The Senate isn't really debating the qualifications of Sam Alito to sit on the Supreme Court so much as they are speechifying. I watched a couple hours of the Senate yesterday and have C-SPAN2 on now and I think everything that can be said about Alito has been said -- it's just that everyone hasn't yet had a chance to say it.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday was particularly amusing as she decried Alito's supposed views on presidential authority -- surmising that Alito would somehow "OK" President Bush's allegedly illegal acts. I just kept thinking back to her husband's repeated claims of "privilege" when defending himself from sexual harassment allegations. Everything she decried about Bush's use of presidential powers she seemed perfectly OK with when her husband was using the same powers -- even in more seedy and self-serving ways.

Thus far, Democrat senators Robert C. Byrd (W.V.), Tim Johnson (S.D.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) have broken with party lines and come out in support of Alito's confirmation. If all Republicans vote to confirm Alito, and Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee has still not announced his intentions, then Alito would have only 58 "Yeas."

The possibility of a loony left blog explosion is still a very real possibility.