a brouhaha and give us lefties a hope of finally sinking our teeth into the Chimperor's leg, in order to provide cover for getting this heinous nomination through.
To spell it out in crayon, what I am hypothesizing is that Rove or someone DELIBERATELY leaked the NSA stuff as cover for the Alito nomination.
So, how paranoid is too paranoid? Take the poll.